Panic attack C/D?

It happens extremely rarely now, thank goodness. The last time I got one was when a relationship was going bad and I felt absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

Try regulating your breathing pattern first, and keep telling yourself the sensation will pass. It always does.

downside: i have not heard the end of it

The last time I had a panic attack was 4th of July. We were on a roof top (I'm scared of heights) and the people we were with were shooting off firecrackers. The sound kept scaring me b/c it sounded like gunshots and I felt I had nowhere to run to b/c we were on a roof. Then the big fireworks started, literally right above our heads and all I could do is curl up in ball, cry and try not to hyperventilate. Hank was embarrased and I felt quite humilated after it was all over.

But mine wasn't psychological except insofar as it involved anxiety about asthma (ie a bad loop, that just needed to be broken by someone sensible). It's the first time I've ever involved anyone else in an asthma attack: normally I just put up with them overnight, and when I finally DO sleep, I relax and the next day is better.

It's about tricking yourself into good unconscious body-behaviour out of bad.

I got home (luckily I lived right behind the school), mum took one look at me, got a paper bag and stuck it over my face. I was hyperventilating. God it was awful. Black spots dancing in front of the eyes, cold sweats, huge ringing in the ears.

Shirley Tricket's "Coping Successfully With Panic Attacks"
Doctor Claire Weekes' "Self Help For Your Nerves"

I am no longer ill - housebound, as I was at times - though I still can't bring myself to get rid of these two books. They helped me understand the causes, but also the physiology behind panic attacks and hyperventilation, which demystified the symptoms. Knowing more about the physiology is enpowering and too many doctors patronise, and separate the body's health from the mind - often sending a sufferer straight to a cognitive psychiatrist who might start a programme of completely innapropriate regressive therapy (obviously for some people such treatement might be of theraputic benefit, helping them to isolate the trauma (in childhood?) that is behind the panic attacks; but many people get a couple of panic attacks because they are uncommonly, but ephemerally, stressed at work, and go on to have further panic attacks, even when the stressful period is over, because they fear the panic attcks themselves and just need to know what's going on); all the sufferer needs to know is what is happening to them and why. Weekes' book teaches you how to 'float' through the symptoms, no matter how intense they get. Not easy, obviously, but it helps you realise the symptoms aren't going to make you die or fall down on the spot: Lightheadeness doesn't mean you are about to succumb to a fit, or even faint; palpitations don't mean your heart will arrest; tingling / numb fingers don't mean a stroke; fast, scarey, intrusive thoughts (about leaping out of planes, hitting / harming someone you love, screaming) don't mean you will actually reflexively enact whatever it is your thinking.

Although I was profoundly messed up by my illness, these books are not geared exclusively to help people so badly afflicted: they can help whatever the degree of suffering.

since i learnt (via yoga) to breathe w.my diaphragm i only had one bad asthma attack — brought on as much as anything by awareness that my inhaler had run out and i couldn't get a replacement for two days — in the course of which i woke my mum up to propose to her that i was going to drive back to london in the middle of the night to get some kind of emergency presciption

she sat me down, gave me a cup of hot sweet tea, pointed out i was talking crazy talk, and calmed me down

when i tried breathing again, i found i'd switched from bad breathing technique (from the chest muscles) — which is exhausting and over-adrenalises you bcz you are taking great gulps of air constantly, and is anyway quite hard to achieve when you lying down trying to get to sleep — to good technique (from the diapohragm), which is shallow and calming and i got to sleep quite quickly

anyway that's a long and anecdotal way of saying i don't really distinguish them in MY PERSONAL experience — and yes, breathing exercises made a difference: i still get occasional sense of congestation, and a bit puffed after physical effort, but i am much less inclined to panic and bring on an asthma attack

Anyway. Yeah, half of the attacks I've had in the past couple of years have been weed-induced. I had one while playing Gran Turismo 2 -- hardly an anxious endeavor, ha.

Although they are always awful, after you've had a few you learn to recognize them for what they are; and you learn to just breathe, try to relax, and let them pass.

This is a good book.

done a bit of reading on it now, and i'm wondering if some people are talking about panicking rather than a panic attack; from what i've read the latter doesn't have much to do with a directly stressful situation but can happen at any time (i was just watching Big Brother).

