Question:
I'm due the beginning of July and experienced increasingly distressing
panic attacks from about week 10 to week 15. They finally culminated in a
2-day long attack where I really thought I was going to die or be put
away in an asylum! I too had problems breathing and was also scared by
activities in my bowels. It's so overwhelmingly frightening, it's hard
to imagine how to explain it to someone who hasn't gone through it. It's
hard to believe that the out-of-control mind can be so powerfully
convincing!
I had no idea what was going on, since I had not experienced panic
attacks pre-pregnancy. I ended up NOT taking any medication, but going
to counseling and taking private yoga lessons *AND* cutting out meat and
milk from my diet. A vegetarian for 10 years, I had intense cravings for
meat, so I ate it, and I drank cow milk every day from about week 8 til
week 14. This happened to be the period when the attacks were building
up to the big 2 day fear-fest. Now I'm back to my old soy milk/tempeh
diet. Who's to say why I'm not panicking anymore at week 20? Could be
any of the factors mentioned above or something completely different.
Answer:
Just a little note to let you know you are not alone with this. However, my
anxiety attacks are not the result of pregnancy only. I suffer from them in
a non-pregnant state too. However, depending on the type of "hormone" day I
am having during the pregnancy will determine if I'll have an anxiety attack
that day or not (assumption on my part). As easy as I may make this sound,
the best thing to do is NOT sit still during an attack. I found that
sitting there only tends to make it worse as you tend to think about it
more. I get up, and find something to do for the next hour or so, and by
the time I sit down, the anxiety has subsided to a point where I can sit
down and possibly read a book or watch TV to ride out the residue of the
attack. Another thing you could do is call up a friend on the phone and
just talk, not about the panic however, but just tell your friend you are
trying to get over and just yap about anything.
But the best thing to remember, again, it's easy to say this when not in the
middle of an attack, is that you won't die, it will go away, and most
importantly, you are not going crazy.
I went through a period of my
life where I suffered panic attacks, but so far I have not had them much during
pregnancy. Unless you've had them, it's hard to believe how ill they make you
feel and you cannot control them, no matter how hard you try. I had a bad one
last time when I had to have a blood test (I am terrified of needles). The
stupid doctor thought shouting at me would cure me, but it just caused me to
pass out (which does certainly get your breathing back to normal, although it
makes you feel horribly sick).
I do get incredibly depressed during early pregnancy, like bad PMS
and I do get very anxious. Like you, I was told that it was a known medical
problem in pregnancy, experienced by many women. Last pregnancy, it made me
sick as a dog until 16 weeks (severe morning sickness is sometimes a panic
reaction), but this pregnancy I am much better. "Calm" is not the word, just not
terrified the whole time. This is partly because I know the score and being my
second pregnancy, I am not worried about what it will do to my figure or
how I'll cope with labour. I hope to be able to enjoy it later on! :-)
