you are a good person to want to help your friend with her condition. it can be hard to help someone in the moment of a panic attack. one thing you can do is offer to hold her hand and "breathe together. " before attempting this you should practice slow deep breathing on your own so that in the moment of the panic attack you can help your friend regulate her breathing. don't get frustrated if she is unable to breathe as slowly as you are. merely staying calm and encouraging her softly to "breathe in. 2. 3 and breathe out. 2. 3" can be helpful. you may actually be able to help your friend better by finding an activity such as yoga that the two of you can do together when she's not having a panic attack. regular exercise can help anxiety in general and yoga specifically focuses on breathing. by offering to do yoga with your friend you're supporting her in fighting the anxiety problem. your friend should be grateful she has you in her life! good luck to both of you. i had the same problem severely a few years ago (almost every day to the point that i had to retire early). i improved quite a bit years ago with the help of a service dog who could sense when i was about to have an attack and alert me to take anti-anxiety medicine before the attack happened. however what really helped me at first was to take prophylactic medication until my generalized level of anxiety decreased. (i did relaxation desensitization therapy and other relaxation methods like yoga but it wasn't until the attacks reduced that any of it helped. ) in the meantime the best thing you can do for your friend is to help her with a solution for her real fear - vomiting in public. encourage her to carry a plastic zip-loc bag in her purse (so if she does get sick she won't make a mess that others will have to deal with) and tell her if she feels that she is going to be sick in public you will help her get to a private place to be sick if necessary. there is also an over-the-counter medication called emetrol that will calm the vomiting reflex and allow her to relax and calm down. i still have occasional serious nausea attacks but i always carry at least water and sometimes diet soda to calm my stomach. (for what it's worth i think my extreme anxiety on the subject was caused by a kindergarten classmate who vomited all over me during nap-time. ) the fear of vomiting in public is not typical but it can be very debilitating - and it is much more difficult to treat than a fear of heights or claustrophobia. it is virtually impossible to do progressive desensitization for vomiting - it's kind of difficult to "partially" vomit then relax! first i validate the fear i. e. 'i know you are terrified. ' being dismissive might intensify their fears. then i listen to the fears. usually the person is aware the fear is some free-floating irrational or undefinable feeling. then i begin reassuring the person that it will end just hang in there. i usually hold their hand or stroke their back. like some have said breathing into a paper bag works well for most people. a tranquilizer works quickly. any facts you can give them also is calming. i list the symptoms and potential solutions so they know what to and what not to expect. i say things like 'it's okay it sounds like you're having an anxiety attack. it will pass. it will not kill you. it is not a heart attack. they come on suddenly and they can leave just as suddenly. you will find your way home (that seems to the one of the symbolic underlying fears). i'm here with you. this won't last forever. it will end. you are safe. ' one thing that seems to help more than anything is to have the person do a physical activity right there in the moment. yoga as one person suggested would be wonderful if the situation allows it. breathing in the bag is another good one. but any task that forces concentration back to the moment puts them in touch with 'reality. ' it's nearly impossible to give energy to the fear when one is doing a physical task. and lastly i have discovered that caffeine often triggers an attack. too much coffee tea soda etc. often is the culprit. so you might want to ask them if they ingested a good deal of caffeine an hour or more before the attack. if so they may have a caffeine allergy. i hope this helps. i am wondering does she get really anxious because she is around a lot of people? when i was in college around the time i lost a son to sids i had panic attacks quite often in a classroom setting. i wanted to bail out of class every time. i could tell that other students were watching me probably thinking i was crazy which just stressed me out more. i personally do not want to be touched during one and i want to be left alone. i seem to holler at someone trying to calm me down. if your friend is different than me don't try to make her stay in class that will just make it worse. but i have a friend who recently had her first attack and i gave her a paper bag which i keep on me for my attacks. don't know if your friends has tried that because we seem to hyperventilate while having one. i just kept telling my friend to try and breathe normally with the bag and i kept telling her that she will be okay in a little bit. that this spell will soon go away and she will feel better. i have just learned from md that her hot flashes may not be the change of life it may be the onset of a panic attack. let her know that what she is afraid of is not the worst thing in the world. everyone gets sick and if you can get her to understand getting sick in front of everyone will not kill her and she wouldn't be the first she probably will not get sick. have her imagine what she is most afraid of and the most likely resposnse of those around her. chances are she has visions much worse than reality and can understand that.
what can i say to a friend while she is having an anxiety attack? . my friend has generalized anxiety disorder and she has panic attacks pretty often. once or twice a week typically and when it's the worst daily. they get bad and it's pretty scary. i was wondering what i can do/say to her that will stop the anxiety attack or make it less bad so she doesn't have to leave class. she has a fear of throwing up that's often what causes the panic attacks even when she just has a stomachache she freaks out. she is on treatment but it can only help so much.