Tag: Anxiety

Post #6: Panic Attacks at Night – During Sleep

During my anxiety days, I remember getting jolted up in the middle of the night with my heart jumping out of my chest, my hands and feet trembling and ice cold. Tingling sensation flows through my body like waves of electricity. Alarmed and confused, I would wake my family up or call my girlfriend to find rescue. There were times I asked to be taken to the ER because I was certain that something was wrong with me medically.

Tests after tests, they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. They would send me home with some medications to calm me down. The reassurance from the hospitals gave me a short-lived comfort which help me sleep once I got home. But the following nights, the palpitation would happen again. I realized that I can’t just keep going to the ER every night as the mean to find comfort. They would refuse seeing me and I won’t be able to afford the medical bills anyway.

Disheartened and lost, I tried to monitor my body every night to prepare for the attacks. And by anticipation and apprehension, I added more tension and stress on my already tired mind and body. This added stress prevented me to sleep and when my body was so exhausted, I would drift into sleep for a little bit until another attack strikes. It was like my panic attacks tried to ambush me and wait for the perfect moment to pop its head up.

I wanted to sleep but then was afraid to do so. It was a vicious cycle that tormented me for a couple years during my anxiety days. Until the day I realized that the fight I put up was the reason why my nightly attacks kept on happening.

Practice something long enough and you will do it subconsciously

Once we practice something often enough, it will be saved in our subconscious mind. For example, we practice driving consciously until we drive often enough that driving becomes a subconscious behavior. Another example is typing, walking…etc. These are learned subconscious behaviors. Our body also possesses many innate subconscious actions such as breathing, swallowing saliva, blinking…etc.

One thing about the subconscious mind is that it does not sleep. That’s why our heart continues to beat, our lungs continue to breathe while we’re sleeping. Unfortunately for anxiety and panic attack sufferers, our subconscious mind learned the false danger for so long, it sends out wrong signal to our organs to fight the danger at the wrong time including during our sleep. And by being afraid of it and trying to fight it, we falsely confirm with our subconscious mind that nighttime is when the “danger” happens. Our mind will of course continue to perceive nighttime as a time to fight.

Nighttime panic attacks are especially terrifying because they happen when the world is asleep, no one is around or awake to accompany us. Nighttime is the most silent and the darkest time of the day. The lack of movement and noise at nighttime makes our heartbeat seem stronger and louder. This is why most anxiety and panic attacks sufferers perceive nighttime panic attacks to be stronger than the daytime ones.

The one effective way to stop having panic attacks during nighttime is to retrain your subconscious mind. This doesn’t mean erasing what it already has learned, that’s nearly impossible to do. This means training it to learn a new pathway, a new way to response to false signals. This is where A.C.E.R. shines. It teaches you not to react to your panic attacks. I know this is extremely difficult, but it works. Panic attacks will happen less often and with much less intensity. It’s like watching a fire burns out on its own.

Accept, Challenge, Embrace and Repeat

If you wake up in the middle of the night with a panic attack:

Accept that it’s normal and it’s a false signal from your fear center in the brain. Your subconscious mind is reacting to false danger. Your heart will beat like a drum, you might feel shortness of breath and many more sensations. But you have to trust that you are safe, and you have to wait this game out. Adrenaline will burn off and your body will slowly return to the normal state. And most importantly, don’t use acceptance as the mean to feel better. Trust me, you won’t. You will still feel the full impact of a panic attack. The difference this time is that you accept whatever is being thrown at you.

Challenge your panic attacks to speed up the adrenaline burning process. Ask it to get worse. Push your anxiety to its limit. I used to look at my chest and tell me heart: “come on, faster! beat harder!”. If my hands started to get crampy, I would lay still on my bed and tell me hands: “do it! whatever you are trying to do, do it!” If you are checked out by your doctor then trust me, it won’t get any worse. It will actually lose its steam and slow down.

Embrace your panic attacks. I know it sounds silly but once you are able to sit with your panic attacks and embrace it, I guarantee you your attacks will never return. Panic attacks are triggered by fear. And by embracing them, you diffuse the only thing they feed on.

Repeat all these steps night after night, as many nights as you have to. One day you will go through a whole night waiting for panic attacks to arrive and none will show up. Your patience, your determination and courage will pay off. I assure you.

