Anyone else have little anxiety attacks?

Anxiety attacks sometimes I call them panic attacks can come on without notice. I started having them at age 41 after my son passed away and I was going through some marital problems. Went to the dr he prescribed zoloft. I took for a little while but stopped, I was afraid I was going to sleep and not wake up. What helped the most is breathing. Controlled breathing, because if not, you can hyperventilate and black out. Preventing hyperventilation is to breathe into a paper bag for a little while until your oxygen levels in the bloodstream returns to normal. I also travel with water wherever I go. Drinking water helps. I also stopped drinking coffee, anything with caffeine, since that would start my heart beating too fast. I concentrated on the mantra from the Karate Kid, "wax on, wax off, sky is blue, grass is green, everything good, repeat until your heart rate returns to normal. Everyone is different, find what works for you. Sometimes even now as I care for my mom 24/7 I feel it might come on, I start with the breathing techniques. That is the main thing. Couldn't drive for a while, in '93. I would feel my heart beating fast and afraid I was going to pass out (hyperventilating), that's when I would drink water and or breathe into a paper bag. Women more than men have the tendency for anxiety/panic attacks. Hope this helps. Much aloha to you. Take care and God bless.

I have had panic attacks most of my life. I am on medication that has helped tremendously. Good luck.
It may take awhile to find one that works for you. It also helps with my depression, since my MIL lives with us now.

Hello, I have extreme anxiety/stress attacks occasionally. Looking back, they have probably been rearing their ugly selves for about 8 years or so. I finally found out what was happening, when I was at a doctor's office and he actually set off a major attack, unknowingly. Well it was unknowing to me too; I can't predict when they will happen. I didn't know until that day, what they were (which added to more anxiety of course), but having a major one in front of a doctor really helped because he immediately told me what was happening and told me how to try to control it...and he said" take deep,slow breaths, keep doing these deep slow breaths. They will help you shorten the attack and the severity of it." Then he sat there apologizing profusely the whole time while I was pacing, crying, gasping for breath, and forcing the slow deep breathing. The breathing tactic did work, but I was a crying, gasping, totally humiliated person during the attack until I got it under control. Usually they happen when I am alone...after something set it off. I know what sets mine off now: its when you feel like you are caught between a rock and a hard place, so try to get through that moment. Right after, within minutes, I will go into a full blown attack. Mine were so severe my throat closed off and I dropped unconscious within about 3 minutes, which causes me more anxiety knowing this of course, so when the doctor suggested I try slow, deeep breaths during an attack, I was willing to try and they did help. A deeper understanding my own attacks is this ( in hindsight); I was brought up with manners, to be polite, etc etc, so that is what I strive for during a rock/hard place situation, and THAT, is what causes me to break into a anxiety/stress attack, soon after I'm through the crisis. I hope all this is providing insight for some, because I know how you probably feel during and after the attacks too. Oh, what set off my attack with this doctor? Well you see, he was giving me an injection in my neck for pain, I have some damage in there that flares up sometimes...and he admitted afterwards that he had used too large of a bore for the needle, since the med was thicker. The larger bore was providing me with horrendous pain in the injection site and I sat there repeatedly telling him to stop, stop!, and he would say for me to hold on just a bit more, so he can get more of the med in....right? Finally I got really loud and told him ( in not polite language) to remove that needle immediately or I would inject him next. (so much for manners eh? lol) He stopped, then I went into a anxiety attack, and after he told me how to breathe, and what the attack was, he sat there the whole time, over and over, apolizing to me.I told him it was ok because now I know what the attacks were called, and how to try to manage them. I never went back to him, but I heard he also moved his practice. My last point in this is: Don't expect others to understand the depth of these attacks you may have, nor the lasting emotional results from them. I have tried, others commiserate, then change the subject. IF you can forsee an attack coming, I envy you. If you found a med or other resource that helps you, I envy you. My best thing to mention, is the deep breathing during the attack, it does shorten their length which also shortens the severity a bit for me. Ok I rambled here, and wasn't going to send this but, someone might get some help from it, so here it is. Hang in there with the attacks, I am, and they seem to be getting farther and fewer now that I understand the what and how about them!! Heres a big smile for you all today!! Take care of your 'self' , then you can help take care of others. : )

What does everyone think about those fidget things? What are those for? Heard they were designed for autism but others use them for ADD, anxiety, etc.

