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[N75]Natural Remedies For Panic Attacks

by Martha Brown, Mar

How to Lower Your Anxiety

Your first step should be to lower your overall level of anxiety. This alone will help to reduce the frequency of your panic attacks.

To lower your anxiety, follow the following steps:

Reduce or better still eliminate altogether the stimulants in your diet. This includes caffeine, which can be found in colas, tea, coffee, chocolate and energy drinks. Even "healthy" drinks like green tea can contain caffeine. When you experience a panic attack, your body is flooded with adrenaline, your body's natural stimulant hormone. So you need to make sure that you don't give your body even more stimulants to cope with. Notice your stress levels after eating and check the ingredients of the food you have just eaten if you start to notice a rise in anxiety after eating certain foods.

Once you've reduced or eliminated stimulants, you should start to include calming herbs in your daily diet. One of the easiest ways is to drink them in a herb tea. Or if that's a bit too awkward, most of them can be found in drops or capsule format.

One of the best calming herb is St John's Wort. There have even been clinical trials where it has been shown to be effective against anxiety. Other calming herbs you could investigate are valerian, kava-kava and passionflower. Naturally, you should always take your doctor's advice if you are taking any prescription drugs in case there are any side effects.

Learn to Breathe!

Once you've started reducing your current level of anxiety, its time to learn how to breathe again!

We take breathing for granted but the chances are that no-one has ever taught us how to breathe properly. And your breathing is a key component of a panic attack.

You need to start practicing calm, controlled breathing before your next panic attack. That way you easily be able to switch to this new breathing pattern when a panic attack hits you. You can find instructions on breathing on the internet or at a local yoga or meditation class. There are also inexpensive courses available on the internet that will teach you how to breathe properly.

Create Your Own "In Case of Panic" kit

Part of the problem with panic attacks is the feeling of being out of control. You can reduce this feeling and feel more secure by preparing for your next panic attack in advance.

Start with a bottle of Bach Rescue Remedy. You can buy this at your local health shop or across the internet. This fantastic remedy is made selected flower essences and it gives you some natural first aid for shock or panic. A few drops on your tongue when you next experience a panic attack will work wonders in helping you to calm down.

The next ingredient in your "In Case of Panic" kit should be a handkerchief that has been sprinkled with a few drops of calming aromatherapy oil. One of the best of these calming oils is Lavender but you could also experiment with Roman Chamomile, palmarosa, jasmine, geranium or one of the various calming blends that are available. If you don't want to impregnate a handkerchief, you could consider one of the aromatherapy sprays instead.

When a panic attack next hits you, just follow this simple routine:

* Put a few drops of Bach Rescue Remedy on your tongue
* Sniff your aromatherapy handkerchief or your aromatherapy calming spray
* Practice your new breathing technique

Next time you have a panic attack, these simple steps should help to reduce the effect and also lower the likelihood of severe panic attacks in the future.

Panic attacks can be a terrifying experience. Often, when these attacks first strike, they appear so suddenly and are so unexpected that the person experiencing them often believes they are about to die. The symptoms match a number of symptoms related to heart attack such as light-headedness, nausea, numbness of the hands and feed, and chest pains. This is why those who experience Panic Attacks for the first time usually end up in the emergency room.

The following treatments have all been shown to be effective remedies for some people to cure Panic Disorders. Some people respond differently to different treatment - and what works for some may not work for others. So it is important that you take a close look at what the treatment offers, what it can provide you, and what you believe you can gain from it. The only treatment that will work for you will be the one that you feel comfortable with and that you believe in.

** Hypnosis **

Hypnosis gained popularity since 1958 when the American Medical Association recognized it as a legitimate form of treatment. In 1995, the National Institute of Health issued a statement commenting that the available scientific evidence favored the use of hypnotherapy for chronic pain. This has been a treatment method that has cured panic attacks for many people.

Hypnotherapy allows you to modify how you perceive the feelings and perceptions from your body. It helps you to focus and concentrate on your thought processes, and allows you to concentrate more on relaxing, rather than getting overwhelmed by the symptoms that are experienced during an attack.

** Humor **

While many people may never have heard of it, there is also a treatment methodology called Therapeutic Humor. This therapy is a form of visualization - where you are taught to recall a scenario that caused you to laugh uncontrollably. This is much like training that actors go through in order to recall intense feelings from their past for acting scenes. This treatment will help you to instantly recall the positive feelings of laughter when you need it most.

Since a panic attack is essentially a series of negative thoughts that compound upon each other, this approach simply short-circuits those negative thoughts by interrupting them with a powerful recall of very positive feelings and thoughts.

The medical evidence does exist that offers this therapy some credibility. Anxiety is known to increase the body's natural level of stress hormone called cortisol. Laughter has been shown to naturally reduce the levels of that stress hormone in the body.

** Energy Psychology **

Another natural treatment option is called Energy Psychology. Energy psychology is derived from the ancient Eastern technique of acupressure - involving the tapping of certain critical points on the body that is believed to be points of the body that produce an energy field, otherwise known as the "chi".

It is believed within this Eastern-based school of thought that every thought that we have generates an energy field, and that this energy field serves as a catalyst for chemical and biological changes in the body.

The goal of this therapy is to tap these specific energy points in order to discharge that negative energy, which is associated with the negative thought patterns that led to the panic attack. This form of therapy is considered a bit more alternative than others - however a fair number of people believe in this form of therapy, which also goes by the more common name of acupuncture.

** Desensitization **

Desensitization is a unique therapeutic approach that has the patient focus on those situations or events that case the most panic. The patient is asked to focus on that situation and to imagine the worst case scenario. The goal of this form of psychotherapy is to help the patient teach themselves that there is not any outcome that can turn out as badly as they fear. Once all of the "worst case" scenarios are played out - the patient can then remain confident that they can put themselves in that situation and survive it without any major catastrophe.

Desensitization helps you to learn that sometimes our fears are grossly exaggerated, and that going through the experience that we fear is not going to lead to imminent crisis.

** Cognitive Behavioral Therapy **

Finally, currently the most effective treatment that has been proven to treat panic disorder is cognitive behavioral therapy. This form of treatment is also used for a variety of other mental disorders, but it is especially effective to treat panic disorder.

The tremendous benefits of cognitive behavioral therapy are that you carefully examine your existing beliefs and then determine whether those beliefs are realistic or distorted. Many of the fatalistic thoughts that enter your mind and compound the building panic could be averted through restructuring those thought patterns using the techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy.

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Both Martha Brown & George Goodman are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

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