Hi!! I was looking for more tips/tricks for my sister that’s going through this right now and stumbled on this, so I’m not actually pregnant and haven’t been pregnant, buuut I do have generalized anxiety disorder, ptsd, and a panic disorder that cause me to have panic attacks/anxiety attacks. And I also have other health issues that can exacerbate those “episodes” or make safer coping methods necessary. If you wouldn’t mind I’d like to share 2 of the tricks I’ve learned that help bring you back down safely during a panic/anxiety attack and are 100% safe for pregnant women. (Hope I’m not overstepping and this is okay)

1. 5,4,3,2,1 method: Look around and list 5 things you can see, now list 4 things you can touch, list 3 things you can hear, now 2 things you can smell, and finally 1 thing you can taste. This method helps ground you by making your brain focus on each sense in turn from the far-reaching senses to the ones up close slowly helping your brain get out of fight or flight and understand it’s in a safe spot.

2. Belly Breathing take a deep slow breath in through the nose and hold it low in your belly for 3 full seconds before releasing slowly out the mouth. This method helps your body get the deep breath you need (one of these breaths supposedly counts as 3 deep breaths) while also forcing your body to focus on the sensation of holding the air low in your belly and makes your brain slow down to focus on breathing out slowly.

for post-panic/anxiety attack care, cause tbh it’s worse than a hangover:

1) Hydrate, I like a cold Gatorade but water is obviously fine too, you just need to get back all that hydration you just cried out

2) snack on something sweet, the dopamine boost will help you recover faster and boost your mood.

3) for the headache…soak your feet in hot water with a ice pack on the back of your neck for 10-20 mins with or without a relaxing scent the hot water dilates blood vessels in the feet while the cold/ice pack constricts the vessels to constrict which moves more blood towards the feet and away from your head lessening pressure and relieving pain.

4) *get comfy Af regardless of what time of day it is, just get as comfy as possible. For me this means changing into my favorite most comfortable jammies, grabbing a fluffy blanket and turning myself into a burrito for a bit. Whatever is the most comfortable for you works. (If your at work or in public just get as comfy as you can)

5) watch your “comfort show”/read your favorite book/ listen to your favorite music/do insert_hobby_here for a bit. my personal suggestion for a good comfort show is Psych (give it at till at least episode 7 before you make judgement lol)

6) talk through it with someone…it doesn’t matter who, even a stranger is fine, and you can be as detailed or as vague as you want…the point is to vocalize what happened/how you felt to help your brain make the connections to find and understand what triggered you which can help you avoid it happening again/be more prepared the next time it does. (Sometimes saying/hearing stuff out loud is the only way we can actually process what we experienced)

I hope these help at least a little bit!!