My girlfriend of about a year moved away a couple days ago, and though I knew it was coming for some time the impact was still pretty awful. However by yesterday I was feeling relatively 'normal' and was having a pretty okay day. I was out at a bar with some friends and slowly I started to feel disconnected. All the symptoms flared up slowly, though I'd no idea what was going on. Eventually a friend said I was having an 'anxiety attack' and I figured the best thing to do would be to head home for the evening and lie down. OOPS. Drove over to the hospital (thinking I was dying) a bit later, and then left the hospital for a friend's house. I talked with her for about three hours until I felt calm enough to sleep.

Problem is, the "feeling" (or fear of an attack recurring) is very much still with me, both in my mind and in my body. Is this just going to stick around for awhile until I've dealt with both my girlfriend's absence and the episode? Should I see a counselor? Etc? Helpish!

They are often transport-related (I have never been involved in any sort of accident or near-miss, so I don't know what triggered it) - I have suffered them on tube trains, in airport queues, on a plane, whilst waiting to cross a road, even while driving. I've lost count of the times I've jumped off city buses long before my stop just because I can't stay on them anymore. Though unlike Chris V, I can have perfectly pleasant travel experiences as well, and it doesn't stop me getting places, it just delays it sometimes.

This book stresses that there is no statistical evidence that none of the things that you fear will happen when you're in the grip of a panic attack (vomiting, fainting, dying) will actually happen, and that you should let go of the urge to quell the attack. Try to have more of a "bring it on!" approach. The more you fight it, the longer it will last. Just let it wash through you. You WILL come out the other side!
The book also stresses that you can do anything while undergoing a panic attack. Drive in the mountains, speak in public, whatever.
AND, panic-attack sufferers function better in actual emergencies than non-afflicted individuals. They've been rehearsing.
This is a good time to be a panic-attack sufferer. People are so open about it—there's lots of good advice. It's just a kink in your adrenaline-delivery system. This extreme phase will probably pass no matter what you do.

hope this is helpful.

I've been suffering from sinus probs for 6 months and so under alot of stress with being fatigued and sick, but periodically I feel like the above. My doctor recently suggested this may have nothing to do with my sinuses, or at least is only connected by the stress they're causing me, and that maybe it's an anxiety attack of some kind.

thanks jaq. i am going in the a.m.

That's good to know. Good luck! (I had a panic attack once where my arm was numb and got it checked out. Was nothing as bad as the one you describe though)

Did the last person ilx sent to the hospital make it back alright? I can't for the life of me find that thread.

I cant remember the thread but i sure hope they did.

i only have had one panic attack in my life, it was my first day of grad school when i realized i had made a horrible mistake.

feel better soon Remy. If I was still stuck down there working I'd drive you :(

I wonder how he got on.

free clinics not so big on immediacy. appt tomorrow instead.

How's your arm today though?

arm is better. left side of torso is still a bit twingy, though.

No doctors on ilx at all?

all of the symptoms seem to be in line with a possible panic attack btw:

http://www.panic-anxiety.com/panic/attacks/symptoms/

stress can cause muscle pain all over, esp. left side

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't panic attacks triggered by something, y'know something that causes panic. I've had a couple good anxiety attacks in my day, and even a panic or two, not immensely severe, but as the thread has stated, there is no classic in this thread. Either way, they were always set off by something, meeting friends, or usually something OCD related, something like described above sounds more like a purely biological case.

Nutrition Diet Nutrition Diet Nutrition Diet - vitamin b's most importantly (see the thread Slow linked to above). I had GHASTLY panic attacks for most of my life, which calmed just as soon as I started taking good quality supps on the advice of a nutritionist. Believe me, for pedestrian panic attacks (ie not PTSD) diet is the solution, all the way. A good diet and avoiding hunger helps u cope with stress. Got that now??

A good diet OWNS this thread.

Get some regular vitamins down your neck and then come back to this thread to thank me.

