Quoting jethro: ... She said, "Honey...I don't feel right...I feel dizzy," then goes into the bathroom. It was weird. She was really nervous, shaky, jittery, cold, etc. Well, it was an anxiety attack. All of this crap is really finally catching up to her. She doesn't think that it's there from just the A. She thinks she's been bottling her feelings for so long that she just can't do it anymore. I agreed because I feel the A was kind of a result of her bottling her feelings...She doesn't really want to do the meds because she wants to deal with this on her own. I simply told her that many people have used meds and there's no shame. We'll see.
How PnT describes the panic attacks and the advise she gave is right on the money. In fact, my W has been caught up in the catch-22 of fearing another attack actually is what triggers some of them. Other times she wakes up in the middle of the night having one. PnT is also right in that by having her focus on her breathing rather than trying to resist will allow the attack to pass quicker. Being supportive and coaching her through it (that reminding her to breath and that it will pass & all will be alright.) will also reduce the duration of the attack.
I hope for your W they won't presist. If they do, meds probably won't be a cut and dry solution as it is a long trial & error process of finding the right medication and dosage and in time the attacks can come back.
Since your W feels that the source could be her bottled up feeling, I would suggest talking to a C would do more good than the meds right now. This could lead to joint C and if you feel you may not need it, be supportive and do it for her (one of my biggest mistakes) and I'm sure that you will find some of what is said very insightful and will help bring you closer together.
Unfortunately for us, my W has closed the door to having more C sessions and felt up to now, a pill will cure the attacks, but after this weekend she has reallized it hasn't work up to now. While she still doesn't want to start up C just yet, she is open to reading some books I heard are suppose to be very good on the subject. I plan on getting them this week.
