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A story of a New Zealand woman caught my eye.

She suffered Panic Attack while traveling on the bus to work on Monday mornings. The weekends were horrible for her as the fear and anticipation built up for the start of the working week. She didn’t drive, and had no other way of getting to the job that supported her family.

She gives some good tips on how to cope panic attacks:

“It’s a matter of changing your way of thinking.”

“Instead of telling myself to go to work, I’d tell myself to go in if I felt like it and this lowered the pressure.” She’d also tell herself that if she had a panic attack on the bus, she would be able to catch a taxi home - even though she knew she didn’t have the money.

This is critical for Panic attack sufferers, we are always thinking the worst. And when she was on the bus she’d imagine sewing elegant dresses or creating cordon bleu dishes even though she couldn’t sew or cook well.

Thinking distracting thoughts can also be a good technique to take your mind off the thoughts that are causing the panic.

Finally she says that helping others with the condition has been part of her recovery.
It has certainly been part of my recovery. I have set up a website to share my story of panic attack in the hope that it helps others

Panic attack sufferers avoid theme parks. The rides are terrifying.

What if you can’t? What if the child you are with needs someone to go on the ride with them?

This happened to me at Movie World on the Goldcoast in Queensland, Australia.

I had to face the scariest ride in the southern hemisphere – called Superman Escape. Even waiting in line is nerve wracking. They make you remove your glasses and even the contents of your pockets. The forces are so extreme that they can undo zips! If a coin was to fall out it could kill someone.

You start off in Gotham City chugging along slowly. Then suddenly there is a problem. Then Superman comes to the rescue and says “I’ll get you out of here fast, Superman fast”.

Next you know you are accelerating to 100 mph in 2 seconds. You can almost feel your organs being pressed against your spine.

Here is a video of the ride.

You will notice the sound track is Kryptonite by Three Doors Down. The sound track I heard was “AHHHHH” and my screams were some of the loudest.

How did I manage to even get on the ride?

As I was waiting in line I was able to use the techniques that I learned in Panic Away by Joe Barry.

It had to happen.

The Mississippi bridge collapse has created a new group of panic attack sufferers.

Katie Barnickel didn’t always hate bridges. She had her first panic attack when driving on a long bridge on her way from Washington DC to new Jersey.

Now she every time she crosses a bridge her heart pounds and her palms are sweaty.

She will avoid a bridge if she can, but if she can’t she will unbuckle her seatbelt and open the window in case she needs to escape.

She knows the fear is irrational because the chances of another bridge collapse are no greater this week than they were last week, but still she feels panicky.

As someone who knows only to well the panic that bridges can cause, I’d strongly suggest you take a look at my panic attack website and get some treatment soon.

I dispair at the way doctors deal with mental health issues.

A lovely lady at work has been getting all the symptoms of panic attack - although not badly. She is also a gym junkie and she was getting worried that the palpitations might mean she has heart problems.

She saw her doctor who was very interested in her heart problems. She arranged for my friend to be hooked up to a 24 hour heart monitor.

The results? All fine - the gym addition can continue.

So my friend says what shall we do about the palpitations. “Oh” said the doctor airily “you just need to relax more” .

That is exactly what they said to me when I was processed through the Emergency Room and given a clean bill of health.

“I can remember the first time I had an anxiety attack. It was one of the worst things I had ever experienced. It came over me like a wave, taking me by surprise and the feelings that I experienced were some that I still can not fully explain. First it seemed to take my breath away, or at least taking away my ability to breathe. Then I started to shake and felt as though I were having a heart attack. The mental anguish that I felt at that time was crushing.”

With the help of this program I have treated my anxiety attacks and now I want to share this information with others.

When treating anxiety attacks that just won’t go away, it is important to learn about natural anxiety attack relief methods that can help you get your life back under control. While anxiety is a normal, common emotion; when it becomes excessive it can become a problem that rules your life. Signs that your anxiety may have become a disorder include such symptoms as:

• Rapid heart beat
• Increased blood pressure
• Extreme panic or fear
• Muscle tension
• Headache
• Chest pain
• Irrational fear or dread
• Insomnia
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Irritability
• Shakiness
• Shortness of breath
• Changes in body temperature
• Tearfulness
• Depression

While these symptoms can be disturbing, the good news is that there are methods and techniques you can use to relieve the symptoms of anxiety and even begin to better manage your anxiety attacks.