My good friend is caring for her younger sister in her home with Downs and recently developed dementia. The dementia totally changed her sister’s personality and behavior. I have no idea how my friend is able to be so patient. She has her hands full! She does have help now. Hospice. She will take breaks and leaves the house. She is an avid reader, always has been and she will go pick out a book from a bookstore to buy.

My friend is single so obviously she has to work full time to support herself. She has caregivers through hospice that are incredible! She has a hospice nurse and social worker. Her other sister cared for her at first but it became too much for her because she is married with kids and placed her in a facility. The facility did not work out and somehow my friend’s sister ended up escaping the facility. They couldn’t find her for a very long time. Fortunately, at the time she didn’t have the dementia and was fairly high functioning and when someone found her she told them her name.

They were able to track down my friend and she moved her into her home. The dementia was very upsetting. She no longer walks, in wheelchair, in diapers, was aggressive at times, eats again now but had stopped eating, no longer speaks, etc. She has to be on certain meds. So strange to see how dementia effects certain people. She is 51 years old. My friend says she probably doesn’t have too much time left.

She has a blanket with all of these gadgets on it. She fiddles around with it. Can someone explain how this works? Just curious.

Im were you are! Panic and feeling of being Overwhelmed, not sure what to do next.
Im also looking for answers, concerning elder law (power of attorney, will, house in his name)
Looking at Grouphomes.for my Husband of 30 years. He is 87.
Daily problem I'm having is ;
Panic/fright first thing in the am.
The weight is the heaviest on me
In the middle of the night '3am',
And when I open my eyes first thing in the morning. The thought of starting another day is hard.
By noon I'm much better, and the rest of the day/evening are tolerable. I'm considering getting a Life Coach. The $$ spent might be worth the peace of mind.

It is an awful day here today. First day of Jazz Fest too! A shame. Many people here in New Orleans had severe panic attacks, anxiety, PTSD after Hurricane Katrina. If any bad weather cropped up, panic set in for some. People have managed coping with psychological help. It was weird after the storm seeing so many not only devastated, living in their FEMA trailers and also suffering with anxiety accompanied by depression as well. Lots of divorces happened too, couples not able to deal with the stress.

I suppose that happens in a lot of different circumstances, quakes, fires, volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes and most especially crimes, we have high crime here. My daughter was attacked. The guy pushed her down on the sidewalk, she cracked a bone near her eye. He stole her purse. She’s always looking around in her surroundings and gets panic attacks. Happens in good neighborhoods too. Not just bad areas of the city. She was on St. Charles Ave in a beautiful section of the city.

It’s horrible for areas with school shootings and terrorist attacks.

All of us have lived through very difficult and challenging situations. Do you think that society is coping better or worse in these times? Throughout history there have been awful circumstances that created all kinds of problems for people. Interesting to ponder...People back then didn’t have the aid of psych drugs, support groups, etc. Must have been brutal for them. Yet, their outlook seemed to be different, don’t you think?

Yes. It's likely the fact that you are taking your caregiving job seriously, and it is hard work. Do have your thyroid checked because it can cause symptoms like that too. In the meantime, you need to find healthy ways in which to diminish the level of anxiety. Go for a walk, chew gum, write in a journal, body tapping, aromatherapy.....all of the above!

I also get what I call "feelings of impending doom" !! Had one so bad once I had to pull my car over to figure out where I was. The first one was when my DD was in middle school. They went away for a long time, until my parents moved in with us. I agree, a small tab of Ativan has been a miracle for me on occasion.

My brother is seriously ill in the hospital right now and I find I have to really try hard to stay out of the worse case scenario type of thinking or I'll really have a freak out.

