It was 3:12 am and it felt like what I imagine a heart attack feels like.
If I hadn’t felt this tightness hundreds of times before in the last 20 years, I probably would have been concerned, but it was a familiar foe. Rarely does it visit while I’m sleeping, but last night it did. I took some deep breaths, told my brain what was happening (because brains are only wired to know evidence – my racing heart and shallow breathing – not reason.)
“You are starting to have a panic attack. There is no reason you should be this afraid. You are healthy, you are safe. This feeling will pass in no more than 20 minutes, and then you will be asleep again.”
My brain somewhat bought the explanation.
The next step? Meditation.
In my mind, I pulled up a snapshot of Lake Michigan, which feels like the ocean, where there is so much space and air, and calming, rhythmic waves.
I repeated what I’ve been repeating for 10 years when I feel a panic attack coming on: “He keeps in perfect peace whose mind stays on Him.”
And at some point, I fell back asleep.
Anxiety sucks. There is no poetic way around it.
Having a plan for when your brain wants to take control is key.
Comments
5 responses to “Having a Plan for Coping with Anxiety”
Thanks for this, Anne! I have people in my life who struggle with anxiety and panic attacks and I want to understand it better so I can support them. Knowing what works for you helps me help them.
The sad part is that what works for one person doesn’t with another. For me depression and negative memories slam into me like I’m a deer in the headlights. The book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life by Dr. Daniel Amen, mentions something about this particular condition. I don’t recall off-hand what the treatment he suggested was, but it may have been very much akin to a seizure. That doesn’t help with coping all that much, but it makes me feel less rejected when people try to tell me how to “fix” it.
Interestingly enough, the medication I’m currently on, and the one I’m about to switch to, are both anti-seizure medications. :) (Clonazepam & Gabapentin).
After reading that book, I can believe it. Seizures, like anxiety, are basically the brain and/or other parts of the nervous system going into overdrive for no good reason.
I agree that having a plan is helpful. One breathing exercise has helped my nights (I most typically wake up in full flight panic attack) is as follows: breath in-2-3, hold-2-3, breath out-2-3, hold-2-3. The hold in and out helps relax the body as well…