A few weeks ago I wrote about why you are having anxiety…if you missed that go here.
To follow that up I figured it would be ideal to talk about how I healed my panic attacks and anxiety. A combination of trial and error, and formal education has taught me SO much over the years. This helped me discover what works best so that I can share it with you.
My first panic attack was 20 years ago.
And I’ll never forget it. It changed my life. If you are having panic attacks I’m sure you can totally relate to how terrifying the experience can be. The attacks would happen at least daily, come out of the blue, and be a 10 out of 10 on the panic scale in mere moments. I had no idea how to prevent them nor any idea how to diffuse them once they’d started. It made trying to function like a “normal” person pretty difficult because I never knew how I was going to feel.
Then I started to have anxiety about HAVING a panic attack. Where would it happen? And would I be able to handle it? Would the next time be the time that ‘killed’ me? Logically I knew that it made absolutely no sense to worry about these things but knowing that, did not help me stop the panic or the anxiety. I lacked the proper tools.
Panic attacks & anxiety are NOT the focus of my life anymore.
When anxiety arises now it will only last a few minutes (at the most) and occurs because of some known reason like I haven’t been taking care of my needs or was pushing myself too hard in one way or another. Over the years I have compiled my BEST RESOURCES to help you regain the power. For my FREE guide “What Do I Do if I’m Having a Panic Attack?” GO HERE
What it took to STOP the panic attacks…
I started a daily relaxation practice.
I listened to a relaxation tape EVERYDAY! When I stopped using the tape, I moved on to other forms of relaxation and breath work but this consistent practice helped me to gain awareness of my body and the feelings in my body. I started to get better at recognizing what my body was trying to tell me.
I learned how to fuel my body.
As a teen I had always been a breakfast skipper. Mid-morning I’d maybe have a muffin. At lunch, some kind of fast food. By after school (if I wasn’t playing sports) I’d be starving so I’d snack on mini pizzas or cheese and crackers. Then when dinner rolled around I would still be full from my snacking but had to sit down for the family supper. It usually consisted of a meat, a starch, and a vegetable…the only real meal I ate all day 😮 It’s no wonder I struggled to get out of bed and have energy during the day.
When the panic attacks began, I started to notice how much effect my disordered eating was having on my blood sugar levels. The feelings of a low blood sugar could definitely bring on a panic attack. Stimulants like caffeine, sugar, and alcohol could also definitely bring on a panic attack… so I cut them all out. Oh and did I mention I smoked cigarettes at the time 😮 yeah I quit that too. These changes reduced the frequency of the panic attacks and made me feel like I had at least a little control over when they would happen. The bonus of making these changes…weight loss!
I took up regular exercise.
Sports had always been a part of my life growing up but in my teens I struggled to feel good doing them (remember my crappy diet…) So when I changed my diet and I also started to attend aerobics classes regularly (and then got into running) it made the world of difference to the panic attack response. The physical activity would help diffuse the excess nervous energy that if I didn’t move would just sit inside me building. That energy if not diffused through exercise would eventually blow resulting in a terrifying panic episode.
Exercise helps us get out of our head and into our body. What that does is bring you into the present moment. If you are functioning in the present moment, you CAN’T be anxious.
I incorporated a potent multivitamin.
Prior to doing this I had still been taking pharmaceutical medications because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to take them anymore though, so I stopped. This created horrible rebound panic but I was determined to stay off them because that had always been my plan. So I endured waking up in the middle of the night, bounding out of bed in panic and running out to my living room before I even realized what was going on. Incorporating a high dose multivitamin (along with all the other changes I had already made) brought this to a halt! I was finally able to sleep through the night again.
These changes got me to a place where I rarely experienced panic attacks but I still had anxiety every damn day.
There were still things in my life that I avoided because they were just too hard. I didn’t have the energy to keep pushing through all the time…and for what? To feel just OKAY?! It was exhausting. The resentment in me over having to live like this was building and I didn’t know how to change it. I wanted nothing more than to be able to live freely and make choices because I desired to, as opposed to feeling forced to out of necessity.
It wasn’t until I started working with various forms of homeopathy that I started to really come out of the anxiety. The FEAR of having a panic attack FINALLY lessened its’ hold.
The scary tension that had surrounded me when in the midst of anxiety…it was gone. The awareness of how tightly I had held on to what I thought was making me safe, became very obvious. How much I held on to my way of living started to relax. I could see that I didn’t NEED anything to hold on to anymore. I could freely choose. The conclusion I came to, was that being disciplined can actually bring you far more freedom in the long run but not if you are being disciplined out of fear. Now…I make the choices for a healthy lifestyle because I like how it makes me feel and I have respect for my body and mind. It no longer feels like do or die.
Homeopathy was such an integral piece of the puzzle for me. I had experimented with what nutrition and relaxation could do, with what counselling could do, what supplements could do, what acupuncture could do, and various forms of energy medicine. There are so many more things I could list here that I tried and experimented with over the years in an effort to understand what was happening to me. What I found is that it takes a multi-faceted approach with a few KEY ELEMENTS to truly transform fear and anxiety. If you don’t have both, you may find yourself like a hamster on the wheel…running, running, running, just to feel ‘okay’.
I don’t want you to have to spend so much time figuring this all out like I did. Let’s get you on the fast track to the best results in the shortest amount of time. If you are truly done with suffering and desire deep change then I’m so glad you found my post. Call me now and let’s schedule your FREE discovery call!
Dr. Kim Gowetor
Naturopath Sherwood Park
Naturopath Calgary
780-328-9088
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