Anxiety/panic attacks can affect anybody at any stage of their life,you struggle to cope day-to -day,I just wanted to share some of my coping mechanisms,that I learnt to use in my own personal experience Anxiety and depression.If you suspect you have any mental illness please go and see your GP.

I suffered depression some yrs ago and still sometimes use these stratergies I learnt  at a Anxiety and Depression course ran by our local communtiy.For me  most of my attacks would happen in the car,I had my learners and would drive quite a bit ,but I couldnt drive anymore and even being a passenger would send me into panic.I can remember one day early on even before I knew what was going on and what they were ,I was driving home with my husband and I just froze and couldn't drive anymore,my husband had to take over the driving.We were only about a km from home.I can remember another time driving over a bridge and having a feeling of a panic attack coming on I just wanted to stop in the middle of the bridge,but I knew I couldn't and by the time I got to the other side  of the bridge I had controlled the feeling and it passd and I was able to continue driving.Because of my attacks I would stay home and very rarely go out for fear of having an attack in public or in the car.

My husband is a truck driver and I would fear every day he went to work that he would have an accident and die leaving me with 2 small children and no husband.Another thing that would send me silly was cutting vegietables especially pumpkin as I would panic I was going to cut myself,I think it may have come from when I was much younger and cut my self quite badly cutting a passion fruit. Sounds pretty silly but you have no conrol over it happening until you have learnt to cope with them.When I first started to have them I thought I was dying ,I would wake up at night thinking I couldnt breath then cry ,very frightening until you start to know the signs.

Identifying a panic attack-Your fingers are tingling ,your shaking.your palms are sweaty,your heart is racing you are feeling light headed and weak ,all your energy is just sapped out of you.I would sometimes get dirahia also with it.These are some of the signs of a panic attack.

Learning to cope with them- it is called Cognitive thinking and rationional thoughts identify why you are starting to have a panic attack sometimes not so easy to do.Ok for me with the knife and cutting the pumpkin,I had to think what are the chances of this happening ,ok pretty slim as I have done this many times before and have not cut myself, and if I do happen to cut myself I will deal with it calmly and rationally.

When going in the car same as the knife ,I have done this before many times and yes I could have an accident and has never happened before so the chances of it happening is very slim I will just have to drive more carefully.Same as with my husband going off to work ,he does this everyday and he knows what he is doing and he will be  very careful.

I would have other irrationatal thoughts and when I learnt to identify them as irrational thoughts then the cognitive thinking kicks  in , undersatnding them and working through them to control it before the panic attack actually starts. If you feel one coming on do some deep breathing , sometimes breathing into a paper bag may help also. and practice the cognitive thinking and positive thoughts.

If you think you suffer from Anxiety or panic attacks you should consult your GP as most times anxiety and depression go hand in hand.

                                                                                             Cham