Panic attacks

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 4:43 pm

Does anyone have any experience with this? What can you tell me? Is there a "mild" case of this? What does it feel like?

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:32 pm

Yes, I am asking about this for a specific reason...

rachelg · Post by **rachelg** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:46 pm

I have panic attacks when driving in snow as a result of an accident I had about 9 years ago. It wasn't a serious accident, but I guess it was the first time I realised how easily control can be taken away from me and I have an issue with control to begin with. what it is like is the feeling you may have after a close call, a near accident or something that scares you pretty bad. I sweat, feel the adrenaline rush and eventually I get dizzy and feel lightheaded. At some point I find somewhere to pull off the road. I've stayed at motels when I was pretty close to home because I was afraid I might pass out.

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:49 pm

Adrenaline rush....Does it kind of feel like your heart is going to pound it's way right out of your chest?

Do you only get them when you drive in the snow?

rachelg · Post by **rachelg** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:59 pm

BabyRider wrote: Adrenaline rush....Does it kind of feel like your heart is going to pound it's way right out of your chest?

Do you only get them when you drive in the snow?Yes your heart does nearly beat out of your chest and actually there are other things that can cause them in me, but snow is the main thing. Unfortuanately, most of those things involve driving and it scares me even more that the panic attack itself will cause a wreck. I get that way in torrential downpours at night when I can't see very well and I felt the same way when my brother aimed a gun at me and I couldn't move

Paula · Post by **Paula** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 6:09 pm

the person is stressed by something, upset, pre-occupied with a thought. could be from stimulants such as caffiene in coffee and colas? can be so many reasons why people panic. i don't get them now, but have had a few in the past. tension, fear, etc. muscle tightness, ya i know what that is, it went away for me.

koan · Post by **koan** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 8:48 pm

I believe I had a panic attack at work once when I was very ill from a penicillin reaction. I ended up phoning a friend (a very good friend) and made her stay on the phone with me for about 4 hours. I was a receptionist so I kept her on line two as I answered all the other calls. I couldn't calm down and felt like the world was closing in on me. Don't know how I made it through the day. Needless to say I stopped the penicillin the next day. Nasty, horrible thing panic is. I probably still owe that friend a favour.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:28 pm

a true panic/anxiety attack perfectly mimics a heart attack. when my mother was dying in 1988 i felt completely helpless for the first time in my life. i could not CONTROL what was happening. so one day driving in my car i had a sudden feeling of impending doom, i lost control, was sobbing, yelling at God, chest pains, palpitations, and every symptom of a coronary, with NO coronary history. i drove right to doctor's office , who did an EKG. and said it was a panic attack. due to my feeling of helplessness and fury. i had just lost my beloved father as well. it was too much because i had to be everybody's ROCK...siblings, kids.travel constantly to DC.from boston. so i LOST it...since then i have never "lost it" again. even in life or death situations in my job i never lost my equanimity. but that one time in my life i understood what it was to have no control and it was a physical pain for me as well as psychological.

koan · Post by **koan** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:48 pm

Sorry. Thought that was a mental breakdown. I've had that happen before. Pressure of being a single mom. Felt exactly like that. I just curl up in a ball and sob then everything is better is the morning. Only had it happen once before my daughter was asleep. Luckily someone else was around and took charge.

Der Wulf · Post by **Der Wulf** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:37 am

I think Lady Cop hit it right on the head. I've spent a life being afraid of nothing. When losing the use of my legs, I thought I had it under control, one night I woke suddenly, I HAD TO GET UP, not want to, I had to. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it, hear it. I broke into a drenching sweat, I couldn't breathe. I LOST IT. I couldn't move. I thrashed around on the bed, then rolled on to the floor, and continued to thrash and beat the side of the bed, the dresser, and the floor.

My wife, a nurse, and thankfully nimble, bailed out of bed before I could do her damage. Her yelling finally penetrated my brain, and I began shivering violently, and crying ......she held me and talked me down. later I tried to sleep but the moment I closed my eyes it came back again. I spent the next day and night exausted, but unable to close my eyes or turn the lights off.

My Dr. diagnosed it as a panic attack, and perscribed valium and sleeping pills. I could not force myself to get back in the bed, but slept in a chair with the TV and lights on for over a month.

It was the single most scary event in my life, I finally learned to overcome it. Just writing about it now brought back some of the total helpless, hopeless feeling. Hope somehow this helps.