Excerpt from PANIC ATTACKS CALMING THE STORM  Brian Ludwig:  FIND IT ON AMAZON

With the onset of a panic or anxiety attack, our tactic is to do what it takes to end the duration of the attack as quickly as possible. Our efforts focus on the attempt to stop the release of any further stress hormones into the bloodstream. ( be sure to check out the links at the end about stress hormones.) Let us start with a list that will be helpful as you gain back control of your life.

WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE AN ATTACK

Don’t remain idle.    

Breathe correctly.

Force yourself to talk. Speak words of truth and faith or sing (something positive) out loud!

Engage people in a positive, distracting conversation.

Call a friend for help.

Watch comedy to initiate laughter. Find something that always makes you laugh. Or Force yourself to laugh

Procedure for when the attack subsides, and you regain control.

For some reason, adrenaline was released into your bloodstream without any apparent danger. Using the techniques previously listed effectively, you will successfully stop any further release of adrenaline into your bloodstream.

Immediately after the attack, there is always some cleanup work to do.

Once again, it’s important not to stay in silence. Silence is a perfect time for the art of speculation to kick in, and that’s the last thing that we want, so we will not give it a chance. There will be a tendency to then speculate on the speculation. Drop it. For the moment, forget it. It happened; you survived it. Do not hit the replay button. We are trying to erase the recording.

At first, you try to just shorten the attack and put yourself back in control. With practice, you will be able to ward them off!

( This does not mean talking about what you just went through!)

Continue to read over your daily faith/truth statements. For myself, I would do this and then I would also begin to thank God for delivering me from the panic attack.

Things like:

• I just had a complete physical my heart is fine
• I am in control and this will be over soon
• I will not speculate

( contact us if you want more suggestions)

When there are earthquakes in the natural world, they are always followed by aftershocks. When you have a panic or anxiety attack, especially depending on the severity, there’s also a tendency to have aftershocks.

Your body is in a heightened state of awareness. Your subconscious communicated to your body that there was danger present—even though there wasn’t—but because the body perceived the presence of danger, adrenaline was released into the bloodstream. It is a little more complicated but thinking of only this one fact will help you not get overwhelmed.) After an attack, everything in your body tends to be a little bit on edge. We want to get to the place where we can relax. We want to make sure that the body does not continue to release small amounts of adrenaline into the bloodstream. Therefore, don’t be alarmed by any little aftershocks. This is very normal and handled correctly, it will not explode into another panic attack.

Panic/anxiety attacks can last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. That is from the initial hormone dump. Sometimes they seem to last much longer with some even lasting up to an hour as the adrenaline dissipates. Because the symptoms produce speculation and fear more adrenaline can be continually released.  Sometimes it is referred to as rolling panic attacks. This is unacceptable. If you handle things correctly, after the initial adrenaline rush, you will be able to get things back under control quickly using the information that I’ve provided for you. The faster you stop the release of adrenaline, the faster the panic attack will come to an end. After that, your correct responses will minimize any potential repeat performances.

A repeat performance is like a leaky faucet that continues to drip. Even just a little bit of “dripping”  of “anxiety hormones” will continue to produce symptoms. Add a dose of speculation and you can remain in a holding pattern, even though the adrenaline release from the initial attack has dissipated.

The initial attack can be very frightening! However, the fear generated from the symptoms and lack of control can repeatedly set off new waves of symptoms. This reinforces your fear and panic and the cycle continues!

Therefore,  is of vital importance to get back in control as soon as possible! Remember your mindset has been conditioned by repetition to go full out hormone release when you even start to give credence to your symptoms, fear, or some trigger.

Read the sheet of your statements of faith/truth. Have conversations with people. Watch or listen to some comedy. Do not just sit there and allow yourself to speculate on what just happened or what could possibly happen in the very near future. It’s over. Let it go.

It’s very important to make sure that you are not entertaining negative, harmful thoughts. If you find that you tend to keep going back to negative thoughts, continue to engage in healthy conversation and read your statements of faith/truth out loud.

After the panic attack, attempt to eat something light. Avoid spicy foods, avoid a lot of sugar, and definitely no caffeine.

