Panic Attacks and Upset Gut – How to Chain the Monster 

monster in chains to illustrate how to chain panic attacks and upset gut

You’re busy getting on with life. The monster rushes at you. You stand your ground. You select your weapon. You hurl it at the monster with deadly accuracy. Its fire dims and then dies. You return to what you were doing.

Simple? Yes, if you have that armoury at your disposal! Children don't always.

I’ve spent hours in the therapy room helping children lower their anxiety levels to help their symptoms disappear. 

With the surge of anxiety in the world today, two of its chief symptoms that spoil children’s lives are panic attacks and an upset gut.

These two symptoms stop them going to school  — mostly because they:

  • feel they’re going to die of a panic attack or be shamed in public, or
  • are so ill and inconvenienced by the upset stomach that they refuse to leave the house.

There’s some basic science behind the symptoms and, at least with children, I only ever share the basics – because when they know even the smallest amount of “why it’s happening”, they start to feel better. They’re not mad, not losing it, not inferior, not bad. Just anxious, and it’s causing physical symptoms.

How Panic Attacks and Upset Gut Happen:

Your brain suddenly jumps into a fight/flight scenario…
Anxiety releases the stress hormone cortisol…
Too much circulating cortisol unbalances your other hormones…
Hormones control all your body processes…
So your physical processes get out of sync, including your gut and your brain via the gut-brain axis…
And symptoms appear.

You may also get sweaty palms and shake – but panic attacks and upset gut and are the most frightening usually.

Which explains my title!

Here are some really simple ways to help your child get rid of those symptoms and free themselves from the incapacitating anxiety around panic attacks and upset gut.

Yes, it may return. Anxiety always involves fearful thoughts about what might happen. So you may have to help your child to do a re-run of one of the options each time their annoying brain tries to push negative thoughts into their head. (It happens. We’re human!)

7 ways to lower anxiety and eliminate panic attacks and upset gut reaction

Physical activity

I know this by heart because, even now, I take myself out for a walk or jump on my home treadmill if I start worrying. I’ve proved it with children and I’m pretty certain you know it too — get our bodies moving and things change in our metabolism/gut/brain/life.

Calming techniques

Deep, abdominal breathing is one method of calming because it resets our bodies to homeostasis – getting them out of fight/flight mode.

Other methods are sorting, drawing, assembling, tidying — whatever puts them in a calm, quiet zone mentally. This calms their whole body.

Limit the agenda

Our children can often be over-busy – for example, with too many out-of-school activities. Limiting their agenda brings in time for quiet. Which also stops the world while they get off it for a period of boredom or rest. (Yes, boredom is excellent for them!)

Have routines

Having a set routine is especially helpful for children. They thrive when they know the main outline of what will happen. This limits the unexpected moments and therefore reduces panic attacks and upset gut because their anxiety will not become overpowering.

It also brings a sense of security instead of randomness to their lives.

Try rehearsal sessions

Rehearsing a scenario in advance is also calming because it irons out wrinkles and tells their brain in advance what it will do – brains are good at following a known plan. (See the previous point.)

Change the ingredients

I call this BWF (Body, Words, Focus) or Best Way Forward! If you change just one of these “ingredients” in their “cake”, they have a cake, but a different cake. Right?

So move if sitting, sit up if lounging, walk if running, etc. Talk about something totally different or phrase it in a new way. Focus on something else mentally for a while, perhaps a repetitive task (see calming techniques above).

Have special play times with your child

This means you playing with your child attentively, and you taking part in a special way that helps them lower their anxiety and even work through it in play. You can read more about it here.

Anxiety returns at intervals – but panic attacks and upset gut don't have to!

Remember, the best way to help our child is to teach them about what causes the panic attacks and upset gut – in the simple form I outlined above.

Then teach them various ways they can control their anxiety when it appears WAY BEFORE the monster unleashes its symptoms. This empowers them – and makes life easier for you as a parent. Give it a go?