Panic is a type of anxiety – often an intense feeling of overwhelming fear that may happen without warning. Panic can feel like a medical emergency.
Symptoms include:
- Body-based sensations like chest pain, nausea, rapid heart rate, dry mouth, sweating and hot/cold flushes, trembling, numbness, tingling, feeling dizzy or faint.
- Breathlessness, hyperventilating, choking sensation.
- Feeling detached, disoriented: Afraid you might be dying, losing control or your grip on reality.
Even though panic isn’t dangerous, it can feel scary. Panic symptoms can feel like you’re having a heart attack, stroke, or asthma attack.
Speak to your healthcare providers (doctor, midwife, nurse) who can assess for anxiety and/or any underlying physical causes. If what you’re experiencing is anxiety or panic, there are many ways you can look after yourself until a panic episode passes.
Panic episodes may last 5 to 30 minutes on average. If you’re worried and you have chest pain, call 000 and request an ambulance immediately.
Helpful Information
Perinatal anxiety management
Remind yourself
“What I’m experiencing right now is anxiety and panic. These feelings cannot harm me.”
Managing panic
Try these strategies when you’re feeling calm and relaxed, then use them whenever you start to feel panic.
1
Move yourself - and your baby - into a safe position
2
Accept what is happening
3
Remember
4
Remind yourself the panic will pass, and try distracting yourself
5
Take control of your breathing
6
Use facts to face your fears
7
Talk to yourself like you’re comforting a friend
8
If you’re with other people, let them know what’s happening
“I got support from PANDA. They explained fight and flight to me, and that everything I was going through was normal for lots of postnatal mums – that what I had was anxiety, and I wasn't dying.”
Post-panic care
Panic episodes can be exhausting. When you feel calmer in body and mind, do something to look after yourself. You may like to lie down for a while, have a warm cuppa, or call a loved one for support.
If you’d like to learn more about panic, and effective ways to manage it, you can call the PANDA National Helpline and chat to our counsellors and peer support practitioners.