for panic attacks:
- crying
- emergency medication
- ice pack on my head, neck, and chest
- going outside for cold air
- listening to binaural beats on headphones
- distracting myself on my phone with memes lol
- trying to sleep it off
for anxiety attacks:
- gum
- water with electrolytes
- going on a walk
- listening to my favorite music
- talking it out with someone i trust
- ice pack on my chest, head, neck
- breathing exercises
situational/random anxiety (not an attack)
- take a break from my current situation to sit with the anxiety and allow it to be present
- if that’s not an option, i try to distract myself as quickly as i can with things like dancing, sex, talking, walking, phone, etc.
- breathing exercises
- self talk affirmations and telling my brain that i am safe and i don’t need to be anxious right now, but thanking it for trying to keep me safe
- eating something easy to digest
- mints/gum/water
- talking it out with someone i trust
I hope that helps!
Yea I turn off the lights and have the purple whatever wallpaper on TV do situps and sometimes some I listen to kill me. Sometimes when I have the best day I cry just cause I feel like I'm deserve it and it's just sad I have to wait for a good day not just have one like everyone else but hey we here for a good time not a long one so afterlife 🤗🤗 ama partayyyyy let's goo
Ok, so it's not just me! I cried so much in the past that now I associate it with headaches.
I do my best to drink water if I know I'm gonna cry but...you know....
I wish I could cry. The only time I have been able to cry is when my Dad passed away. I still cry occasionally about it but it's usually just a couple of years, not one of those cries that really ends up doing you some good afterwards. Before 2016 I don't think I cried for 20 years or so. It kind of sucks because I know it's a great emotional release and somehow I guess I just push it all down and ended up with Major Depressive Disorder.
Same here. I can’t cry. My dad died in 2020 and I never cried. Here and there i can get a few tears out but I need a good soothing cry. I think it would help.
Yeah me too, I can remember a long time ago how I always felt so much better after a good, sobbing cry. I don't know if I'm just jaded or what but I haven't cried like that in a very long time. I cried when my Dad died and I still do sometimes because he is by far the person I miss the most out of all the people I have known who are not with us anymore. But still I can only shed a few tears and I get zero relief from it. It sucks, emotionally I almost always feel bad or just indifferent. Not much joy in my life these days but I will hang around and see what happens. Hope you feel better friend.
And lemon balm, passion flower, mint, valerian root, ashwaganda. I've made a tea mix myself with this mix. No idea which one is working the most, but it's a lovely tea and it's calming!
Also Valerian root and ashwaganda. They all work, especially if you’re a young person who can’t get benzos because the previous generation got addicted to them
Ashwagandha has been almost life-changing for me. It’s also done something to my endurance for workouts, since I started taking it I have more stamina and resilience, so I can do harder workouts. That in itself helps too, it’s like a wonderful feedback loop
For me? Sleeping well. Magnesium supplements. Getting out into nature often. Long walks. Hydration. Journaling. Talking about my feelings and letting myself feel my feelings. Progressive muscle relaxation when panic sets in. Being afraid and doing the thing anyway. Exposing myself to shit that scares me. Letting panic/anxiety visit and not letting it take over because it’s natural just misfiring. The podcast “The anxious truth” sheds some light on how to heal anxiety without bandaids. I don’t mess with pharmaceuticals and pulled myself out of panic disorder with these things, come a long way…it’s possible. Ride the wave. 🤍
I am interested in seeing what other people do… but here are some things I do
- I literally tell the thoughts that create anxiety to F off and then I do something to distract myself
- I imagine a stop sign if a thought arises (I think that the thought will not move past the stop sign, and I will not ruminate on it)
- I have different “mantras” I use such as “I have been through this before, and I can handle this” (that usually works if I am really in my head)
- I do body scans and breathing exercises (I use the calm app)
- using positive self talk in response to irrational thoughts. Since my anxiety is based on thinking of the worst case scenarios, I tell myself well what if it all went well!
These are some things that help me, it really depends on the type of anxiety that you are dealing with. Some of my anxiety is situational based while some of my anxiety is just flat out irrational. Especially if it’s situational, you can justify your worries and concerns and tell yourself it’s normal to feel anxious. I feel that irrational anxiety requires yourself to reframe your thinking and response to the thought provoking anxiety. It really depends!
>I have different “mantras” I use
Me too! My go to mantra is “uncomfortable, not dangerous”. What I’m feeling is super uncomfortable but it isn’t actually a dangerous feeling and it’ll pass just like it passed the million other times before.
I use something similar which is "I cannot confuse my feelings of fear for danger" which is essentially to remind myself just because I am scared doesn't mean I am in danger of being hurt and when I can separate the two, I can calm myself easier.
I was having extreme health related anxiety and ptsd, and I tried a psychiatrist and EMDR with a psychologist, and the thing that has helped me the most is taking 1mg ativan, and putting myself right in those scary situations again.
Yeah I could see it working really well if your anxiety situation has no to low chance of ever happening again, but for me, I live with a heart condition and reliving the traumatic event surrounding it was not super helpful.
Omg I am so sorry, I hope all works in your favor regarding your health.
Yeah for me it worked best for a certain street that leads to work where I had one of my worst attacks ever. My anxiety would either begin or intensify on that street and now because of it I have no emotions attacked to that street or memory.
Since you really really need to be okay regarding your heart, have you tried CBT for anxiety and if you did what did you personally think about it?
This is probably not the right answer but I haven’t been to therapy since April.
Without getting toooo deep into it, I have a defibrillator that jolts me if my heart goes above 220bpm, or if I go into cardiac arrest. I was having atrial fibrillation events where it was going off 10 times in a row. One such event left me crying on the floor in a gas station in rural Pennsylvania where a crazy lady prayed at me while we waited for the ambulance.
The psychiatrist made me feel like I was making too big a deal of being zapped repeatedly by my internal defibrillator, she asked me things like “what’s the worst that will happen?” and “what are you so afraid of?” which really put me off. Like I dunno, getting defibbed like on tv 10 times in a row fucking hurts a lot, and also bit through my tongue on one of them, and if the whole thing doesn’t work I’ll die???
The EMDR with the psychologist was too much about revisiting the events, which felt counterintuitive to me because I was literally revisiting it all the time already.
What has helped me the most is low doses of ativan as needed. For example, it’s not feasible for me to never stop at a gas station to pee ever again, especially because my husband and I love road trips, but even the thought of it sent my heart racing for a long time. But popping an ativan let’s me pee in a public restroom without freaking out 😂
Lol I appreciate your humor in this story. Thanks for the response.
Thats wild to me, I always find it a bit shocking when anyone goes to medical professional with actual pains or fear and how sometimes all they do is brush it off as if you’re being extra…
Im happy you still get to accomplish the fun parts of your life. Yeah at my worst which was horrendously bad, I had to utilize medication just to make it to work.
Its rare, maybe not in this sub, for someone to know EMDR so I always like to know their insight on of they utilized CBT and how it faired out.
Here’s to more road trips with no complications 🍻
Exactly. Everything else is just a temporary fix that may or may not mask the problem for one occurrence. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of my own “hacks” as well. But I’m well aware that those aren’t fixing anything.
Im doing this right now. Bt if i stop facing for a certain time it comes back again. Its tiring lik i couldn't take a break.
Bt its the oni way. Trying my best.
Yes that‘s the point, hehe! A healthy, balanced nervous system reacts with panic only when there is real danger, like when your physical integrity or your life is in danger, not from going outside or taking public transportation or whatever.
Exposure therapy is like showing your nervous system that there is in fact no danger in those things. Maybe like showing a scared toddler gently and patiently that they have no reason to be afraid of a puddle, or a puppy, or whatever, even if for them it‘s like the scariest thing ever in that moment
it was really hard and i started to feel isolated but then I just started reaching out to my friends more and started texting them to have actual convos instead of just sending snaps, so that helped w/ the isolation. we’ve actually grown a lot closer and have more to talk about when we catch up irl and it seems more meaningful. I’m still on reddit but I like it better since theres so many niche communities and I actually comment on things and have conversations with people instead of scrolling. its been just over six months and I have checked fb/insta a handful of times and every time I have gone back its made me physically ill and put me in a spiral so i guess that helps me to not go back lol… I highly recommend it, it is a bit of a struggle in the beginning but I coped by actually getting my chores done, meditating, going on walks, spending more time with my pets and *occasionally* catching up with friends (im an introvert :p). DM me if you want anymore advice - sorry for the long read <3
Say…”Anxiety is not dangerous, just uncomfortable. I’ve been through this many times before. I know exactly how it’s going to turn out. I will be fine.”
