anxiety attacks triggered by smells or sounds?

[gildaradners]

I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and never thought of myself as someone affected by anxiety attacks however  I had an experience recently that made me wonder if  perhaps I was wrong.

I was asked a few days ago if I would follow my father while he drove a few hours away to pick up some farm equipment. I was driving his car which I have driven many times and never had a problem. But this particular time there was a squeaking in the backseat that started irritating me earlier in the afternoon before we left. I tried to find the source of the noise and fix it before we set out but to no avail so off we went. On the way there the noise bothered me somewhat in the beginning but eventually faded out to where I didn't even notice it for the rest of the one way. On the way home however it suddenly began to bother me to the point where it was all I could hear and focus on. I had to pull over twice within a few miles of the return trip to try and stop the sound but again had no luck. After the second time pulling over it began to get to me so badly that I got a tightness in my chest, it became extremely hard to breath, I felt dizzy and my palms were sweaty. I felt I was going to pass out and it was so severe I nearly drove the car off the shoulder before being able to roll down my window for fresh air, turn up the radio to drown out the sound and try some timed breathing techniques to get control of myself.

When I was finally able to calm down I had to keep the radio loud enough the rest of the trip to keep the sound muffled and the window down so I could breath easily. After the incident I was discussing the situation with my mother who had been a passenger and witness to the attack and we both remembered times in the past when I had similar reactions (tightness in my chest, difficulty breathing, dizziness, sweaty palms) to smells in the car. Once was in reaction to the smell of spilled motor oil in the car which bothered me for weeks until it was mostly aired out and the other was to the smell of the air when the air conditioner is turned off (which as I recall has bothered me many times in the past even though nobody else seems to notice the smell it immediately makes me feel as though I am suffocating and I need to roll the window down).

We also remembered a weekend a few months ago when I had come to visit them for a few days and their dogs had gotten into skunks. The whole house was filled with the strong stench and while they tried to clean the dogs and air the house out I sat in the stairwell crying violently into a towel as I struggled to breathe and not pass out from the anxiety of the smell/situation which again made me light-headed and faint, feel like I was crawling out of my skin, made my palms sweaty and my heart pound, and my chest tight enough that even if I wanted to take a breath of the foul air I'd barely be able.

All of these incidents never seemed to have a common thread to me until the other day in the car. I began to be able to string together several times when noises or smells gave me an anxious reaction like I described. I am curious if there is a term for this, or if it is common? Are there any techniques for helping this? Or is it all just a strange coincidence?

[BluCrystal]

You are not losing your mind, lol.  I have GAD, too.  And I may have reacted the same as you did in that situation with the car.  Panic can be triggered by literally anything when you have GAD.  A few things I know will trigger me everytime: spiders, high winds during s thunderstorm (I live in tornado alley), a friend or relative going to the hospital, being yelled at or made to feel bad, crowds, being somewhere strange without someone I know with me, and being in a sports stadium!  I avoid these things at all costs, as I HATE it when that rush of fear pours over my head.  I have actually tailored my entire life to be as stress-free as possible.  I know how to calm myself down, mostly.  I live in the country, alone, with four cats.  Family and my few friends are close enough to call and invite over or ask to visit.  I keep my house silent for the most part, as loud noises startle me, and I have to sleep with white noise (a fan) for air circulation AND the noise: this eliminates any small-but-nerve-wracking noises my cats might make.  AND I hear things that are not there sometimes, too - that drives me nuts.  I'll hear a thud, or a squeak, or some other such noise (never voices, thank God), and wait to see if I hear it again before going to see what it is.  So, no, you are totally 'normal' for having GAD.  And kudos for knowing how to calm your breathing!  Found a great link here:
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad.htm

[caregiver222]

Anxiety triggered by sound, music or smells is a classical Pavlovian conditioning scenario. Do a google search on Pavlovian conditioning and B.F. Skinner. There are easy techniques to disconnect the anxiety from the stimuli. Or see a behavioral therapist who knows about conditioning.