Anxiety anticipation

[Girlie77]

I am getting ready to go on a short road trip tomorrow and my anxiety has been very high lately so I am (of course) worrying about having an attack when I go. Does anyone have any tricks or techniques that they use to calm down and help ward off panic in anticipation of a high anxiety situation?

[anxigone123]

Yes!! Deep breathing is the key to dominating panic attacks. What occurs during a panic attack is your body releases adrenaline when it senses a fear or stressful situation. That adrenaline causes our body to increase our heart rate and the increased heart rate makes us take rapid short breathes. These short rapid breathes cause a lack of oxygen in our bodies which cause all the nasty feelings and lightheadedness that come along with panic attacks. With all this being said the solution is simple! If we can control our breathing we can slow down our heart rate and reverse the whole process. When you feel a panic attack coming on take slow deep breathes for 3 to 4 minutes or however long it takes to calm yourself back down and your attack will subside. With the solution to controlling all panic attacks you should no longer fear having them because now your in control :)

[laurandisorder]

If you have a smart phone there are a couple of applications that can help you with this. There is one called 'relax' I use to help with my breathing when I get into a pre attack state.

Distraction techniques work well, but can be difficult to do whilst driving. I play games on my phone, hit up Facebook or try to engage in conversations.

Good luck!!

[Girlie77]

Thank you both for your advice. I have downloaded some relaxation apps on my phone so I will definitely utilize those. I totally understand what u are saying about the breathing. My initial reaction when the panicky feeling starts is to tense up my whole body and hold my breath-- not too smart! Hopefully everything goes well. It's so frustrating when you are looking forward to something and dreading it all at the same time.

[laurandisorder]

That's the kicker of anxiety. The old adrenaline can kick in due to anticipatory excitement too! I always get preliminary excitement induced anxiety before a big night out or a convert I'm looking forward to.

Good luck!!

[Girlie77]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Actually did really well on my trip, although I did have some anticipatory anxiety that I ended up taking extra meds for. Overall it was a success. I am hoping to get some more days of feeling normal under my belt before my next road trip, I think that would help a lot.

[knp]

I have been using natural supplement for anxiety attacks
I have been using l theanine for mental calmness
Inositol for physical anxiety and also take b complex that is my happy pill hope this help

Be brave