How to Cope with Eczema, Anxiety, & Panic Attacks
15 million people in the US suffer from anxiety, and people with eczema are MORE likely to suffer from anxiety than people without. My healing journey with eczema has caused a tremendous increase in my baseline anxiety, and 3 months ago I started having full-blown panic attacks, largely because of my skin.
In this video, I talk about:
First half - My personal experience with eczema and anxiety and what my anxiety attacks are like
4:28 - What to do when you feel your anxiety increasing or if you are having a panic attack (or if you know someone that this happens to)
6:38 - The #1 thing you can do to decrease your baseline level of anxiety
These tips are ESPECIALLY helpful when you're caught in a bad itch-attack, feeling like you're about to scratch your skin raw, as well as if you know someone with eczema and/or anxiety and would like to know how you can help when they are having a hard time.
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[00:00-00:21]
Hey, it's Cassie and I am the naturalistic nurse. Today I'll be talking about my personal experience with eczema, anxiety, and panic attacks. first, what anxiety attacks are like for me.
[00:22-00:44]
Next, what you should do if you are having an anxiety attack or if you see somebody having one. And finally, things that you can do to help prevent them from beginning in the first place and how to cope in the long term. Everybody has anxiety at some point in their lives. And we all know what it makes you feel like. It makes you feel stressed, scared, uncertain.
[00:44-01:23]
......... And having eczema and this healing journey that I've been on for about the past year has increased my baseline anxiety. It feels like tenfold. About 3 months ago is when I started having legitimate full-on anxiety attacks, panic attacks. What makes this different from your everyday anxiety that you might be feeling even if your baseline stress level is up here is that an anxiety attack is a sudden episode of intense anxiety, fear, that also comes along with physical symptoms.
[01:23-02:40]
I remember it was the night before my moving day and at that time I already had a ton of different new stressors in my life. I was about to move four hundred miles away to a new city. I was about to start not only a new job but a new career. ......... And on top of all of these things happening in my life, I had to still try to stay on top of my skincare and heal my eczema which I'm still doing to this day and that night I was getting ready for bed and I was standing I was trying to moisturize my skin and I was standing there scratching my body trying not to scratch which is always super stressful for probably at that point at least at least 40 minutes to an hour that I was just scratching trying not to scratch and I remember I was so exhausted already from packing up the u-haul and the whole move that all I wanted to do was just rest and sleep but I couldn't because my skin was so painful and itchy I could not stop I felt like I was already on the verge of tears because I just felt so exhausted.
[02:40-03:02]
And then I looked down at my arms and they were bloody. Which is not the first time that has happened to And seeing my arms bloodied with patches of bright red blood did it. In the matter of that second, I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe.
[03:02-03:32]
I started gasping for air, I started hyperventilating, and I remember I threw my window open, I stuck my head out, and I was still trying to breathe, and then I was also feeling heart palpitations, like as if my heart was beating really, really fast, and I couldn't slow it down. The window wasn't helping enough, so I ran out of my house to the front step, and I sat down outside, Still trying to catch my breath.
[03:32-03:57]
My heart's still beating so fast and this entire time I'm feeling incredibly terrified. I couldn't control my secretions. I couldn't control my saliva. I was basically drooling and I had to keep spitting on the ground because I was trying to control my breathing at the same time. and I broke out into a really cold sweat and then I started shivering uncontrollably.
[03:57-04:29]
Even afterward, once my breathing was for the most part controlled, I was in such a huge brain fog that I felt like I had just passed out. That was definitely one of the worst panic attacks I've ever had. And thankfully, because of my nursing clinical knowledge, I had an idea of what I should do in that moment, but I realized that most people probably don't. So here are a few key things that you can do if you find yourself having a panic attack or if you're with someone that it's happening to.
[04:29-04:58]
One of the most important things that you can do if you're having an anxiety attack is to acknowledge that you're having one. And this is so important because when you're in it, you are so disconnected from reality that you feel like it's never going to end. By acknowledging that you're having an anxiety attack in this moment, then it's the easiest way to help you remember and reorient you to reality that this is temporary and it will stop.
[04:58-05:33]
And if you see somebody that this is happening to, one of the best things that you can do is to remind them this is temporary and that they will be okay. Once you've acknowledged this and kind of begin to reorient yourself that this is not going to last forever, then you can more easily try to control your breathing. It's incredibly hard, but it does help to kind of count to breathe in through your nose, 1, 2, 3, out through your mouth, 1, 2, 3.
[05:33-06:03]
Which brings me to my last helpful tip, which is called grounding. And this is basically reorienting yourself to reality, to your immediate environment. And how you can do this is to choose one object to focus all of your attention on, even though you're hyperventilating and your heart is beating out of your chest. Just choose one object to focus on and note every single little detail about that object.
[06:03-06:28]
Its shape, its size, its color, what it feels like, what it smells like. Every little detail, focus all of your attention on that. That really helps to bring you back down to reality and with that your breathing will start to fall into that focus as well and you will get through it. I know the couple times that I've had really bad anxiety attacks, my focus object has always been something to do with nature.
[06:28-06:55]
It's always been a tree. Because I find that it's a good reminder of calmness and fresh air. Finally, and maybe most importantly, everyday things that you can do to decrease your baseline level of anxiety and prevent an anxiety attack from beginning in the first place. The number one thing that I would suggest is to practice mindfulness and meditation.
[06:55-07:40]
And I want to start off with saying that meditation has nothing to do with organized religion or dogma of any kind. It's really about practicing being present in the moment. not worrying about the past, not worrying about the future, and just focusing in on this moment. And there is tons of research that shows practicing meditation regularly helps decrease anxiety, and this is because when you are caught in a highly stressful situation, when you regularly practice mindfulness and being present in the moment, then you are more likely to default to being grounded and reorient yourself to reality than if you didn't practice these things every day.
[07:41-08:24]
Thanks for watching this video. I really hope that you found it interesting or helpful. You can follow me on Instagram at TheNatNurse for daily posts about how to embrace an eczema-friendly lifestyle. Also, please visit my blog at TheNaturalisticNurse.com for more content about my own personal healing journey, as well as how I intertwine my clinical knowledge as a nurse with everything that I've learned about holistic health. you can sign up for my monthly newsletter on my blog i only send one email a month so it's a really great way to focus on your own healing without missing a beat again october is eczema awareness month so stay up to date with me for more personal stories like this one as i share how deeply eczema can really penetrate your life and how i'm learning to heal from it thanks for watching and i'll see you next time.
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