What are your panic attacks like?

[XDark_MinxX]

Back here again after a long break from this forum, and alot has happened while I was away. My kidney has been playing up, and I have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, which makes my emet a lot worse. But anyway, I am currently suffering from a weird panic attack writing this, but what are your panic attacks like?

In movies and on TV, a stereotypical panic attack is someone screaming and hyperventilating, and running around with their hands in the air as if Godzilla was attacking your hometown (Sorry, I'm a huge Godzilla fan lol). Mine are not like this, my symptoms are weird. My panic attacks are like fits, I cannot walk or move without assistance, slurred speech, trouble swallowing, hallucinating, derealisation and depersonalization, tremors, a weird numbing feeling all over my body, shortness of breath (not full on hyperventilating) and the horrendous nausea, which is the main reason I completley flip my lid. I am just frozen on my bed shaking and staring at the ceiling. Not to mention that they last for hours!

Of course, everyone's body reacts differently to different things, and I should know better. But I have never heard of someone that has a panic attack which resembles the above which I have.

Are your panic attacks like mine? What symptoms do you get?

[thecheesecake17]

I'm sorry it gets that bad for you...really, you seem to cope well cos you're able to write about it and you're not stuck in a hospital and I think it's good for people to see cos, like you've probably observed, part of the panic is how people will observe it...

My boyfriend and his mum who live in London were waving me off back to the north and I had like ten mins to get onto the right train etc and I was absolutely petrified... Not cos I find London SCARY but I suddenly developed very very mild travel headache\awkward tummy in the taxi beforehand which proper freaked me and I was like numb as you described and shaking and I couldn't talk!! I had to keep it cool cos I was trying to seem normal to the people on the train.

What calms you down? Try analysing it..?for me its litttttterally brainwashing myself with a song or something so so shocking..one distraction I always try imagine is if someone handed me £1000 . like my thoughts would be on the money haha..kinda helps. The rhythm in music helps too cos my minds on numbers.

You should try lavender oil, proper helped me during a vicious n* attack, really thought I'd die haha

[Maige]

Basically mine sound exactly like yours, especially the depersonalization. That particular symptom started some months back and every few nights I have a fit of depersonalization that's followed by a panic attack.

[Afdpt]

Mine sound like the second half of your description. Pretty much nobody can tell when I'm having a panick attack except my fiancé. My symptoms are more internal than external. My hands get numb and tingly, my throat dries up and I can't swallow, my heart races, my breathing becomes quick and shallow, I start to sweat, lose my appetite, sometimes feel a wave of something I can even describe course through my body, and have a horrible sense of needing to get away from everything including myself. I feel totally loss of control.

[crd08]

When it's really bad..I feel like Im not myself. I dont even recognize myself and that's one of the scariest things ever! The fact that I've said "i'd rather die" when in the middle of one scares me. Thankfully, it only goes that far very rarely.
Otherwise I am just a delusional mess. My face goes numb, my body shakes (like I'm really cold), I cant feel my fingers/hands, I feel sick to my stomach, my throat goes tight, I feel like my breath is being taken from my chest, I feel like I have to try REALLY hard to swallow or I'll choke. I don't want anybody to touch me or be near me, I feel anger if someone tries to calm me down.
I hate the person I become in those moments

[kaiilyn_23]

Mine start with a gagging feeling in my throat, and a steady buildup of nausea. Then I start to lose control of my breathing. I usually get quite cold, or quite hot - no in between. I'm restless when anxious, can't sit still, look very sketchy... I always start to freak out as I never realize I'm having a panic attack (despite dealing with this for almost six years now), so I assume that I'm sick or something is wrong. So the cycle continues. I have generalized anxiety, so a lot of my panic attacks aren't even related to this phobia. It sucks!

[crd08]

Mine start with a gagging feeling in my throat, and a steady buildup of nausea. Then I start to lose control of my breathing. I usually get quite cold, or quite hot - no in between. I'm restless when anxious, can't sit still, look very sketchy... I always start to freak out as I never realize I'm having a panic attack (despite dealing with this for almost six years now), so I assume that I'm sick or something is wrong. So the cycle continues. I have generalized anxiety, so a lot of my panic attacks aren't even related to this phobia. It sucks!

Same here with generalized anxiety. I get them all the time, and honestly, a lot aren't even emet related. I'll just randomly get one! It's awful

[khernández99]

It depends on where I'm at:

In bed: I hide under the covers and sit there for hours and not move for a while. I breathe too fast or don't breathe much. I can't talk and freeze.

Public: When I was younger I had a panic attack and I started to kick, punch myself (legs), then I would calm down and freeze. In February, I had a panic attack because I saw a janitor cleaning up v* and we were about to eat. We were walking to the restaurant and when we got there I couldn't eat much and froze. I ignored what other people were saying and was on my phone. I developed a new disorder after that. (It depends in public.)

