Hey guys! So the other night I had an extremely bad panic attack to the point where I felt like I was going to die. It was asif my head was telling my heart to race faster and faster (Not literally, I don't hear voices or anything like that) but it felt like I had no control over anything and that I was going insane. I suffer from health anxiety so my main fear is dying of a heart attack. I'm scared that if it happens again, I will not be able to control my heart rate. It was like my anxiety was telling me "no, your heart needs to speed up" and it was so unbelievably scary. Please reassure me that I cannot and won't die if this were to happen again? I've been so on edge for the past couple of days, I'd hate to think that I'd have no control over my mind in situations like that I hope everybody's doing ok ❤️
Scared of panic attacks: Hey guys! So the... - Anxiety Support
Scared of panic attacks
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Hey I have horrible health anxoety also! I think we make our symptoms worse because we’re soo focused and scared.. what I tried to tell myself is that it happens before and I’m still alive .
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We are two peas in a pod — been there. You won’t die. If it was a heart attack, you wouldn’t be here. It sounds like it would be an intense one.
What it is, is panic. An intense one. It’s crucial that you learn to cope with these with CBT therapy so they don’t get out of control like mine did! They’re terrifying!!! You aren’t alone and I promise you wouldn’t be able to type if it was a heart attack.
Thank you for your reply!! It's more like my anxiety was just telling my heart to speed up more until it stopped, they're scary as hell, I felt like I didn't have control of my mind anymore which was terrifying and because of that I panicked more. I do CBT and a place called mind, they give me exercises to do but because of my low motivation, I struggle to do them. It's just a matter of pushing myself I think and understanding that's it's crucial I do them. It's lovely speaking to people who understand and can relate, it means the world to me. Stay strong, Georgia x
I totally relate. Part of our anxiety is worrying as a way to protect ourselves. It’s like.. if we don’t worry, we are vulnerable. I’d do anything to feel like how normal people do, who don’t worry about their health.
Hypochondriacs are very interesting people — there are times we have clarity that it’s “all in our head”, but the physical symptoms of anxiety make it so hard to believe it’s JUST anxiety. It’s insane. Like, just a couple days ago, I was CONVINCED I was schizophrenic. After I got note that I’m not, I decided I’m epileptic. This was after researching, and after I was convinced I have MS. It’s so easy to jump from disease to disease. All we can do is try to just focus on being alive and not putting too much focus on being sick. Easier said than done ❤️
Also - I know how hard it is to believe the doctors! I have a habit of googling worst case scenarios to ease my mind and like convince myself how ridiculous it is to think it but it never works. It fuels it. My suggestion is come here when you have scary thoughts and don’t google!
This was an amazing post for me!!!! This is my life!!!!!!!
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Thank you so much sweet heart. This means the absolute world. I hope you too, feel better within yourself. Atm, I'm convinced I have bi-polar because of my moods or that I will develop schizophrenia at some point which the likely hood of that happening is very low. I read something online actually, it said something a long the lines of "when you think about it anxiety doesn't intentionally mean any harm to you but good, it's the body's natural response to protect you" and idk, thinking about it, maybe it isn't all that evil. I mean it's an absolutely horrendous feeling that leads us to think it was sent from the devil himself but maybe if we teach ourselves that it's a normal process that's there to do us good, hopefully over time we won't be as afraid of it anymore ❤️
You are so welcome!!! I’m here for you! I totally understand how you feel. I’m also terrified of developing schizophrenia! My doctor said it’s extremely unlikely but my hypochondria told me I have it lol. My psychotherapist said I definitely do not. It’s very common for people with anxiety to fear losing control like this; I think that after I exhausted my physical health concerns, now I’m focusing on mental health hypochondria. So I get it. It’s the absolute worst!!! Sounds like we are really similar!
That’s exactly how I feel when I wake up in the night and get these awful “life threatening” attacks. My heart just takes off and it’s scary because no matter what I do it won’t slow down for like 10 or 15 mins and I feel terrible, I feel like I can’t breathe right and feel numbness and tingling which of course I think means i’m not getting good circulation and am dying. It’s a helluva experience. Worst thing i’ve ever lived through. My heart goes up into the 160s-170s during these attacks. How fast does yours get? Because i’m wondering if mine are panic attacks or something else. I’ve worn a monitor and it showed normal rhythm, just very fast. Now i’m sort of scared to go to bed at night.
I'm sorry it took this long for my reply. You will notice a lot with panic attacks, you'll get sensations that mimic serious health problems. I found when I got anxious, my jaw would start to tighten and I'd get shooting pains up my arms and because I'd never experienced it before, I was convinced for months that I was having a heart attack or stroke but I'm still here to till this day! This was a couple of year back, however, I still get muscle tension and panic a hell of a lot. I think when you're in that moment of panic, you don't think straight. Your head is running at 100 mph about the what if this happens, what if that happens but take a look at yourself sweetie - You were able to calm yourself down! To me that's you taking back control and it's never too late to take it back, never. I don't actually know how much my heart speeds up but it was so terrifying. I felt like I'd never be able to slow it down but I did! And you did too! Have you tried meditation? Sleep hypnosis? Exercise? These a brilliant things to consider. Keep on fighting my fellow warrior ❤️
I'm not sure I calmed myself down, it just finally ended! Nothing I did seemed to work. I was intentionally taking slow deep breaths, trying not to be afraid, then about that time, my heart skipped a beat, then another, while it was already racing wildly, I felt my hands and arms tingling and numb, and I was done. I was sure I was dying. I called 911 and told them to please hurry! Heart went even faster, I felt like I couldn't breathe, there's no way I could've walked, I was paralyzed with fear. Then after about 15mins, it started to slow down, I guess it ran out of adrenaline, I was so exhausted and my legs trembled, I shivered all over, but I marveled that I was actually still alive. Maybe if I didn't fear the racing heart? I'm wearing a monitor, so that attack did get recorded, so I'm hoping my cardiologist will convince me to not be afraid of it.
I tried calling my doctor earlier to see if he would review my monitor results, the nurse practitioner called me back. She certainly didn't help matters when she freaked out and said, "Honey if your heart is going 160bpm, you need to be in the emergency room!" She said I could decompensate or something.
You’ll be ok I go through it
You will be okay too! Stay strong x