Coping with panic disorders

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Many if us here deal with anxiety and panic disorders. Panic disorders are usually triggered by situations. I have situational panic. It's when I am driving. When I start approaching the end of my comfort zone, I will begin to feel my panic rise. Panic, is a mechanism we use to avoid something. It's a learned response. Our fight or flight response goes into overdrive. It feels like a big bad bear is after you and you are trying to escape from being mauled to death, but you just can't run fast enough to escape. That rush if adrenalin causes your heart to pound, and you can't catch your breath. You may even scream like that bear is fixing to tear you apart. But...there is nothing to fear. It's just a biochemical response to stress. The immediate solution is to breath slowly. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Focus all your energy into slowing your breathing down. Your panic will ebb as you calm yourself. You can track your calming process by using a scale of 1 to 10. The numeral 1 indicates total calm and the numeral 10 indicates the worst anxiety or panic you have ever felt. Keep breathing slowly in from your nose and out through your mouth. Take note if your anxiety level. Feel the panic diminish to anxiety. Feel the anxiety leave your body with every cleansing breath. I use this technique to manage the panic I feel rising when I am behind the wheel of our car. I had to go to Bethlehem last week, which meant I had to cross this super highway (route 316). Every time I approach that intersection my panic rises. I use this breathing technique to calm myself so that I do not go into uncontrollable panic mode. Panic is not going to kill me but my reaction to it could kill me in a traffic accident. I have taught myself to breathe through panic. In other words, I let myself feel my panic escalate and run its course. Panic can only get to a certain level and then it will dissipate. The thing to do is allow it to flow and leave your body as you breathe through it. Everyone can do it. You might think you can't because you are so accustomed to being helpless and at the mercy of your panic. You don't have to live that way. You can make up your mind to ride the panic out to its end while facing your fears. I have to do it every time I come to the 316 intersection. I have to do it every time I drive my daughter to her psychiatrist in Bogart. In not dependent on medicine to control my anxiety. I face my fears when I must and breathe through it. Then in so proud of myself for riding out the panic I had. Every time I go to Bogart it gets easier. I still get the sweaty palms on the steering wheel. I still react by taking short panicked breaths, and it is at that point that I make the decision to breathe slowly and deeply to ride the panic to its end. My anxiety is then manageable. It measures at about a 2 or a 3 on that scale. About that scale. You decide what numbers to assign to your stress level. You might mentally creat yours from 0 to 9 or from 1 to 10. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you begin to feel the different levels of anxiety. It's important to know that the feeling is uncomfortable, but it's not going to kill you. There is no reason to feed off it and disrupt our own lives and the lives of those who love us. Take each episode of panic and breathe through it to its end. End of public service announcement.