Post #4: The word “Feel” doesn’t matter in Anxiety Recovery

This post will help you stay on track on your recovery, assuming that you have read the A.C.E.R. Method and have been implementing it. Also, you should read through the symptoms section to have a necessary understanding about them.

The phrase “feel like” is the reason why you are stuck in fear and still are struggling with your recovery. I have talked and coached many people with anxiety and panic attacks, and I have heard 99% of them describing their issues with the phrase “feel like”.

What it feels like doesn’t matter

I feel like I’m going to pass out. (There might be some out there but I myself have never seen anyone pass out from anxiety)

I feel like I’m going to fall. (But did you fall?)

I feel like my head is going to explode. (Your head is still intact right?)

I feel like my legs are going to give out. (Your legs still work don’t they?)

I feel like I’m going to go crazy. (There’s a saying “if you think you’re going crazy, you are mostly likely not”)

I feel like I can’t breathe. (Trust me, your body will breathe)

I feel like I’m going have a seizure. (Seizure can be diagnosed by your doctors. It doesn’t happen just because your anxiety makes you feel that way)

I feel like I’m choking and can’t swallow (your throat muscle is tight from anxiety, but you aren’t going to choke and trust me you still can swallow)

Guys, I’m not saying what you feel aren’t scary. I’ve been there, I rushed myself to the ER many times because of what it “feels like”. Your symptoms are caused by anxiety and the “feel like” thoughts are caused by fear, and by what-if thinking. And the combination of symptoms and the feel-like interpretation is what keep you in the anxiety loop. Remember symptoms by themselves cannot cause panic attacks. The apprehension that comes with the symptoms is what causes us to panic. It what stops us from recovery.

Let’s say you have a weird feeling or a pain in your chest. Trust me “normal” people have that sensation here and there. So that feeling in your chest isn’t something unique or special to you. UNTIL your anxiety starts whispering in your ears: “hey, remember what you found on Google the other day? This feels like a heart attack, doesn’t it?”. Your response to your anxiety at this point will either keep you on your recovery path or throw you off track again.

I am the captain now

Use A.C.E.R. to have a proper response to your anxious mind

Accept: “No, this is anxiety. Anxiety can cause this. I’m not doing this again. I’m not being bluffed again.”

Challenge: “Oh, so you want me to believe that it’s a heart attack. Give me one then! Come on!”

Embrace: “I know you want to alarm me to protect me, but you’re actually making my condition worse. Thank you but I can take it from here.”

Repeat: If your anxiety persists and forces you into panic thinking, repeat the above 3 steps and you will win the battle. Time is the key element for this battle. If you can hold out long enough, your anxiety will subside as adrenaline burns off. Clarity and calm will return to you. You will feel amazing knowing that you finally take the driver seat, instead of being driven by the way you feel.

Post #3: Hypochondria/ Health Anxiety

Understanding and overcoming Hypochondria / Health Anxiety

Nothing is more important than our health. No amount of money can buy it. There are famous, powerful and ultra-wealthy people who have fallen to the grip of diseases and illnesses. And they would trade it all for a well and balance health again.

We are all alarmed and triggered when there’s something that has the potential of threatening our health. We recognize a sign of abnormality and search for answer so we can correct it. Once it is corrected, the symptoms subside, and we return to our normal life.

Unfortunately for anxiety and panic attack sufferers, this becomes a cycle of hell that consumes and sometime ruin their life. Since anxiety can cause so many mental and physical symptoms. Their victims constantly experience one symptom after another, from one part of the body to the next.

Physical symptoms experienced by anxiety sufferers are REAL! It’s not “just in our head”. I myself experienced hundreds if not thousands of them. There was no one who could convince me at the time that it was because of sensitized nerves, that it was all because of anxiety. Until I found Dr. Claire Weekes book “Hope and Helps for your Nerves”.

That sounds like me!

I spent most of my days googling what a symptom that I had would indicate. And, of course, I found diseases that match with my symptom perfectly. Now, in my mind, I had that disease, and no one could tell me otherwise. I would go to my doctor and do whatever necessary to get a scan or test done to confirm my new-found problem.

The result came back, everything was normal. A big sigh of relief, I would laugh at myself for being so silly. A boost of energy rush through my body. Confidence returned to me, and I felt like a new person. The test confirmed that I’m healthy so I would go on and live a normal life now. Anxiety is no more. Right? NO!

