Panic Attacks

theredletter

Hey guys,

I recently had a panic attack on a bus with my friends and had to be dropped out in the middle of the country. Felt a bit suicidal and after a weekend of anxiety, a lot crying I feel a lot better. I know that these feelings are normal to have but I'm now obsessing that I'm going to have another one which is making me more panicked...

Anyone ever feel the same?

LegacyUser

Hey Op i had panic attack when i was losing my home.Is there a reason you had one? identify what caused the first one.But i really think you should talk to someone who is close to you and find out why you are feeling as you are.Feel better and dont fret about having more,if you happen to have another one sit down and take breathes.The feeling suicidal i have felt dont want to live anymore but i couldn't do it because i always think life just may get better.You should talk to someone about the suicidal feelings.
Hope you feel better

tweety_bird

Hi OP,
Ive had panic attacks for the last year with them getting worse the last six months. Started off having one in college and later escaladed to having one anytime I felt nervous or over stressed with college work. For awhile just like you I was so frightened that I was going to have another one and that pressure alone is going to freak you out and make you feel even worse. there were days when I didnt even feel like getting out of bed because I thought "what if I had a panic attack on the bus??". At night I sometimes woke out of my sleep in a panic thinking I couldnt breathe and I was having a heart attack.

One day I thought I couldnt breathe and my heart was going to stop so I went to my doctor where I was given medication for if I felt panicky I could take one.Caffeine was also a key thing in bringing on my panic attacks so once I cut out caffeine all together these panic attacks were 90% decreased. Breathing techniques are what others recommend for helping yourself relax in a stressful situation.

If your symptoms continue I strongly recommend that you contact your GP to see if he or she can help you. You're not alone with panic attacks, many of us have them and at times they can be so scary but remember that youre in control and they will go away.

I wish you all the best xx

LegacyUser

hi redletter, i used to have a lot of trouble with panic attacks and severe anxiety, so i know how scary they can be and how they can get you down for a long time. i also learned a lot about what causes them and how to combat them. i remember that exact same feeling of wondering if i'd ever feel the same again, but that's almost 3 years behind me now and i'm 110% better

your worries about having another one are completely normal, almost everyone i've spoken to with panic problems experienced this fear. it's natural to be a bit on edge, the thing that seems to work with most people is distraction, don't give yourself enough time to think about the attack and allow the worry to seep in, do things you enjoy and keep yourself happily distracted.

panic attacks can happen for a lot of reasons. if you've found that you had this attack for no reason you're aware of (i.e. you weren't in a situation that created huge fear etc) then one of the most common reasons for an attack is a simple blood sugar low. this can happen if you haven't eaten for a good couple of hours (e.g. skipping breakfast), if you've been eating a lot of sugar lately, if you've been drinking alcohol (lots of people experience panic attacks after a night in the pub) or if you have a diet that consists of mainly fast burning carbs like white breads & pastas.

when your blood sugars take a dip your brain releases chemicals such as adrenaline that can fuel a panic attack and leave you feeling drained for a long time. obviously not a lot of people know that they've had a blood sugar low, so they associate the panic with where ever they were or what ever they were doing when the first attack happened. that's where it becomes psychological and people link the feeling of fear in their minds with what they presume to be the cause of the panic (i went through this myself!). not knowing why you've had an attack can leave us scared and unhappy for a long time and leave us in a state where we're anticipating another attack.

some people experience blood sugar highs and lows quite often, it's called hypoglycemia and usually stems from diet but can be a symptom of another problem such as diabetes. the easiest way i found to solve this kind of panic or feeling of random anxiety is to give myself a quick blood sugar boost by eating something like a banana or some wholemeal toast with peanut butter. there's a whole way of eating that will keep your blood sugars stable and thus keeping your mental state healthy too, but i don't need to go into that here if you've only had one attack

obviously there are many other reasons why you may have had an attack, but the blood sugar low is a very important and common one in my experience and it's worth mentioning to you here.

tweety_bird: i just wanted to say to you that waking up in the middle of the night with an attack and also early morning anxiety & panic can often be down to a blood sugar low as it's been so long since you've eaten! what i used to do was keep a banana by my bedside and eat it if i found myself unable to sleep from anxiety, it sounds a bit mad but it honestly worked a treat. here is a link to a much bigger post i wrote on another forum with lots of things i learned help with anxiety & panic: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087

to help your nervous system relax and calm down again there are a couple of things you can do. taking a vitamin B complex will soothe a stressed out nervous system, we need the b vitamins to feel good mentally (a complex includes all the B vitamins, not just one or two). ask in a pharmacy or health food store about one, make sure it's ok to take with any medication you might be taking. a B vitamin complex with magnesium is often reccommended for a happy nervous system and therefore good mental health.

