I apologize in advance for the long post. I have suffered from anxiety and depression my whole life. At the age of 12 I attempted suicide and during my 20's I had two serious episodes of major depression (in hindsight I should have been hospitalized both times). About 7 years ago I started having panic attacks though I didn't know what they were at the time. I thought it was a heart condition. My anxiety and panic got so bad last year that I decided to quit my executive level job and take a lower paying part time job. I had reached the end of my rope. Ironically, it wasn't the stress of my job that was making me anxious or has panic attacks; it was the way I was dealing with them. To the last few people who have posted how terrible this is, I understand your pain. These thoughts and feelings make no sense, especially to other people. My husband is very supportive but even he at times will say, "Just deal with it". I didn’t tell him I was having debilitating panic attacks until last year. There have been times that this has been so painful I honestly wanted to die rather than live like this. Thankfully, things are starting to improve for me. There are days that are really bad but on the whole I think I can find a way to live with this and hopefully reduce the severity. I wouldn't wish this on anyone and I wanted to share a few things that I have found helpful:
Get some rest, if I don't sleep, the next day tends to be pretty bad. I take half a Benadryl at night as insurance to sleep.
I cut my drinking way back. I would drink at night because I felt so bad after a day at work where I white-knuckled a panic filled day. For me, cutting back or not drinking at all has helped. I live for great red wine so this has been a challenge at times but worth it.
I went through weekly intensive CBT at a local university. It was affordable and I LOVED my therapist. It helps to connect with the person and to do your assignments. This was a huge help and gave me some great tools to use when I do have anxiety and panic. I went for 12 weeks. It cost 25 a session. You might be able to find a program near you at a local university.
I started back on meds even though I really, really didn't want to take anything. The fact is for me, I need them. They help. I started lexapro recently and (fingers crossed) I hope it gives my embattled brain the serotonin boost it needs. This time of year tends to be very hard for me so the timing seemed right. My doctor also thought it would be a good idea.
I use xanax very, very lightly and only infrequently. Just having it helps. It calms me to know that if I can't handle the situation I can take a half or quarter of pill. The dose I take is so low it is most likely a placebo effect but I don't care.
I try to get some exercise. This is a tricky one because if I don't exercise I tend to be very hard on myself so I try to be kind to myself and encourage myself to do what I can.
I found the CD by Roberta Shapiro "Goodbye Worries" surprisingly helpful. I downloaded it from Amazon.
One day I had horrible panic. I had to drive 4 hours to pick my son up from college. Thankfully he drove home and on the ride back I was much calmer. In my calm state after experiencing hours of high anxiety and panic, I wrote a letter to my anxious self. It basically said that the thoughts will pass, try and relax, take deep breaths, tell yourself a joke, etc...I keep this letter and read it every time I start to go down the rabbit hole of anxiety/panic, Find your own words to kindly tell yourself how to calm yourself and your thoughts.
Deep breathing exercises. This one I learned at CBT. I had a habit of holding my breath when I started to feel anxious. Who knew that was causing the physical sensations. The deep belly breaching focuses my attention elsewhere and gets the oxygen levels to a more normal level.
I keep a sporadic journal. In my little pocket notebook where I wrote my letter to anxious self. When I think of something that might help me when I am feeling anxious/panic, I jot it down.
This condition is truly terrible. People don't understand if they haven't experienced it. Help is available and my suggestion is to try a few things out to see what works for you. Don't give up