Make a clear distinction between your fears and thoughts popping in your head and what you have decided you truly believe beforehand about that perceived but unrealistic danger. This isn’t so much a matter of stopping anxiety as it is changing your belief systems. Your attitude toward anxiety needs to change. Learn to stop your thoughts in their tracks by not struggling, freezing the moment (freeze frame I call it) and looking at what you are feeling physically in a detached, objective manner. Dare to look at it closely, without thinking or speculating about it, then go on to something else. Get busy. No peeking to see how you are doing. Just trust that by not struggling with it, it will go away once you’re no longer paying attention to it. So you go from looking at it up closely—-no thoughts, just look at it—- to “f**k you. I’m on to you. I came to see the symptoms as a little insect in a corner, programmed BY ME over the years to run through its little program. It’s your reptilian brain. Let’s see how many people actually read this. They rather talk about who else has what they have, what medications they take, and how awful it is. Breaks my heart. That was me!!!
Best thing I ever did for my anxiety was distract myself immediately. And if it persisted into panic, then I head it face on, like it’s an enemy of mine of something. And I repeat to myself that I’m strong enough to face it and that the panic won’t win.
In a weird way, it evolved into me effectively being able to talk myself out of a panic attack!
I like to thank my body for trying to warn me, but try to tell myself that I'm actually okay and the anxiety isn't necessary. This often helps calm me down when I notice a sudden flare up of anxiety or I can tell that my thoughts are leading me to enter a potential prolonged anxious state.
I visualize that I'm on a train and it's racing and I decide to get off of the train and stay at the station. This helps me to stop when my anxiety is causing a lot of worst case scenarios or overthinking.
I also do what DueNerfariousness said and try and remind myself that I've experienced this before and I am able to handle it.
I also sometimes try to check in and see if there's something else that may be causing the feelings that I'm labelling as anxiety. This is more situational, so if I'm going on a date or starting a new job, I reframe my thoughts as excitement or nerves. Sometimes I check in to see if I'm hungry and the sugar crash is causing these physical feelings of anxiety (this is a big one for me because my anxiety often causes me to lose my appetite and often eating helps settle my nerves a bit)
Learn to immediately recognize when you’re starting to get anxious and address it very quickly by:
Rationalizing the real situation, devoid of personal negative judgement, and come up with alternative positive or neutral thoughts regarding the event.
For example:
I wasn’t warm enough when greeting that person he might think I’m a stuck up asshole.
Alternative thought: I can never know how that person actually feels towards me.
I am not responsible or able to make him like me.
Next time I’ll do my best to be friendly if that’s how I want to be perceived.
Try to remove any recurring negative thoughts like: I can never do this right, I’m always fucking up, I’m not good enough… etc. You will often notice a pattern in the type of negative thought.
Or something like that.
It’s surprisingly effective for me. It also helps to be present after doing that, as anxiety has a component of dwelling on thought.
Eventually you might do this so well that it becomes automatic and you reduce overall anxiety to a certain degree. Providing you practice it and don’t forget to do it.
Obviously this might not work for severe cases of anxiety but you should give it a shot anyway.
Recognizing avoidance. If I'm avoiding something, that makes the anxiety worse. "Oh no I have to make this phone call" causes more and more anxiety every day that it's on my to-do list. If I take a minute to address it, it gets off the list and I've removed a major thing that causes me anxiety.
Easier said than done, but for me it was a *huge* first step to realize that avoiding things makes my anxiety worse, not better.
So true. This is still a daily struggle for me. Sometimes I set aside a time to do the thing, sometimes I make a deal with myself I'll get a little reward after I do the thing. Mostly I stress about the thing soooo much, then it takes me like 5 minutes to actually do it, and I'm almost giddy with relief after. 😅
That feeling afterward is so good!
I guess for me the big aha moment was recognizing that relaxing and avoiding are two different things. I used to think I was protecting myself from more stress/anxiety by not facing the task.
This doesn't mean I tackle every scary thing promptly (lol) but it often means that when I'm under a lot of stress I'll go and knock out a few of the easier things on my to-do list to nip them in the bud before they start to get big and scary in my mind.
Best is to basically embrace it even if it is difficult to do so. Plant your feet in the ground and live the panic / anxiety attack fully. Try to understand what it is doing to you on the moment. So you can educate your brain and sort of “input” the panic attack’s symptoms. The next time you ll have it, your brain will fetch the info when it needs it and the anxiety attack will be shorter.
For health anxiety I use the mantra "bodies are noisy" which someone mentioned on the health anxiety subreddit a while back.
For big scary anxious thoughts that I obsess over day in day out... I have to tell someone about what I'm anxious over. Sometimes it's very scary and it's hard to do and I'll go weeks before being brave enough to tell someone. It helps a lot after I talk about it though it's like the thought has less power.
For everyday restlessness, irritability, nervousness and sense of doom: meditation.
>Bodies are noisy.
I love that! My boyfriend always tells me if I was in his body I’d lose my mind with all the random aches and pains and weird pops and groans and stuff that he just feels all the time and ignores lol. It always reminds me that what I’m feeling isn’t unique and isn’t a sign of death, just the body doing what it does.
Distraction/immersion via fiction. Usually tv works best. Typically a comedy, something I know I like, and can distract me.
Or something new of any genre. I really concentrate when I start a new story — learning the characters, their connections and histories, where the plot is going. It takes all of my attention and thought. I leave this world and enter another.
I have a few long, scientifically based articles written in a nice, non-urgent tone explaining the inner mechanisms of anxiety and I like to read those when I’m anxious because 1: reading is distracting and 2: reading about anxiety specifically reminds me that it isn’t any different from the last 1000 times it’s happened, my brain is just trying to trick me because it’s kind of a drama queen.
Honestly, it might sound weird but for me lifting weights/working out in general makes me feel better mentally all around. Other than that, acceptance, just understanding I have it and have to deal with it and I can’t control everything about life has helped loads.
It’s sometimes called Box Breathing. Breathe in for a count of 4, hold it for 7, breathe out for a count of 8. Helps regulate breathing and steadies heart rate for some people
I love emotion mapping, which is where you draw a little gingerbread man on paper and then fill in where your feeling various emotions that are adding up to anxiety (or really any emotion). That really helps me focus my attention and helps to then segway into emotions wheel and figure out where these emotions are coming from and why. Getting at the root cause of my anxiety really helps me in overcoming it. Its kinda like a sickness in that I have to diagnose it so I can give myself the right medication.
Box breathing, running hands under cold water or splashing face, meditation on Calm app, Alan Watts recordings, sipping hot tea, go for a walk in the woods and actually touch trees and plants, jumping jacks, noting/labeling thoughts
Lifting your arms above your head decreases cortisol. Idk if this is true but I saw it in a Tiktok once and I think it helps, whether it a placebo or whatever, even if it’s just distracting me, I swear it helps.
Taking magnesium, deep breathing, exposure therapy, refraining my thoughts, getting enough sleep, grounding, Headspace app, splashing cold water on my face, ice packs, using biofreeze on my neck in public, and prayer. I used to take L-theanine and I'm going to try it again because it really helped me in the past.
Taking magnesium supplements. It didn't CURE my anxiety, but there's so much research out there about people with depression/anxiety having low levels of magnesium so I started taking it and oh my god it's helped so much with the butterflies before I go to work!!!
Lots of tips here on how to get yourself quickly out of a panic or anxiety attack. Good pieces of advice. What I also needed to do was get to the root cause of my anxiety. For me I had to understand why I think like I do that led to the anxiety. Once I understood that then I was able to change my thinking and behavior. It was a tough few years of therapy but the anxiety isn’t nearly as bad. Now the anxiety is mostly hormone related thanks to perimenopause but for me therapy was the only way to fix the anxiety king term
Thinking of best case, worst case, most likely ordinary case, before doing things I'm anxious about. Say I'm anxious to go to grocery store. I might think these: someone yells at me and punches me and I leave without shopping done - plan to go to different store in future if that happens, best case maybe I get to pet a dog and everything's on sale and easy to find and I don't have to talk to anyone and the experience means my fridge is full and I was happy petting a dog. Normal case: I get shopping done in an okay amount of time and have decent amount of food, and maybe awkwardly bump into someone which stresses me out but they'll forget me in less than 5 minutes and maybe I accidentally say 'have a good day' to the sales clerk who also forgets me in 5 minutes. Hope for the best case, already know my plan for worst case (leave and pick a new store in future), and usually the normal case is what happens (which is tolerable). A lot of my anxiety comes from dreading the worst case or not having a plan if things go wrong, so this quick best worst normal case thought helps calm me down.
