Now when you read the title of this post you might have thought "cope with a panic attack? Is that even possible?" It is kinda hard to understand how one could cope or negotiate with such a stressful and seemingly out of control event but it can be done. Let's start by looking at the word cope. To cope means to manage a taxing circumstance. The operative term being manage, not defeat, conquer, vanquish, etc. We have to start out with the understanding that we cope with anxiety and panic we don't and cannot will it away or destroy
Archives for October 2008
Presidential Election Anxiety
With the presidential election looming it seems that the nations anxiety level has risen substantially. There seems to be fear mongering on both sides of the aisle and it's creating a great deal of uncertainty and fear. This blog is non-political so you'll get no promotion or detraction for either candidate here. Moreover I'm not sure that people really want that as they've had it up to here (insert neck) with all the negativity. However I do get the sense that people are afraid. They are afraid of the country changing, they are afraid of
Not Thinking Too Hard Is Good
Thinking is something we all do all the time. There is no way to stop the incessant chatter that is the soundtrack to everything we do. Should I eat this? Or should I eat that? I need to go to the bathroom but I'll wait a few minutes until I go. After that I better check my voice mail and then my email oh and I have to... it never stops. Thinking then is not an issue but thinking too hard is or at least can be an issue. Having anxiety is like thinking in that it is always there in one form or another. Anxiety though has the ability to
What Causes the Lump In Your Throat?
Having a lump in your throat or the sensation that it's hard to swallow is a very common sensation among anxiety sufferers. This lump causes us to think that we are headed for a medical disaster and may even cause us to swallow in quick succession so that we can make sure that we can still swallow - just in case. This creates fear in us because the assumption is that sooner or later you won't be able to breathe. We start jumping to conclusions about what could be causing it and go into extended versions of the what if game. But let me
Stress Busting Food And Activities
To view the diagram used in this screencast in more detail click here . After having chronic anxiety for sometime you'll start to notice changes in your health. This is because anxiety creates stress and stress in big doses can effect the functioning of our bodies. Stress can change our ability to digest food properly, it creates increased stomach acid which leads to GERD and heartburn, blood pressure may be temporarily elevated, your immune system becomes depressed so that you get sick more often and for longer periods of time, it can
Neurontin Linked to Depression and Suicide
As you search for the magic anti-anxiety elixir you should always take careful note of what you are ingesting. In most cases a so called anxiety busting drug may be of interest to you for obvious reasons but you should always consider the side effects. One of the fastest ways to get into trouble with anxiety drugs is by using drugs that were not designed to treat anxiety in the first place. This type of drug use is sometimes called "off label " drug use. In other words you find a drug that was designed to treat kidney infections but you take
The Anxiety Buffet: General Anxiety Disorder
As many of you know there are six different types of anxiety disorders. Social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic disorder, general anxiety disorder and the broad category of phobias. Of all these terrible disorders general anxiety disorder is perhaps one of the worse since it incorporates many of the symptoms and characteristics of the others. Having general anxiety disorder or GAD is like visiting an all you can eat buffet of anxiety disorders but without the overwhelming sense of satisfaction
The Anxiety Guru Show: Podcast Round Up
It's been awhile since I published a podcast so I decided to do a podcast round up which basically consist of recent issues I've talked about on the blog. Here is a short list of some of the things I covered on this podcast. 1. State of the world and why this should not concern you as much as the news would have you believe. 2. Anxiety Cycle - a blurb about how we all have ups and downs with anxiety. 3. Coping and vice. 4. Does anxiety get better? I reviewed this question on the blog this week but I wanted to add a more complete
World Mental Health Day
Who knew that those that suffer from mental ailments had their own global holiday? I didn't. It turns out that Friday October 10, 2008 was World Mental Health Day. This mental health initiative is the creation of the World Federation for Mental Health or the WFMH . The stated goal of this quasi holiday slash global mental health awareness movement states as it's priority the "scaling up of services through citizen advocacy and action". The first Mental Health Health Day was celebrated in 1992 and so it only took me 16 years to hear about