I was wondering if anybody else struggles with these, especially during sobriety.
I have a bottle of wine that I haven’t opened and I have my sober date written on it.
Whenever these occur, I always think how easy it would be to open it and make it stop.
But I refuse.
My panic attacks for the last few years tend to convince me that I can’t breathe and I’m losing oxygen.
What are some things some of you might do to calm yourself down?
A technique for me that i use often and have found to be very successful is the 5 senses grounding technique.
Controlled slow deep breathing also helps 
Thank you 
I like this. Thanks for sharing it.
I think I just get anxiety attacks once and awhile. I thought they were panic attacks but my therapist thinks otherwise.
I like that breathing technique @Butterflymoonwoman mentioned. Definitely some kind of breathing exercise might help.
Sorry I’m not much help.
But I do like that sober date thing you’ve written on that wine bottle. I can’t wait for the day you tell us you threw it out. Good idea to protect that sober date at all cost. That’s what someone on here told me. And that’s what I do. I don’t think I got another in me. This is the one.
I’m sorry you struggle with anxiety attacks sometimes. I wouldn’t wish anxiety or panic attacks on my worst enemies.
And I appreciate your response of course.
I think engaging with people on here helps me with a ton of my current struggles in sobriety.
Since quitting drinking, my panic attacks aren’t nearly as frequent so that is why I know opening that bottle won’t actually solve them in any way.
When you are feeling yourself getting stressed, step aside, slow down. Hum a tune to yourself for several minutes with your eyes closed.
I promise you that thinking and humming cannot coexist. This creates a break in your neural chain for some peace and quiet to sit…Try to have a thought while you hum… Impossible.
Get outside your head, feel the textures of a blanket or the bed cover, breath as deeply as you can.
This box breathing technique I found useful:
Maybe it helps you too.
Panic is real. It’s a real physiologic response.
Here is one person‘s idea of a way to minimize it or decrease it some.
Of the three ways he has listed, the easiest for me if I was at home, would be to put ice cubes in a Ziploc and put them particularly where he says, under your eye and above your cheekbone.
All the other suggestions are good also and a lot easier to do when you are doing your normal activity, which is usually when these things like panic end up happening.
I’m glad to hear that you doubt that you’ll ever have to grab that bottle!!
Still I question why you have the full bottle in your house. It’s like the smoker who keeps that pack of cigarettes around.
If there’s a weak moment, you can’t smoke the cigarettes if they’re not there the same goes with drinking.
It might be that you have other people in the home who might want to drink it. I don’t know. I’m not trying to be critical.
I really appreciate this, thank you
I will try that!
I understand the curiosity about the bottle. It’s more of a way to challenge my own self control I suppose, but I do live with a drinker and everyone in my life drinks daily so the bottle represents my own power and choice because truth be told, it would be extremely easy for me to access more alcohol or slip back into old ways if I truly wanted to.
I do think I was actually more tempted to dump it more than I was to drink it during my panic attack yesterday.
I think ultimately I will end up pouring it down the drain or giving it to somebody.
Sorry you’re dealing with these 
I suffered panic attacks alot in my early 20s, but didn’t know that’s what they were at the time. Then I went years without them, until I had one out of the blue around 5 months sober, which continued on and off for a couple months. What I’ve noticed is they tend to occur when I’m overly tired or stressed. I’ve found that focusing on relaxing every single muscle, especially in my neck/face/jaw, helps ALOT. Sometimes I don’t even realize how tense I am until I scan my body and find all sorts of muscles that are tightened up, even at rest. Then I imagine myself melting, like I turn into jello. Being relaxed also makes it easier to take deeper, steadier breathes. This was truly a game changer 
When I feel one coming on now, I do this and it almost always prevents it from going full-blown.
Something else I learned while going thru this period was that certain vitamin deficiencies can actually cause panic attacks, so that might be something else to look into. Hope these pass quickly for you 
Thank you
I really love that jello analogy. I’ll definitely try that.
