Panic attacks!!!

I have a friend that suffers from panic attacks she says she find it hard to breathe. She has been to the doctors many times and has been told on each occasion that she is fine and there is no sign of asthma. Ive seen her in her worst state when these panic attacks are happening she is inconsolable, other people try to help but there is nothing they can do i am lost for what to tell her. Have you any ideas??? :frown:

Reply 1

presebjenada

i used to get panic attacks.. i would feel out of breath and really nauseous (spelling?!) and very panicky. i had irrational fears of being sick in public or crying .. just stupid things. try talking to your friend, talk through irrational fears she has however stupid or insignificant she thinks they are..

this may not be very encouraging, but i got them in my 2nd year at secondary.. i was off school for nearly a m onth whilst i went to the doctors feeling sick..everytime i thought i got better i would try going to school and the sick feeling would come back so id go home again.. eventually i stopped complaining about feeling sick because i thought nobody would care/understand/ and most of all beleive me and not just think i was trying to skive school.. i was very miserable and a couple of months later realised that it was panic attacks, and managed to work out what triggered them - this is crucial to overcoming them.. which is why you need to help her work out what she is afraid of.. talk through everything, each situation, she may be embarrassed to come out with it to you, but by talking stuff through she might be able to work it out for herself.. then she needs to work out ways of controlling the situation.. at first i avoided the situations which brought them on.. then i forced myself into them, telling myself that my nauseous feelings were all in my mind and that it wasnt phsical sickness. it was very difficult and mentally exhausting, and i wish i had had someone to share it with. your friend is lucky to have you,but she has to learn to trust you with this one, the minute you show any doubt about her, or lack of encouragement she will stop sharing her problem with you.. this is a very personal problem. she must learn tefchniques to overcome it.. with me, i learned to breath really deeply, grind my teeth or sip water.. or talk to someone to take my mind of it.. i soon realised that the less i worried about the attack coming on, the less they actually came on (good cycle to get into) as soon as you overcome one.. youre on a good track, you think great i can do it again.. if you have any more questions or comments please feel free to pm me.. because i wish someone couldve helped me so im happy to talk about it with others x

Reply 2

Fruitloop

thanks for your reply.
My friend says that she thinks she may be scared of death as most of the time it starts when she hears about people dying. Ive tried to talk to her several times about death so she finds it easier to cope with it.(if you no wat i mean), but she cant even listen to people talking about it, she just gets worse and feels like her throat is closing up and says that she thinks shes going to die and then cries until she falls asleep as there is nothing else she can do.
me and other friends have found her things to do, just simple things like colouring to get her mind off it but she tells us that she thinks its never going to go away and although colouring and other things take her mind off it she knows that its going to happen again sooner or later.
Do you know of anything else that would help make them stop. I would be greatful if you could let me know i am willing to try anything as she is so depressed right now.

Reply 3

riffraff

one of my friends found that physical contact helped, when she had panic attacks we always used to hug her etc.

what is she afraid of about death? death is a release. is she afraid of pain? or just of not being herself anymore? if the latter, then it might be helpful if she finds faith, if the former, then you can assure her that it is incredibly unlikely she will die in pain.

if her fear stems from a loved reletive dying, then perhaps you could assure her they have gone to a better place.

it is important to make the doctor understand, as she may need atrained psychiatrist to talk her through.

hope she gets better soon :frown:

Reply 4

presebjenada

i thought i would never get over it either.. i was so depressed i thought i would carry it with me forever with the fear that they would always come back.. she HAS to just be bloody minded about it. im sure she hates having them, so let that drive her to crush them... its all in the mind, its not physical, its just your mind making it happen, whenever she feels them coming on, instead of clammin gup and thinking oh god not another one, she must think right, breath deeply, this is just my mind being stupid, calm thoughts.. i used to talk to my mind like it was osme other person.. id say in my head "you are not going to defeat me, you are not going to beat me, you can just bugger off because you arent going to ruin my life.."

theres no denying this was one of the hardest things i ever did..but its made me a stronger person now, and im very determined to get what i want, and yes im bloody minded now, and im not very smpathetic to others who are too nervous to do things (eg. one girl who was afraid of going on her own to an interview.. i was so annoyed at her for this, cos i saw her being irrationally afraid of something much less imporatant than what i had to overcome with no help) she has to find that frame of mind.. and even though you can help her she needs to be in the same mood.. she needs to treat her mind like its a seperate person to be overcome.. hope that makes sense?

Reply 5

Weejimmie

She may find cognitive therapy useful. it certainly won't do any harm, unlike some prescribed drugs.

Reply 6

KizzieB

hi tarnyroo.
i hope your friend finds help soon but something that may help is to keep her busy and if it aint possible to do physical stuff then try visualisation exercises such as counting sheep ,thats a good one to begin with then move on to something more detailed like decorating an imaginary house or someting, i do this when i am really bored while waiting at the dentist or doctors otherwise i get annoyed at the time i have to wait, this helps time pass a little easyer and keeps your mind from wondering . :wink:

Reply 7

riffraff

or, if you are like me, you can just have conversations with the people in your head :smile:

Reply 8

Weejimmie

riffraff

or, if you are like me, you can just have conversations with the people in your head :smile:

It's when the people in your head talk to each other and not to you you've got real problems.

Reply 9

5thavenue

i know what its like its fuckin bad but you just got to totally forget about it and dont wate for it to happen when you tell a couple of your friends it should get easyer

Reply 10

Fruitloop

Do you know if they are rare because i have never heard of anyone else suffer them before???

Reply 11

KizzieB

Fruitloop

Do you know if they are rare because i have never heard of anyone else suffer them before???

Panic attacks are more common than u think its just you don't hear about it much because its a weakness and no one likes to advertise there weakness do they, especially if its a psychological weakness.
Years ago psychological problems like panic attacks were found mostly in the rich as these people had very little to occupy them, for example the lady of the house in a well to do family would sit about doing exactly as she pleased because they had sod all to do,the maids and servent's did it so u can see how the mind can wonder, maybe she reads the papers and sees things about murder,robbery,disease and rape, these are all things that happen in other contrys and far-away places that don't relate to her but because her mind is not filled with chores and buisness etc... she begins to dwell on the shocking news events ,she wonders if these things could happen to her or her family or if she dose go out the house today will she get mugged or raped or mown down by a runaway tractor, most people shrug it off and get on with there life or busy the mind to forget about it but a lady of leasure has little to do but whittle.
these days we have devices that do our work for us and some of us are kept house wifes or husbans that have nothing much to do but watch the tv and thats where we see the things that effect us most.
Think about it and you will probably find that your friend has no work and spends much of her time sitting about watching telly or reading news or mags.
Try and find her a way to fill her days with positive things like yoga, love novels, love and adventure films that are pg rated then u know there aint any scary stuff in it, get her to go out and walk or join a gym, stay positive and keep a busy schedule,
:biggrin: