panic attack

One person's personal experience:

So I'm sitting in a college class on the back row, as usual. I light up a cigarette -- This was back when you could actually smoke in public, anywhere, without anyone thinking twice about it. And it happens. This isn't the first time, either. I'm going to have to get up and leave this room, right now.

I walk the halls, trying to calm down a little bit. When I come back to class, my friend who's sitting next to me says, "You don't look so good." I know; my face is blanched and my hands are shaking.

I tell him about these episodes I've been having. He asks if I've been doing a lot of acid lately. I say, "No." And then he says something to me that was very important. Have you ever known a kid who was older than his years? A kid who was more like an old man trapped in a kid's body? That's the way it was with this guy.

Anyway, in all his great wisdom, he takes a long look at me and says, "Maybe you're just taking yourself too seriously."

I thought about that for the rest of the day, and do you know that I've not had anything like that happen to me since? And that was several years ago.

Until now.

I've been dealing with anxiety attacks for about three years now. Explaining how they feel is fairly easy, but trying to explain why they happen is another issue. If you have ever been (or can imagine being) in a hospital emergency room waiting for "the news", that's pretty close to what it feels like. Your mind races, your thoughts blur, and anything you think of you begin to worry about. It makes it very hard to function because you feel like any piece of your world could suddenly collapse around you. Sometimes they last all day, relentlessly making you feel like something horrible is about to happen, even though you don't what that something is. Other days they last for an hour or two and suddenly disappear. Whenever they stop, they leave you feeling ecstatic and ready to take on the world. Until, of course, it comes back again the next morning or afternoon or two days later. You never can tell. The randomness of duration and frequency are what can drive you insane. You can have two perfect days, and crash the third. Or, have a perfect day interrupted at various intervals. Like I said, you never can tell.

Why do they happen you ask? That's an even better question, because in three years I haven't figured out a good answer. Sometimes it can be something as small as being hungry or having someone or something scare you accidentally. Sometimes it's something more obvious like a midterm or a paper or missing your girlfriend. I've gotten pretty good at closing my eyes, taking deep breaths and trying to relax until they go away, but that doesn't always work. Sometimes you just have to ride them through. Another characteristic of anxiety attacks, after you've had them quite consistently, is that nearly every time you get one you think that "this is it", and you just might have a breakdown or be put in a permanently anxious state this time. Another contributing factor is probably the way I think. I took the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) this past summer, and it indicated that my primary personality factor was ruminant thinking. In other words, I think things over endlessly without getting anywhere (chewing the cud or getting something stuck in your head are other ways to say it). Getting a particular issue stuck in a circle in your head doesn't help to let go or relax very much.

I'm quite sure that my anxiety attacks are related to(perhaps a miniature version of) the full blown panic attacks that I'm almost certain to get in my mid to late 20's. My dad's whole side of the family, all of his brothers and sisters, have had panic attacks. The way my dad explained panic attacks to me a few years ago is that people think they're having a heart attack when they get one. You get blurry, tunnel vision, staggered breathing, and a huge adrenal kick, among other things. They have medicine for it, but you don't know when you'll need the medicine until you actually get that first panic attack, if you ever do. It's basically a waiting game. My dad was somewhat concerned about telling me about them as early as he did. Personally, I'd rather know in advance than have a panic attack spring on me and have no idea what's going on. For the rest of you, remember, I KNOW I have a genetic predisposition for it so relax, I'm not trying to scare you.

One thing that can help with panic attacks (and presumably anxiety attacks) is triptophan. Triptophan is a chemical found naturally in such foods as turkey and asparagus that has been found to help reduce symptoms of panic attacks. It was formerly available in a pill form by prescription. However, from my understanding, it has been taken off the market in the U.S. by the FDA due to a "bad batch" that was created somewhere down the line. My uncle used to get triptophan, and my dad has actually eaten turkey when he's felt stressed and on the verge of panic.

At any rate, there's some basic information about anxiety and panic attacks from personal experience.

P.S. Writing or talking about them can help get rid of them sometimes.