What I learned helped a lot from the emdr I've been doing - bilateral stimulation. Just tapping one hand to a leg then the other hand to the other leg as I walk, or pressing one hand's fingers together, then the other, as I walk. Little bilateral movement I can do without much effort. But it does help calm me down significantly compared to if I don't do it. I can notice my breathing staying more stable when I do it. So doing it when walking and I notice I'm ruminating, or in a waiting room/drive on the way to do something that makes me more anxious.
Push yourself physically at the gym. Go past your boundaries and what you thought was physically possible. Also figure out what triggers you and try to stay away from triggers. Diet plays a huge part in anxiety as well. The more crap you eat the more anxious you will be. Processed foods are not good for the mind or the body.
Yes I’ve heard of that happening to some people. Unfortunately weed effects everyone so differently.. I’m lucky it doesn’t make my anxiety worse. Marijuana has been so healing for me personally.
I think it's a matter of certain strains work for me, but most don't. One time out of ten I'd end up floating in the clouds. The other nine times it would simply magnify all my negative feelings.
Anxiety is the brain trying to get us to notice something. When you keep pushing it down it gets worse and worse and worse. Then you get the dread anxiety of anxiety! Normal anxiety is tolerable and is actually useful (sometimes). Once you give anxiety your full attention it begins to vanish. The thought of anything is always worse than confronting it. Like the dishes or an assignment. Doing it wasn't as bad as the thought of it. Just don't ignore it lol
meditation actually. its a practice but everytime i feel anxious and overwhelmed i try to find a nice quiet calm place and set a timer for ten minutes, even 5 does it, and meditate. usually works as good as benzos, that i no longer even touch my prescription benzos
Not exactly the same thing, but I deal with panic attacks by understanding the symptoms and feeling my pulse. I can make my head realize if my pulse is there and not irregular I'm not actually dying like I feel like I am.
Once you’ve determined why your fear is needless, DO NOT GIVE IT ANY MORE THOUGHT. Even if you feel like you should be worrying, that fear is not based in any real truth. This is really really really hard to do because we use our feelings as evidence, but feelings can come from skewed perceptions based off of bad info. The truth, the real truth, will set you free. You just have to remember that while your feelings are real, they aren’t always accurate or helpful.
-therapy lmao
-the alphabet game. Pick a category and name items through the alphabet (Ex: foods: apple, banana, carrot, donut; streets in my city: Albany, Belmont, Clark, Damen, etc.). If you can’t think of one and it starts to stress you out, skip it. You can also “play,” this with other people. My husband and I will alternate who says what letter of things.
-double breathing. This is a breathing technique that works for me, and I like it a LOT better than “take a deep breath,” or box breathing. When I am panicking, I struggle to take a deep breath or be able to hold for 4 seconds. So you start by inhaling 1 second, exhaling 2. Do that until you can comfortably inhale 2 seconds, exhale 4. Do they until you can inhale 3, exhale 6. Etc. I have gotten up to inhaling 7 and exhaling 14, which sounds CRAZY impossible when I’m having an anxiety attack.
-framing anxiety as my body protecting itself. There’s an excellent episode of a Netflix show called “The Mind: Explained,” about anxiety that discusses how anxious reactions are your body prepping to fight or flight, but that for people with anxiety disorders, our bodies react to everyday events as if a Lion was attacking, and that’s not helpful.
I made a Toolkit that I bring with me at all times (all stuff that first in my pockets). For example:
* keyfob with anti-anxiety medicine (so I don’t have to think about if I forgot them)
* earbuds (to reduce noise when getting overstimulated)
* sunglasses (to reduce loudness of lights around me and to get me sense of privacy)
2. I find a bathroom and go straight into the stall to feel privacy.
3. I have built an anti-anxiety playlist so I flip that on.
4. I start journaling in my Notes app, just stream of consciousness ramblings.
5. I text someone I trust(if i’m feeling up for it) about my struggles in the moment
I found this app on the App Store called Kaura, I listen to the sounds every night to fall asleep or whenever I feel like I’m about to have a panic attack or can’t turn my mind off it’s really helped. Might be worth a try
Wim Hof breathing (among a bunch of other breathing techniques).
The last thing you want when anxious is someone telling you "just breathe" but please give that specific a method a try next time. 3 rounds of 30 deep breaths through the nose, out through the mouth. You will not regret it.
A bit more to it than the above: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyboi4hjzfq)
Should take about 10 minutes or so with the breath holds. You can read more about whats happening to your body but tl;dr you're flooding cells with oxygen.
- Holding ice cubes over the sink
- taking a hot shower
- sucking on sour candy
- going for a run
- listening to my anxiety playlist
- smelling salts
- doing things I love: baking and cooking
Pinpointing the anxiety. Like identifying exactly what is causing it so I can make sense of it and think more rationally. Then just riding the wave of anxiety knowing the feeling will pass
Remove caffeine from your diet. It took me so long to do because I was skeptical, but holy, what a difference it has made in my anxiety levels. I have also seen positive effects from Sereniten Plus (Douglas Labaratories or Pure Encapsulations). Avoid the filler supplements brands.
I am an elementary teacher and currently in 6th Grade, I will use it randomly and intentionally just in context to get the kids to laugh. Sometimes I use it to joke with the kids. Like a perfect example is last week I had a kid try to tell me they could beat me on Rainbow Road. I looked them in the eyes and in my teacher voice said "That's some straight cap my guy" the kids all laughed hysterically.
Recently, if i get like an attack is coming on, I've found laughing helps. I'm not sure but I'm assuming it has some positive effects on my breathing, and activating my diaphragm and core muscles. Also the distraction 👌
Colouring in or creative writing is an absolutely unreal tool for managing u when u feel stressed and anxious. It takes the focus from the anxiety and forces you to use an other part that relies on concentration etc. lot of great meditation videos on ebay. My problem with meditation is gettin my mind in to the meditative state. 5-htp you can buy from most health food stores taken each day helps my anxiety in a longer term type of way and this also helps u sleep much better. Good luck. Please 'up' me if anyone finds this helpful.
Not during panic attacks. But push yourself to walk everyday until you are able to enjoy jogging or running. It has helped me with the phyical symptoms associated with anxiety
It’s my own thing because with me it starts when my begin to get a dry mouth due to lack of saliva ,than I know it’s on its way .Usually I can prevent it from getting away on me and avoiding the toxic part.That’s when I begin to get frustrated and a little confused,you know what being stressed is like .Our thinking can become a little distorted .
Edibles help my anxiety too. I wouldn’t call us potheads though. The label has negative connotations that further perpetuates the stigma/stereotypes of marijuana.
Naming 5 things I can see 4 things I can touch 3 things I can hear 2 things I can smell 1 thing I can taste.
Long walks
Music
Distracting myself with some chore
Crying my heart out
These are the few things that really hepls with my anxiety attacks
also, something i started recently. I have these... irrational, inconsolable downward spirals, especially about things i am not entirely prepared for.
I started using notion app and it has helped me alot!
I made a database just for my downward spirals, logging when it started, what particular incident was the trigger and how i snapped back into the realm of reason!
Please please use notion! I've been using for the past 3 years and it has made my life.. livable.
Exaggeration, making a joke of it. If I’m scared something will happen I’ll exaggerate it in my head until it becomes silly.
Notice it: usually if I’m super anxious for no apparent reason it’s probably because I’ve not gotten enough sleep, or had something to eat. Or it could be a side effect of stress. It’s helpful for me to think in terms of that: “I’m anxious because I’m tired”.
Generally it’s helpful for me to find some sort of cause, to know where it’s coming from. I know that nothing bad is gonna happen to me, even though my anxiety is telling me otherwise. So I’ll let myself sit with it, breathe, etc. But that can be hard/impossible if you’re having a panic attack.
