I spent a lot of time on the 'net earlier, trying to figure out what happened to me yesterday. It didn't seem to fit under "Anxiety Attack." The symptoms were right on the money for "Panic Attack," but the sources I consulted said these attacks are self-limiting to only about 15 minutes. Whatever I had lasted for hours.

It was hideous, and I hope it never happens again. I'm deliberately not describing symptoms; I already feel like a freak.

Learn to breathe. the deep belly breath helps stop the cascade.

I used to get attacks that left me completely disoriented. If I was in a store, I didn't know where the front door was, where my car was, or how to get home. I once had one that was so bad I decided to call a friend to come and get me. I couldn't remember her phone# or my own phone#.

I wandered around the parking lot until I found my car. I sat in my car for about 2 hours until the whole thing calmed down and I was able to get myself back home.

After that, I always stopped what I was doing if I felt that coming on. I would sit down or lay down if I could and focus on breathing and taking control of my thoughts. That helped considerably when I made myself aware of what was going on in my mind when this happened.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2016 08:00PM by madalice.

Haven't posted here in a while, but still read sometimes. This thread hits very close to home. One of my adult sons (a well-known artist in NY) reported similar attacks. He went to a doctor, who was pretty dismissive, calling his symptoms "panic attacks." At the same time, my son was experiencing fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and high levels of frustration and anger. I kept saying that I thought his so-called "panic attacks" were a type of seizure, and please see a different doctor. He didn't. Then one night he had a full-blown, grand mal seizure that landed him in ER, where they did tests and found a brain tumor. He was told just last Monday that his tumor is inoperable. For over a year it has caused all his various problems. We are paralyzed with fear and grief. If caught earlier, they might have been able to do surgery. So take some time, go to a neurosurgeon, or at least a neurologist, and get his checked out.

Oh Mike T. I am so sorry to hear this about your son.

That was good of you to share wise advice.

Sending good thoughts to you and your family.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2016 10:20AM by dagny.

I am so sorry for your son, Mike T.

So very sorry.

Mike, I'm so sorry.

Very sorry to hear about your son, MikeT. That is frightening and must make you feel helpless to some degree to be a comfort and help to your son.

If it's inoperable, is chemo a possibility? Are the doctors going to do something for your son?

{{{{hugs to you and yours}}}}

When I've felt overly anxious, I've been given some exercises to do by a family therapist that involve something as simple as deep breathing. Inhale slowly, counting to ten. Exhale slowly, counting to ten. Tightening and contracting muscles for short intervals also helps release anxiety and avert a panic attack. You can do this while sitting/driving etc.

I haven't really had what I consider an all out anxiety attack but once, and that was years ago. I didn't know what was happening at first. During it I called my mom, who recognized what it was, and just was there for me, so that helped.

Later, a physician said if it happened again to breathe into a paper bag and exhale a few times, as it restricts the amount of oxygen and helps keep you from hyper-ventilating. "When people get anxiety attacks they 'over-breathe'. This lowers the level of carbon dioxide in the blood and that makes them feel worse! Breathing into a paper bag for half a dozen or so breaths, builds up the carbon dioxide in your body again, so you should immediately start feeling better." (Netdoctor)

WebMD says to, "Do not use a plastic bag. Do not breathe continuously into a paper bag. Take 6 to 12 natural breaths ..."

Holding out hope for a treatment that will help your son. Know this community holds you close.

I'm very sorry to hear this, MikeT. Hoping for peace and a miracle for your son.

When I used to get full-on panic attacks, they were over within a few minutes. I just kept concentrating on what I was doing, refusing to let it get to me, and it would settle after a few minutes. I found that losing my fear of them gradually made them go away.

But I don't remember anything which lasted more than a few minutes.

Yeah... I got them a LOT when I was younger. Never realized I had an anxiety disorder until later in life. Just hope you don't have to live with them for too long.

Incidentally most of my anxiety stems from the Church so this isn't quite so O/T for me.

I occasionally get anxiety attacks. Fifteen minutes sounds about right. They mimic heart attacks -- chest pain, rapid and weak hearbeat, light headedness. I feel like I am going to pass out.

One of the things that might work (and it does work for me) is L-Theanine (which is a natural constituent of green tea).

If you go to Whole Foods, your local GNC store, Sprouts, your local health food store, etc., L-Theanine is available in 200 mg capsules.

When I need to take L-Theanine, and as soon as the internal spasms begin, I take two or three capsules with a minimum of a full "glass" of water (eight or nine generous swallows). You need the water to dissolve the L-Theanine and get it circulating in your system as rapidly as is possible.

Distilled water is best if possible because it is just pure water, while whatever comes out of your faucet may not be---and flavored, etc. waters sold in bottles may inadvertently not help at all. Around here, we buy distilled water in gallon jugs by the case, and I drink a usual minimum of one gallon of distilled water a day, which does help overall.

Also: if you are drinking or eating or otherwise "imbibing" anything that you know makes anxiety situations physically worse for you, stop doing whatever that is, at least until you're back to whatever is your normal physiological/emotional level.

Same goes if you're not getting what you know is enough sleep, or you need to exercise, or anything else you can identify which has some connection.

