Heart rate rises, air vanishes, lungs work double time, and the world closes in around us as we sink into an anxiety attack. Triggered by the world around us, leaving no room for control. To some, a common friend, and to others a visitor that comes around when the world becomes too far out of our control. Fear, stress, change to a routine, caffeine, trauma, lack of sleep, and brain overload are all avenues that anxiety likes to feed on. No one is immune, some people might be able to work through situations differently causing their brains to not react in a way that causes an over exes of oxygen to enter the lungs and the feeling of a box of bricks to fall on their chest all while their brain is shuffling through the chaos to find reasoning. Different people carry different triggers. And anxiety can come out in different ways. Nevertheless, it can feel like the world is caving in even if it is just for a moment.
Anything Can Happen
Anxiety is often linked with depression and while they do go hand and hand like peanut butter and jelly, neither one needs the other to survive, yet they typically come in a pair. When people are depressed they typically experience some form of anxiety. They feed off of one another. To be depressed can open a door to allow the anxiety to creep in, holding us captive while we swim through our thoughts looking for a breath of air. Although, many people who have not felt the crippling grasp of depression, that feeling of hopelessness taking over or feeling like there is no purpose to life, can still experience anxiety. Anxiety by the dictionary's definition means, “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.” It is a feeling of fear or worry. It is overstimulation of our thoughts that run laps in our brain without giving us time to allow ourselves to process anything. This speeds up our heart rate and intensifies our breathing. This can easily happen to anyone and can be worse for some than others. There can be different reasons that create a space for anxiety to make a debut. It can be overstimulation, or our brains not being able to find an answer we need, creating a space of unknowing. It could be caused by being over-tired, and it could even be caused by caffeine not being properly digested into our body leaving us feeling anxious rather than energized.
Started Young
Me, I had my first anxiety attack at our kitchen table around the age of 15. I just found out I was going to have to do my first in-person audition for a summer dance program at a prestigious dance school. It came on quickly, my breathing quickened, the world got small around me, my hands went numb, my breaths came out in desperate glimpses, and my chest grew heavy while my eyes took on a haze. I began to pound my chest with the heel of my hand trying to allow my breathing to normalize. I then stopped and began trying to control my breathing by taking long slow breaths all while shaking out my hands to release the tension and pressure. After a few moments, I was able to compose myself. Auditions never really scared me after that, but it was the initial fear of trying something new that overtook my brain and caused it to over-circuit. This was my introduction to a life of attacks. I go through phases of when I get them and why I get them. Often it is when my emotions are so overwhelming that I can’t control them. Like when I am in a depression episode. Although, I have experienced a few that were completely out of nowhere.
A few examples, I was at the beach with my sister when I walked behind a tree and focused my eyes to realize I was face to face - with a spider. I stumbled backward and began hyperventilating. She thought I was joking and honestly, so did I. But, it was beyond my control. The attack took over until I was able to shake out my hands and control my breathing. It was completely out of nowhere other than the stress that the spider caused. Another time being, I was sitting on the couch after my shift at the coffee shop where I may have had three or four shots of espresso like I did most days. I was talking with someone when an attack overtook me out of thin air. It was at that moment that I realized the hold that caffeine can have over our stress levels and that it can affect our adrenal glands which are linked with our hormones. That’s when I limited my caffeine intake.
Unpredictable
Anxiety attacks have a mind of their own and can show up when we are least expecting them to. I used to have them far more frequently when I was younger. And now they like to show their face when I hit my wall during a depression episode. Although, I know others who have spontaneous attacks due to stress, overwork, over-exertion, and fear. Along the lines of Anxiety's unpredictable scheduling, it’s interesting to note that there are anxiety attacks and panic attacks. They both resemble one another. They both can cause elevated heart rate, the feeling of our lungs caving in, and our blood pressure to take a quick journey around the body causing the brain and body to panic. Anxiety attacks involve a trigger, they are caused by some form of on-switch. Whereas a panic attack can sneak up, revealing the element of surprise. And being taken off guard can cause the symptoms to escalate causing us the need to focus on controlling our breathing. These attacks are not comfortable and can even be scary, especially when they come at the most inconvenient times like driving. It’s about learning the signs and understanding how our body reacts so we can become comfortable with how to disarm them. Learning how to control our breathing and learning when it feels as though we are about to become face to face with an attack, to not be completely taken off guard. It won’t happen every time, but knowing how to handle them when they do show up can be extremely comforting.
To Understand
Anxiety attacks are common, I know more people who have had at least one than people who have never experienced one at all. They can be scary and they can cause our already overloaded mind to work even harder going into flight or fight mode. When experiencing an attack, our brain can begin to panic causing us to switch into survival mode. And being someone witnessing an attack can be overwhelming and cause a minor internal panic. It is important to recognize the signs when someone is facing this intense attack. . Knowing the signs and how to respond can help bring a person back into reality. Helping them calm their breathing can shorten the attack and by bringing them comfort can relax the tensed nerves. Unfortunately, anxiety is common and festers inside of us like mold. We need to understand how to best deal with it to then control it rather than the other way around. We should be eager to find ways that help us grow to where those situations that once overcame us can simply be worked through without the fear of anxiety attacks looming over our heads. Our anxiety may not go away, but at least we will be equipped and ready to fight against it.
Anxiety isn’t a byproduct of depression. It is its own entity that hangs with depression to keep it company but is also completely ok spending time on its own. It whispers everything at once feeding off of our emotions, causing a short circuit to happen in the brain. While the brain short circuits our heart and lungs forget how to work properly. We need to remember to bring everything back to reality by controlling our breath, slowing our heart rate, and taking a moment to recover. Because anxiety, as flippantly as we joke about it, can be frightening. I hope that this past week was amazing. Feel free to share this with someone, and don’t forget to follow on Instagram and subscribe to receive a post update once a week. Thanks for reading Allie-Cats.
Dru Allie
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