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Living with Panic Attacks
Living with Panic AttacksImagine an intense fear that comes at you and it’s so bad, you feel like you’re having a heart attack.“You get like the tightness of the chest and the shoulder pain. You can get dizzy. You can getlightheaded and it’s just those few seconds feels like forever.”Annie Olivares has been experiencing these symptoms on and off since she was 9. Now 32, a wife andworking mother, her life is pretty normal until a panic attack comes on.“You just feel like whatever moment you’re in, you need to get out of the situation or the place orwhatever it may be.”A panic attack can happen out of the blue, anywhere or any time. It can also happen if you are in a situationthat is making you really nervous. Unlike panic in a dangerous situation, which can be a good thing, a panicattack can make you feel like you're losing control, having a heart attack or even dying.“If suddenly the door bursts open and in comes an angry grizzly bear, we should all have a panicattack. Panic attack would help us immediately cope with the genuine threat that’s present. Wherepanic attacks become problematic is when an individual is having kind of those alarm bells going off inthe absence of a genuine threat.”For some people, panic attacks might be caused by something in their genes or in the way their brain is wired.But quite often, the trigger is stress.“When I was 9, I couldn’t go to school by myself.”Annie experienced severe stress as a child when her dad, her hero, died suddenly. Ever since, often out ofnowhere, waves of uncontrollable fear sometimes come over her.“I can be driving to the grocery store and all of a sudden think about something work-related or homerelated that I don’t feel is stressful and all of a sudden feel like I’m alone in my car and having a panicattack and there’s nothing I can do to make it go away.”Panic attacks can be treated through a type of therapy called Exposure Therapy. In the safety of theirtherapist’s office, a person learns to cope with their panic by mimicking the symptoms.“So, one might be encouraged to breathe or to quickly walk up and down stairs, or to slowly spin incircles to mimic dizziness. And what the experience of these uncomfortable body sensations does ishelp a person kind of desensitize towards that and learn from their experience with the sensations that,while feeling breathless, having your heart racing is unpleasant, it’s also a generally safe and tolerablething to have happened to you.”Antidepressants can also help reduce the symptoms. These medications work by altering the levels of brainchemicals that can increase your risk of having a panic attack. Anti-anxiety medications are also sometimesused to treat panic attacks but mainly in the short term. It’s not uncommon for panic attacks to occur alongsideother mental health conditions, and for many people, their other mental health conditions can contribute topanic attacks. Molly Hass, for example, has Social Anxiety Disorder, which can sometimes trigger a panicattack. Therapy has taught her how to manage.This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.PRG54618A EN LivingWithPanicAttacks.pdf© The Wellness NetworkPage 1 of 2Living with Panic Attacks“If I’m able to leave the situation and kind of be by myself that’ll help. I realize if I'm in the middle of it Ijust kind of have to wait until it goes away.”Balanced Self-Talk is another tool that can help with panic attacks.“In my head just saying like ‘this happens. You know what it is. It’s going to go away.’ Or there’ssometimes where I’ll try and like think of options of what I could do if the symptoms persisted. Who am Iaround that I could talk to or go and tell what was happening so they could talk me down from what Iwas feeling.”Many people have just one or two panic attacks in their lifetime. However, if those sudden feelings of terrorstrike repeatedly when you wouldn’t expect to be anxious, you may have a condition called panic disorder. Ifthe panic attacks occur only in situations where you might be anxious then you might be having a panic attack.Either way the panic attack is terrifying.For some people, you know, they can't quite let go of ‘what in the world just happened and this was reallyserious. I wonder if there's something wrong in my heart.’ And then they kind of get this ‘I think I might be aticking time bomb’ kind of thing and then the next thing you know, it's sparking other panic attacks.”Repeated panic attacks need professional attention. You don’t want to find yourself afraid to go out in publicbecause the symptoms could flare up.“And sometimes that avoidance becomes so profound that a person really isn't living their life anymore.I'm talking avoidance to the line of you know never leaving the home, refusing to ever drive, having toquit work, not going to school anymore.”Talk Therapy and medication can help. Talk to a mental health professional if you are suffering from panicdisorder or panic attacks.This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.PRG54618A EN LivingWithPanicAttacks.pdf© The Wellness NetworkPage 2 of 2
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