Dear Reader,
How are you love? I hope you’re not too anxious today. And if you are, I hope it gets better. I’m doing okay today. I have a pretty big to do list which is giving me some anxiety but I’m slowly and surely making m way through. Yesterday I had an anxiety attack when I didn’t finish my list. It was not a fun experience.
In this post I want to delve deeper into the differences between anxiety attacks and panic attacks because a younger me would have pinned yesterdays experience as a panic attack fell deeper into the whole of anxiety.
Anxiety Attack
Caused by specific triggers
Focused on common triggers
Gradually and slowly builds in intensity
Heart races and stomach knots
When the stressors leave so does the attack
Short lived
Varies in expression levels from mild to severe
Anxiety - States
High Functioning
Able to go to work and social events but still have some mild symptoms such as over stimulation and over analyzing conversation
Moderate
Some symptoms present.
Feels like ‘treading water’, you can stay afloat or fulfill some obligations but will get easily overwhelmed should a big wave come by
Crisis
Feel a strong absence of control and have intense symptoms such as hyperventilating and losing awareness of your surroundings.
Anxiety is not a constant. It isn’t there 100% of the time and certainly not at the same intensity level. Anxiety occurs because the amygdala, a part of the brain, perceives a current threat. During moments of extreme anxiety when we go into a crisis mode, our amygdala has been triggered. The amygdala is often triggered by stress or worry related to interpersonal relationships, career, income, health, previous trauma, the list goes on.
Our body responds to the stimulation of the amygdala through both physical and emotional symptoms. Lets detail those now.
Physical
fatigue
muscle tension
disturbed sleep
increased startle response
increased heart rate
dizziness
Mental
difficulty concentrating
irritability
restlessness
So the next time that you feel yourself experiencing high levels of anxiety or anxiety at all, remind your amygdala that you are safe. Remind your mind that you are not in danger and take deep breaths. It’s proven science taking deep breaths activates parts of the nervous system to calm us down. Just try! My favorite breathing technique is 4-7-8. Breath in while counting to 4, hold your breath while counting from 5-7, and then on 8 release.
Let’s talk about what Panic looks like.
Panic Attack
No trigger or warning
Very intense physical reactions
Feels like you’re going to die
Activated by body’s flight or fight response
Peaks in 10 minutes then subsides though it can go longer or in quick succession
Panic attacks feel and look exactly like a heart attack. If you or anyone near you is having one, try putting your head between your legs and breathe deeply or breathing into a brown paper bag. Control of breath is the fastest way to come out of it. It too presents in physical and mental symptoms.
Physical
heart palpitations
excessive sweating
trembling/shaking
difficulty breathing
feeling of choking
chest pain
nausea
dizziness
numbness
chills
hot flashes
Mental
feeling detached from oneself
fear of losing control or going crazy
fear of unreality
fear of dying
My anxiety likes to present itself in the following ways:
irritability
restlessness
extreme muscle tension
disturbed sleep
increased startle response
The ways I cope are:
cuddling my cat
drinking tea outside on the back porch
standing in sun if its available
going for a bike ride
talking with my partner
watching anime movies on netflix
making mango smoothies
cleaning the entire house
journaling
practicing zazen meditation
For the longest time I didn’t know the difference between anxiety and panic let alone the attacks. Now that I do I can cope properly. I hope that this post showed you the difference between the two. For when you feel yourself having anxiety or building up to an attack, I created a little template to help! I like being able to name things, I think that gives me power and also takes away power from whatever is troubling me. By going through a list and seeing what is and what is not presenting itself, I have a good place to start in making a plan to bring my anxiety down. I hope this helps you as well!
Wishing you peace,
Love Maia