Wetin to Do During Panic Attack

If you dey read this for the middle of one, start here: wetin you dey feel awful, and e no dangerous. Your heart dey pound, your breath no gree catch, the room dey feel unreal, and some part of you certain say something dey terribly wrong. That certainty na the panic dey talk. Panic attack na false alarm, your body emergency system dey fire at full strength when no real emergency dey. E no fit hurt you, and e go end.

The most important thing to hold onto na the shape of am. Panic attacks dey rise fast, peak within about ten minutes, and then come down on their own, usually settling within twenty to thirty minutes. Dem get ceiling and end. You no need make am stop. You gats get through the next few minutes, and your body go do the rest.

Why e dey feel so physical

Every symptom wey dey scare you na part of one ancient, protective response, wey dem sometimes dey call fight-or-flight. Your brain don decide say threat dey and don flood your body with adrenaline to deal with am.

Na why your heart dey race, e dey push blood to your muscles. Na why your breathing dey fast and your chest dey feel tight, you dey take in oxygen for action wey never come. The dizziness, the fingers wey dey tingle, the feeling say things no real: all of am dey come from rapid breathing and surge of adrenaline, no be from anything wey dey break down inside you. Plenty people wey dey go through their first panic attack dey convinced say na heart attack dem dey get or say dem dey lose their mind. That fear make complete sense, and e still be part of the trap, because the fear dey feed the symptoms, wey dey feed more fear.

To know wetin dey actually happen dey take some of the fuel away. When the sensations stop to mean "I dey danger" and start to mean "my alarm dey misfire," dem dey lose plenty of their grip.

A plan for the moment

You no need all of these. Pick whichever one wey you fit reach.

1. Name am. Talk to yourself, plain: "Na panic attack be this. E horrible, and e no dangerous, and e go pass." To name am dey remind the thinking part of your brain say you no dey, in fact, in danger.
2. Slow your breath out. No try take big gulp of air, that one often dey make am worse. Instead, make your breath out long pass your breath in. Breathe in for count of four, out for count of six. The long breath out na the signal wey dey tell your body say the threat don over.
3. Come back to your senses. Look around and name five things wey you fit see, four wey you fit touch, three wey you fit hear, two wey you fit smell, and one wey you fit taste. This one dey pull your attention out of the spiral of "wetin if" and into the room wey you dey actually inside.
4. Try something cold. Cool water for your face or wrists, or to hold ice cube, fit interrupt the surge surprisingly fast.
5. Stop to fight am. Na the hard one and the important one be this. To brace against panic attack, dey try force am away, dey stretch am out. To let the wave rise and fall, dey trust say e go fall, dey let am move through faster.
6. Stay where you dey if e safe. The urge to run strong. But to run from place dey teach your brain say the place been dangerous, wey dey make the next time harder. To ride am out where you dey dey teach your brain the opposite.

When e begin to ease, and e go, be gentle with yourself. To get through panic attack dey take real effort, even though from outside e fit look like say you just stand there dey breathe. You do something hard.

Small note about the body, and about being sure

Panic and serious medical problems fit share symptoms, and that overlap na part of wetin dey make panic so convincing. If you never make doctor check these sensations, or if something feel genuinely different from your usual pattern, pain wey dey spread down your arm, one kind chest pain wey you never feel before, e wise to make dem evaluate you instead of to assume say na panic. To take your body serious and to manage your anxiety no be opposites.

After the storm

One single panic attack dey tiring but e no be, on im own, diagnosis. Plenty people get one and never get another. Wetin dey turn panic into something bigger na usually the fear of the next one, and the slow way your life dey shrink as you dey start to avoid the places and situations where one fit happen.

Na that part worth to take serious, and the good news na say e dey respond remarkably well to help. Panic na one of the most treatable things wey therapist dey work with. If the attacks dey recur, or if you don start to steer your days around the fear of dem, abeg reach out to professional. You no need white-knuckle this one alone, and you no need wait until e unbearable before you deserve support.

Sources

• National Institute of Mental Health, Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms
• Cleveland Clinic, Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment
• Cleveland Clinic, Grounding Techniques to Calm Anxiety