Seriously, just try for three month: every day drink juiced veg, eat some fruit, avoid pizza and greasy food, replace them with balanced meals, take some good vits (not cheap ones from Boots, but good theraputic ones like Patrick Holford's BioCare One-A-Day Plus http://www.biocare.co.uk/FrequentlyAskedQuestions1.aspx. And come back and thank me.

months

I've found the numb arm thing to be a product of sleeping on your side the wrong way.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't panic attacks triggered by something, y'know something that causes panic. I've had a couple good anxiety attacks in my day, and even a panic or two, not immensely severe, but as the thread has stated, there is no classic in this thread. Either way, they were always set off by something, meeting friends, or usually something OCD related, something like described above sounds more like a purely biological case.

-- mehlt

panic attacks can come out of nowhere and without any specific trigger. this friend of mine would get panic attacks just sitting around his apartment watching tv. he said they would sometimes happen when he was asleep as well.

so i went to the doctor's office.

i was told to (a) offer $219 for an immediate appointment at the attached clinic (which i can't afford) or (b) i can wait two weeks for a free appointment. this is really upsetting to me.

the pain is pretty persistent today, but also pretty weak. it is consistent with my understanding of angina, and i hope it doesn't get worse for the next 14 days.

That is truly awful. If you have a paypal account i'd gladly send you $10 and maybe we could help raise you $219.

That's incredibly kind, but I think I will just go dump myself in front of a clinic this afternoon and wait it out.

Well good luck. I hope you can get seen.

I live in a constant state of panic 1/3 of the time when I'm not sleeping. Sucks. One good thing, I'm on disability services at my college and I'm just gonna get a note taker for the 1 hour and 15 minutes of class I have with a teacher that makes me anxious. That means I only have to go to 3 classes a week; approximately 3 hours a week. Then I graduate.

omar's right, panic attacks don't necessarily have any specific triggers. the first time i had one years ago, i had no idea what it was because i was in a fancy restaurant having a nice dinner with my boyfriend. i thought i was having a heart attack or something.

i hope you're doing okay remy - the US health care system sucks. in NZ you could have a same-day appointment with a GP for $30. no insurance required.

Australia also has a system that would get you seen to on the state without all this crap.

For a period of a couple of years around 2000 I had them fairly regularly. Thoughts of Europe seemed to bring them on with me.

The first one I ever had, and by far the worst, was in an Alsatian restaurant in Castroville, Texas.

The second one I had was in a Russian Literature in translation class.

The third one happened when I was looking at some French paintings in the Houston Museum of Fine Art.

I stopped having them when I finally shaped up and got a job. I had a wife and kid I was supporting none too well in those days.

I also believe that diet plays a major role. The second two of my attacks, I believe, could be pinned in part on my then-high espresso intake. The first one came after I had been drinking heavily for about three days straight. (It was the millennial new year.)

I later read that liver enzymes are believed to contribute heavily to panic attacks in some people.

Anyone know how remy got on?

.

Maybe he's been kept in?

Shit, I hope not. Well, I hope he's better.

Hope so.

Anyone heard anything?

remy's posting lately, FWIW

ahh that's good to know, thanks abbott!

He was ALL OVER the "how to make good coffee" thread last night, giving very interesting and thorough insider-type coffee making knowledge and tips.

Maybe that's what it's been, drinking too much coffee!

i can't drink coffee; and i do have a really bad ulcer at the base of my esophagus. otherwise i seem to be doing okay?

Glad to hear you're ok.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT07/refresh/AL0708W5+gif/143912W_sm.gif

oh god (you devil)

Nsty anxiety attack at work. Do not need this right now.

how do you get through the relatively mild attacks without medication? deep breathing seems like it would help, but i get distracted after the first few breaths.

I had a panic attack when there was a guy staring at my butt. I think he had a boner!

you really created a sockpuppet just for that? hope it was worth it.

persevere with the breathing. you could try breathing into a bag, you're trying to increase the carbon dioxide/decrease the oxygen in your bloodstream iirc. the bag thing is nagl in company tho.

how do you get through the relatively mild attacks without medication?

I try taking a walk, if possible. It helps.

Counting helps stop you getting distracted. Count how many beats you breathe in, how many out. Try to make the out breath last a couple of beats longer than the in breath. Then try to slow the breaths down, but by counting slower not by counting more.