After a panic attack, you will usually feel a little tired. Position yourself where you can drift off to sleep while keeping your mind from entertaining negative thoughts. One option is to lie down and read a book out loud until you can just drift off to sleep.

Long-term maintenance

It’s very important to choose your words correctly. Learn to speak what you desire, not confirm situations in your life that you do not want.

You must learn to create a new mindset, and you must learn to create new thought patterns. As you spend more and more time speaking words of faith and truth out loud, you will begin to create a new mindset, one that will help you minimize and eventually eliminate panic attacks.

Continue to add more statements of truth/faith to your daily list. I like to refer to it as my confession sheet. What I’m doing is making confessions of the way that I choose to think. By deliberately choosing my thoughts and by meditating on them and speaking them out loud, I begin to change the way I feel.

The goal is to establish a new mindset and new thought patterns. With the correct mindset and with the correct pattern that your thoughts follow, it becomes more and more difficult for a potential panic attack to gain any momentum.

This is very important:

You just don’t get rid of a harmful mind pattern; you replace a harmful mind pattern with a healthy, desirable mind pattern.

You cannot just stop thinking. Well, I take that back; I think I have witnessed some of my idiot friends possessing the ability to do just that. No, just kidding. Seriously, you just don’t stop thoughts that you do not want; you learn to replace thoughts that you don’t want with thoughts that you do want.

This is why you must continuously meditate and speak desirable thoughts out loud. Use your emergency faith/truth statements at the onset of a panic attack but rely on your daily statements of faith/truth to establish the correct mindset and thought patterns.

Speak this list out loud boldly with emphasis repeatedly until you are relieved from symptoms! When your own ears hear your statements, it is difficult to let your mind drift to speculation. If you do not yet have a faith/truth statement list,  recite a favorite uplifting poem. Concentrate on every word!

A lot of people, through their struggle with panic attacks, have compiled a list of places or a list of things to do that they find to be unacceptable. In the previous chapters, I gave you several examples of situations and circumstances in my life that I found to be the initiators of fear, and therefore, I would avoid them. As you become stronger, you will be able to begin to go places and do things that, in the past, were not an option.

Situations and circumstances that I am referring to are not anything that would normally be unsafe or risky.

I’m not referring to anything that people, in general, would describe as being daring. What I’m referring to are simple places—simple situations—that, for some reason, make you feel uncomfortable or stir up feelings of fear within.

Let’s just say that it is very uncomfortable for you to go shopping in a certain large department store. As you get stronger, you begin to take back any ground, any territory that was taken from you by the threat of fear.

In a case like the large department store, you intentionally subject yourself to uncomfortable places to prove to your subconscious that they are not dangerous. Sometimes it helps to take another person along with you for the first time. You want to be prepared with your complete arsenal of weapons for defusing panic attacks. Each time you conquer what was previously deemed unacceptable, you become stronger and stronger at your ability to war against any future panic attacks.

Never put yourself in any danger. We are only subjecting ourselves to situations and activities that are not dangerous, but for some reason, your subconscious chose to label them threatening; therefore, we are proving our subconscious to be incorrect in its evaluation.

Learn to reduce the stress in your life. Establish priorities that help you make good use of your time without feeling unnecessary pressure. Identify things that cause anxiety and do your best to reduce those things.

When you have dates and appointments, don’t try to remember them. Make yourself notes and set reminders for yourself. It’s amazing how many times self-induced anxiety can initiate a panic attack.

TO LEARN MORE READ CHAPTER 12 

YOUR DEFENSE ARSENAL “ GO-TO GUIDE”

 PANIC ATTACKS CALMING THE STORM

Start intentionally, using your imagination to enable yourself to perceive situations from a positive view. Without realizing it, people are constantly using their imagination, but they fall into the rut of forecasting doom and gloom instead of learning how to anticipate a favorable outcome. Replace that which is undesirable with how you desire to live. Strong and in control!

                                                                                                                                        

FIGHT BACK FIGHT FEAR

YOU CAN DO IT!

HELPFUL LINKS

Information about your hormones:  ADRENALINE     and     CORTISOL

You can help to burn off adrenaline with cardiovascular exercise. It’s just like a car burning gasoline. When you do cardio your body actually burns the adrenaline up and gets rid of it! A person suffering from anxiety needs to do at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each day.