[hannahm8y]

My v* related panic attacks always start with quickened heartbeat and lightheadedness, and then there's uncontrollable crying and hyperventilating. I'm always either covering my ears and shutting my eyes, or simply hiding my face. It usually takes me a long time before I'm comfortable enough to open my eyes or uncover my ears

[Anxiety is "amazing"]

When I have panic attacks i stutter really bad and I feal kinda n* I feel tense and I get really mad or I just start crying in fear I will die. Im Sorry for you, I'm a big godzilla fan too..

[Leigh95]

Mine are not a stereotypical panic attack which confuses me a bit.

I do all my rituals, so I selfharm, pinch and punch my thighs, I nibble crackers, I sip water, I smoke a cigarette, I take an anti-emetic, I have to sit down, I hum a tune, I swallow constantly, rock back and forth, I can't speak because my throat is so tight. Sometimes it's so bad I'm frozen stiff and can't move or even breathe. Sometimes I suddenly desperately need a wee and in the past I have wet myself. Sometimes I try and lie on my back so that my chest feels open and easier to breathe. If i can I try to put on a comedian on youtube and I try to listen and distract myself.

If I have a panic attack anywhere that isn't my bedroom, I do all of the above and get home no matter what. I have walked out of exams, I have walked out of work and when I'm in that mindset I do anything to get myself home

[Anxiety is "amazing"]

Yeah... I do the rituals selfharm but what I do that doesnt help at all is I punch myself in the head. My emetophobia panic attacks kinda worse for me, I have asthma which makes is worse for me because I deal like I'm acctually going to die I hate v* it just I want to run away even if my freind pretends he's gonna v*

[H.B.]

Physical symptoms are, immediate rush of adrenaline that causes that “tingly” odd feeling through the chest and stomach, rapid heart rate, short breaths, shaking, sometimes have to pee, sometimes get numbness in legs or hands, sometimes throat feels tight or strange. Mentally, I want to run, hide, I will get on here and read, or I look up “panic attack symptoms” I will fidget with my hair, or rub my neck and shoulders just to try and distract my body from the adrenaline rush feelings. I remind myself that REAL N and stomach upset feel VERY different than the strange feeling of the adrenaline, and that soon as I calm down, I KNOW that I will feel better and that it’s just another panic attack due to Emet.

[Anxiety is "amazing"]

I get the tingling but its only in my hands and feet its. Since I've in a panic attack used my rescue inhaler a little too much, im asthmatic i was freaking out at first I thought it was an asthma attack and when it passed I all the sudden felt better. I though I was going to die because my chest was so tight and I shaky. The inhaler didnt work at all I was so convinced I was going to die that I almost whent to the hospital.

[tiffanymarie]

Everyones panic attacks are different. Mine i always feel like I am going to get sick so when I am in a panic attack I can actually "feel" my body about to get sick (even though Im not) it is just how mine works. I also cry a lot and hyperventilate and if a ton of people are around me I need to run away. When I am having my panic attacks I like to be in a bathroom it is a comfort zone for me. If I feel sick or since I like taking baths to calm me down.

[Anxiety is "amazing"]

One question can you describe the "feel" my body get sick, how you mentally an bodily feel?

[tiffanymarie]

I feel myself almost blacking out like blurred vision and sweaty just like those symptoms when you're about to v. I get so worked up that I do feel nauseous when in reality it is just a panic attack. You're brain can do crazy things, if I am under a lot of stress a panic attack will come on and it will be like I am going to get sick. After my panic attacks are over my body then is physically exhausted.

[Anxiety is "amazing"]

Dang that must be scary I deal like that but its more of tunnel vision the sweating and I just start shaking uncontrollably in usually not n* but if its bad enough then yes I will feel what I call "dead".

[SophieSunshine]

I have all of the above symptoms when I have a panic attack. Mine last for hours as well. When I told my therapist that she said if it last for hours then it is not a panic attack and it is so nice to know that I am not just making stuff up it truly does go on for hours.

[Anxiety is "amazing"]

I feel bad for you your therapist might just think panic attacks can't last longer than 10-15 minutes that's untrue. I've experienced a full-blown panic attack and it lasted all day left me sleepless at night and I was so damn tired in the morning I thought I was actually gonna die.

[cooor]

they’re usually short maybe 10 minutes I’ve had them go for an hour though,, when the ebola outbreak happened I practically had one for three days straight haha. Anyway, when I’m having a panic attack breathing is hard to control, I have to put my hands on my face pinching the bridge of my nose or my right hand has to be twitching or both, I have to take off any tight clothing, any sort of stimulus is overwhelming so I try to close my eyes when I can and get any annoying sounds to stop, drinking small sips of water has helped so I always have to have water nearby or else I panic, my heart rate spikes, my throat feels hot, my mind is racing, I started doing this thing a couple months back where I cant swallow my spit while panicking so I spit it out onto a rag whenever I salivate too much,, I know its gross but its how I cope. Its hard for me to hide a panic attack, they suck and I feel like I have to have someone there to support me.