Anxiety Attacks

[KTB2006]

during an anxiety attack, is it normal for your shortness of breath to be worse while sitting / lying down? I feel a lot of relief if i get up and walk around for a bit, but the second I sit down again the shortness of breath gets much worse. I'm wondering if this is common or is it another one of my "quirks" that I have tricked my mind into believing. Thanks for any input.

[suzi-q]

I am wishing you many "PHEWs" today!!!! (I would be happy with just one!!!!

[torozco]

Suzi-Q -

I cannot believe how freaky that is.  I was reading along and thought "Oh, that sounds like something I would do."  Then you got to the "Phew!" and I thought "nope, that's not me, I'd still be freaked out and looking for an escape and thinking the worst".  I am so glad to see the way you ended that cause at first I thought maybe I was worse off than even I imagined.  

[suzi-q]

My therapist once put it this way....Think of yourself walking down a dark alley and you hear someone behind you.  Your heart starts to race, your adrenaline rushes, your breathing gets heavy.  Then you look behind you and see it is just an old lady.  Instinct makes you go Phew!!!! and you begin to relax.  With an axiety attack, you never get a 'Phew' and you have no idea why it began in the first place.  WISH WE COULD CONTROL THEM!

[chcnme]

Interesting topic.  I never really thought about it until I read these notes.  I wonder if all that pacing has to do with "fight or flight" .  Now that I think about it, the few I remember having in the house, I got up immediately and began looking for the cell phone to make my way out of the house with cell phone in hand, as if to ... (don't really know).  Maybe I was going to call someone and then get in the car and drive somewhere safer??  I've had a few panic attacks driving before (I'm always alone when they happen when I'm driving) and pulled off the road.  I guess it's a matter of feeling like you have to get to a safer place.  Panic attacks are the pits.

[Aruba417]

When I got my first panic attacks, I seriously could not sit still. I had to get up and walk around the house and not stop. If I sat down I shook and trembled and felt worse. Ugh, I hated those days...Have you seen a doctor? Good luck!

[torozco]

If I experience shortness of breath with my panic/anxiety attacks, usually if I lay down it does seem to get worse for me personally.  Other times it does not, but each attack seems to be different for me, but I am still learning about the physical symptoms that occur with anxiety since I was just recently diagnosed with anxiety problems.

[suzi-q]

I have not experienced this, however, anything goes with anxiety.  I am one of those people who likes to cuddle up in a ball by myself when I feel this way...others like to run and move around.  I have heard it is like the fight or flight sydrome and it seems like you want flight when you are feeling this way!  Just an opinion!!!