Panic Attacks

Just to start off, if you suffer from panic attacks, I understand what you are going through. I used to have panic attacks every day, multiple times a day. I had quick ones, intense ones, consecutive ones and ones that sent me to the hospitals.

There isn’t really a perfect way to describe a panic attack. Many people have tried to get as close to a perfect description as possible including doctors, scientists, therapists and even religious leaders. But the reality is you have to experience it yourself in order for you to understand. It is one of the most terrifying, scary and overwhelming sensation and feeling that one can imagine. Some even say it’s the second worst experience to death.

What is this thing? Why is it so scary?!

If you allowed me to describe panic attack in my own words, it would be this:

Imagine your fear meter has reached the max level. You heart pounds so hard you can see your shirt bouncing. Your stomach would knot up and squeeze to the point you want to vomit. Your speech would slur so badly you can’t complete a sentence. Your hands are sweaty. Your fingers cramped up. Waves and waves of tingling and hot sensation rushing through your body. Your hands and feet are ice cold. Your knees would shake, and your legs become so jelly you have to drag them across the floor. You can’t breathe. Your throat is closing up. Tears just flood your face uncontrollably.

Millions of scary thoughts fly through your mind. “Am I having a heart attack? or a stroke? Am I going to pass out? Am I having a seizure? Will this pressure eventually cause my brain to explode? Why is my vision so distorted? I am seeing everything but can’t focus on anything. Oh my god! I’m going to cause a scene. People will judge me and think I’m crazy. Let me get out of here, I have to get out of here, quickly!”

If the description above seems similar to you, then you and I are on the same boat my friends. And we will get off this boat together, for good.

What are panic attacks and why are they so powerful?

Like I said, there is no one way to perfectly define a panic attack, so I will do my best here.

Panic attack is your body response to stress. But in this case, since your nerves are sensitized, these responses and reactions are exaggerated and intensified by fear.

Let’s compare a panic attack to having a broken bone. Believe it or not, they are very similar to each other. They both cause pain and discomfort. They both send you to the ER and many doctor visits afterward. They both limit you from living your normal life. They both prevent you from driving, playing sports, going to school, and they lock you down inside your house, for a while. But you recover from a broken bone, but not anxiety and panic attacks. Why is that?

Here’s the answer. When you have a broken bone, it happens suddenly just like a panic attack. No one really plan to have their bone broken. But with the broken bone, you give it your full acceptance and you do so without fear.

It’s understandable that it’s extremely hard to accept your anxiety and panic attacks. Because they can’t be seen. You can clearly look at the X-Ray to confirm your broken bone. Therefore, there is no doubt and speculation. You just give it time to heal. But with anxiety and panic attacks, there isn’t a solid test or scan science can do to confirm it. Therefore, you continue to struggle to find the answer. And just like quicksand, the more you struggle, the deeper you sink.

Now, let’s say you treat your broken bone as how you treat your anxiety and panic attacks. You keep on touching it, moving it, throwing hundreds of products and exercises you find on the internet at it. You refuse to wait for it to heal on its own. You insist to walk, to climb, or to put more pressure on it. You don’t accept that your bone is broken. You’re afraid it’s something more serious. Then you wonder why your broken bone never heal and the pain keeps getting worse.

How to recover from panic attacks.

A.C.E.R. Method is the most effective way to deal with and to recover from your anxiety and panic attacks as a long-term approach.

The 1-minute Method is the best approach to beat panic attack as a short-term approach

Dr. Claire Weeks once said: “Recovery is on the other side of panic, not from this side”. I could not understand what she meant by that, not until about a year later. My moment of clarity came one day when I applied everything I’ve learned and decide to take on my panic attacks head-on.

I went to a grocery store where my panic attacks tend to act up the most. I walked around the store until I felt unease. The fluorescent lightings on their ceiling started to make me feel dizzy. And soon enough, my chest felt tight, the floor seems as it was moving. My heart rate started to rise. And boom, a full-blown panic attack hit me. With acceptance, I did not react. I kept on doing what I was doing, continued with my shopping. But! In the back of my mind, I was afraid that what if it’s too much to the point my body couldn’t take it anymore and I would fall or pass out. So, I gave in and left the store.

At home that very same night, when the effect of the panic had completely worn off, I felt the urge to try again. So, I went back to the store the next day. This time I stayed the whole time. Being consumed by a wrath of sensations, symptoms and scary thoughts, I had to close my eyes for a brief moment to gain back my composure. I did stop to take a breather. Then, I took a step further. I challenged my panic attack to get worse. I made a bet with my anxiety. It was like a poker game. I told my anxiety: “You’re bluffing me huh? I’m going all in.” Every time a scary thought popped up, I simply smiled at it with a dismissive attitude. I wasn’t trying to ignore it. I was just letting it be and see it for what it is, a thought at best. Shortly after, anxiety folded. My heart rate slowed down, my vision cleared up, my breathing became deeper and slower. I never fell, I never passed out, I didn’t go crazy, none of that.

“Oh my God! I did it”, I told myself. The feeling was so amazing it brought me to tears. It was like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders. The door of my prison cell was busted open.

Panic attack is like a dark and scary tunnel. The deeper you go the scarier it gets. So, it’s understandable that many people turn around halfway and go back to their safety net. Some even made it to 90% of the tunnel and quit. They believe that if they don’t turn around, the sensations and symptoms will get out of hands and something bad will happen to them.

But if you can please hear me out. Gather all your strength, courage and will, and push through the entire tunnel and I promise you, you will realize that there’s NOTHING at the other end of the tunnel. No heart attack, no stroke, no serious diseases, NOTHING! It was just a bluff anxiety has put on you all along.

Anxiety promises you a monster at the other end of the tunnel while in reality what you will find is Freedom

Everyone’s “panic tunnel” is different. Some are scarier, some are longer than others. But one thing for sure, recovery is waiting for you at the other side of the tunnel. No one ever died from a panic attack. You’re safe! You’re strong! And most importantly you deserve a better life than the one anxiety has imprisoned you with. So, PUSH THROUGH!!

“Recovery lies on the other side of panic, not on this side”

Dr. Claire Weekes

After that day, I kept going to places and doing things that used to trigger my panic attacks so I can relive the feeling of liberation again. I want to feel strong again. I want to feel victorious again. And at last, I no longer hate my panic attacks, I embrace them.

So, you can see, my recovery finally came to me when I truly accept my anxiety, I challenge it and then embrace it. Of course, a full recovery road wasn’t a smooth sail. But whenever anxiety pops its head up in my life, I repeat everything I’ve learned. I would do it over and over, as many times as I have to.

I can’t promise you that your life will be all sunshine and rainbow with A.C.E.R., but I can ensure you anxiety and panic attacks will never get control over your life ever again.

Recovery is going from being controlled to being in control.