How to Stay (Somewhat) Calm During an Acute Health Crisis

Oh no, it’s happening again.

Whether it’s the sudden tightening in your chest during an asthma attack, feeling a seizure coming on or starting to shake and sweat because your blood sugar levels are dangerously low, if you’re living with chronic illness, you are probably familiar with the particular fear of a medical emergency.

Now, no one’s expecting you to be completely calm during an acute health crisis.

It is completely normal to be stressed out and on high alert – it may actually save your life. Your brain and body are wired to react strongly to danger. When something feels life-threatening, your nervous system activates the fight-or-flight response: your heart rate increases, your breathing speeds up and stress hormones surge, allowing you to take action quickly.

But the tricky thing is, being in full-blown panic mode can worsen symptoms like a racing heart, breathlessness, dizziness and muscle tension. Aside from the scary experience, you may have a hard time communicating important information to medical professionals, understanding what doctors are telling you and making informed decision about your health and treatment.

Over the years, I’ve had my fair share of serious difficulties with breathing and swallowing, allergic reactions and near-fainting in public to know how frightening it is to feel those alarm bells going off in your brain and body, and how deeply it affects your sense of safety. If you hate feeling that vulnerable and helpless too, and your chronic illness occasionally throws you into crisis mode, it can be empowering to have some coping strategies in your mental toolkit.

There are no official scientific guidelines on how to handle medical emergencies, but we can borrow tips from research on stress physiology, pain perception and emotion regulation. Not all the advice will be doable for everyone. What works for you, depends a lot on your specific situation, especially the symptoms you are experiencing. But hopefully this article will give you enough pointers to get you through that stressful experience.

While you are getting the medical help you need (!), here’s how to stay somewhat calm during an acute health crisis.

5 Strategies to Stay Calm in a Crisis

Obviously, the first step of any medical emergency is getting help, whether that’s calling an ambulance, taking emergency medications and/or asking someone you trust to monitor your condition. The following tips are not meant to replace medical assistance, but to support your emotional wellbeing as you’re going through an acute health crisis.

1. Slow down your breathing if possible

There’s a reason why the standard advice in nerve-wrecking situations is to “just take a deep breath”. That’s because controlled breathing is one of the easiest yet most effective ways to soothe your nervous system and get out of fight-or-flight mode.

When you’re panicked, your breathing often becomes fast and shallow. But sadly, this can worsen your dizziness, chest tightness, tingling limbs and anxiety. On the other hand, slow and deep breathing activates your body’s natural relaxation response.

Now I get that you won’t always have control over your breathing during medical emergencies like a TIA or anaphylactic shock. But if it is possible at all, see if you can calm your breathing, to reduce physical stress and anxiety as well as avoid worsening of your symptoms.

The simplest method: focus on exhaling slowly through your mouth.

Place your hand on your abdomen. Breathe in through your nose and feel your belly rise as your body fills with oxygen. Next, slowly breathe out through your mouth while your belly returns to its normal position. Make sure that your exhale is longer than your inhale.

If you’d like more structure for lengthening your exhalation, you could try the 4-7-8 breathing technique, known to relax your body and mind. You inhale for 4 counts, hold your breath for 7 counts, before exhaling for 8 counts.

Hyperventilating? When you’re so distressed you start breathing too fast or deeply (hyperventilation), cup your hands tightly in front on your mouth and breathe out through pursed lips to slow down your breathing and restore healthy carbon dioxide levels.

2. Relax your muscles if you can

When your body senses danger, your fists tighten and your abdomen hardens, bracing for action. That’s a helpful reflex when you’re fighting off attackers or running away from threats, but not so much when you’re on a hospital gurney with a cardiac arrhythmia or asthma attack.

Unfortunately, tight muscles increase pressure on already sensitive tissues, which may raise your blood pressure and worsen any pain you’re feeling. What’s more, prolonged muscle tension signals to your brain that the threat still isn’t over, getting you stuck in that vicious cycle of physical stress, anxiety and pain.

Thankfully, you don’t have to do deep relaxation techniques in the midst of a medical emergency to release some tension in your body:

• Unclench your jaw and ‘soften’ your face. Let your tongue rest at the bottom of your mouth.
• Lower your shoulders as you breathe out.
• If you can do so comfortably and safely, uncross your arms and legs to promote good blood flow.

The best way to relax your muscles is to bring your attention to each part of your body, mentally scan where you’re holding tension and then drop your jaw/shoulders/back/hands with each exhale.

3. Use your mind as a secret weapon

An acute health crisis can make you feel like you’re going to die. Even if you do not suffer from a life-threatening heart attack or allergic reaction, the alarm going off in your brain can be really frightening and trigger catastrophic thoughts. And that’s ok – you’re meant to feel that strong urge to take action to protect yourself.

You just don’t want your (legitimate!) fears to add a racing heart, hyperventilation, lightheadedness or more pain on top of the scary sensations you’re already experiencing.

That’s when your mind can act as a secret weapon. Again, nobody is expecting you to be completely calm during medical emergencies, you only want to quiet the mental alarm just enough to be able to call for help, take emergency meds or communicate with your doctors, if possible. There are different mental coping strategies you can turn to, and what works, depends on your symptoms, situation and personal preferences.

a. Ground yourself.

Mindfulness is a science-backed way to reduce stress and anxiety, but being in the present may not be so pleasant when you’re breathless, in pain and panicked. In that case, turning your focus away from painful bodily sensations, and towards more positive or neutral sensory input could be comforting.

If the situation allows, try this 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise: pay attention to 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and/or 1 thing you can taste.