I was prescribed ativan, the lowest dose and Effexor, lowest dose. I've been really trying to wean off of them cause they can really mess you up and you lose the ability to cope naturally which isn't good.

This whole business with my brother has raised a lot of the issues that were prevalent when my mom was in nursing care. My family just seems to scatter. No one communicates properly. It's like dealing with a bunch of children truly.

Sendme, a valuable contributor on here gave me some good advice. She said "don't go through your siblings for info. on your brother. Communicate with the hospital and doctors/nurses directly." That's what I've been doing and it works for me. They all have phones and they can do the same.

Cause dealing with sibs really raise the anxiety issues for me.

I saw this ? Tonight as I sat down to go over emails ,. I had this today! Minding my own business, no issues, actually took two afternoons to go out into the shopping world with two girlfriends., mom is under control with family watching to make sure she doesn't fall at 92- already two falls w ER fu,. I had chest pain so badly I sat at chairs in Marshalls, took tums, which I carry for just this. But pain so severe I would have told anyone else to go to hospital. It was worst gi pain in I bet five years.

Sewand, chest pain on it's own could be something more serious. Don't let it go if it comes back. Heart attacks present differently with women so be careful.

One never wants to dismiss the possibility of real heart issues, but for me I used to get these anxiety attacks really bad. Went to the ER a couple times before they convinced me it was anxiety. The good part about knowing that is they don't self perpetuate then. You get the onset of one and you fear you are dying, which just makes it worse. If you can talk to yourself to tell you it is not anxiety, they can be shortened. Again only after ruling out heart issues by a medical professional.

When I posted to this thread I referred to the one instance after an argument with Mom and her Dementia. I wheeled into the chest pain center because I thought I might be having a heart attack with the weird symptoms women sometimes have. When I posted a couple days ago I thought that was the only time it has happened to me.

I remembered another time. After Dad passed away a day or two after the funeral my sister and our husbands decided to clear out Dad’s apartment rather than pay for the next months rent. I had basically same symptoms. Queasy, sweaty, confused, tight chest. I hadn’t eaten in who knows when, I had been surviving on coffee mostly. Anyway, they got me out of Dads apartment. I started feeling better, then I ate and recovered completely.

It's interesting. I wonder if it was my brain or body that was overloaded or both?

My body and brain doesn’t seem to have the tolerance for stress that it once had, before caregiving. When my life gets stressful I wake up at 3:30am. It’s always 3:30am. Sometimes I can go back to sleep, sometimes I can’t.

Benzo's help but I am trying to wean off right now and right now I hate benzo's and I would never recommend them to anyone.

Yes, I suffer from anxiety. It can be really uncomfortable to say the least. I've found some relief in deep breathing exercises & guided meditations (youtube videos) and I take 5HTP a homeopathic pre-cursor to serotonin.

Sorry for not being back earlier. I hope you understand how it is.

I thought I was going to pass out tonight.

Let me set the scene. Grandma likes to tuck away food in random places and eat it later. Last night she was gnawing on something that I remember giving her 2 days ago. Let's say it shouldn't be left out of the fridge. I grabbed it out of her hands and told her to spit it out. She looked me in the eye with that "go <you know what> youself" look on her face. She swallows it and opens her mouth to show me she has. I tell her she's going to get diarrhea. She did. Started early this morning. I'll leave out the gory details of that disaster. In itself, that's another post. I've changed her diaper 5 times so far today. That's been my day.

So tonight at around 8pm, I smell a scent coming off of grandma from the other side of the living room. When that happens, there's been overflow. So I get up to deal with that. At the same time, the dog starts whining because she needs to go outside. All day long, as usual, dad's been in his chair with his feet up watching TV without a care in the world. All this while I've been dealing with diarrhea grandma, stubborn mom and a very geriatric dog. I've also been dealing with residue business issues. Reviewing contracts when I'm being interrupted every five minutes makes me feel like my head is about to explode. I'll admit it, I was irritated. I raised my voice and asked him to deal with the dog. His response was "IT'S ALWAYS MY FAULT!". Then the yelling began. He ended up marching off to lock himself in the bathroom. All this sets off mom who starts yelling. Grandma is leaking. The dog is whining. For a few seconds, I got lightheaded, my vision tunneled and a swayed a bit. I thought I was going to pass out. I clinched and strained to drive more blood into my brain until it passed.

