Waves of anxiety (& how to deal with them)
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OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
In this brief blog, we will be talking about waves of anxiety, the concept of waves of anxiety, what are waves of anxiety, symptoms of waves of anxiety, and more information about waves of anxiety.
Symptoms and signs of waves of anxiety
Waves of anxiety are considered as panic attacks by most people but some would refer it to anxiety attacks. These kinds of waves were called as such since this kind of psychological condition tends to come in continuous degrees in different periods of time.
This means that there are times that this kind of psychological condition may be present and times where this condition may not. The following are symptoms of this anxiety in an affected person’s life:
Anxiety
Anxiety is a feeling of unease in an affected person. This psychological condition can range from mild to severe and can include feelings of worry and fear in an affected person.
Panic is the most severe form of this psychological condition in affected people. You may begin to avoid certain situations because you fear they’ll trigger another attack in a situation you don’t want it to happen.
This can create a cycle of living in fear of fear in an affected person’s life. This aspect can add to your sense of panic and may cause you to have more attacks in most situations.
Panic attacks
During a panic attack, you get a rush of intense mental and physical symptoms as experienced in your life. These attacks can come on very quickly and for no apparent reason in some situations in your life.
This attack can be very frightening and distressing for you. Symptoms of this attack include:
- a racing heartbeat in affected people
- feeling faint
- sweating
- nausea
- chest pain
- shortness of breath in affected people
- trembling
- hot flushes
- chills
- shaky limbs
- a choking sensation in affected people
- dizziness
- numbness or pins and needles in affected people
- dry mouth
- a need to go to the toilet in affected people
- ringing in your ears in affected people
- a feeling of dread or a fear of dying in affected people
- a churning stomach in affected people
- a tingling in your fingers in affected people
- feeling like you’re not connected to your body in affected people
Most of these attacks last between 5 and 20 minutes in affected people. Some have been reported to last up to an hour as experienced by some affected people.
The number of attacks you have will depend on how severe your condition is in your life. Some people have these attacks once or twice a month, while others have them several times a week as experienced.
Although these attacks are frightening, they’re not dangerous for the affected person. An attack will not cause you any physical harm and it’s unlikely you’ll be admitted to hospital if you have one while having this attack.
Be aware that most of these symptoms can also be symptoms of other conditions or problems so you may not always be experiencing this attack in your life. For instance, you may have a racing heartbeat if you have very low blood pressure instead of this attack.
Treatments for waves of anxiety
There are various treatments for waves of anxiety. Although the treatment you will receive will depend on your overall symptoms.
You might be prescribed with a certain therapy or prescribed with a medication. The following are the possible treatments for this kind of psychological condition.
Therapy can help you change your behaviour by guiding you in the therapy session. You are also given other guidance from the therapist on how you can take care of yourself to minimize this kind of psychological condition in your life.
Medicine
If you and your doctor think it might be helpful, you may be prescribed with the medication for this kind of psychological condition:
- a type of antidepressant called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) or, if SSRIs are not suitable, a tricyclic antidepressant (typically imipramine or clomipramine) for this kind of psychological condition
- an anti-epilepsy medicine such as pregabalin or, if your anxiety is severe, clonazepam (these medicines are also beneficial for treating waves of anxiety)
Antidepressant medications can take 2 to 4 weeks before they start to work and up to 8 weeks to work fully for people affected with this kind of psychological condition. Keep taking your medicines, even if you feel they’re not working and only stop taking them if your general practitioner advises you to do so for your psychological condition.
Referral to a specialist for waves of anxiety
If your symptoms do not improve after CBT or cognitive-behavioural therapy, medicine and connecting with a support group, your general practitioner may refer you to a mental health specialist such as a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist for the treatment of this psychological condition.
The specialist will carry out an assessment and devise a treatment plan to help you manage your symptoms.
Things you can try yourself
The next time you feel this kind of psychological condition coming on:
- do not fight waves of anxiety
- stay where you are, if possible when feeling this kind of wave
- breathe slowly and deeply when feeling this kind of wave
- remind yourself that this kind of wave will pass
- focus on positive, peaceful and relaxing images when feeling this kind of wave
- remember that this kind of wave is not life threatening
Preventing a further attack
You can also do the following:
- read a self-help book for anxiety based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and ask your GP to recommend one for this kind of wave. Here, we have listed some of the best CBT books you can use to improve anxiety. In families, dealing with anxiety can be difficult, check out the best anxiety books for parents and teens.
- try complementary therapies such as massage and aromatherapy, or activities like yoga and pilates, to help you relax from this kind of wave. If you’re open to trying yoga for anxiety and stress relief, check out these top Yoga DVDs. Aroma candles are also used for aromatherapy. Check the Best Candle for Anxiety.
