Panic Attacks - Shortness of Breath
If you have ever gone through even one panic attack (which is really part of social anxiety, then you will understand what I am about to say in this article. The keywords of this horrible fear symptom is Panic Attacks Shortness of Breath that leaves you gasping for air when you are in a fearful situation. I’m not sure why people have panic attacks and I don’t think doctors really know as well – though there are a ton of theories on them – but panic attacks can be triggered by certain events or by nothing at all (free floating anxieties). Also, a person does not have to be have social anxiety to experience these type of mental attacks.
Many people mistake the panic attack’s symptom (which is shortness of breath (or one of them)) as a heart attack. Some people think they are going crazy. Neither are true. The person is having an unreasonable (yes – I did say unreasonable) reaction to a specific fear that he / she has.
The shortness of breath when one is going through a panic attack is impossible to slow the breathing down. However, there are a few techniques one can do when having a panic attack and slowing the breathing down. The first technique is to breathe through your stomach. When a person is going through a panic attack, they will breathe through their chest – hence, causing the chest to seem to tighten up. The person will also experience what is known as “fight or flight”. In other words, the person can run away from the object of fear or stand and duke it out.
When going through panic attacks symptoms of shortness of breath, once should try to breathe through the stomach. This will lessen the impact of the attack – though it will not take it out of the picture. That is one of the things that a person with panic attack should prepare himself before the panic attack occurs…breathe through the tummy.
The second technique is to lay on the bed and then think about the fear. Think about the worst thing that can happen from having a panic attack. Seeing oneself with the shortness of breathe and even to the point of blacking out with people laughing at you. I don’t think there is anything more embarrassing than that. Whatever it is, think of the worst.
I once was in a social anxiety forum when I read that one person who had constant panic attacks, lay on his bed one night and imagined the worst thing that could happen when he had his panic attack. He imagined this for about forty minutes. He said the next day when he experienced his fear and thought he would have a panic attack – it really wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be and he also did not mention having an attack when he was facing his fear. So one of the best techniques to do is to think of the worst possible scenario when a panic attack occurs.
One final technique. I saw this on a Youtube video last week and went into a meeting in which I was having problems with my panic attacks for some odd reason. This video explained that when one is experiencing a panic attack (again – it mentioned the shortness of breathe), then the thing to do is to feel the shortness of breath. Don’t hold back – let it run its course so to speak. In other words, allow it to happen. But first, embrace the panic, and once you have done that, then request your mind / body to intensify the attack – basically saying that you want a worse panic attack. I know this sounds crazy, but I did it last week (with the help of God) and was able to eventually relax and get through the meeting with flying colors. So embracing the panic attack shortness of breath instead of resisting it actually helps instead of hurts.
You could take Xanax or Klonopin or help you through various panic attacks, but when you take it everyday, that’s when you become dependent on the medication and when you want to withdrawal from it – you’ll have a tough time getting off of it. There withdrawal symptoms are just unbelievable.
Anyway, these techniques can not only help in panic attacks, but also in any type of social anxiety situation (especially imagining the worse that can happen). It seems like when you embrace the worse and don’t resist against the fear, the fear itself actually loses its power over you and you will be able to face your fears with little or no problems.
One last note: I will probably update the readers of this page about how I may do tomorrow (in the meeting that my manager may want me to go to if she doesn’t make it on time) using the “imagine the worst” technique. This will be interesting. I don’t want to go, but I will do this technique tonight when I get home for about thirty minutes and then pray about it. I’ll keep you posted about this technique and see if it really works or not. From what I heard – it does.