Now the old people are asleep, including the dog. Turns out she really needed to poop too. Took a while to get dad out of the restroom. I had to do the nightly dance to get mom to brush her teeth. Grandma got changed again. I'm wearing my workout shorts and t-shirt from when I was able to workout since I have no clothes left. Let's say changing grandma involves a bit of poop transference and I've had to change my clothes 5 times. The washing machine has been cranking washing their clothes so mine will have to wait until tomorrow.

I don't feel half bad right now. I realize that's mostly because I've guzzled down a beer. I still have contracts to deal with but I'm thinking the early caregiver heart attack will take care of things before any of that will be a problem. I'll just let the beer do it's work until grandma needs another diaper. I should have a couple of hours before that happens.

Perhaps you could try meditation or yoga in small stages.

I didnt mention yesterday that when ive had bad times ... Im better now i hope ... i would congratulate myself ... for almost everthing no matter how small or seemingly unimportant ...

good terry you made the bed/ good terry you paid a bill/ good terry you went to the grocery/ good terry you flushed the toilet/ good terry you took a shower.

Well you get the idea.

Yes, during the day, but mostly at night. I wake up in a panic, with my chest feeling tight, and this weight like a bowling ball of dread pressing down on my lungs.

I had a series of panic attacks early last year, not knowing what was happening. The first (and worst) one happened when I was relaxed and calm. I thought it was a heart problem, but the blood tests the ER ran showed I was severely anemic. My body wasn't producing healthy red cells anymore. After medical care, some time to heal, and mindfulness of what my body was telling me, it stopped happening.

I've also learned it can happen when your thyroid is wacky or your other hormones are not balanced, so please get yourself a medical workup to rule a physical trigger out.

I have suffered from severe panic disorder for decades and black out from the bad attacks....I have a fear of many things esp health related, hospitals , travel, etc.....and just being confined.....but in the last 10 yrs have had to soldier thru to care for my elderly parents and do the drs appts, waiting rooms, er visits, etc...last summer was the biggest challenge yet - my dad fell, broke his hip - ER in the middle of the night - surgery, rehab, etc and then visiting him daily and staying hours with him daily so that he wouldn't lose his mind...towards the end of the 6 week of rehab - he got sickwith MRSA and it went to heart - 9 intense days in rehab followed by ER and hospital and then hospice stay all the while my brother also came down with infection and had to commute between my dad in Brooklyn, my brother in manhattan(1 hr away) and my mom back in Brooklyn at night since she is also elderly and frail...….this went on for weeks but somehow the anxiety and panic disappeared and my parents dying was my biggest fear......watching him die I was out of my body and not registering much which I believe kept the panic away...then facing the wake, funeral, cemetary, eulogy....all no anxiety....then after he passed I had extreme guilt/grief over his death and my decisions ...but the anxiety seems better than its been in many years but still pretty humbling...perhaps my dads last gift to me was that "I can do it"...I hope so..i miss him so much!@

Ryan, you are NOT alone. Get all of that. And anxiety is such a difficult thing to deal with. Mindfulness helps. Sounds hokey but can really can make a difference. Google it. And benzos are not usually a good solution. There are other options if medication is something you need.

I have learned some valuable lessons in life but far too late. We are all subject to what if this or that????????? We have anxiety attacks out of fear of the unknown. Here is what I did to overcome these attacks. I took the issue at hand which was making me nervous. I then took that subject and put it into little pieces which eventually formed the whole big picture. I thought and analyzed what would I do and how would I do something IF that little piece occurred. Then I did the same with the next piece. Eventually, I had solved the "how" of the big picture IF it ever happened. It took a bit of time, but I found peace because now I knew what I would do to handle things. The attacks stopped and I found i was able to do whatever I had to do when things when wrong. I finally had peace. You are doing the right thing in DEFINING THE ISSUE as a first step. Then figure out how you would handle each aspect. You will now be prepared for whatever comes because you know you can handle it - you won't be in panic mode as you figured things out before they happened.