exercise will also help enormously, it will release hormones in your body that help you feel good naturally and will help you to lift depression or anxiety in a healthy way, it also proves a great distraction. avoid eating & drinking things that will put you on edge for a little while, so no sugary foods or drinks especially fizzy drinks like coke, no coffee, no alcohol and no tea. make sure that you eat regularly, skipping meals will not help. eat as healthily as you can, avoid sugary carbohydrates and swap them for slow burning ones (eg brown bread instead of white). yoga is a wonderful relaxation method and will teach you breathing exercises that will help if you find another attack coming on. a meditation CD can help you learn to relax again.

i'd also advise you talk to your doctor, especially if you find yourself suicidal and depressed, it's very important to reach out and get some help. they can guide you in the right direction and work out if there are any underlying causes.

i hope this helps a bit, i went through a lot myself before i learned all of this and it really helped me get my life back together again

theredletter

Ah it's not that I was suicidal per se, it's that at the time of the attack it felt that dying was the only solution, though that's not what I wanted to happen if you get me. Logically everything seemed wrong, unclear and that. Bit weird. We'll see!

I don't think I could cut out caffeine or alcohol from my diet. I'm in college and a lot of my social life is alcohol related! I'll have a chat with my doctor about this.

I want to be able to do what I want; I've been eating whatever I want and drinking whatever I want for all my life. I think this is more to do with some personal problems I'm having at the minute (parents divorcing, work etc.). I'll talk to my counsiller and doctor about it and see what they say as they'll be able to evalute my situation personally. I'm having my thyroid tested on Thursday and other bloods done so I'll get back to you if I hear anything about blood!

Thanks!

R

*eadaoin

(i posted as hopethishelps the last time!)

feeling like you're dying and everything being unclear and fuzzy are common symptoms of a panic attack, many people think they're having a heart attack even (lots of people suffer chest pain so it can feel like something is seriously wrong). it's not very pleasant at all and leaves you feeling very wobbly.

i don't think you need to worry about cutting out caffeine or alcohol just yet anyway, many people in their lives will experience at least one or two panic attacks without it ever becoming a problem. however for me i suffered with a full blown panic disorder and was in a constant state of panic almost all of the time, so cutting out stimulants was something i was delighted to do as i was literally desperate for anything to help (i was having totally uncontrollable thoughts about suicide and was genuinely worried for my own safety, so i gladly cut down on stuff!)

but like i said, you've just had one attack so there's no need to go down that route as it stands, but i mention it as something you might like to do just for a couple of days to help you balance out and allow your stressed out nervous system to go back to normal, especially if you're still on edge. the exercise and other stuff i mentioned will also just help you to chill out again, give it a try if you find you're still a bit worn out and worried

but if you continue to have problems i would suggest you seriously consider it as loading up an already stressed out nervous system with even more stimulants is a recipe for disaster and if you seriously want to get better it's worth a try. it's just something to be aware of.

realistically eating and drinking whatever we want won't happen to all of us for the rest of our lives, i have a fairly normal diet now again but i still can't have too many cups of tea or cans of coke or i'll start getting anxious again and it's just not worth it! it's a matter of moderation and learning how to balance things out.

i hope things work out for you anyway, testing for something like hypoglycemia is usually done over several hours as far as i know and i doubt your doctor will be doing that (in fact as far as i know many of them are dubious about it as a problem, but i guarantee you learning about it saved my life literally), but he'll be able to tell you if you have anything else physically wrong that may have caused the problem.

personally my doctor wasn't great when to came to the panic, she did her very best and helped me as much as possible, but she wanted me to go down the hospitilastion and antidepressant route and i discovered all the blood sugar diet stuff by myself - i shudder to think what might have happened to me if i had followed her advice and not asked her to allow me to try it my way first, but again my problem was much much different to yours and more severe than i can even explain so you don't need to worry about that stuff i don't think!

talking to a counsellor is a great idea, i went to a psychotherapist myself for over a year and it was so fantastic, the best thing i have ever done for myself it helped me work on the mental side of things and support myself while i was working on the diet and physical side and together these approaches worked so well, i'm so much better these days than i was for years! go for it, i hope you find it of help!

theredletter

You really are a star eadaoin. Thank you so much. I'm usually pretty 'stable' (for lack of a better word). Just going through a rough time right now. I'll let you know if I need any other info.

