Manage Your Panic

I had a relaxing weekend. I was able to get household chores done and spend time relaxing with my family. However, I had an unexpected visitor and it felt like a phantom presence, to be honest. 

What I mean is, the feeling of PANIC arrived late Saturday night. 

Reliving my night on Saturday, I can't pinpoint what triggered me or if the panic I was feeling in my body was just a normal reaction because I haven't been panicked for a while? 

Here's the thing about panic attacks, sometimes you know when and where the trigger happened and sometimes you don't. 

Your panic could give a rat's ass where you are and or who you are with. 

In what feels like a flip of a switch sufferers are stuck in a cycle of fear, overwhelming confusion, and mental anguish. 

This is why we must learn how to manage the feeling of panic when it arrives.

Learn how to ride out your panic cycle.

Was this some sick test my mind was placing upon my feet to see if I was capable of owning my anxiety and remaining in the driver's seat of my struggle bus?

To manage my uninvited panic, I began to pace around my living room while invoking my right to start box breathing.

Very Well Mind shares that Box breathing, also known as four-square breathing, involves exhaling to a count of four, holding your lungs empty for a four-count, inhaling at the same pace, and holding air in your lungs for a count of four before exhaling and beginning the pattern anew.

 In my state of panic, I begin to feel clammy and scared.

My body is ready for its perceived threat.

My flight or fight response is in full effect. 

Always ready to fight like a tiger or start running a race like an Olympian sprinter, my body reactivates due to all the traumatic memories and situations where I truly believed I was in danger.

Lots of repetitive movement begins to help me move through this time of uncertainty, hypervilligence, and fear.

Focusing on my breath, I begin to ground. 

Grounding keeps me in the present and helps fight off the intrusive thoughts that often send me into the never-ending spiral of overthinking. 

My grounding technique is simple. 

I begin to count each toe on each foot. With each toe I press into the ground I count slowly. 

one.

Two.

Three.

and so on. I often move to my fingers and press them against a surface when I count each one out.

one.

Two.

Three.

If panic continues, I will begin identifying things in the room that start with the alphabet. 

Again, these exercises in grounding techniques can be different for everyone. You just need to keep practicing and it will become easier. 

I continued to panic and although I remained present when counting my toes and fingers, I still became overwhelmed with fear. 

Another way that I deal with moving through a panic attack is by deep pressure. Deep pressure offered through a big bear hug, wrapping myself tightly in a weighted blanket ( 20 pounds from Amazon), and or pushing up against a counter or wall. Any of these options have worked for me in the past with incorporating box breathing. 

Alas, I was able to get the heart rate down while feeling relief from the fading feeling of fear. 

If it continued, I would have pulled out the big guns and requested my husband to get a bag of frozen vegetables, a bag of ice or ice pack, or had him prepare a large bowl with ice in it to submerge my face into. 

I'm serious, I was and will always use a cold plunge if all the other coping skills fail. 

Plunging my face in cold water has never let me down.

I researched this and would like to share that your heart rate can lower by ten to twenty-five percent when you introduce your face to cold water.

Manuel Kraus shared in a blog post about managing your panic that immersing your face in ice-cold water stimulates the mammalian diving reflex, an innate physiological response that we share with dolphins and seals. Throughout evolution, mammals developed this reflex to survive with little or no oxygen underwater. This reflex works through special nerves in the face which send a message to the vagus nerve, which in turn instructs your parasympathetic nervous system to calm down. It slows down heart rate considerably and increases one’s chances of survival. 

Continuing to practice your self-care plan and or tool box including how to manage your panic is essential for moving through these uncomfortable moments. Over time it begins to feel easier to grab your coping skills from your toolbox rather than reaching for unhealthy ways to cope. 

I promise if you hold on it will eventually pass. 

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