What's the first thing you did when you caught a panick attack. And did you know that it was an attack?

[Tarishalovesherse]

I was just finishing up my sandwich for dinner , and I took an advil , because I had an tooth ache about one minute later I was gonna lay down like usual , then all of a sudden it hit me, my head started getting light my heart was out of my shirt , and my body became weak. I thought I was dying. I told my son I'm dying he ran up the stairs to get my brother , as I'm talking telling them I'm dying I can't hardly breath , I ran out the house just w an tshirt on, I thought if I didn't go outside I was goin die. mind you I have a torn ligament in my left knee during all this. I called the ambulance nd told them I'm dying to hurry send someone . I was out of my mind. but during having a panick attack I didn't know that wat it was. I thought the advil caused all this even though this was like my 100th advil.

[blackcat64013]

Hi Tarishalovesherse,

As you have found out, panic attacks are very real and very awful. Many people who experience their first panic attack find themselves at hospital emergency thinking they are having a heart attack.

Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that our mind gets very disturbed by our first panic attack and we get very scared about what is happening and not sure about what is going on.

As with anything people have different symptoms from the same diagnosis.

An excellent reference site that talks you through what they are and what you can do is in the link here. There is also a community Q & A and tips for you.

wikihow.com/Stop-Panic-Attacks

Hoping you are coming back down to earth

[LadyBarb]

Hi Tarisha 😊 ~ sorry to hear you'd such an horrific experience. ❤️️

A few questions for you? Re the Advil ~ can you ask your medic if you could perhaps try another painkiller? Sometimes we can suddenly become 'allergic' to a medication we'd taken safely for months/years/decades. 😟

Were you on any other medication for your torn ligament? If so, could the meds have 'clashed' or put you into a mini overdose which brought on the feelings and the resulting panic attack? Perhaps something also to ask your Medic?

Obviously, I don't know your personal circumstances. Just hoping that Panic Attacks don't become part of your life experience! ❤️️

For those who have repeated major Panic Attacks, I've nothing but admiration for them for learning to recognise the warning signs and doing all they can to stop it from progressing to becoming 'full blown'. ❤️️ That takes tremendous inner strength in a time of utter turmoil..! ❤️️

What I'm going to share may sound like the strangest way of coping with major panic attack ~ but it was my personal experience, which is all I can share ... and I'm eternally grateful that the experience hasn't been repeated! (Phew!)

I was going through a period of major stress, coming from an all too real source, when out of nowhere, I got all the major symptoms of what I thought was going to be a fatal heart attack. I've naturally low blood pressure, and a strong heart, but suddenly everything went 'wild'. BP, heart rate, inability to breathe, drenched in sweat, and virtually immobile ~ and my only coherent thought was "Is this how it ends?" ~ "Is this how Life ends?"

I grabbed onto the kitchen worktop, and my head went down onto it. I'll never know if it was the sudden coolness of the worktop on my forehead, or being in a better position to help me breathe more easily (I can't do 'deep breathing', it actually makes me light-headed, BUT, that's just me!) ~ and the thought flew through my head from absolutely nowhere: "You're having a Panic Attack!".

I've NO idea how I knew that's what the problem was, but somehow instinctively 'knowing' took part of the 'sting' out of the situation for me.

Panic attacks were something I'd ever (consciously) read about, investigated, or even had any interest in at that time! It was the strangest, most horrific experience ever.

But, I started to calm down? (No, I don't understand it either!)

I called myself a 'silly mare' (of the horse-type), and then again, out of nowhere, I started to laugh at myself!

Very far from a hysterical laugh, just a real 'belly-laugh' from deep down in my stomach when the situation was very far from 'funny' ~ but I do believe that helped me return my breathing and pounding heart and blood pressure and sweating profusely ~ to somewhere near normal.

Perhaps laughing was 'my' equivalent to deep breathing (?), perhaps it changed my brain chemistry, but I came out of the entire "Is this how it (life) ends?" deep thinking mode, and very slowly made myself a cup of tea ~ and went to lie down in bed to drink it. For some strange reason, both my cats came into the house at the same time,and immediately joined me on the bed! (They're so comforting!).

I decided laughing was absolutely very good for me, and put on a DVD of my much beloved Glasgow comedian, who never fails to make me laugh.

Another aspect may be that I'm not afraid of death? Let me make it VERY clear ~ I remain very afraid of the actual "process of dying", that's for sure, but not the final oblivion.

I'd been trying to take my life from the age of 16 to age 32 ~ nearly succeeded at age 23 (saved, ironically, by a 'choker' necklace of "love beads"! Long story). I had a blood alcohol level which was enough, in the Psychiatrist's assessment, to kill off a 'bull elephant' (and I'm only 5ft tall and was slim at that time) ~ without taking into account a full bottle of antidepressants of my father's, which he hadn't taken, and which I'd kept my eyes on for use for "when 'it' becomes 'bad enough!" (life) then I will take these ~ and I had taken every one of them, handfuls at a time, as life had indeed become 'bad enough'.

During that episode at age 23 which should have killed me, and the medics didn't know how or why it didn't die ~ I'd a revelation (not religious) of such beauty that it removed my fear of actual death / non-being.

But it still didn't stop me from trying to kill myself ~ unfortunately. That came much later, with 6 years of intensive psychotherapy with a very skilled private practitioner ~ in the days when I could afford that 'luxury'. And, I gained a friend for life. ❤️️ Sadly, she's now passed on physically, but lives on in my memory ❤️️.

Yours, in Health, Blessed Be, Barbara xx