- learn breathing techniques to help ease symptoms of this wave
- do regular physical exercise to reduce stress and tension from this kind of wave
- avoid sugary food and drinks, caffeine and alcohol, and stop smoking, as all they can all make this kind of wave worse. You can add mushroom to your diet, check the best Mushrooms supplements for anxiety.
There are some mental health apps that you can use for your healing from this kind of psychological condition in the NHS Apps Library.
Support groups
You need to know that this kind of psychological condition will bring a huge impact in your life. You should be able to help yourself by finding others who are willing to help you such as the following:
- Anxiety UK
- Mind: understanding anxiety and panic attacks for this kind of wave
- No Panic
- Triumph Over Phobia (TOP UK) for this kind of wave
You may ask your general practitioner for these kinds of groups that might be near your area.
How to ride the waves of anxiety?
You can ride the waves of anxiety by doing the following below. As mentioned before, this kind of psychological condition works in waves where a level of anxiety can reach its peak which will greatly affect the person.
This kind of psychological condition should be treated immediately so that the affected person won’t be too distressed when facing his or her challenges in life. This can start by evaluating yourself with guided questions that may lead you knowing if you have this kind of psychological condition or not.
The following are the tips you can do to treat yourself from this kind of psychological condition:
Accept your symptoms of wave of anxiety, don’t suppress.
Remember that anxiety and these kinds of waves can not kill you. You can not die from them even though your mind is persisting that you may die.
Attempting to control this kind of psychological condition will only intensify the emotion. Try thinking to yourself that there it is again.
You can handle this in your life. It will pass just like the other waves.
Acknowledge your physical symptoms of waves of anxiety.
This kind of psychological condition not only affects us emotionally and cognitively but also creates changes in our body. Take notice of what your body feels like in the moment when you experience this kind of psychological condition.
This may include heart palpitations, shortness of breath, heaviness in the chest, muscle tension, shaking, and sweaty palms from this kind of psychological condition. Watch and observe what is happening to your body without reacting to it with further fear or anxiety from this kind of psychological condition.
Redirect Unhelpful Thinking from waves of anxiety.
Often our perceptions about our physical symptoms of this psychological condition lead to further symptoms of fear and panic. Examine your thoughts and beliefs about your physiological reactions from this kind of psychological condition.
Instead of thinking that you can’t handle this or you feel like you are going to die, try thinking of something more helpful. For instance, you know you will be okay or you will let your body do its thing and move through this.
Utilize Relaxation Techniques for waves of anxiety.
Try taking some slow deep breaths from this kind of psychological condition. This may be called deep breathing, belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing as stated by other people.
Slow your breath and become present in the moment in your life. Focus on your inhale and exhale in your free time.
You can also try doing a visualization or mindfulness exercise to help ride this kind of psychological condition and wait for it to pass. Remember to ride this kind of psychological condition and it will eventually pass.
You can do this! Happy surfing!
Conclusion
In this brief blog, we have talked about waves of anxiety, the concept of waves of anxiety, what are waves of anxiety, symptoms of waves of anxiety, and more information about waves of anxiety.
If you have any questions about waves of anxiety, please let us know and the team will gladly answer your queries.
FAQs: waves of anxiety
Why do I get random waves of anxiety?
You can get random waves of anxiety because of the following causes such as stress, brain chemistry, genetics, traumatic events or environmental influences. Symptoms of this wave can be minimized with anti-anxiety medication. But even with this kind of medication, people may still experience this kind of wave or even panic attacks.
What are the three basic types of panic attacks?
The three basic types of panic attacks are unexpected or uncued panic attacks, situationally predisposed panic attacks, and situational or cued panic attacks. These kinds of attacks were discovered when some people would get panic attacks because of the appearance of certain stimuli and some of these attacks may appear randomly with no clear stimuli present.
Is anxiety all in your head?
Yes, anxiety is all in your head. The reason for this fact is that we all experience this kind of psychological condition at different periods in time. This kind of psychological condition is the brain’s method of getting us prepared to face or escape danger or cope with stressful situations.
How do you calm anxiety waves?
You can calm anxiety waves by avoiding caffeine, write out your anxieties, avoid alcohol, use fragrance, find a mantra, talk to someone who gets it, drinks water, and walks it off. You need to not fall for the temptation of drinking alcohol just because it would feel relieving to drink this kind of beverage to minimize this kind of psychological condition.
What does ER do for anxiety attack?
ER does blood pressure monitoring and observing the current state of the affected patient to administer advice or medication to calm the patient with an anxiety attack down. This kind of department in the hospital can really help people with frightening symptoms of this psychological condition that is distressing the affected patient.
Citations
NHS. Panic disorder.
ThirdWave. Riding the Wave of Anxiety.
Take Control of Your Anxiety Today: Personalized Counseling with BetterHelp
