Brian's Journey with PTSD

We all deal with daily life. It comes with stress. For some of us stress really hits us hard. From my experience when stress hits me no matter how small it is it always sends me in to emergency response mode.

I have to continually watch my body. If I do not keep an eye on how my breathing is or how tense I am, then stress can lead to anxiety, which will lead to a panic attack. There is nothing like having your heart skip beats, numbness and tingling down both of your arms, chest tightness, and the feeling of impending doom. It completely consumes my entire mind and body. Once it has taken it’s course I feel like I was just beat with a 4 x 4 and can hardly move and I am extremely tired.

So what do I do to try and mitigate my anxiety and panic attacks. I keep an eye on my breathing. If I am breathing shallow, and with my chest I have to change it. I have to keep an eye on my tension in my neck. I have to constantly try to stay relaxed and calm.

But when it all fails what do I do. I try to do meditation during the wave breaks. Panic Attacks come in waves, so I do my best to focus on my breathing while all hell is breaking loose. I have to constantly remind myself that I am not going to die, and that it will pass eventually (which it does).

Stress leading to panic attacks is hard to deal with. I try to keep the stress low knowing what it can lead to. However, that is not always possible thanks to this thing we call Life. So, I try to have a set plan in place to deal with things when all hell breaks loose. This includes talking with others to help break what my mind is thinking.

I am sure there are other tools out there. What kind of tools do you use? What is your experience with dealing with stress and panic attacks? Do you have your ready to go bag when things are really bad? If so what are they?