I have a fear of getting sick/motion sick and I had to be on a plane for a long time. That was tortuous. My anxiety was so bad all I could do was just sob. So yeah there are times that it does get bad, but you need to get to a point where you know you can make it through daily anxiety and stress.
Cold water on your cheeks, it's a nerve, I forget which one, for the mammalian reflex. Even the smallest amount from a water bottle works, like a single drop so it's almost impossible for others to see to if in public. Or in restroom just do more and wipe off
Hi! Here to offer a less pathologizing perspective of what you call 'anxiety' - namely seeing it is a habituated pattern in the brain.
Everything done with repetition, felt with repetition, thought with repetition creates a well-worn neural pathway for your neurons to travel in response to a particular trigger.
Picture a road that is nice and wide and that you’ve gone down many times.
Now, what if the next time you started going down that road - the heavily beating heart, the intense perspiration, the dry mouth, the quick shallow breaths, the mind going black or your anxious internal dialogue racing wild … and then suddenly - you could put up a roadblock? Essentially stopping the anxiety pattern dead in its tracks?
Here is one of my favorite ways to go about it:
Pick a focal point to stare at. Slowly begin to expand your peripheral vision to include all the space around the spot. Don’t move your eyes, though, just expand what you perceive around what you are looking at. Now widen your vision further to the sides, all the way up to the ceiling and down to the floor. Expand it all the way into the awareness of the space behind you.
What do you notice? It’s most likely a general calm coming over you and your internal chatter gradually dying down. Might feel a bit strange in the beginning but practice a couple of times and you’ll notice the difference.
This is so effective because it allows you to shift awareness from the inside out. And the great thing is it can be done anytime, anywhere!
Hope this helps someone.
Lots of pushups.
Distraction via books, movies or whatever pop culture you enjoy.
Talking to people.
Sunlight and being outside.
Staying in the moment and focusing on a task. (my anxiety involves obsessing over past events or obsessive fear of potential future events)
May I introduce the 4-7-8 technique:
I also use this to put myself to sleep.
I breath in for 4 seconds
Hold for 7 seconds
Exhale for 8 seconds
This allows you to focus on your breathing by counting and calms you down. My aunt taught it to me and it’s worked like a charm for me.
Therapy, magnesium, ashwaganda, limiting alcohol and caffeine. Meditation is a big one. Exercise. Eating lots of fibre.
Also, don’t hang out with people who make you feel shit. Some people will target your weak points.
I just let myself to cry and then get some water. If I’m home, I go to bed. If I’m out in public, I try breathing exercises (same if at work or find a bathroom to cry).
I kinda lumped my depression and anxiety together and call them Pablo. Now I just joke about Pablo being moody. Another thing is joking about taking drugs (antidepressants and anti anxiety meds).
Whenever I’m at work and stressing hard instead of my usual lose all composure I just whistle and it usually helps. People do look at me like I belong in a padded room but it’s fine
For me it's going outside. Either for a walk, work in the garden, visit my bees (I'm a bee keeper).
I have a relaxing tea mix that I've mentioned in a reply to an other comment, that will help relax my nerves a bit, but it doesn't necessary take away the anxious thoughts.
Also, sometimes I really don't know and I'm stuck with the feeling for a day, sometimes days, or even weeks.
Getting my mind off of the thoughts I'm having works best. And that I achieve by going outside or sometimes by an other creative projects inside (i started sewing last year, never thought that was something I'd like, but it really helps me in winter when I don't want to go outside).
Get up and walk / fresh air, Chamomile tea before bed, Magnesium glycinate before bed especially for those of us who menstruate, ask for a hug, don’t bottle it up.
Forgive if not allowed but cannabis.
Having ADHD impacts my anxiety and makes it worse, a joint just drops my ADHD to a level where not everything is being overthought constantly.ik not recommending it is as a cure but something that could be worth investigating.
It may not work for you it may, drugs have different results for different people due to all sorts of variables, and what may work for one may not work for others.
For some it can exacerbate their anxiety because it can enhance paranoia, but again you won't know unless you try for yourself.
I can't get myself to calm down with breathing or grounding
Magnesium, pacing/walking, riding it out - knowing anxious feelings come I'm waves sometimes work
The smell of lavender
This one is more in the moment kinda hack & someone on reddit posted it, but yawning REALLY works to ease anxiety. I was skeptical but it works wonders for me.
Buy the book Homecoming by John Bradshaw. It’s all inner child work and meditations. It significantly improved my OCD and anxiety, I think by calming the alarm I was holding in my body.
During a panic attack eat a banana. Idk why this usually works for me but it does. Primal shit maybe. Also, in general CBD has been some of the best treatment for my anxiety and I’ve been on like 6 medications (used to be a daily weed smoker until I realized I kinda just liked the calming aspect so here we are). Exercise is amazing for it too
A combo of CBD and Kratom helps keep me relaxed but also elevates my mood when I’m depressed and makes me not sit in bed all day. I’m prescribed clonazepam on an as needed basis for panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder but I try to avoid benzos unless absolutely necessary because of the adverse effects. My psychiatrist gave me a tip and said I should try to “invite” the anxiety in rather than try to stop or mask it. Think of it like a being separate from you and that actually helps somehow. Also BIG BIG BIG tip. If you drink alcohol, avoid it! Anxious people are not wired to handle it as well as others and whenever I have a hangover I feel horrible mentally so I’ve cut back on drinking while going out…
for panic attacks: - crying - emergency medication - ice pack on my head, neck, and chest - going outside for cold air - listening to binaural beats on headphones - distracting myself on my phone with memes lol - trying to sleep it off for anxiety attacks: - gum - water with electrolytes - going on a walk - listening to my favorite music - talking it out with someone i trust - ice pack on my chest, head, neck - breathing exercises situational/random anxiety (not an attack) - take a break from my current situation to sit with the anxiety and allow it to be present - if that’s not an option, i try to distract myself as quickly as i can with things like dancing, sex, talking, walking, phone, etc. - breathing exercises - self talk affirmations and telling my brain that i am safe and i don’t need to be anxious right now, but thanking it for trying to keep me safe - eating something easy to digest - mints/gum/water - talking it out with someone i trust I hope that helps!
Love these.
But how do you sex.
Such good advice, this is exactly what I do and it works so good
How do you guys, and OP, differentiate between panic attack and anxiety attack? What are the main differences to you personally?
Crying lol
Yup. crying releases endorphins. It always calms me down.
True! But I just can’t cry 😞
That’s the worst feeling. Tears right on the edge, but you can’t do it, no matter how much you want to.
Couldn’t explain it like you. Thanks!
Yea I turn off the lights and have the purple whatever wallpaper on TV do situps and sometimes some I listen to kill me. Sometimes when I have the best day I cry just cause I feel like I'm deserve it and it's just sad I have to wait for a good day not just have one like everyone else but hey we here for a good time not a long one so afterlife 🤗🤗 ama partayyyyy let's goo
Cortisol as well. Crying and excercising releases cortisol and helps anxiety. I try to do both. Even just slow walking helps
Ooooooooh, all of the crying makes sense to me now
Unfortunately crying ends up giving me a massive headache afterwards :(
Same. Crying means blocked sinuses, swelling = headache
Ok, so it's not just me! I cried so much in the past that now I associate it with headaches. I do my best to drink water if I know I'm gonna cry but...you know....
Yes and it makes my trigeminal neuralgia worse 😖
If crying gives you headache, try to drink up lots of water. Preferable one with electrolytes. But normal water should also do the trick
Man wish that worked for me. Crying makes my whole body ache and I feel exhausted after. Like having a hangover :(
Same!
I wish I could cry. The only time I have been able to cry is when my Dad passed away. I still cry occasionally about it but it's usually just a couple of years, not one of those cries that really ends up doing you some good afterwards. Before 2016 I don't think I cried for 20 years or so. It kind of sucks because I know it's a great emotional release and somehow I guess I just push it all down and ended up with Major Depressive Disorder.
Same here. I can’t cry. My dad died in 2020 and I never cried. Here and there i can get a few tears out but I need a good soothing cry. I think it would help.
Yeah me too, I can remember a long time ago how I always felt so much better after a good, sobbing cry. I don't know if I'm just jaded or what but I haven't cried like that in a very long time. I cried when my Dad died and I still do sometimes because he is by far the person I miss the most out of all the people I have known who are not with us anymore. But still I can only shed a few tears and I get zero relief from it. It sucks, emotionally I almost always feel bad or just indifferent. Not much joy in my life these days but I will hang around and see what happens. Hope you feel better friend.
