immediate tools you use to deal with anxiety

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I am going to start weaning off my effexor/venlafaxine. I'm only on the lowest dosage 37.5/day. I think now is the time to start weaning off. I've been on it for about 10 months.
I don't expect my anxiety issues to be completely gone, I just hope that I am at a place where I can just deal with it.

Do you guys have any strategies for how to deal with anxiety symptoms/attacks right in the moment?
When you start to feel that pressure, the weight like an elephant is just sitting down on your chest... do you have any techniques to curb the anxiety right there?
When an attacks comes full on - full on panic with hyperventilating, sweats, shakes, dizziness, etc, what do you do to pull yourself back to reality?

I have had just one full on panic attack in the last few months. It was totally over within about 30 minutes. My husband was there with me and helped me find my strength to pull out of it, I'm not sure what would have happened if he wasn't there. I suppose I would have gotten through it, it just would have taken at least twice as long.
I think I am comfortable with having attacks like that once in a while. I think I can handle that. I think I can accept that I will have these attacks and get through them and over them.

It is the little anxiety symptoms that I have regularly, weekly if not daily sometimes. That tightness in the chest, the little bit of panic, the anxious thoughts. I don't feel like I've found good coping skills for these. The good part is that most of the time it amounts to nothing but I wish that just square breathing or something could curb the feelings. Do you have any advice besides just breathing?

Thanks guys
I'm excited to be taking this step of getting off the meds.

Amanda

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Hi Amanda

I think you are thinking about this all wrong . You are predicting that you will have a panic attack and that is going to add to the stress and maybe cause one .

I was on AD for 15 years and went off them twice with no effects . There is a chance that you may also . But even if it does not then stop being scared of anxiety because it is only going to give you anxiety . Just think about everything with logic . Yes your anxiety may increase but that it is only your body adjusting and it will pass . Do not feed it by worrying about it but think of it just as if you had a bad cold and rest and relax and let it pass .

It is this key that stops panic . Panic are soley us . We get anxiety and a symptoms and panic thinking something is wrong and that in turn tells our brain that something is wrong . You must stop it by just telling yourself that it is only a symptom and it will past . Yes its not easy the first few times but after a while it becomes automatic .

I used this and have not had a panic since i started nearly 3 years ago and dont think i will every have another because the symptoms that start it dont worry me much now .

cheers and good luck with it all Kev :)


thanks for your input. actually forwells, your input over the last so many months has helped me very much - although I've only popped in and out of this forum very sporadically.
what you are saying today is true. it is thinking like this that has brought me to the place I am in now. when I have these anxiety symptoms, I now can tell myself that it is anxiety and there is nothing to fear, nothing is actually going to hurt me. I generally look for a distraction when I start to feel this way. I don't see a psychologist regularly now as the regular visits with her met their purpose at the time but one thing she gave me was really the permission to look for distractions when my mind goes too fast down the anxiety road. for example, I put a video on my laptop and set it up in the bathroom when I soak in the tub. I like relaxing in the tub but when I am going through anxiety issues I can't relax in the tub because there is nothing there to fill my head except my own anxious thoughts. Many people listen to the radio/music while they shower, etc. so it isn't unusual.
while I am at work, I usually listen to talk radio while I work. I listen to classical music when I need to relax in the car or at work.
at first these techniques were a crutch that got me through a difficult time, but now they aren't. not that they wouldn't help, just that I don't need them so much any more.

your comments today helped me right now though too, the more I was thinking tonight about not taking a pill tonight, the more anxious I was feeling. you are right, fear of the anxiety makes my anxiety worse. That's been a theme for a long time but i'm actually getting over that too. your comments today reminded me of that - that I'm not afraid of anxiety now.