While panic attacks aren't part of bipolar disorder, they are often co-morbid, meaning they commonly occur in people with bipolar disorder. In fact, a study found that panic attacks occur in as much as 60% of people with bipolar (Dilsaver et al., 1997).
Unfortunately, I am one such person. I had my first panic attack at age 14, when I woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air and feeling like my chest was being crushed by a boa constrictor. After several hours of this, my mom took me to the hospital, where it was labeled a panic attack and I was given medication to make it stop. Since then, I've suffered from debilitating panic attacks.
What does a panic attack feel like?
Panic attacks can feel a bit different for everyone, but generally symptoms can include:
shortness of breath and other breathing difficulties
feelings of impending doom or danger
irrational thinking
lightheadedness or dizziness
tingling and chills
painful feeling of constriction around the chest
tensing of the muscles
hot flashes
increased heart rate
trembling or shaking
nausea and abdominal cramping
feeling of unreality or detachment, including disassociation
What to do during a panic attack
Luckily, over the years I've picked up many techniques for coping with a panic attack while I'm having one. My body doesn't cope well with most medications, so I rely heavily on these techniques to make the panic attacks stop. Here are a few of my favorites:
Focus on your breathing. There are several breathing techniques you can try, including the 4-7-8 method, 7/11 method, and the triangle method. My favorite, though, doesn't have a name as far as I know. I close my eyes and breathe in for a count of 5, envisioning my lungs expanding and filling with air. This often makes the chest pain worse at first, but try to power through. Then, my eyes still closed, I breathe out for a count of 5 while imagining my lungs slowly deflating. I do this over and over again, letting my shoulders rise and fall, until the chest spasms ease and I'm able to breathe somewhat normally.
Grounding techniques! I went over these in my post about intrusive thoughts.
Aromatherapy can help pull you out of your head and into the present (and can also be helpful when practicing grounding). Light a candle or spray some perfume or cologne and focus on the smell.
Repeating mantras, internally or aloud. Things like "This won't last forever" or something as simple as "I'm okay". You could also pick a quote or, if you're religious, a short scripture; basically anything that you can focus on that will give you comfort.
How to Prevent Panic Attacks
While some panic attacks happen out of the blue on a perfectly good day, sometimes they do happen for a reason. The best way to prevent panic attacks is to learn your triggers. These are things that jump-start or cause your mind to start spiraling into anxiety and panic.
You can start learning your triggers by looking for similarities in your panic attacks. What were you doing when it started? Who were you with, and where? What kind of thoughts were you having? You can track these things with a trigger tracker, which you can download below!
Sources:
Dilsaver, S. C., Chen, Y. W., Swann, A. C., Shoaib, A. M., Tsai-Dilsaver, Y., & Krajewski, K. J. (1997). Suicidality, panic disorder and psychosis in bipolar depression, depressive-mania and pure-mania. Psychiatry research, 73(1-2), 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0165-1781(97)00109-1
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