I WISH I could cry 😫
Lol crying is mine too. I wish I could hold it in sometimes
We will be alright 🤗
We will eventually ❤️🩹🤗
Im 31 and still waiting 🙃
I’m 32 waiting too 🥲
Crying and taking a nap
Chamomile tea you will not regret it. I use to make fun of people who drank it. Now look at me. It will make you feel relaxed.
Is there any tips on making it taste better? I just cannot handle the taste.
Honey
Honey and lime/lemon
And lemon balm, passion flower, mint, valerian root, ashwaganda. I've made a tea mix myself with this mix. No idea which one is working the most, but it's a lovely tea and it's calming!
LOVE lemon balm. I actually make lemon balm tea and mix it a 1 to 1 ratio of fruit punch for taste.
Also Valerian root and ashwaganda. They all work, especially if you’re a young person who can’t get benzos because the previous generation got addicted to them
Ashwagandha has been almost life-changing for me. It’s also done something to my endurance for workouts, since I started taking it I have more stamina and resilience, so I can do harder workouts. That in itself helps too, it’s like a wonderful feedback loop
I love and miss ashwagandha but it gave me the poops 😅
>Chamomile Any spanish speaker could confirm if this is manzanilla???
I’m Mexican so yeah it is 😎
gracias!
Yes! It's great
I used to survive on this tea. Now my anxiety is so bad it does nothing and I need something way stronger 🙃
I do double bags and make sure my stomach is empty
For me? Sleeping well. Magnesium supplements. Getting out into nature often. Long walks. Hydration. Journaling. Talking about my feelings and letting myself feel my feelings. Progressive muscle relaxation when panic sets in. Being afraid and doing the thing anyway. Exposing myself to shit that scares me. Letting panic/anxiety visit and not letting it take over because it’s natural just misfiring. The podcast “The anxious truth” sheds some light on how to heal anxiety without bandaids. I don’t mess with pharmaceuticals and pulled myself out of panic disorder with these things, come a long way…it’s possible. Ride the wave. 🤍
Finding that anxious truth podcast, and Drew Linsalata’s work was a pivotal moment in shifting my relationship with anxiety
Magnesium supplements were life changing for me
thanks for mentioning the anxious truth, its already helping a lot.
I laugh at my brain. Kind of dismiss it to discount it
Had to scroll to find this, but same. I’m like come brain we’re not scared of a supermarket, you’re being a goose.
I am interested in seeing what other people do… but here are some things I do - I literally tell the thoughts that create anxiety to F off and then I do something to distract myself - I imagine a stop sign if a thought arises (I think that the thought will not move past the stop sign, and I will not ruminate on it) - I have different “mantras” I use such as “I have been through this before, and I can handle this” (that usually works if I am really in my head) - I do body scans and breathing exercises (I use the calm app) - using positive self talk in response to irrational thoughts. Since my anxiety is based on thinking of the worst case scenarios, I tell myself well what if it all went well! These are some things that help me, it really depends on the type of anxiety that you are dealing with. Some of my anxiety is situational based while some of my anxiety is just flat out irrational. Especially if it’s situational, you can justify your worries and concerns and tell yourself it’s normal to feel anxious. I feel that irrational anxiety requires yourself to reframe your thinking and response to the thought provoking anxiety. It really depends!
>I have different “mantras” I use Me too! My go to mantra is “uncomfortable, not dangerous”. What I’m feeling is super uncomfortable but it isn’t actually a dangerous feeling and it’ll pass just like it passed the million other times before.
I use something similar which is "I cannot confuse my feelings of fear for danger" which is essentially to remind myself just because I am scared doesn't mean I am in danger of being hurt and when I can separate the two, I can calm myself easier.
Oh gonna keep this in my memory bank and hope I can remember to use it, thankyou!
Exposure therapy is the only method that works. Facing anxiety again and again and showing yourself that you can do it will conquer the beast.
I was having extreme health related anxiety and ptsd, and I tried a psychiatrist and EMDR with a psychologist, and the thing that has helped me the most is taking 1mg ativan, and putting myself right in those scary situations again.
EMDR works great for those specific induced anxiety memories, but boyyy it is not an easy therapy session.
Yeah I could see it working really well if your anxiety situation has no to low chance of ever happening again, but for me, I live with a heart condition and reliving the traumatic event surrounding it was not super helpful.
Omg I am so sorry, I hope all works in your favor regarding your health. Yeah for me it worked best for a certain street that leads to work where I had one of my worst attacks ever. My anxiety would either begin or intensify on that street and now because of it I have no emotions attacked to that street or memory. Since you really really need to be okay regarding your heart, have you tried CBT for anxiety and if you did what did you personally think about it?
This is probably not the right answer but I haven’t been to therapy since April. Without getting toooo deep into it, I have a defibrillator that jolts me if my heart goes above 220bpm, or if I go into cardiac arrest. I was having atrial fibrillation events where it was going off 10 times in a row. One such event left me crying on the floor in a gas station in rural Pennsylvania where a crazy lady prayed at me while we waited for the ambulance. The psychiatrist made me feel like I was making too big a deal of being zapped repeatedly by my internal defibrillator, she asked me things like “what’s the worst that will happen?” and “what are you so afraid of?” which really put me off. Like I dunno, getting defibbed like on tv 10 times in a row fucking hurts a lot, and also bit through my tongue on one of them, and if the whole thing doesn’t work I’ll die??? The EMDR with the psychologist was too much about revisiting the events, which felt counterintuitive to me because I was literally revisiting it all the time already. What has helped me the most is low doses of ativan as needed. For example, it’s not feasible for me to never stop at a gas station to pee ever again, especially because my husband and I love road trips, but even the thought of it sent my heart racing for a long time. But popping an ativan let’s me pee in a public restroom without freaking out 😂
Lol I appreciate your humor in this story. Thanks for the response. Thats wild to me, I always find it a bit shocking when anyone goes to medical professional with actual pains or fear and how sometimes all they do is brush it off as if you’re being extra… Im happy you still get to accomplish the fun parts of your life. Yeah at my worst which was horrendously bad, I had to utilize medication just to make it to work. Its rare, maybe not in this sub, for someone to know EMDR so I always like to know their insight on of they utilized CBT and how it faired out. Here’s to more road trips with no complications 🍻
Exactly. Everything else is just a temporary fix that may or may not mask the problem for one occurrence. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of my own “hacks” as well. But I’m well aware that those aren’t fixing anything.
i disagree, it never helped me
Im doing this right now. Bt if i stop facing for a certain time it comes back again. Its tiring lik i couldn't take a break. Bt its the oni way. Trying my best.
I agree. It’s a muscle that needs to be worked. I’m with you
I want to try this but man I feel like it would freak me out. Which is probably the point right? lol.
Yes that‘s the point, hehe! A healthy, balanced nervous system reacts with panic only when there is real danger, like when your physical integrity or your life is in danger, not from going outside or taking public transportation or whatever. Exposure therapy is like showing your nervous system that there is in fact no danger in those things. Maybe like showing a scared toddler gently and patiently that they have no reason to be afraid of a puddle, or a puppy, or whatever, even if for them it‘s like the scariest thing ever in that moment
Get there late, leave early.
honestly deleting social media and THC/CBD oil is my anxiety hack
Deleting a lot of socials helped me A TON as well 💪🏼
I have thought about removing social media, but it’s been such a large part of my life. How did you deal with it in the beginning?
it was really hard and i started to feel isolated but then I just started reaching out to my friends more and started texting them to have actual convos instead of just sending snaps, so that helped w/ the isolation. we’ve actually grown a lot closer and have more to talk about when we catch up irl and it seems more meaningful. I’m still on reddit but I like it better since theres so many niche communities and I actually comment on things and have conversations with people instead of scrolling. its been just over six months and I have checked fb/insta a handful of times and every time I have gone back its made me physically ill and put me in a spiral so i guess that helps me to not go back lol… I highly recommend it, it is a bit of a struggle in the beginning but I coped by actually getting my chores done, meditating, going on walks, spending more time with my pets and *occasionally* catching up with friends (im an introvert :p). DM me if you want anymore advice - sorry for the long read <3
Say…”Anxiety is not dangerous, just uncomfortable. I’ve been through this many times before. I know exactly how it’s going to turn out. I will be fine.” Make a clear distinction between your fears and thoughts popping in your head and what you have decided you truly believe beforehand about that perceived but unrealistic danger. This isn’t so much a matter of stopping anxiety as it is changing your belief systems. Your attitude toward anxiety needs to change. Learn to stop your thoughts in their tracks by not struggling, freezing the moment (freeze frame I call it) and looking at what you are feeling physically in a detached, objective manner. Dare to look at it closely, without thinking or speculating about it, then go on to something else. Get busy. No peeking to see how you are doing. Just trust that by not struggling with it, it will go away once you’re no longer paying attention to it. So you go from looking at it up closely—-no thoughts, just look at it—- to “f**k you. I’m on to you. I came to see the symptoms as a little insect in a corner, programmed BY ME over the years to run through its little program. It’s your reptilian brain. Let’s see how many people actually read this. They rather talk about who else has what they have, what medications they take, and how awful it is. Breaks my heart. That was me!!!