Judging from your post of a few days ago you are dealing with too much. - grandma, mother, father and a geriatric dog and job responsibilities mixed in. All without support, or so it seems. Ways of dealing with the panic attacks are bandaids as the cause of the panic is still with you - extreme stress from caregiver overload.

In fact do you have any help? Are there any plans for grandma to be placed? You need to care for yourself.

I can relate to the calm during a real emergency, and also the anxiety about what could happen next. Match that up against constant fights with your care recipient's health care provider about mis-steps on their part, at a time when the recipient (my spouse) is in constant neural foot pain so bad that he's wheelchair-bound, and more need for opioids. He's a stroke survivor on 7 1/2 years and way too young for this (66). The health care provider, a PACE program, botched two specialist referrals within the last few months. The first, they referred us to a brain tumor specialist, which is NOT the problem he has (thankfully). The specialist immediately told us that her expertise would be of limited help for us but nobly did her best. Second, a neural test, administered a month later, was declared invalid by the tester because of Botox shots that compromised neural function. We had not been warned in advance that Botox given within a specific time frame would compromise this test. It would have to be repeated. So I threatened to file a grievance with the PACE program. They responded and met me about halfway in my requests, but the halfway they did meet me was useful so far. Anyone reading this may be able to detect the stress of not knowing what you don't know until it becomes an adverse result. Last night I had a dream in which I ran over a woman with my car because I didn't see or hear her. I think that's indicative. As for my part, my (new) primary care doctor recommended that I take anti anxiety- and depressant drugs but warned me about the risk for suicidal thoughts. She said if these occurred, I should take an ambulance to the ER, not drive. I declined the recommendation. It defies logic that a primary home caregiver should EVER consider taking such a drug. Not only that, but if I did comply and opt for the ambulance ride, and later received a four-figure (at least) bill for the ambulance ride because my insurer determined that it was not medically necessary, how anxious and depressed do you think that would make ME?

Ali: Yes, agreed!

I found out that Anxiety (especially long term) can cause many health problems. Stress can cause cortisone levels to do all kinds of damage such as insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes, etc. (I'm in this situation, and it really is frightens me).

I believe anxiety is under achieving. Always the perfectionist, I swing between numb and full blown panic. Nothing really helps except knowing I'm taking steps to make things better. Where I can't, I talk to friends who will listen. I should be in therapy, but I would have to schedule and confirm payment for that. I quit alcohol a few years ago and really miss it lol!!!

Yes, I have anxiety attacks frequently. I was already diagnosed with panic disorder and generalized anxiety before becoming my mother's primary caregiver. I have tried various antidepressants, but I never really cared for the side effects. Since I was unable to concentrate when I became my mother's caregiver, my doctor prescribed a very low dose of Adderall to help me finish drafting my dissertation and teach. While the Adderall certainly helped, boosting my mood, concentration, and confidence, I would not recommend it since it can be easily abused and also comes with its own host of side effects. Now, I take 5-HTP and Travacor as well as taking Klonopin, Buspar, and Seroquel. I also meditate. There is an awesome app called Headspace that really helps.

I'd stay away from drugs and focus on meditation, exercise, diet and breathing more deeply to get oxygen into the blood--and changing your life situation. Eating vegetables makes your body chemistry more basic (versus acidic), making you calmer that same day--you don't have to wait long for results. I was eating lots of yellow squash sauteed with butter and salt and felt noticeably less panicked, and it was delicious. As soon as I reverted to junkier eating I'd feel more panicky. You can look on the web for lists of foods that are basic versus acidic. It works.

For years I was a pharmaceutical rep in medical schools and research hospitals and saw first hand that doctors are trained to prescribe drugs drugs drugs. Though certain drugs save lives, overall we take way more than we probably need instead of using less damaging remedies.