To: K-list
Recieved: 2000/05/07 15:00
Subject: [K-list] panic attacks
From: Divine Goddess
On 2000/05/07 15:00, Divine Goddess posted thus to the K-list:
When I was a nurse the way we treated panic attacks was breathing in
a paper bag, anti anxiety medicine, and talk therapy.
I had a lot of panic attacks when I was in my early 20s. Panic
attacks do seem to cluster around that age group although people of
other ages have them.
I know not all panic attacks are accompanied by hyper ventilation but
the breathing rate does increase due to the flight or fight response
when faced with anxiety.
When I took courses in rebirthing (holotropic breathwork is similiar)
I was struck by how the circular breathing done for rebirthing is the
same as the breathing for people who are having panic attacks. The
rebirther encourages the rebirthee to accelerate the rate of the
shallow chest, open mouth breathing as much as possible. Of course,
you lay on the floor in case you pass out...
People who hyperventilate sometimes do pass out. I think that may be
a
barochemoreceptor mediated response because people are standing up. I
haven't seen people pass out who were hyperventilating laying on the
floor. I have watched a hundred people at a time do the rebirthing
breathing and nobody passes out. Now, some people do get muscle
tetany but that is not permanent, just weird and scary looking.
I wonder if the hyperventilation is just a body wisdom correction to
increase the circulating prana in the body...an automatic pranayama.
The circulating prana highlights blocks in the energy system, which
manifest to the rebirthee often as pain.
I know when I circulate prana at the high a rate, my teeth begin to
"zing" and vibrate as if ultrasound was applied to them.
I often have spontaneous pranayama myself but never to the intense
degree brought up in rebirthing(sometimes continuing the cycle of
breathing for almost an hour). Could we suppose k is precipitating
what the western world calls a 'panic attack'?
Speaking from experience, one of the most scariest things I have ever
felt was the emotions from a panic attack. I thought I was going to
die cause my heart was pounding like a hammer and I was breathing so
fast and I could not stop. I would just lay down, pray a lot, and
eventually it would pass. Once I did go to the emergency room where
they ran an EKG of my heart (normal) and gave me some Valium. That
worked! LOL!
Do you know how Valium works? Valium is a muscle relaxer. That is a
valuable clue for anxiety treatment. You *CAN NOT* be anxious when
your muscles are relaxed! Give a person enough Valium and put them on
a bomb and they just won't care. Why, cause they can't be tense,
because their muscles won't tense. Valium is such a potent muscle
relaxer that if you get too much your lungs will stop working.
We used Valium for patients when we wanted to shock people's hearts
with the electric paddles out of unhealthy rhythm. People won't be
calm and lay still when someone is trying send 200 joules of
electricity into their heart.
But I stray....
The point is I realized that after a session of rebirthing
(hyperventilation-panic attack) I am so wiped out, my muscles like
water, that it is difficult for me remain tense no matter what kind
of thoughts are moving thru my head.
Just some thoughts,
Susan
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