Panic attack on a mountain

Hey everyone
This is my first post but I'm looking for some good advice.
About a month ago while out climbing with my partner I crumbled and had a massive panic attack on a mountain. We were half way up a gully while scrambling to the summit and a wave of fear took over me. I did get rescued off the mountain by a great mountain rescue ranger but was determined to not let this get me the following week we tackled another lower peak. Again as soon as my hand went to grip the rocks I turned and said ' that's as far as I go today'.
The following day I did tackle that peak and made it to the top ! But the fear and uncertainty is 100% there. I have no idea where it has come from. The week before my first panic I guided a group through a scramble to another mountain. A great day scrambling and joking for over 4 hours on the mountains !
Has anyone ever experienced this before ?
Really all advice is welcome
Thank you
Lynda

Lyn McGregor wrote: Hey everyone
This is my first post but I'm looking for some good advice.
About a month ago while out climbing with my partner I crumbled and had a massive panic attack on a mountain. We were half way up a gully while scrambling to the summit and a wave of fear took over me. I did get rescued off the mountain by a great mountain rescue ranger but was determined to not let this get me the following week we tackled another lower peak. Again as soon as my hand went to grip the rocks I turned and said ' that's as far as I go today'.
The following day I did tackle that peak and made it to the top ! But the fear and uncertainty is 100% there. I have no idea where it has come from. The week before my first panic I guided a group through a scramble to another mountain. A great day scrambling and joking for over 4 hours on the mountains !
Has anyone ever experienced this before ?
Really all advice is welcome
Thank you
Lynda

There's a lot of good self-help on dealing with panic attacks. The key is to first identify your triggers. If it's heights or exposure, then maybe climbing is off the table until you deal with it. If something else, well, then you need to work on figuring out how to manage and control your symptoms while on the rock. 

Hi Lynda! I developed panic issues when my thyroid went south. It crippled my lead head (I could still follow if I kept checking my setup constantly, like am I still tied in, is my harness doubled back, etc) and my ability to go across the big tyrolean at the Keyhole Classic :(  Before this I loved risky climbs and had no problems running it out on challenging terrain. Then even small falls on sport climbs were out of the question. The things that helped me were sipping water while climbing, stress mints, passionflower, getting thyroid replacement hormones dialed in with my endocrinologist, meditation, yoga, and more recently eft tapping (yay Brad Yates!). Smoking pot has hindered as much as helped depending on the day. With these I’m now approaching feeling “normal” again but it’s taken a lot of homework when not climbing and I was able to get through my last panic attack by repeating the mantra “I’m calm & relaxed” over and over in my head. That wouldn’t have worked for me off the cuff, first thing I tried, it was the ground work away from the crag that led success in that incident. I also had people close to me that delt with much more severe panic attacks, like having to make three right turns to go left, or never going into a store, can’t breath kind of stuff. For them going to a good counselor and doing EMDR in particular was what helped. Also, beta blockers taken while climbing might help. There’s no shortage of online resources that address this. Panic really sucks the fun out of climbing in my experience. I hope this helps and you find a way to effectively deal with or rid yourself of this panic.

I've dealt with anxiety issues for most of my adult life - it's hard and kudos for asking for help and advice.  A full-blown panic attack is a nasty, scary thing.  That being said, this might not be the best place to turn for help.  There are just way too many unknowns involved; your health and medical history, etc.   I think it would definitely be prudent to hold back on anything too committing for the time being, until you can sort some of this stuff out and figure out what might have triggered the attack.  You could put yourself or others at real risk if you freeze up on the wrong route.

I'm not saying avoid the mountains.  For many of us, these are the places where we find the most peace and calm.  Just take it slow and be smart - you don't want to do it to yourself or put others in a bad spot.  

I've witnessed a few meltdowns while in the mountains - climbing can do that to people, even those that are mentally robust and generally free of anxiety.  With some practice, you can learn to control it, and it can even serve to make you stronger.  Once you've learned to manage your fear in a serious situation (say you're trying to top out a long route in a thunderstorm) everything else in life starts to feel pretty easy!

I find that thinking about yourself from somebody else's perspective, like you are actually in their body observing yourself really helps.

It sounds weird but it displaces the anxiety. Also breathing excercises help a ton. I used to have to pull over repeatedly on the highway while driving from panic attacks. Not too convenient..

Avoid routes that have dynos.

In the last year I've had a couple panic attacks related to claustrophobia. Not full-blown freak-outs but definitely a huge descending sense of fear and panic. Upon digging further I figured out it's not just about being trapped in a small place, it's about being trapped in a small place with OTHER PEOPLE. So, for example, I'm perfectly fine sleeping in my tiny OR bivy bag but watching the doors closed on a commercial airplane with every seat filled makes me fill with dread. Twice I've felt the onset of that feeling while climbing (though I don't know why). Both times I turned around and looked out at the vast exposure and openness behind me (as opposed to the rock in my face) and everything settled down.

A weird bit of advice from a friend who dealt with crippling anxiety that I haven't tried but might be worth exploring: He said, "when you feel panic coming on seize control of the feeling by trying to see if you can make it WORSE. Doing that will always make it better." Apparently the very act of gaining agency over your feeling (even though trying to make it worse) lets you get a wrench on things and take control.

Hi Lynda! I have some anxiety issues that spread to my climbing from time to time. Some advice that works for me is to stay in a “four foot bubble” meaning I don’t worry or think about anything that is more than a four foot radius from me. If start getting anxious, I just focus on the four feet in front of me, then the next four feet and so on. Also, I try to time my movements with my breath. If I start getting stressed i move slowly but deliberately while keeping my breathing measured. I know that sounds a little woo-woo, but it really helps my stay present and focused when I’m getting tense.