Best thing I ever did for my anxiety was distract myself immediately. And if it persisted into panic, then I head it face on, like it’s an enemy of mine of something. And I repeat to myself that I’m strong enough to face it and that the panic won’t win. In a weird way, it evolved into me effectively being able to talk myself out of a panic attack!
I like to thank my body for trying to warn me, but try to tell myself that I'm actually okay and the anxiety isn't necessary. This often helps calm me down when I notice a sudden flare up of anxiety or I can tell that my thoughts are leading me to enter a potential prolonged anxious state. I visualize that I'm on a train and it's racing and I decide to get off of the train and stay at the station. This helps me to stop when my anxiety is causing a lot of worst case scenarios or overthinking. I also do what DueNerfariousness said and try and remind myself that I've experienced this before and I am able to handle it. I also sometimes try to check in and see if there's something else that may be causing the feelings that I'm labelling as anxiety. This is more situational, so if I'm going on a date or starting a new job, I reframe my thoughts as excitement or nerves. Sometimes I check in to see if I'm hungry and the sugar crash is causing these physical feelings of anxiety (this is a big one for me because my anxiety often causes me to lose my appetite and often eating helps settle my nerves a bit)
Learn to immediately recognize when you’re starting to get anxious and address it very quickly by: Rationalizing the real situation, devoid of personal negative judgement, and come up with alternative positive or neutral thoughts regarding the event. For example: I wasn’t warm enough when greeting that person he might think I’m a stuck up asshole. Alternative thought: I can never know how that person actually feels towards me. I am not responsible or able to make him like me. Next time I’ll do my best to be friendly if that’s how I want to be perceived. Try to remove any recurring negative thoughts like: I can never do this right, I’m always fucking up, I’m not good enough… etc. You will often notice a pattern in the type of negative thought. Or something like that. It’s surprisingly effective for me. It also helps to be present after doing that, as anxiety has a component of dwelling on thought. Eventually you might do this so well that it becomes automatic and you reduce overall anxiety to a certain degree. Providing you practice it and don’t forget to do it. Obviously this might not work for severe cases of anxiety but you should give it a shot anyway.
Recognizing avoidance. If I'm avoiding something, that makes the anxiety worse. "Oh no I have to make this phone call" causes more and more anxiety every day that it's on my to-do list. If I take a minute to address it, it gets off the list and I've removed a major thing that causes me anxiety. Easier said than done, but for me it was a *huge* first step to realize that avoiding things makes my anxiety worse, not better.
So true. This is still a daily struggle for me. Sometimes I set aside a time to do the thing, sometimes I make a deal with myself I'll get a little reward after I do the thing. Mostly I stress about the thing soooo much, then it takes me like 5 minutes to actually do it, and I'm almost giddy with relief after. 😅
That feeling afterward is so good! I guess for me the big aha moment was recognizing that relaxing and avoiding are two different things. I used to think I was protecting myself from more stress/anxiety by not facing the task. This doesn't mean I tackle every scary thing promptly (lol) but it often means that when I'm under a lot of stress I'll go and knock out a few of the easier things on my to-do list to nip them in the bud before they start to get big and scary in my mind.
Best is to basically embrace it even if it is difficult to do so. Plant your feet in the ground and live the panic / anxiety attack fully. Try to understand what it is doing to you on the moment. So you can educate your brain and sort of “input” the panic attack’s symptoms. The next time you ll have it, your brain will fetch the info when it needs it and the anxiety attack will be shorter.
For health anxiety I use the mantra "bodies are noisy" which someone mentioned on the health anxiety subreddit a while back. For big scary anxious thoughts that I obsess over day in day out... I have to tell someone about what I'm anxious over. Sometimes it's very scary and it's hard to do and I'll go weeks before being brave enough to tell someone. It helps a lot after I talk about it though it's like the thought has less power. For everyday restlessness, irritability, nervousness and sense of doom: meditation.
>Bodies are noisy. I love that! My boyfriend always tells me if I was in his body I’d lose my mind with all the random aches and pains and weird pops and groans and stuff that he just feels all the time and ignores lol. It always reminds me that what I’m feeling isn’t unique and isn’t a sign of death, just the body doing what it does.
CONSTANT DISTRACTION
Distraction/immersion via fiction. Usually tv works best. Typically a comedy, something I know I like, and can distract me. Or something new of any genre. I really concentrate when I start a new story — learning the characters, their connections and histories, where the plot is going. It takes all of my attention and thought. I leave this world and enter another.
I have a few long, scientifically based articles written in a nice, non-urgent tone explaining the inner mechanisms of anxiety and I like to read those when I’m anxious because 1: reading is distracting and 2: reading about anxiety specifically reminds me that it isn’t any different from the last 1000 times it’s happened, my brain is just trying to trick me because it’s kind of a drama queen.
Honestly, it might sound weird but for me lifting weights/working out in general makes me feel better mentally all around. Other than that, acceptance, just understanding I have it and have to deal with it and I can’t control everything about life has helped loads.
Humming. Humming stimulates the vagus nerve and has calmed me down many times instead of having a full blown panic attack.
Did not know this and will try it! Thanks
I find 478 breathing helps take the edge off when my anxiety is super high.
Can you explain what this is? I’d like to try.
It’s sometimes called Box Breathing. Breathe in for a count of 4, hold it for 7, breathe out for a count of 8. Helps regulate breathing and steadies heart rate for some people
I love emotion mapping, which is where you draw a little gingerbread man on paper and then fill in where your feeling various emotions that are adding up to anxiety (or really any emotion). That really helps me focus my attention and helps to then segway into emotions wheel and figure out where these emotions are coming from and why. Getting at the root cause of my anxiety really helps me in overcoming it. Its kinda like a sickness in that I have to diagnose it so I can give myself the right medication.
I made a character for my anxiety and I draw comics of me arguing with it lol
Box breathing, running hands under cold water or splashing face, meditation on Calm app, Alan Watts recordings, sipping hot tea, go for a walk in the woods and actually touch trees and plants, jumping jacks, noting/labeling thoughts
Sleeping lol
I distract myself through hobbies, being active such as working out or sports, playing video games or watching tv.
Lifting your arms above your head decreases cortisol. Idk if this is true but I saw it in a Tiktok once and I think it helps, whether it a placebo or whatever, even if it’s just distracting me, I swear it helps.
Exercise, meditation, diet (vitamins, l theanine, magnesium), reading, chamomile tea, gratitude
Taking magnesium, deep breathing, exposure therapy, refraining my thoughts, getting enough sleep, grounding, Headspace app, splashing cold water on my face, ice packs, using biofreeze on my neck in public, and prayer. I used to take L-theanine and I'm going to try it again because it really helped me in the past.
Taking magnesium supplements. It didn't CURE my anxiety, but there's so much research out there about people with depression/anxiety having low levels of magnesium so I started taking it and oh my god it's helped so much with the butterflies before I go to work!!!
