Anxiety/ tension/ panic attacks- what works for you?

lelaspeaks

Struggled with this for a VERY long time. Here are my secret ingredients: fish oil, plenty of sleep, water, calmomile tea, a healthy diet (no 1200 calorie BS), yoga, and positive thoughts (your mind is the only thing that's making you feel bad - learn how to control it). Try to avoid caffeine and booze - they are big triggers.

sillygoosie

I like kickboxing when I'm very anxious. It's fast paced and it feels like I'm expelling a lot of aggression. Yoga would be nice but I never have the focus for it when I'm worked up.

Also, xanax.

newcs

I've had general anxiety, social anxiety and panic attacks for as long as I can remember (finally professionally diagnosed in high school). For me, yoga doesn't help prevent the things like clenching my jaw, hoisting my shoulders, etc. but yoga or stretching routines do seem to relieve some of the tension and muscle aches caused by it.

Learning breathing exercises (through yoga or otherwise) can help too since just focusing on breathing can sometimes force you to unconsciously relax a little. I've also found it helpful to focus on my breathing when I'm starting to feel a panic attack hit...this backfires if you're someone who tends to focus on their breathing and it results in hyperventilating.

For me, diversion is a fairly successful tactic. If I can distract myself with something that requires a great deal of concentration (physically or mentally), my panic attacks subside more quickly with less severity. But I've also been off meds for about 8yrs now so I've already worked on minimizing my anxiety in general.

ajhugz

I have dealt with anxiety for about 4 years now. Exercising helped but learning to relax helped more. Try 10-15 of yoga or stretching every morning when you wake up and before you go to bed. Another thing that helped that isn't exercise related is learning to cope with stress. My doctor said the best thing to do is to learn how to relax and how to remain calm. I hope this helps

ReinasWrath

I am still searching for something to help me. It is looking like I might need to turn to medication. Music helps a little though and stretching. Also it may sound cheesy but when you get overwhelmed try to take a minute for yourself and breathe.

hope things get better for you :flowerforyou:

DavidC1857

The answer is different for everyone. We're all different and people experiencing anxiety disorders are at different levels. There was a point in time where the most I could do was to go to the very small corner grocery store and get enough to eat. Beyond that I didn't leave my house.

Exercise often causes the same physical sensations as anxiety. Heart rate increases, sweat, etc. If that is you, exercise isn't going to help. At least not at first. Exercise did help me, but I had to do it at home, where I could just stop if I started feeling anxious, and sit down and evaluate whether it was anxiety or just the exercise. I could not go walk, for example, out of the fear of having a panic attack away from home. Home being my safe area.

For ME, learning to recognize what was a panic attack and what wasn't. Basically mindfulness. Also learning that a panic attack is uncomfortable, but it will NOT hurt you physically. These two made a big difference. A start at least. At some point I began to be able to distinguish between what was anxiety and what was just sensations caused by exercise and exercise was more helpful at that point.

I also went through the gamut of medications and therapy. Most of the medications may as well have been placebo's for all the good they did. In the cases of the ones that had an effect, the effect was usually horrendous side effects. Therapy was, for me, of little help, because in poor rural area's the best you're going to get for a therapist is a Social Worker, who doesn't have clue how to deal with someone with a serious anxiety disorder.

Honestly, though. For me, giving my life up to Jesus, prayer, study and community with like minded people have done more for me than anything.

pamperedhen

I've done it all and I have to say my life changed with medication. Guess I was super imbalanced!

^ This! It is a chemical imbalance of the brain. I have suffered on and off for 48 years and until I was put on Celexa, my life changed for the better! I wish you peace and health!

BlessedHeart

*bump*

Azdak

Unfortunately, in some instances, it seems like the effects of exercise, yoga, meditation, etc, only enhance the symptoms rather than mitigate them.

I went through a rough stretch 15-20 years ago, and it was frustrating. My main symptoms were feelings of vertigo and palpitations. Exercise not only made the palpitations 10x worse, but it caused by BP to skyrocket; trying to meditate just made me pass out--my HR would drop and I would have a vasovagal effect.

For me, getting on a regular pattern of sleep, forgoing caffeine, improving diet helped just enough to get a "foothold", so to speak, where I could do some low-level exercise. That helped calm things down and I gradually increased exercise tolerance which helped reduce the symptoms. Haven't really had any issues for about 15 years.

It also helped to learn more about the physical dimensions of the condition, did some diagnostic tests to rule out physical issues etc. It gave me the confidence to hang in a little with the activity when I started experiencing symptoms, knowing I was probably not going to collapse and die.

squirrelzzrule22

Thank you all for the great and honest responses! I agree very much with those who mentioned learning the difference between your thoughts and reality and sensations that are anxiety vs. those that aren't. For about a year I was on a bc pill that GREATLY increased the mild anxiety/ panic attacks that I had had for as long as I can remember. Back then I did NOT understand that my feelings were caused by anxiety and spent what felt like months just flat out truly believing I was dying all the time. Exercise was impossible because every heartbeat felt so noticeable and scary to me. Now, three years later, I am at a place where I can stop most of these thoughts when they start and only have a real panic attack every few months (usually at a PMS-type time...hormones are not kind to me!) Basically, I'm at a point where I know how to identify the thoughts but every once in a while I still can't quash them. That's why I'm thinking yoga and mindfulness could help me learn ways to calm myself. The caffeine advice is great- I have a coffee addiction that I'm sure does NOT help this in any way.

Thanks for the suggestions and please keep them coming! I remember the first time I heard someone else explain their anxiety and what a relief it was to know that what I was feeling was a real condition....because when you're having a panic attack even people who love you just can't quite understand. So its great to hear from those who do!

MelissR75

prescription drugs, a hell of a lot of gym time and good friends to talk you through them

Exactly this!

crat77

I can't believe no one mentioned SEX. :huh:

I also humbly suggest heading to the gun range.

jimmie65

I can't believe no one mentioned SEX. :huh:

I also humbly suggest heading to the gun range.

Hopefully, not at the same time.

squirrelzzrule22

I can't believe no one mentioned SEX. :huh:

I also humbly suggest heading to the gun range.

Hopefully, not at the same time.

HAHA! This gave me such a laugh, I thank you.

jimmie65

HAHA! This gave me such a laugh, I thank you.

I hope you find something that works for you.

liftreadphilosophize

Running and yoga help me a lot. I find that heavy lifting, while I love it, only makes me more anxious when I'm in a more anxiety-prone state of mind. But heavy lifting does help me feel more balanced when I'm not struggling with anxiety at the time.