Today I want to talk about how to avoid panic attacks.
If you have experienced a Panic Attack you will know how life stopping they can be. It can seriously affect your quality of life whilst invoking terror about a repeat attack. Worrying about your next panic attack can quite often be the actual trigger of that Panic Attack. You will also know that a full blown Panic Attack can feel very much as if you are having a heart attack. You will become short of breath, your heart will race and you will feel palpitations whilst becoming lightheaded and dizzy. It is actually quite common for a sufferer to feel like they are going to die whilst experiencing an attack.
Fortunately for those who are suffering with this ailment, it is a proven fact that we will not die from this and that the attack will run its course and stop or will be cut short by instantly removing the cause of the attack in the first place.
When we are terrified of another attack we quite often hide ourselves away from anything remotely likely to trigger an episode. If we constantly remain out of normal daily living because of this fear then we need to seek medical help in the form of medication or therapy to empower ourselves and dispel the threat of panic engulfing us. We can help ourselves and reduce the intensity and duration of panic attacks by carefully avoiding just the actual trigger mechanism of an attack. The biggest culprit in causing our attacks is stress accumulated over a period of time, maybe months or even longer. If we can cut down on the amount of stress we put ourselves through then we can also dramatically reduce the frequency of attacks.
Certain situations will also be a trigger and if we can learn to avoid these situations we will feel the benefit immediately, for example, if we get stressed travelling on the busy highway to work because of hold ups and possibly arriving late and being reprimanded, we need to plan a different route, leaving plenty of time to get there thus removing the trigger and actually enjoying the journey instead of dreading it.
If we practice avoiding situations which have in the past brought on a panic attack then we will be able to lead as close to a normal life as possible. We should also be open minded in relation to medication and therapy as these too can help us to avoid future attacks.