A typical response to hearing the phrase "panic attack" in conversation is lighthearted skepticism, or at best, kind but incompletely-understanding empathy. I wasn't even aware it was an actual condition until it happened to me and I started to read up on it; I'd always thought it was just a sort of dramatic idiom.

If you're only familiar with the symptoms of a panic attack through secondhand knowledge, they do seem pretty strange. At the drop of a hat, and potentially due to no traceable trigger, one falls prey to:

• elevated blood pressure/heart rate
• dizziness
• nausea
• difficulty breathing/hyperventilation
• the sensation that the heart has stopped or is beating irregularly
• the feeling that they are about to die
• an impending feeling of doom

Although this surely seems ridiculous to an unaffected individual, especially the last item on the list, the feelings are indistinguishable from reality to those suffering the panic attack. Depending on the severity of one's affliction with panic disorder, they may find it hard to manage previously straightforward aspects of their life, and it is not uncommon for one in the grip of a particularly intense attack to take an unnecessary trip to the emergency room. Although no outright "cure" is available, there are some prescription drugs and psychiatric techniques that can help. On a personal note, I've found that spending time in the company of close friends, or even simpler things like making your way to some fresh air can help the situation a lot.

One serious problem with panic attacks is that they are often mistaken for other afflictions, such as asthma attacks or heart attacks. The result can be (and often is) that the panic attack is misdiagnosed and treated inappropriately.

As an asthma sufferer myself, I have witnessed people in the throes of a panic attack - and mistaken them for fellow asthmatics. The error is very easy to make, since the surface symptoms (wheezing, difficulty breathing, clammy skin, physical weakness) are very similar.

Furthermore, though patients with a predilection towards panic attacks are undoubtedly suffering from a genuine and very debilitating ailment, there is a tendency to disregard their behaviour as mere hysterics. In particular, it is a deplorable fact that gender bias is often applied (both by health care professionals and by friends and relations) - female patients are often regarded as hysterical hypochondriacs, and male patients are often treated with condescension, as cowards.

Panic Attacks just plain suck. Reality bites. I used to get them 3 times per day. VERY INTENSE. I think most of it may have been attributed to a car accident a few months prior, which I dont see how I could have possible survived. (thank you Acura). Still I wonder how it is possible to feel so horribly doomed while having one of these...

Chances are, if you are reading this, you probably have experienced this before.

This is the best advice(I am not a doctor) that I can give as an individual who has dealt with this demon.


Remember: There is a solution.


1. Talk to a Doctor/Shrink/Head doctor. Don't be ashamed, your not crazy. You just want to find a solution.

2. Intake:

Stimulants = BAD. Caffeine is commonly known to be found in colas, coffee, Tea, certain chocolates, etc. These are common triggers in my case.

Alcohol (depressant)has also been a trigger for panic attacks for me. I really dont see why it would be, considering it causes dopamine release (a chemical that says "good boy/girl, your surviving, you feel good now") AKA pleasure.

Make sure you eat breakfast. Try some dairy (primarilly milk) I used to never ever drink milk. Now I do, because my joints dont pop and crack so much, and I feel healthier. (also... try to stay hyrdated).


3. Reasoning

Q: My heart feels like its skipping beats, or pounding out of my chest.
A: you're really scared.

Q: I check my pulse, it feels really weak. Sparattic.
A: Unfortunatly I got into this habit, which only seemed to add fuel to the fire... depending on how well I checked it made quite a difference. Veins and arteries tend to slide around a bit. if you are checking your pulse in your wrist, 5 seconds later it may appear to be weaker, due to the fact that it may have slide away from your two fingers. (don't check your pulse with your thumb)

Q: The walls seem like their bending.
A: Your eyes are focusing and responding quickly, probably due to the adrenaline.

Q: the rooms too bright, my senses are overwhelming me.
A: When your scared, your pupils dilate, your senses shapen quite significantly. Your hearing tends to increase also, and just about all your other senses.





Your best bet is to try to establish a difference between discomfort and danger.



Well that's all the advice I can dish out at the moment!

hang in there.