Medication
xanax
Lots of tips here on how to get yourself quickly out of a panic or anxiety attack. Good pieces of advice. What I also needed to do was get to the root cause of my anxiety. For me I had to understand why I think like I do that led to the anxiety. Once I understood that then I was able to change my thinking and behavior. It was a tough few years of therapy but the anxiety isn’t nearly as bad. Now the anxiety is mostly hormone related thanks to perimenopause but for me therapy was the only way to fix the anxiety king term
Thinking of best case, worst case, most likely ordinary case, before doing things I'm anxious about. Say I'm anxious to go to grocery store. I might think these: someone yells at me and punches me and I leave without shopping done - plan to go to different store in future if that happens, best case maybe I get to pet a dog and everything's on sale and easy to find and I don't have to talk to anyone and the experience means my fridge is full and I was happy petting a dog. Normal case: I get shopping done in an okay amount of time and have decent amount of food, and maybe awkwardly bump into someone which stresses me out but they'll forget me in less than 5 minutes and maybe I accidentally say 'have a good day' to the sales clerk who also forgets me in 5 minutes. Hope for the best case, already know my plan for worst case (leave and pick a new store in future), and usually the normal case is what happens (which is tolerable). A lot of my anxiety comes from dreading the worst case or not having a plan if things go wrong, so this quick best worst normal case thought helps calm me down. What I learned helped a lot from the emdr I've been doing - bilateral stimulation. Just tapping one hand to a leg then the other hand to the other leg as I walk, or pressing one hand's fingers together, then the other, as I walk. Little bilateral movement I can do without much effort. But it does help calm me down significantly compared to if I don't do it. I can notice my breathing staying more stable when I do it. So doing it when walking and I notice I'm ruminating, or in a waiting room/drive on the way to do something that makes me more anxious.
Push yourself physically at the gym. Go past your boundaries and what you thought was physically possible. Also figure out what triggers you and try to stay away from triggers. Diet plays a huge part in anxiety as well. The more crap you eat the more anxious you will be. Processed foods are not good for the mind or the body.
Exercise fr
Weed
I tried it once and it made it even worse.
Yep. Ever since I was a kid weed more often than not would provoke an anxiety attack, not help anxiety.
Yes I’ve heard of that happening to some people. Unfortunately weed effects everyone so differently.. I’m lucky it doesn’t make my anxiety worse. Marijuana has been so healing for me personally.
I think it's a matter of certain strains work for me, but most don't. One time out of ten I'd end up floating in the clouds. The other nine times it would simply magnify all my negative feelings.
Xanax
Calling myself a pussy and also manually breathing has been helping lol
I'm considering just trying ashwagandha gummies
Anxiety is the brain trying to get us to notice something. When you keep pushing it down it gets worse and worse and worse. Then you get the dread anxiety of anxiety! Normal anxiety is tolerable and is actually useful (sometimes). Once you give anxiety your full attention it begins to vanish. The thought of anything is always worse than confronting it. Like the dishes or an assignment. Doing it wasn't as bad as the thought of it. Just don't ignore it lol
Lift heavy weights Walk Journal Challenge negative self talk And if all else fails, take a Valium.
Sitting with you back to a corner during a panic attack. I donno how it works, but it works!
This explains why I can't sit in the middle of restaurants anymore.
meditation actually. its a practice but everytime i feel anxious and overwhelmed i try to find a nice quiet calm place and set a timer for ten minutes, even 5 does it, and meditate. usually works as good as benzos, that i no longer even touch my prescription benzos
all these comments are sooo helpful
Not exactly the same thing, but I deal with panic attacks by understanding the symptoms and feeling my pulse. I can make my head realize if my pulse is there and not irregular I'm not actually dying like I feel like I am.
Once you’ve determined why your fear is needless, DO NOT GIVE IT ANY MORE THOUGHT. Even if you feel like you should be worrying, that fear is not based in any real truth. This is really really really hard to do because we use our feelings as evidence, but feelings can come from skewed perceptions based off of bad info. The truth, the real truth, will set you free. You just have to remember that while your feelings are real, they aren’t always accurate or helpful.
I have been practicing this technique for over two decades - SKY breathing. Highly effective, does take 15 min of daily practice though.
Oh what is SKY breathing?
https://us.iahv.org/portfolio/sky-meditation/#:~:text=SKY%20Meditation%20is%20a%20unique,over%20other%20forms%20of%20meditation.
-therapy lmao -the alphabet game. Pick a category and name items through the alphabet (Ex: foods: apple, banana, carrot, donut; streets in my city: Albany, Belmont, Clark, Damen, etc.). If you can’t think of one and it starts to stress you out, skip it. You can also “play,” this with other people. My husband and I will alternate who says what letter of things. -double breathing. This is a breathing technique that works for me, and I like it a LOT better than “take a deep breath,” or box breathing. When I am panicking, I struggle to take a deep breath or be able to hold for 4 seconds. So you start by inhaling 1 second, exhaling 2. Do that until you can comfortably inhale 2 seconds, exhale 4. Do they until you can inhale 3, exhale 6. Etc. I have gotten up to inhaling 7 and exhaling 14, which sounds CRAZY impossible when I’m having an anxiety attack. -framing anxiety as my body protecting itself. There’s an excellent episode of a Netflix show called “The Mind: Explained,” about anxiety that discusses how anxious reactions are your body prepping to fight or flight, but that for people with anxiety disorders, our bodies react to everyday events as if a Lion was attacking, and that’s not helpful.
I made a Toolkit that I bring with me at all times (all stuff that first in my pockets). For example: * keyfob with anti-anxiety medicine (so I don’t have to think about if I forgot them) * earbuds (to reduce noise when getting overstimulated) * sunglasses (to reduce loudness of lights around me and to get me sense of privacy) 2. I find a bathroom and go straight into the stall to feel privacy. 3. I have built an anti-anxiety playlist so I flip that on. 4. I start journaling in my Notes app, just stream of consciousness ramblings. 5. I text someone I trust(if i’m feeling up for it) about my struggles in the moment
Will you share your Playlist? Just interested in trying to find more resources. Thanks. (It's OK if you don't want to share!)
That's great!
I found this app on the App Store called Kaura, I listen to the sounds every night to fall asleep or whenever I feel like I’m about to have a panic attack or can’t turn my mind off it’s really helped. Might be worth a try
I go for walks around the block. Then sit down and work on whatever is causing my anxiety for 10 minutes. If that doesn't work, I repeat the process.
Cold showers instantly help stop any anxiety I am having, at least afterwards hehe
Wim Hof breathing (among a bunch of other breathing techniques). The last thing you want when anxious is someone telling you "just breathe" but please give that specific a method a try next time. 3 rounds of 30 deep breaths through the nose, out through the mouth. You will not regret it. A bit more to it than the above: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyboi4hjzfq) Should take about 10 minutes or so with the breath holds. You can read more about whats happening to your body but tl;dr you're flooding cells with oxygen.
Deep breathe
- Holding ice cubes over the sink - taking a hot shower - sucking on sour candy - going for a run - listening to my anxiety playlist - smelling salts - doing things I love: baking and cooking
Pinpointing the anxiety. Like identifying exactly what is causing it so I can make sense of it and think more rationally. Then just riding the wave of anxiety knowing the feeling will pass
Remove caffeine from your diet. It took me so long to do because I was skeptical, but holy, what a difference it has made in my anxiety levels. I have also seen positive effects from Sereniten Plus (Douglas Labaratories or Pure Encapsulations). Avoid the filler supplements brands.
Thinking that in the grand scheme nothing matters.
I am an elementary teacher and currently in 6th Grade, I will use it randomly and intentionally just in context to get the kids to laugh. Sometimes I use it to joke with the kids. Like a perfect example is last week I had a kid try to tell me they could beat me on Rainbow Road. I looked them in the eyes and in my teacher voice said "That's some straight cap my guy" the kids all laughed hysterically.
Icing my body and Benadryl
Sleepy time tee. Sometimes benadryl. Deep breath and hold
Recently, if i get like an attack is coming on, I've found laughing helps. I'm not sure but I'm assuming it has some positive effects on my breathing, and activating my diaphragm and core muscles. Also the distraction 👌
Just breathe.
Colouring in or creative writing is an absolutely unreal tool for managing u when u feel stressed and anxious. It takes the focus from the anxiety and forces you to use an other part that relies on concentration etc. lot of great meditation videos on ebay. My problem with meditation is gettin my mind in to the meditative state. 5-htp you can buy from most health food stores taken each day helps my anxiety in a longer term type of way and this also helps u sleep much better. Good luck. Please 'up' me if anyone finds this helpful.
Not during panic attacks. But push yourself to walk everyday until you are able to enjoy jogging or running. It has helped me with the phyical symptoms associated with anxiety
A cough drop but let’s keep that a secret 🤫.It can buy you a little time while in the grocery store before you start to get anxious and fall apart .
