Apart From "rescue Remedy"

[viali]

Is there anything that can be taken before a casting or audition to stop the onset of panic attacks and the horrible sensation that you may faint whilst doing the audition?
Only happens in this scenario..anything apart from 3 shots of brandy or a few pints that works to stop this .... ? Really holding me back..
Thanks

[joko]

you could try Kalms and maybe sniffing lavendar

you could even have an ipod of soothing music on just before you go in

[Prudie]

I'd go to my GP and ask for propanolol.

[sandyRoe]

You might try saying to yourself that you were good enough to do this and that it was natural to be nervous. And remind yourself that once you'd started the nerves would disappear.

[solvitquick]

Dear viali,
Well I suppose there are a few around from GP to pub etc but if you start on that route you'll be psychologically hooked - i.e. eventually ruined.
That's rule 1.
Rule 2 is to accept that the worse might happen - say to yourself: "O.K. I might faint during the audition, if so, that's fate and I will deal with it when they bring me round" - but deep down you know it will never happen.
Rule 3 is right from the start of the audition day look at your watch and say IT WILL ALL BE OVER IN x-HOURS!. Don't keep looking at your watch but whenever you do or see a clock, knock the time down so now it will all be over in y hours etc.
Rule 4 (sorry, old story) when waiting the final 30, 15 etc min slowly breath deeply and keep on with that mantra: it'll all be over....in z mins.
Finally at night or at almost any time before, face the fact: "Well I can't do anything about it now so I may as well sleep or whatever"
I spent many decades giving public scientific presentations and they were my techniques (nervous every time of course, you never crack that bit viali).
Oh if you can, have a glass of water at hand in case your mouth starts to dry up 'cos of nerves, otherwise have a small fruit gum about you person and speak with it stuck to your teeth - many actors do this.
You'll be great and even greater if you do it through your own guts.
Good luck but I'm sure you won't need it,
SIQ.

[worrier]

Rescue remedy is a first aid to comfort....Aspen Bach Flower is for fear and Larch is for confidence....2 drops of each at least 4 times a day or put into spring water and sip at intervals...they helped me....good luck

[viali]

Thanks for all your kind answers

[IggyB]

Homeopathic mixtures contain little more than a few molecules of a plant extract the manufacturers insist has some healing properties, in the case of rescue remedy I believe it's a few molecules of the dew off a plant rather than the plant itself. The mixture is meant to work because the water it has been dilute with is meant to have an independent 'water memory' of the ingredient so that single molecule in the bottle can influence the other contents somehow.

If you find a few drops of rescue remedy makes you better able to cope with stressful situations then you are benefiting from the wonderful place placebo effect, and thats fine but remember that your ability to cope really came from you not from a few drops of vastly diluted potion.

[emmie]

beta blockers, but i think you have to get them on presciption

[pixie373]

Is there an active ingredient in Rescue Remedy? I know a few people who swear by it, but what does it have in it?

[emmie]

pixie

http://www.bachfloweradvice.com/bach-flowers/bach-first-aid-remedy.htm?gclid=CIugyfncvrwCFfLHtAod2mQAKw

[pixie373]

Thank you, emmie x. It does look like a placebo then. At least Kalms has valium extract in it.

[emmie]

someone i know took beta blockers, and not told anyone,

[emmie]

she got them on prescription but hoarded them like sweeties and used them before job interviews. messed up big time, as no one was monitoring her.

[Prudie]

Anyone who really has panic attacks (rather than normal nerves before an event) knows that Bachs, Kalms, talking to yourself etc is fruitless. I'd still advise propanolol (or some other beta-blocker) from your GP. It helps reduce adrenaline but is not a 'mind' drug.

[emmie]

beta blockers can have adverse side effects, and one has to be monitored by the GP.

[Prudie]

Of course emmie, but as they have to be prescribed one would hope that GP covers that off.

[IggyB]

I would be amazed and appalled if a gp prescribed beta blockers to help with audition anxiety. Making a actor believe they need to be medicated to succeed is wrong, this sort of nervousness is something that can be overcome but not chemically I believe.

[emmie]

i think that GP will give them out as they did to my friend for having had a nervous breakdown, then she just asked for more and got them, she used them for going to job interviews and having to face difficult situations

[black_cat51]

if you need beta blockers to do your job, time for a new career

[solvitquick]

Dear viali,
I do not post to ab in search of giving best answer but ty.
MY OVERWHELMING SENSE IS ONE OF RELIEF that you have chosen the right way forward.
Those suggesting beta-blockers, of which propanolol is one, are way off beam. They are serious medicines for treating illness notably high blood pressure and heart problems. In fact they would lower your blood pressure and continue to lower it as you continued to take them - that's a good way of increasing your chances of fainting viali:)
In fact if you were honest with your GP as to your reason for a beta-blocker prescription, he/she would almost certainly explain this and sympathetically show you the door.
But regarding your original question, IF YOU SUCCEEDED in your audition after TAKING A REAL DRUG (including alcohol) YOU WOULD ATTRIBUTE YOUR SUCCESS TO THE DRUG and NOT TO YOURSELF.
Once you succeed "cold" your confidence will be sky-high and provide an sound base on which to build a successful career.
Finally, I don't know much about the sniffing of natural perfumes but they sound harmless.
Their greatest value would be in establishing a pre-test RITUAL which is always a good thing so invent one yourself - like a superstition and preceed all similar tasks with your ritual.
Watch Rafa Nadal aligning his water-bottles etc., before each tennis game throughout the whole match. A great athlete who needs his ritual.
Very well done to all the non-drug advisors and most of all you, the great viali!
SIQ.
P.S. Sorry about the length, I only returned to warn you off beta-blockers and see if you had made a decision. Keep in touch re the rehearsal if poss.