A couple days later, I would feel a twitch, a pain, a numbness at a different part of my body. Or I would feel dizzy, nauseous, hot cold or both at the same time, and many more sensations that you can think of. Or even if I heard people discussing about an illness or disease that they or someone else had. I would freak out and back on the internet I go.

The previous one wasn’t correct; this is the real one!

And magically, whatever the description that Google has about that disease is what I started to feel exactly. My body somehow managed to produce the exact symptoms and sensations that Dr. Google would suggest. Now all my confidence is gone. Anxiety got a hold of me once again.

The more I stressed about my body, the more stress hormone was released into my system which further sensitized my nerves. Highly activated and sensitized nerves intensify every little feeling I had about this new “disease”. I didn’t know anything about anxiety at that time, so I had no choice but to call my doctor and beg for another test.

Another test, another medical bill, another normal result which game me another short-lived happiness. Until the vicious cycle starts again. This went on for years. It was exhausting and overwhelming. I did consider ending it all but didn’t have the strength to do it.

The breakthrough

At the point where everything seems so gloomy. When life was covered by a blanket of disappointment, exhaustion, hopelessness and an impending doom, I found hope. I realized that it wasn’t the symptoms that I was struggling with. It was my interpretation of the symptoms that keeps me in the living hell.

I realized that I had to switch my mindset about the way I feel. First, I have to truly accept my anxiety, and everything that comes with it. I had to break my habit of googling for answers. I had to stop asking people for reassurance. I had to quit my addiction of finding short-term comfort.

IT WAS SO HARD at first, but with commitment, discipline and a massive determination to gain my life back, I was able to break the cycle. I fell off the wagon a few times, I gave into my addiction and hop on my laptop looking for explanation and reassurance and got pulled back into the health anxiety hole.

Trust me, I understand how scary anxiety symptoms and sensations can be. It is easier said than done when you feel like your life is at risk. But if you read Dr. Weekes book, you’ll learn that anxiety is nervous condition. It has everything to do with your nerves. Our body has nerves endings connected to every part and organ. So, when nerves are sensitized due to months and years of excessive stress and tension, they will create symptoms to whichever part or organ they connect to.

And since our brain never really sleeps, some people experience symptoms even while they’re asleep. You don’t feel pain when you cut your hair and nails because there are no nerve endings there, that’s why we barely ever hear people complain about symptoms related to their hairs or nails. Most symptoms are around the head, heart, eyes, belly areas where nerves endings are found the most. Knowing this makes anxiety symptoms seem much less scary and easier to accept.

Think about this situation. You have a headache, and your doctor gives you 2 answers:

1- “It seems to be allergy related, nothing important” or

2- “It seems to be related to your brain function; we’ll keep an eye on it”

Same headache, but the second answer would send you into panic and misery right away. You would focus on the headache and feel it intensifying by the day. But if your doctor gives you the first answer, you wouldn’t pay much attention to it, and it probably goes away without you even knowing it.

You see, as hypochondriacs, we give ourselves the second answer all the time. It’s never been the symptoms that torment us; it’s the fear that we create about the symptoms.

So, to cure hypochondria, finding answers for every problem is not the way, even if you have your entire body scanned by the best medical equipment. Fear created by sensitized nerves will keep you in its prison. You have to practice shifting your interpretation about how you feel. Remove fear from the equation and your anxiety will starve and eventually dies. You will gain your life back. You will find yourself again.

Practice A.C.E.R. and read the post about reassurance seeking to strengthen your belief that anxiety will be defeated if you put in the work and the will.

Good luck to you

Post #2: Reassurance Seeking is a Drug

Understanding why reassurance seeking is not productive in anxiety recovery

People with anxiety and panic attacks disorder constantly look for answers. They search everywhere for an explanation for the way they feel. Visting doctor offices, the emergency room, seeing therapists, googling symptoms are a major part of their daily routine.

I remember scanning my body every morning to look for symptoms and sensations so I can find ways to get rid of them. I would worry if there was a symptom and also worry if there wasn’t any.

I found myself addicted to seeking reassurance. “Is this anxiety?”, “can this be caused by anxiety?’, “Did you have this symptom? did it go away? how long did it take to go away? were the questions I asked people on the daily basis. Every time I found a satisfactory answer, I would feel a sense of relief. My body feels normal, and a rush of confidence run through me like a wave of positivity.

