Finally! (My Baclofen Story)
Rock on, Musicman. That's great. What you're doing is what I do...That is to say preemptively treating the anxiety with medication, planning ahead to make sure that it doesn't get worse, and being gentle (or whatever you guys want to call it) with myself for a little while. I don't get panic attacks anymore, but I do get overwhelmed sometimes, and the same tools work.
There were two things I missed in my original post that I wanted to post just for the record. The first is about sleep. When I'm dealing with underlying anxiety (as opposed to situational stress) I am absolutely focused on getting enough sleep. This often means that when I wake in the middle of the night, I use techniques to keep myself calm and in bed until I fall asleep again. And I use medications, too. Benadryl often does the trick. But the one I use most effectively you've mentioned. Best way to guarantee an increase in anxiety is lack of good sleep.
The second thing is also something you alluded to: Knowing the nature of panic attacks (and anxiety in general) was really helpful. The physical symptoms of a panic attack are often related to the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen. (I'm writing this just for general info. Forgive if it seems pedantic.) For a looong time I thought I was breathing myself out of a panic attack, when I was actually breathing into it. Turns out that deep breaths are not necessarily a good thing! Deep breaths taken slowly may help, but the lesson of the paper bag trick is that it's really about making sure one exhales all the way through it. And that was hard for me to do in the middle of a panic attack. So more shallow, regular breathing with a full exhale can be more productive. And from what I gather, the paper bag thing really works. Since my panic attacks were usually when I was driving I never really utilized that option. Kinda hard to breath, hold a paper bag over one's mouth, and the steering wheel, and watch where I was going. Add the phone conversation into it and I was a downright menace. (kidding.) Singing and humming helped, too.
Glad you posted, and glad you're feeling better. Thanks for the opportunity to let me fill in more of my .02. Peace out, MM.
Rock on, Musicman. That's great. What you're doing is what I do...That is to say preemptively treating the anxiety with medication, planning ahead to make sure that it doesn't get worse, and being gentle (or whatever you guys want to call it) with myself for a little while. I don't get panic attacks anymore, but I do get overwhelmed sometimes, and the same tools work.
There were two things I missed in my original post that I wanted to post just for the record. The first is about sleep. When I'm dealing with underlying anxiety (as opposed to situational stress) I am absolutely focused on getting enough sleep. This often means that when I wake in the middle of the night, I use techniques to keep myself calm and in bed until I fall asleep again. And I use medications, too. Benadryl often does the trick. But the one I use most effectively you've mentioned. Best way to guarantee an increase in anxiety is lack of good sleep.
The second thing is also something you alluded to: Knowing the nature of panic attacks (and anxiety in general) was really helpful. The physical symptoms of a panic attack are often related to the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen. (I'm writing this just for general info. Forgive if it seems pedantic.) For a looong time I thought I was breathing myself out of a panic attack, when I was actually breathing into it. Turns out that deep breaths are not necessarily a good thing! Deep breaths taken slowly may help, but the lesson of the paper bag trick is that it's really about making sure one exhales all the way through it. And that was hard for me to do in the middle of a panic attack. So more shallow, regular breathing with a full exhale can be more productive. And from what I gather, the paper bag thing really works. Since my panic attacks were usually when I was driving I never really utilized that option. Kinda hard to breath, hold a paper bag over one's mouth, and the steering wheel, and watch where I was going. Add the phone conversation into it and I was a downright menace. (kidding.) Singing and humming helped, too.
Glad you posted, and glad you're feeling better. Thanks for the opportunity to let me fill in more of my .02. Peace out, MM.
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