Panic attacks and/or anxiety attacks, as there’s not much difference, can hit you at any time. They usually hit you at the worst possible moment. If you are a sufferer I’m sure you would give anything to stop them dead. Your wish could be granted.
BANG! It Hits For The First Time
My wife was driving when she was struck by her first panic attack. Clearly this could have had disastrous consequences. When we both got over the shock, and let me tell you I was as shocked as her. We went to visit our doctor.
The doctor gave us the usual garbage about it being all in her head, no real danger, blah blah blah. We then got prescribed some beta blockers. I mention “we” got prescribed beta blockers as I really felt I was involved as much as my wife in all this. Beta blockers work by slowing the heart. By doing this a panic attack shouldn’t build as the heart can’t race out of control.
We went for a drive and at the exact same location she felt an attack coming. The upshot was, she had a full blown panic attack. Albeit without the racing heart rate. She described it as worse than normal as she felt both out of control and calm at the same time.
The Drugs Went Straight In The Trash
We trashed the beta blockers as soon as we got safely home. My wife suffered for about nine months not being able to get behind the wheel. She had mixed feelings about it because she didn’t suffer panic attacks when she wasn’t driving.
She was determined we couldn’t allow the situation to continue. Not driving wasn’t a long term option for her. I went on the web and did a bit of digging. We tried a few different things, with mixed results. None of them worked properly, at least not for us.
We Tried System After System
I came across yet another “system” that claimed to be a magic bullet. As we had tried everything we found so far we tried this also. Initial results were OK. We knew any success was because of the method and not the drugs, which she wasn’t taking. The first attempt at driving and she got the overwhelming senses of an attack coming. She put the system into gear and managed to come out unscathed. So far so good.
We had a chat later and she reported she definitely had an attack. But using the methods she was able to tone it down considerably. Just knowing she had been able to lower the intensity was a huge boost in itself. She now felt the power within herself to stop the next attack dead. She didn’t quite manage this.
Working Bit By Bit
Again though, she managed to lessen its effects. She did this every time it happened. She made it less and less every time. It wasn’t too long (weeks) before she felt confident enough to see an attack coming and to halt it from going any further.
If panic attacks are the bane of your life you can either do nothing, or see your doctor and try some form of medication. The former won’t help you and the latter may or may not help.
