Panic attacks

My sister gets them regularly. She gets hot, noises sound very loud, heart rate rises and general feeling of panic. She has depression anyway, so has medication from the GP.

Yup, see your GP.

Whenever I had them, I found that if I acknowledged in my mind it was only a panic attack, that I immediately felt much better. Knowledge is power.

Nobody dies from a panic attack, so there's no need for you to feel more stressed than you already are. They are horrible though, and you have my sympathies.

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Thanks Mrs Winkle. Do you happen to know what triggers them? Can they be fairly random?

Thanks too HH. I'd be a bit of a worrier, and get anxious quite a lot. The other day though something quite minor happened but I felt overwhelmly sick, almost like I'd stepped out of my body and started to really panic. Noises didn't get loud so much as maybe blurred out and I thought I was going to throw up and it lasted for about 5 minutes or less. I'm probably being a bit melodramtic but it seemed to come from nowhere and then afterwards my memory felt a bit blank. The only thing I could think of that it was a bit of a panic attack - but I'm not sure.

Also I used to have trouble getting to sleep for a while because I'd think too much instead of getting to sleep but got over this. This week though I've started getting weird feelings of sickness when I think about going to sleep later as if something like the other day will be starting.

I'm aware of this sounds a little crazy [:I]

quote:Originally posted by jaz
Thanks too HH. I'd be a bit of a worrier, and get anxious quite a lot. The other day though something quite minor happened but I felt overwhelmly sick, almost like I'd stepped out of my body and started to really panic. Noises didn't get loud so much as maybe blurred out and I thought I was going to throw up and it lasted for about 5 minutes or less. I'm probably being a bit melodramtic but it seemed to come from nowhere and then afterwards my memory felt a bit blank. The only thing I could think of that it was a bit of a panic attack - but I'm not sure.

Also I used to have trouble getting to sleep for a while because I'd think too much instead of getting to sleep but got over this. This week though I've started getting weird feelings of sickness when I think about going to sleep later as if something like the other day will be starting.

I'm aware of this sounds a little crazy [:I]

id="quote">

Not crazy at all ?

Definitely see your GP, there will probably be a reason you're having them. Whether it's stress, anxiety, depression, or just having a bit of a bad patch of another kind.

Remember when you get one: make yourself safe if you can (sit down if you can, somewhere quiet), and remember you will come to no harm. ?

Thankfully it happened at work and not outside or I don't know what I'd have done as I felt a little weepy afterwards [:I]

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I'm having one today. It's not a nice feeling. Somehow I have managed to overwhelm myself with stuff going on - coupled with finding out I missed an important event last Thursday (my PDA was screwed) - and panicking about everything. Got 10 people coming for dinner next weekend, 18 people coming for lunch the following week and about 25 coming for Afternoon Tea the week after that.

Plus loads of UK stuff that I have to do which involves phoning the UK very early my time to get things done. And a pile of paperwork which has reached ridiculous proportions. Flights to book back and forth to the UK. Holiday to source and arrange. Plus family stuff back home to deal with. Oh, and OH's daughters coming with their partners in June, then straight after 3 friends and 2 kids coming for THREE weeks in July.

I'm hyperventilating! So I'm going to turn everything off on the computer I don't need (Hitched for example!) and get on with it all.

Have to say this panic attack is mild compared to when my Dad was very ill and then died. But it's there nethertheless, and I recognise the symptoms - fast heart rate, agitated, irritated, irrational, moody, fish-wifey ... that sort of thing. If it continues, go and see your GP Jaz

I've suffered from them since I was a child and it sounds like a panic attack.

As HH said knowledge is power, once you can get your head around why you feel the symptoms and they will pass you are less likely to get them. Once I realised there were things I could do to control them I became less afraid and I can't remember the last time I had a really bad one.

It's worth seeing your GP. I found the best therapy for me was CBT as it helped me to understand my thoughts were causing the panic attacks and so they could be controlled, it's not something that just happens. You need to right tools to learn how to do that and you have to work at it, but it does help.

I also carry some Diazepam with me in case it gets really bad. However having that with me helps as I know I can stop the panic, so I'm less likely to.

I hope you feel better soon.

I have been suffering for years. I get a racing heart, a very 'floaty' feeling and often a bad headache. I usually have to go to bed and sleep them off, and they leave me with a dull head the next day. I had my blood pressure taken during one once and it was sky-high.

I usually try to think through them, to logically solve the problem. Sometimes that helps and sometimes I just need a good cry as a way of release.

I used to get them - it was a feeling as though I was completely out of my own body - hot, dizzy etc and fast heart beat. I remember having one at a parents eve and had to leave the room as I was speaking to parents. I never saw the docs about them directly although on a visit once he did take my blood pressure and it was high - just deep breaths and as others have said, don't panic as this makes it worse.

Thanks you've all been lovely. I have had more stressful things recently but never felt such a phase of panic, confusion, sickness, fluttery tummy, feeling like I was going crazy before so was confused as to what it was. The loss of memory thing added to my panic too.

Thanks again everyone ?