Anxiety Attacks

CharisSunny

...with flashbacks. Any advice welcome. Please.

Arazante

Very sorry to hear this.

You should start recording these- the Who/What/When/Where specifics: when they happen, where you are at the time, what you saw, what you felt, how long they lasted, if you were with anyone, what you were doing at the time, etc. You may start seeing some patterns that will allow you to figure out your trigger, which hopefully, you'll then be able to control the situation(s) as much as possible and avoid these.

Do you take any medication?

There are some nice supplements out there- the nicer one I've discovered lately is GABA. It lowers anxiety levels throughout the day and/or night.

When they happen, try and do breathing exercises- Lay on your back with your feet raised above your head, either against a wall, or perhaps on a chair, and breathe in and out slowly. Try and rid your mind of everything except your breathing, and focus on the rising and lowering of your chest. Try and push down that energy to your stomach (it may help to fold your hands over your belly button and press down lightly, do not clasp, just fold). You may need to do this for a while until you can gain control over your breathing again.

In addition to normalizing your breath, it is helpful to grab the nearest object possible and describe it- it's shape, size, color, texture, purpose, etc.. start with short sentences, then lengthen them and get as descriptive and unnecessarily long as possible. Eg, "A ball. It is a ball. It is a red ball. It is a round, red ball. I am holding onto a round, red ball. I am holding onto a round, red, smooth ball that is shiny." etc. This helps focus your mind off of what makes you tense and onto something else. It can be really difficult, at times, but just keep repeating sentences that come out broken or difficult, until each sentence is perfectly fluent and concise.

SavvyCake

I totally agree with the recommendation to start tracking them. Knowing what has triggered them in the past can help you to plan ahead and give yourself time/forgiveness in those same situations in the future. When I figured out that one of my triggers was something unavoidable for me (luckily only a couple times a year though) I began allowing myself some extra time to get there, give myself breaks and go collect myself, calm down, etc., and it has really helped. And since I was "expecting" to get panicky, I'm not as hard on myself afterward if I do get upset.

I'm sorry you have this struggle. I will just say, from my experience, it has gotten better/easier over time. I am a rape survivor and had a lot of PTSD issues with panic attacks and flashbacks, like you say. As weird as it may sound, one of the things that helped me the most was telling someone. Once I came out in the open to my family about my PTSD and panic attacks, I started having fewer even. I think maybe before the idea that I was about to have a panic attack but couldn't let anyone find out made it even harder to calm myself down once one started developing. Knowing that I could go ahead and feel what I felt and do whatever I needed to do without having to hide it from my mom and sister made it a lot less daunting to face an attack. O hope you can get relief from your pain in whatever way works best for you.

BethMilledge

I also have anxiety attacks everyday with flashbacks