Tutti,
I know longer suffer from full blown panic attacks. I had them a few times a few years ago and I told myself it wasn't a road I was going to go down. (Not that I'm saying it's THAT easy!) I had a boss at work once - it was a very small office consisting of just him myself and my ex hubby. Anyway, his panic attacks were huge and often and we used to get calls to go back to the office as he was in such a panic, he could not get out of his chair. Then had to deal with the embarassment he felt that he'd had to call us. Incidentally, he was one of THE heaviest smokers I have ever seen.
Anyway, I kept telling myself I was NOT going to end up like him. I read up about panic attacks and coping strategies and bought myself a relaxation disc that I used to listen to EVERY night before I went to sleep. Again, it was about diet, and not smoking too much, and getting enough rest, and exercise/relaxation and doing lots of web searches on how to deal with/avert attacks.
One of the most immediate is sorting your breathing out. Slow controlled breathing and forcing neck, shoulder and jaw muscles to relax is the most beneficial. Counting as you breathe and focussing on each breathe slows everything down. it's that old "fight or flight" syndrome. That's what it's about. And your body releases all sort of chemicals as you neither fight nor fly. the breathing helps your body to recover and get rid of those. A more immediate one in situations where you're too far gond to breathe, is to put a paper bag over your mouth and breathe into that until you can get your breathing under control.
My anxiety hasn't got worse really as I've quit, just that when I feel tense (as I often do) I don't have that "Oh I'm going to sit in the garden and smoke" response so I'm having to work on others!
S
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 12/10/2006
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 81
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,860
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] �486
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 8 [B]Hrs:[/B] 9 [B]Mins:[/B] 47 [B]Seconds:[/B] 24