Well, that never lasts long. As soon as the reassurance confidence wears off, another symptom pops its head up. Devastated and disappointed, we go right back on google to find another answer. At this point, it’s not the answer that we care for. It was more of the “feel good” sensation of finding the answer that we’re after.

I just need to know if this is normal with anxiety, and I can move on with my life

Assurance seeking is like a drug. It gives us immediate relief, but it ties us to our anxiety. We need more and more reassurance to go on with our life. Fighting the urge to ask for reassurance is extremely difficult. Because anxiety feels so terrible and scary! Just a few minutes on Google can bring us the relief, why not? Right?

People just don’t understand that it’s never been about the symptoms. It’s about the fear that we have about those symptoms. We can handle the symptoms, but we can’t handle the fear that comes with them. That’s why we seek reassurance, to get rid of the fear.

Stop the search for reassurance takes courage, discipline and the power of will. Next time you catch yourself wanting to ask for reassurance, remember this post and stop. Try to do something else. Wait for the urge to pass. If you catch yourself saying this “Just this one symptom and I will stop asking”, know that it’s a lie you tell yourself again and again.

Think about symptom searching as a pill that will keep you having anxiety. Do you want to take that pill? If the answer is a NO, then it’s time we make a change. It’s time we break the habit. It’s not easy but you can do it!

Post #1: The 1-minute approach to beat Panic Attacks

The best approach to cure Panic Attacks

One condition before we start. This method works well when you have read and been able to implement A.C.E.R. comfortably.

This is one of the best approaches to battle panic attacks and can potentially eliminate it. I developed this method for myself and defeated panic attacks for good. I’ve shared this approach with people I’ve worked with, and the result is very positive.

Panic attacks come in waves

Now let’s say you’re at a situation where you feel your panic attack is creeping up. I want you to recognize all sensations and symptoms in your body and name them out, either out loud or in your head. For example: “Hah! lightheadedness, dry mouth, heart palpitation, rapid breathing, trembling hands, dry eyes, shaky legs…etc..” By naming them out, even though they are very scary, you have successfully diffused the power of the first wave. At this stage think of yourself as a cute little puppy.

60 Seconds are all you need

At this point, you probably want to leave the situation or looking for safety. But don’t! Take out your phone or a timer and set it for 1 minute. All I’m asking is for you to do nothing for 1 minute! If you usually would run, then stay for 1 minute. If you would usually stop what you’re doing, then keep doing it for 1 minute. If you usually would call someone, then put down your phone and wait for one minute. By actively doing what you normally wouldn’t do during a panic attack for 1 minute, you’ve successfully diffused the second wave. At this stage, think of yourself as a wild cat.

This is when you have to make a decision

Now that the one minute is over. If you want to leave the situation now or return to your safety, that’s ok. At least you have successfully diffused two waves of panic attacks, which you have never done before. You can always try again later.

But! If you can pull a little extra courage and strength to go for an additional minute, it would be awesome! The first minute, as hard as it was, proved to you that you’re safe. No one noticed what you were going through that first minute right? Then let’s go for another minute, you can do it!

At the end of the second minutes, you might be shaken and exhausted. But now you are more convinced that you will be ok. Everyone has panic attacks at different intensities. So, if your attacks are strong like mine used to be. Don’t push too hard, return to your comfort zone and take a breather. Tomorow you will fight again. Now at this stage, you are a lion!

The outcome of the battle starts to shift

Two minutes become 3, three then become 4 minutes. I personally have rarely seen anyone who proactively challenged their panic attacks and had to exceed 10 minutes. As each minute goes by, your confidence grows, and your fear subsides. And since anxiety and panic attacks feed on fear so when they’re running out of fear, they will eventually vanish. At this stage you’re not a puppy, a wild cat or a lion. You are yourself again. You have made it to the other side of panic attacks and found the old but stronger version of yourself.

Dr. Claire Weekes emphasized many times in her books that “Recovery is on the other side of panic, not on this side”. You recover by going through it, not around or over it.

Reach deep in your heart, find the will and the determination to go out and face your fear. Equipped with this new method, you will defeat all of your panic attacks one after another, one minute at a time.

Adversities will happen in life and bring you stress here and there. But with A.C.E.R. and this 1-minute method, you are armed to defeat anxiety over and over again.