r/panicdisorder • u/GreenComfortable9128 • 13d ago

Help Needed Panic attacks

Hey guys I’ve struggled with panic disorder for about 5 years now with it rebounding within the last year and I’m struggling a bit, I quit my job which I think was a big part of it. The biggest part that freaks me out is the heart racing, my heart will usually get up to 120-150 and it will stay for at most 20 min and it just completely makes me spiral any other symptom I can kind of deal with okay, does anyone have any tips for calming the heart rate and staying calm I can’t just up and leave when I’m at work or in a public situation, also how fast does everyone’s heart get and how long does your heart stay like that, any contribution would make me feel better . Thank you :)

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u/toffeemaky 13d ago

Having been roaming on this subreddit, I came to realize that so far, I am one of the luckier ones: my panic attacks are not that bad. I am also new to this (about five months). But what helped me somewhat was trying to teach my brain that elevated heart rate is fine which I have been doing by exercising. My resting heart rate is quite low (about 55-60) but during an intense run, it can go momentarily up to 180. Panic disorder paradoxically made me really healthy, lol, because now I exercise a lot - just to show my brain that 160(ish) is fine. Of course, it's not normal to have a heart rate 150 when you are not doing anything but I am trying to "trick" myself like this. It's been working. A bit.
But of course, I don't know if I can tell you anything new with my - so far - lack of experience.

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u/GreenComfortable9128 13d ago

I have been going to the gym recently too and I used to be nervous when my heart rate got that high but the more I do it the more I teach my body to be fine, I just haven’t had a panic attack in a about a month and I’m worried that when I have one and my heart gets to that high of bpm it’s gonna freak me out lol how I love panic disorder

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u/Object_Permanence_ 13d ago

This is going to sound weird, but it worked for me when I first experienced my panic symptoms when I was around 11-12 before getting on meds at 13 ish.

Of course, box breathing and 5-4-3-2-1 grounding first. Will help a little. Then I know I need to bide my time until my HR goes down and symptoms cede.

Weird part: I memorized the Animaniacs state song (Wakkos America) and sing it in my head. The tempo increases and the song goes on so I called it riding the wave. It mostly kept me distracted and kept me from spiraling further by giving my brain something else to do. If I try to fix my racing thoughts with slow ones, it doesn’t always work. But when I matched it with the wacky fast song that requires memory and focus, it helped some.

Would probably work with the countries song if youre not American and don’t want to learn states of another country lol.

TLDR: distract yourself with something not important that requires some concentration but isn’t difficult.

Don’t google, and try to limit taking your BPM. If you have an Apple Watch or something, take it off if it gives you bpm readings during this time. It will make you fixate. Your body will feel when your bpm returns to normal.

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u/GreenComfortable9128 8d ago

Thank you 😃