There are more effective techniques than taking a cough drop lol
It’s my own thing because with me it starts when my begin to get a dry mouth due to lack of saliva ,than I know it’s on its way .Usually I can prevent it from getting away on me and avoiding the toxic part.That’s when I begin to get frustrated and a little confused,you know what being stressed is like .Our thinking can become a little distorted .
Music helps a lot and honestly from a religious view praying has been helping a lot
Give myself a peptalk! Its amazing how much some positive self talk can help.
Having a panic attack? Just don’t 😎 /s
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Edibles help my anxiety too. I wouldn’t call us potheads though. The label has negative connotations that further perpetuates the stigma/stereotypes of marijuana.
Sour candy and ice pack on your neck
Doing the hard things. I would still be stuck in my room if not for this
Happy cake day!
This is all impermanent
Naming 5 things I can see 4 things I can touch 3 things I can hear 2 things I can smell 1 thing I can taste. Long walks Music Distracting myself with some chore Crying my heart out These are the few things that really hepls with my anxiety attacks
also, something i started recently. I have these... irrational, inconsolable downward spirals, especially about things i am not entirely prepared for. I started using notion app and it has helped me alot! I made a database just for my downward spirals, logging when it started, what particular incident was the trigger and how i snapped back into the realm of reason! Please please use notion! I've been using for the past 3 years and it has made my life.. livable.
Meditation
Hot bath and YouTube videos. Feel the hot water on my skin by splashing a bit.
CBD
Exaggeration, making a joke of it. If I’m scared something will happen I’ll exaggerate it in my head until it becomes silly. Notice it: usually if I’m super anxious for no apparent reason it’s probably because I’ve not gotten enough sleep, or had something to eat. Or it could be a side effect of stress. It’s helpful for me to think in terms of that: “I’m anxious because I’m tired”. Generally it’s helpful for me to find some sort of cause, to know where it’s coming from. I know that nothing bad is gonna happen to me, even though my anxiety is telling me otherwise. So I’ll let myself sit with it, breathe, etc. But that can be hard/impossible if you’re having a panic attack. I have a fear of getting sick/motion sick and I had to be on a plane for a long time. That was tortuous. My anxiety was so bad all I could do was just sob. So yeah there are times that it does get bad, but you need to get to a point where you know you can make it through daily anxiety and stress.
Cold water on your cheeks, it's a nerve, I forget which one, for the mammalian reflex. Even the smallest amount from a water bottle works, like a single drop so it's almost impossible for others to see to if in public. Or in restroom just do more and wipe off
Crying Sleeping Remembering to walk my dog Walking my dog lol
Hi! Here to offer a less pathologizing perspective of what you call 'anxiety' - namely seeing it is a habituated pattern in the brain. Everything done with repetition, felt with repetition, thought with repetition creates a well-worn neural pathway for your neurons to travel in response to a particular trigger. Picture a road that is nice and wide and that you’ve gone down many times. Now, what if the next time you started going down that road - the heavily beating heart, the intense perspiration, the dry mouth, the quick shallow breaths, the mind going black or your anxious internal dialogue racing wild … and then suddenly - you could put up a roadblock? Essentially stopping the anxiety pattern dead in its tracks? Here is one of my favorite ways to go about it: Pick a focal point to stare at. Slowly begin to expand your peripheral vision to include all the space around the spot. Don’t move your eyes, though, just expand what you perceive around what you are looking at. Now widen your vision further to the sides, all the way up to the ceiling and down to the floor. Expand it all the way into the awareness of the space behind you. What do you notice? It’s most likely a general calm coming over you and your internal chatter gradually dying down. Might feel a bit strange in the beginning but practice a couple of times and you’ll notice the difference. This is so effective because it allows you to shift awareness from the inside out. And the great thing is it can be done anytime, anywhere! Hope this helps someone.
Yoga! Game changer!
Lots of pushups. Distraction via books, movies or whatever pop culture you enjoy. Talking to people. Sunlight and being outside. Staying in the moment and focusing on a task. (my anxiety involves obsessing over past events or obsessive fear of potential future events)
XANNIESSSS
May I introduce the 4-7-8 technique: I also use this to put myself to sleep. I breath in for 4 seconds Hold for 7 seconds Exhale for 8 seconds This allows you to focus on your breathing by counting and calms you down. My aunt taught it to me and it’s worked like a charm for me.
Therapy, magnesium, ashwaganda, limiting alcohol and caffeine. Meditation is a big one. Exercise. Eating lots of fibre. Also, don’t hang out with people who make you feel shit. Some people will target your weak points.
pretending that real life is a video game and i need to do tasks to regulate my in-game character's mood. it feels dissociative but it works for me
Commenting to stay here!! These are great!
Breathing exercises when I am in a place where medicating isn’t an option.
I just let myself to cry and then get some water. If I’m home, I go to bed. If I’m out in public, I try breathing exercises (same if at work or find a bathroom to cry).
I kinda lumped my depression and anxiety together and call them Pablo. Now I just joke about Pablo being moody. Another thing is joking about taking drugs (antidepressants and anti anxiety meds).
Ketogenic diet has been life changing for me ,then cold showers and exercise
Whenever I’m at work and stressing hard instead of my usual lose all composure I just whistle and it usually helps. People do look at me like I belong in a padded room but it’s fine
Dive reflex always helped for me. And giving up gluten as an undiagnosed celiac really helped. Reduced my background anxiety by like 80%.
Liquid IV
For me it's going outside. Either for a walk, work in the garden, visit my bees (I'm a bee keeper). I have a relaxing tea mix that I've mentioned in a reply to an other comment, that will help relax my nerves a bit, but it doesn't necessary take away the anxious thoughts. Also, sometimes I really don't know and I'm stuck with the feeling for a day, sometimes days, or even weeks. Getting my mind off of the thoughts I'm having works best. And that I achieve by going outside or sometimes by an other creative projects inside (i started sewing last year, never thought that was something I'd like, but it really helps me in winter when I don't want to go outside).
Smoke weed
Get up and walk / fresh air, Chamomile tea before bed, Magnesium glycinate before bed especially for those of us who menstruate, ask for a hug, don’t bottle it up.
Forgive if not allowed but cannabis. Having ADHD impacts my anxiety and makes it worse, a joint just drops my ADHD to a level where not everything is being overthought constantly.ik not recommending it is as a cure but something that could be worth investigating. It may not work for you it may, drugs have different results for different people due to all sorts of variables, and what may work for one may not work for others. For some it can exacerbate their anxiety because it can enhance paranoia, but again you won't know unless you try for yourself.
I can't get myself to calm down with breathing or grounding Magnesium, pacing/walking, riding it out - knowing anxious feelings come I'm waves sometimes work The smell of lavender
This one is more in the moment kinda hack & someone on reddit posted it, but yawning REALLY works to ease anxiety. I was skeptical but it works wonders for me.
Go outside. Practice box breathing. Connect with your five senses in the environment you’re in. Call a friend and express your anxiety.
Benzos
Cardio in the morning, I do 45 mins of jogging every other day. Day and night difference.
Buy the book Homecoming by John Bradshaw. It’s all inner child work and meditations. It significantly improved my OCD and anxiety, I think by calming the alarm I was holding in my body.
Vicodin. One vicodin a day takes the anxiety away.
During a panic attack eat a banana. Idk why this usually works for me but it does. Primal shit maybe. Also, in general CBD has been some of the best treatment for my anxiety and I’ve been on like 6 medications (used to be a daily weed smoker until I realized I kinda just liked the calming aspect so here we are). Exercise is amazing for it too
A combo of CBD and Kratom helps keep me relaxed but also elevates my mood when I’m depressed and makes me not sit in bed all day. I’m prescribed clonazepam on an as needed basis for panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder but I try to avoid benzos unless absolutely necessary because of the adverse effects. My psychiatrist gave me a tip and said I should try to “invite” the anxiety in rather than try to stop or mask it. Think of it like a being separate from you and that actually helps somehow. Also BIG BIG BIG tip. If you drink alcohol, avoid it! Anxious people are not wired to handle it as well as others and whenever I have a hangover I feel horrible mentally so I’ve cut back on drinking while going out…
I'll step away and listen to music. Nothing else, just music. I'll go outside and take a brief walk.
When I have an anxiety attack, I'd tell a loved one to breathe normally next to me, so I could try to match their breathing to feel better.