Panic Attacks
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Panic Attacks
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Re: Panic Attacks
#2I've only had one panic attack in my life and it was out of nowhere as well. I was riding the subway and suddenly I had this urge to run away, as if I was late for something but didn't know what. I got out of the subway and just collapsed in the platform, unable to breathe, shaking uncontrollably. It was terrifying. Reading about the "long fuse" makes a lot of sense to me. I avoid confronting other people and always try to be the "team player" and I guess I just snapped that one time.
Re: Panic Attacks
#3Panic attacks are so mind bogglingly weird. For a few seconds (maybe a minute or so) your brain enters a completely different mode. Then it takes a few minutes to calm back down to regular human thought, again. It's so weird it is difficult to come to terms with what happened.
I spent a few months largely crippled by panic disorder (intermittent panic attacks spaced by anxiety – often about the panic attacks themselves). The whole experience was like a crash course in understanding out-of-body-experiences and accidental mental overreactions.
Re: Panic Attacks
#4Panic attacks are awful and terrifying, mine eventually turned into panic disorder, but after over a year of working on it and taking it step by step I was able to beat it and without any medication!
In my experience, the following helped me.
* Meditation
* Deep breathing exercises
* Exercising especially cardio.
* Cold water showers
* Learning about panic attacks
* CBT
Re: Panic Attacks
#5I've only had a 'true' panic attack once. I was running for a train and I slipped on the stairs and landed hard on my back. My throat closed up, my back ached and I couldn't shout, or call for help. Suddenly I couldn't breathe at all. I didn't know it was panic; I thought maybe I'd broken my back or something. Which of course made the panic worse.
I remember thinking "This is it. This is how I die, here on the station platform, alone, with nobody noticing." It was a terrifying, helpless feeling. It passed after maybe 30 seconds, as soon as I managed to take a gasp of air.
It was only once and more than a decade ago but even typing this is kind of freaking me out.
Re: Panic Attacks
#6My first panic attack was triggered by smoking weed when I was 17 years old. Since then, it's been a lingering thing that has never left my mind and has kept me on a constant edge, especially in social situations.
I've found avoiding caffeine has helped a lot.
Re: Panic Attacks
#7Personally I'm happy that I don't have to rely on medication (although I understand that it gives peace of mind to have access to it, just in case. This in itself might prevent future attacks)
In my own experience, the key to coping with panic attacks is the right breathing technique to prevent hyperventilation from happening.
Ever since I had a few panic attacks many years ago, I am using a technique which works great for me: Short deep inhaling and very slow, long exhaling. Every exhale has to be significantly longer in duration than every inhale.
I've been in many situations in which I felt the first signs of a possible attack, but with this breathing technique, I always was able to stop it from actually happening.
Re: Panic Attacks
#8I've only had a 'true' panic attack once. I was running for a train and I slipped on the stairs and landed hard on my back. My throat closed up, my back ached and I couldn't shout, or call for help. Suddenly I couldn't breathe at all. I didn't know it was panic; I thought maybe I'd broken my back or something. Which of course made the panic worse. I remember thinking "This is it. This is how I die, here on the statio…
Sounds like you were winded https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_the_wind_knocked_out_o...
Of course being winded could induce panic too, but not being able to breathe in that circumstance has a physical cause.
Re: Panic Attacks
#9I've had a few, and the only way I can describe is it being the same sensation as if you're in a bad neighborhood, and suddenly you get surrounded, or a drug dealer seems to be very shady in the exchange, or some tweaker looks at you like you killed his dog.
In those situations I keep my shit together and think rationally, but when it comes out of nowhere, you add to that threatening sensation the confusion of not knowing where it comes from. So you think you're having a heart attack, or a stroke, or who the fuck knows. It's a feeling of impending doom.
I see it the same our tendency to see faces on surfaces, our brain is wired that way. It's also wired to sense danger, adrenergic pareidolia, so to speak. And sometimes there are neither faces nor threats.
Re: Panic Attacks
#10I've only had a 'true' panic attack once. I was running for a train and I slipped on the stairs and landed hard on my back. My throat closed up, my back ached and I couldn't shout, or call for help. Suddenly I couldn't breathe at all. I didn't know it was panic; I thought maybe I'd broken my back or something. Which of course made the panic worse. I remember thinking "This is it. This is how I die, here on the statio…
Possible that it might have been, or proceeded by, by your diaphragm spasming. A hard blow to the chest or back can cause it to spasm for a while and you literally cannot breathe, which is pretty terrifying.