That may not be easy to do when your body’s sending so many distressing signals. But maybe you could notice the color of the walls, look at photos of your loved ones, fiddle with your jewelry or listen to the soothing words of the people around you to ground yourself.

b. Choose helpful thoughts.

There is no way to romanticize an acute healthcare crisis, and positive thinking will not stop your seizure or hyperglycemia. But reassuring yourself like you would comfort your best friend *can* stop your mind from spiraling out of control.

Depending on your situation, helpful thoughts could look like:

• “This feels so scary, but I’m not alone.”

• “I got my inhaler/insulin/cardio aspirin with me, and I just need to hold on until help arrives.”

• “My heart is still racing but I’m being monitored in the hospital now. Help is literally around the corner.”

• “This hurts so badly, but I am strong and I will get through this somehow.”

You should not deny the serious situation you’re in, just lower the catastrophic thoughts going through your mind to manageable proportions.

c. Seek positive distraction.

Your working memory can only process a small amount of input at a time, so distracting yourself can literally take your mind off painful sensations – well, at least a little bit.

That’s why it can be helpful during scary medical procedures to redirect some of your attentional bandwidth. If there’s no one around to tell you a story or you have to lie still, play mind games as a positive distraction:

• Count backward in steps of 7.
• Name an animal for each letter of the alphabet.
• Quietly ‘sing’ the lyrics of your favorite song in your mind.
• Vividly picture yourself relaxing on the beach or walking through your beloved city.
• Come up with your top 10 of best movies/books/sports heroes/city trips.

Again, distracting yourself won’t stop any acute symptoms, but ease your pain and fear in the emergency room or during stressful testing and treatments.

4. Seek physical reassurance

Love isn’t just an emotion in our heart, it’s something we feel deeply in our body. That’s why we instinctively reach out to family and friends for support during crises – and for good reason.

Studies show that holding hands with someone you feel close to during a painful intervention can actually lower your stress levels and the amount of aching you’re experiencing. Even looking at a photo of loved ones calms you down and eases pain.

So if that’s an option, ask someone to stay with you or accompany you to the hospital, both for emotional support and to advocate for your needs. If no one’s around, maybe you can FaceTime your partner/sibling/best friend when you’re out of the woods. You could also look at pictures of loved ones on your phone for comfort if you’re waiting in the emergency room.

Research also found that our brain associates physical warmth with emotional safety and connection. That knowledge won’t help you in the midst of a crisis of course, but when the worst is over, wrapping yourself in a blanket or drinking some warm tea can provide some much needed comfort.

5. Give yourself permission to not be brave

All these tips revolve around how to stay somewhat calm during an acute health crisis, but don’t forget that you have every right to feel scared. Experiencing hypoglycemia, an allergic reaction or a crushing chest pain is frightening, and you’re not failing for being in panic.

So remember that you don’t have to minimize your fear or reassure everyone around you. It’s ok to cry; you’re not weak or being overly dramatic for showing emotion. Life does not hand out trophies for keeping a brave face under pressure.

Admitting that you’re scared can actually reduce some internal pressure. But the goal of this article was never to suppress your feelings and become completely zen, but to look after your emotional wellbeing while you’re going though medical emergencies.

What to do if you often face acute health crises

Sadly, for some of us living with chronic illness, acute health crises are not a once-in-a-lifetime incident. If your asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease or other conditions puts you in serious distress, emergency rooms or ambulances more often than you’d like, it’s useful to have some practical and psychological coping strategies to fall back on.

First of all, make sure you carry life-saving medications like your inhaler, insulin, EpiPen or seizure rescue medication with you at all times. You may also feel more confident if you have helpful items such as a water bottle, electrolytes, dextrose energy tablets or aspirins at hand when you’re on the go.

Secondly, if you’re unable to communicate clearly during an acute health crisis (because you’re breathless or unconscious), a medical emergency bracelet will come in handy. You may also want to notify the people around you (like family members, housemates or your manager at work) of your condition and how they could help you when serious symptoms play up. Store important medical information and contact information in your phone under “Medical ID” and ensure that “Show When Locked” is turned on.

Finally, build your own mental toolbox for staying somewhat calm during medical distress. When you’re feeling reasonably well, explore basic breathing techniques and mindfulness exercises you can turn to when you feel the panic building up inside. Make a list of ways you can distract yourself during scary medical procedures, because your brain won’t always be able to come up with ideas under pressure.

Having practical and psychological coping strategies for dealing with medical crises doesn’t just make life easier, but it also gives back a sense of control during a time when your own body feels scarily unpredictable.

Conclusion

Allergic reactions, cardiac arrhythmia, blocked airways or dangerously low/high blood sugar levels can life-threatening situations, and it’s perfectly normal to feel scared, vulnerable and completely overwhelmed. Sadly, anxiety, fear and distress can amplify certain symptoms, making your heart race even faster, your breathing shallower and your pain worse.

That’s why learning how to stay somewhat calm during an acute health crisis can help you to get the medical help you need, to communicate clearly with your doctors and to feel less helpless even though your body feels out of control. By focusing on your exhale, relaxing your jaw and lowering your shoulders, using mental techniques and seeking physical reassurance, you can soothe your nervous system and support your emotional wellness during such a frightening time.

Which coping strategies help you most during a medical emergency?

For more science-backed tips on handling medical stress, check out ‘Health Scares: What to Do When Your Fears Actually Come True‘ and ‘How to Deal with Uncontrollable Stress‘.

Also expand your toolkit with ‘8 Mental Techniques to Cope with Chronic Pain’ and learn ‘How to Start Meditating When You Can’t Focus’.