Thanks again, and I'm glad things are going so well for you, gives me hope! And let's hope this won't turn into something like that for me.. But if it does I'll just following the doctors/ counsellors (who is a psychotherapist, btw!) advice (even if it includes alcohol)

LegacyUser

*eadaoin wrote: »

i hope things work out for you anyway, testing for something like hypoglycemia is usually done over several hours as far as i know and i doubt your doctor will be doing that (in fact as far as i know many of them are dubious about it as a problem, but i guarantee you learning about it saved my life literally), but he'll be able to tell you if you have anything else physically wrong that may have caused the problem.

personally my doctor wasn't great when to came to the panic, she did her very best and helped me as much as possible, but she wanted me to go down the hospitilastion and antidepressant route and i discovered all the blood sugar diet stuff by myself - i shudder to think what might have happened to me if i had followed her advice and not asked her to allow me to try it my way first, but again my problem was much much different to yours and more severe than i can even explain so you don't need to worry about that stuff i don't think!

talking to a counsellor is a great idea, i went to a psychotherapist myself for over a year and it was so fantastic, the best thing i have ever done for myself it helped me work on the mental side of things and support myself while i was working on the diet and physical side and together these approaches worked so well, i'm so much better these days than i was for years! go for it, i hope you find it of help!

I've a similar story... last May a doctor referred me to a hospital and wanted me to go on Prozac. I'm SO glad that I went down the holistic therapy and dietary route. I too used to have major panic attacks mainly due to blood sugar and too much strong coffee and energy drinks (they are lethal!!).

Now, a few months later I am calm, happy and so delighted I didn't go into hospital or go on anti-d's again....

It really upsets me the amount of replies on this forum with people saying "Go to your GP and that'll sort you out".... the majority of them don't seem to know enough about mental illness, no matter how nice they are as a person.

Victor

It really upsets me the amount of replies on this forum with people saying "Go to your GP and that'll sort you out".... the majority of them don't seem to know enough about mental illness, no matter how nice they are as a person.

I'm sure your are reasonably experienced of you own problems, however everyone is different and a person's GP is the best place to start.

Hope!! wrote: »

I've a similar story... last May a doctor referred me to a hospital and wanted me to go on Prozac. I'm SO glad that I went down the holistic therapy and dietary route.

Holistic - Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. Holistic does not mean ignoring your GP.

I too used to have major panic attacks mainly due to blood sugar and too much strong coffee and energy drinks (they are lethal!!).

While this may or may not be part of the OP's problem, there is no guarantee that it is all of the problem.

pinkpigs

Hi theredletter,

I'm 34 and never had a panic attack until last year. My first one was horrific and I'll never forget it. I'm going through some really bad stuff at the moment and at a very difficult stage in my life. Although they seems take over every single inch of my body I'm somewhat grateful for 'my warning signs' that go off just before I have one. Once I feel the pulsating pain in my chest, I excuse myself from the meetings, put down the basket in the shop or leave the gym to find somwhere safe that I lock the door and ride out the storms. I know why I am having them and I know I will continue to have them until I am in a better place but until then I just try and roll with them as I've given up fighting them.

My current moto is 'what doesn't kill, only makes you stronger' and I hope in time that I won't have to wonder where I'll be the next time a panic raises it's ugly head.

As regards to taking anti depressents, they have helped me but they haven't lessened the amount of panic attacks. Try and think positive thoughts and good luck fingers crossed it ws just a one off.

PP.

theredletter

Bit of an update here guys.

I'm going through a lot of stuff too and I know that's what's causing them, even though when I have them i'm not directly thinking about those areas of my life. They are a bit random and usually I bring themselves on.

My psychotherapist has given me great advice, the one being you need to get more balance in your life, cut out worries that you can cut out, and remember YOU ARE IN CONTROL. The body is reacting to something it doesn't need to be reacting to, and your mind can control it. Breathing in a brown paper bag is fine and dandy, but just keep reminding yourself I am the boss in this situation.

I think I'm emotionally in much a better place than I was, and I honestly think that although the net is great to get general info and great to hear from others' experiences on boards, I highly reccommend going to your GP and then ask for a referral to a good psychotherapist (make sure they are a psychotherapist, not generic counsellor).

I wish you all well and thanks so much for the advice,

red

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