Trying to understand anxiety

[TheMommy2]

It has been 12 yrs since this first episode..but here is how it went.

I was simply sitting on the couch, not thinking about anything really, when my heart started to pound...I layed down on the floor, where I could feel my heart better, then, I got dizzy, and face went numb and tingly...I thought it might be blood sugar, so I ate some peanut butter, but, just got worse.  I wound up at the E.R.  Face was white, I actually went blind and felt sharp stabbing ice pains shooting up my neck.  The dr. gave an IV shot of Xanax..and I spent the rest of the day in a stupor.

I have lighter attacks that I can control.  But, recently things are worse...I seem fine, happy, having a good time, then all of a sudden a numby tingle goes up the side of my face, and down my arm, my head feels like I am in a time warp tunnel, I can even feel my heart slow way down, like it is struggling to beat, THEN, the fear sets in...thats when things get real interesting LOL.
I even get woke up from a dead sleep by what I believe is the adrenaline bursting.

what I am wondering from you....

Do any of you have the panic attack start from seemingly out of no where and THEN the fear sets in and makes it worse?  Can you feel the adrenaline surge? Or do any of you have symptoms like mine>?


I currently take no meds.....5 ativan if I get into bad trouble.

[daughterofsarah77]

Yes for me, when it started it was all of a sudden for NO reason...I was at work, not stressed, no big issues in my life...and it just hit. I began to feel as if I could not breathe, felt like I was in a fog, and my heart rate and BP shot up and I got chest pain.
After that, I kind of went along ok, but it was on and off that I would have those symptoms.  Then the fear of fear pattern set in and it all went out of control...and here I am 2 years later afraid to be alone or leave my house!
i can relate though to what you say....when we cannot find an external stressor to explain our symptoms, we focus internally thinking that there must be a medical cause to our issue.

[TheMommy2]

What you are saying makes perfect sense..for so long I have honestly thought the doctors were wrong.....it helps to know I am not alone.

thank you so much

[MrGreen]

That's what we call derealization. Can make things seem a bit further away. Or as if you are on the verge of fainting. But you don't actually faint. Things seem distant. Sounds become louder. Lights become brighter. It's part and parcel or anxiety. And it can come and go. Haven't had a bout of it in years. Used to all the time. It more or less just faded away with me. But it can be frightening. That much is for sure. Until you snap back out of it again. Can't actually give you any miracle answers about how to get rid of it. I do think it will just fade out once you don't think about so much. You seemed to have latched onto that one thing. So when you get an attack that one thing you fear the most will kick in strongest. We all have that one thing. They can differ from person to person.  Just keep us posted if I am even nearly hitting the nail on the head.

[TheMommy2]

Its just that sometimes, they hit so sudden and hard.....

two months ago, I went to church....turned to tell my soon to be daughter in law, that it was a favorite song of mine....smiled....turned back around....and I am going through a time warp thing...everything shuts down or goes super slow motion even the noises I hear...this all happens in about 2-3 seconds, then the tingling and numbness, vibrations start...its full blown before I can even catch  my breath to say, its just anxiety...

[ativan]

Hi when you get the feelings/ the tingles as you call them, there very common symptoms of anxiety, try and say to yourself, oh well hear they come again, just let them ride over you and they will pass, I know its easy for me to say that as I worry about the queer feelings I get, but if you try and ride them out you will find that nothing bad is going to happen to you and you hopefully will find they will decrease.
take care
janis

[MrGreen]

That's the way anxiety / panic attacks work. You get the first one and you expect it to happen again. It's like we sit and wait for it to happen again. Instead of getting on with our lives as per normal. Any change to our system, like your twinges, makes the mind begin to race and think ' here I go '. Thus you bring on the attack yourself.

Common forms of sudden attacks might be a person in a quiet place. Suddenly the place becomes nosey. The change will trigger the attack. Or the other way around. From a loud place to sudden silence. It's like it startles us. Sets the mind off, which in turn sets the body off. Fight or flight. Mostly we flee. Making the anxiety even worse.

There are triggers for attacks. You might associate something with your first attack. The next time you are in the same situation it might bring back memories of your first attack and you will begin to panic. Why? Because you still had it on your mind. All it needed was the trigger to get it going.

It can be treated though. Both medication and theraphy. Or maybe just one. Best to find the root cause and try and deal with it that way. But that is up to the individual.

[TheMommy2]

ok not getting any answers is freaking me out!