Anyone Else Suffer from Panic Attacks?

How do you get yourself through them?

Every Wednesday on the Wakin' Up with CJ and Jess Show we set aside sometime either on air or online, or both...LOL, to help out a fellow Wolf listener with something they are dealing with in their life. We call it, "We Gotcha Wednesday". Its our version of going to a therapists office minus the copay.

Every week we open up our email and pick one email from a fellow Wolf listener that's looking for some advice. This week we need some guidance in dealing with panic attacks. Here's the email we got...

"Hey do either of you guys ever get panic attacks? I just turned 40 a few months ago and one thing I’ve noticed since my birthday is for some reason, I’m starting to get panicked over things that really never bothered me before. For example, back in August out of nowhere a few of my girlfriends and I took the kids to the beach and I started getting anxiety while driving there when we hit traffic and were completely stopped for a while because of a wreck. I hated that feeling of being stuck and not moving. I was having an anxiety attack which I never had before while driving. Has this ever happened to you? Any suggestions as to what to do if it happens again?"

I know that I've had one panic attack in my life while I was driving and to be honest I thought I was having a heart attack. I was driving on 84 near the Taconic exit when it hit me like a ton of bricks. I almost felt paralyzed, to the point that I got off 84 onto the Taconic and stopped at the old rest stop that used to be near the RT 52 exit to collect myself. It was so bad that my ex-wife at the time called an ambulance to pick me up and take me to the hospital.

When I got there, they told me that it was a panic attack and gave me some medication and instructed me to see a doctor, which I did, and still do to this day. Real therapy is super helpful for me in dealing with stuff like this, so I think if it continues my best advice is to talk to someone.

You can get some help, or real guidance by maybe starting at Mental Health America of Dutchess County or Mental Health America. Some other suggestions that we got include yoga, meditation and more exercise.