Treatments for Anxiety Attack

Medication, relaxation techniques and behavioral therapy are the common ways used in treating panic attacks, with medication being the most popular method.

Medications such as sertraline, fluoxetine, paroxetine, or fluvoxamine help relieve anxiety and stress, and are often the first choice of medication administered to a patient. Benzodiazepines such as alprazolam and clonazepam help too. The problem with allopathic medication is that a patient gets addicted to these medications, sometimes even for life. Also, if this medication is stopped abruptly, then panic attacks may recur. The medication is usually prescribed for 3–6 weeks to get the symptoms under control before cognitive behavioural therapy begins.

Cognitive behavioural therapy involves replacing destructive thinking with positive thoughts, which will over a period of time stop the panic attacks. This was the type of program that really helped me.

Listed below are some tips for dealing with panic attacks in real time.

Technique #1 - Always keep your self talk in consideration

The way you speak with yourself and the way you process thoughts about things may have a huge effect on your likelihood of having a panic attack. One good tip is to always be conscious of what’s happening in your head.

One way to do this is to repeat affirmative statements to yourself when you begin to feel an anxiety attack coming on. Such statements might include:

• “I will be alright.”
• “I can get through this.”
• “Nothing is going to harm me.”

Changing the direction of your thoughts when an anxiety attack begins can actually redirect the signals your body receives and as a result impact the symptoms you are experiencing. This will decrease and even eventually begin to eliminate those symptoms.

Technique #2 - Maintain focus exclusively on your inhales and exhales

Try and remember to reduce the speed of your breathing, because your breath is in tune with your brain and you will see a difference because of it. Now try breathing in this fashion - Take a deep breath with a count of 7 and breathe out with a count of 10. After only a few seconds you should feel better and may have avoided another panic attack.

Technique #3 - Know all of the symptoms of panic attacks

You should already be familiar with the various panic attack symptoms so that when you begin to see yourself experiencing any of the symptoms you can take immediate action before it is an issue.

It can also be beneficial to create your own first-aid kit that you can have with you if an attack should occur. Items you might keep in your kit include soothing music, calming poetry, self-affirming statements written on index cards, calming scented oils and telephone numbers of people you can call to help you through the situation.

These are only a few of the many tips available for overcoming your anxiety attacks. For more in depth information that really helped me

click here.

My family were a great help to me when I was having panic attacks in public.

Should you help a complete stranger obviously having an attack?

I was in Queensland recently at a theme park called Seaworld.I know people have raved about it but the group I was with took to calling it “D-World” because it was below average. The 11 year old in our group said it made him feel embarrassed to be Australian.

It was dirty, the rides were lame, and the shows with animals were so corny that it was like watching a kids show from the 1950’s.

One of the better things was a Giant Ferris wheel called the SeaWorld Eye. It gave a magnificent view of the Gold Coast and the spectacular high rise in Surfers Paradise.

As we were getting into a cabin the attendant said “hit the red button if you have a problem”.

As someone who used to suffer panic attacks one of my agendas for doing the ride was to test out how far I have come.

So sure I was anxious getting on. I was even more anxious when after 4 laps we were still going around with no sign of being able to get off.

Suddenly the huge wheel shudders to a halt and we hear muffled screams across the intercom.

Our cabin rocks back and forth in the strong wind. No sign of movement. Minor panic starts. Then the wheels starts going backwards.

Eventually we get down and happily escape the cabin. A little further on a cabin door burst open and out rushes a woman in obvious distress – having a panic attack.

What was I to do? I have years of experience of dealing with panic attacks but she was a stranger.

I hesitated and hung back – she disappeared into the crowds.

Later that night I really wished that I had helped.

If you ever need to help someone having an attack there are some tips that my mother Beryl put together from years of dealing with me.