Good luck!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2016 01:17AM by Tevai.

That's interesting about l-theanine. I've been taking matcha green tea as a nutritional aid since my visit to Japan in 2014. I have some daily, usually mixed in with a fruit smoothie for a breakfast or anytime drink. I noticed health benefits immediately.

Matcha is concentrated green tea at its finest. A cup of matcha has app 20 mg of l-theanine in it, compared to 2-4 mg in a regular cup of green tea.

It's a staple of the Japanese diet.

http://blog.breakawaymatcha.com/matcha-productivity-and-l-theanine/

I thought I was depressed, but a psychiatrist diagnosed me with PTSD and anxiety. Not depression at all, so do not self-diagnose, and start taking antidepressants. Prozac made me almost hysterical.

It's true that most anxiety attacks are short-lived--even the attacks triggered by PTSD. First of all, change your surroundings, such as go outdoors, or into another room. My aunt would get into the shower--a total change of environment.

For me, the worst thing I can do is force myself to stay still, or lie down to try to calm down. I have to pace around, walk, play the piano, wash dishes. Activity helps to distract me, too.

Breathing into a paper bag helps--it really does! It has something to do with the carbon dioxide you exhale.

The best anxiety-busting technique I know is yoga breathing. Breathe in for 8 seconds, hold the breath for 4 seconds, breathe out slowly, taking 12 seconds. You can alternate nostrils, which gives more of a feeling of control.

I have had anxiety attacks last several hours, if I don't get out of the situation that's causing them. I was severely beaten by my temple ex-husband, so church situations are triggers to flashbacks, which cause a huge anxiety attack. The last flashback happened at a baptism, and I went into the bathroom and did yoga breathing, until I could get control of myself. I flew through a hurricane on an overseas flight--very bumpy and frightening--and my anxiety attack lasted for all the hours I was on that plane. That was before my doctor prescribed me a tranquilizer for flying.

Anxiety attacks are awful. The ones with physical symptoms are the worst, and seeing a doctor is the best thing you can to. I had to drive myself to the emergency center a few times, and each time, I recovered before I got there, so I cancelled out. One time, though, my anxiety was a physical reaction to a miscarriage. Take care of yourself! An anxiety attack is very real. You don't have to face them alone. Call someone.

Figure out what triggers your panic attacks, and then avoid those! After I divorced the wife-beater, I stopped going to the temple (my ex would beat me after every temple visit), and eventually stopped going to church, altogether. I'm happy, now. I try not to fly in bad weather. When I'm in tense social situations at Mormon funerals, weddings, parties, I change the scenery, and walk out into the yard to take deep breaths, into the bathroom to be alone in my panic, or into the kitchen to help out, and distract myself with cleaning up.

Once you identify exactly what makes you anxious, you can start to handle your panic attacks better. I prefer avoidance, but the posters are right, who tell you that the more times you confront and conquer a fear, the faster it will go away. It took a long time for me to be able to be alone with a man, then be alone with a man in a car, then on a date. I had to be ready. Eventually, I got married again, flew to Hawaii for our honeymoon, gave birth to children, raised them with only a few recurring nightmares now and then, and the normal panic that goes along with being a parent.

You can do this. Of course, your recovery will be faster with therapy. I sympathize. Sometimes an attack can make you believe you are actually going to die. It's not fun.

I do have another really great piece of advice, on how you can prevent a lot of anxiety attacks--but very few people listen or take this advice--DO NOT DRINK CAFFEINE--ever.

Please get a very thorough physical.

My mom had what she called "spells." Her dr would give her a pat on the head and tell her to go for more "nice walks." She believed she had agoraphobia. Later is was discovered she had been having small heart attacks. She had open-heart surgery and died in the hospital.

Please get thoroughly checked out.

Agreed...you will want to rule out TIA's, AMI's, possible petit mal seizure activity, and other bio possibilities before you assume psychobehavioral etiology.

If you think it was mental/emotional incident, was there a precipitating event? I am asking rhetorically. Have you experienced a trauma recently? When I caught my former TBM ex-wife in bed with a college class mate, I had been with her for 20 years (x4 kids). It was such a shock to my psyche. For the first month I would wake up in the middle of the night suddenly in a cold sweat, panicky, scared, and disoriented. When driving pass a particular rendezvous point that they frequented, I would suddenly get a shock wave of panic. My symptoms were so foreign to me. Never had anything like that before. After about 3-4 months, they went away and I was never bothered anymore by anything like that - ever again for any situation. I did not have to go on any medication, nor seek therapy. However, I was so concerned and scared. It took my mind awhile to heal. It was a healing process - now that I look back.

We are not doctors here, so it is strongly encouraged to see one. Mike T's is a sad situation and I hope for some good outcome. Here is another example:

My wife worked with a teacher who started displaying abnormal behavior. She would slur her speech. DW thought maybe this teacher was now a heavy drinker. The teacher had dizzy spells at school. I believe most doctors would have attributed this to stress and prescribed some anti-anxiety meds as the teacher was a single mom and had issues at home as well with her older children. It turns out she had a benign brain tumor that was later successfully removed. So be sure to get a medical checkup and do not take a quick brush off of it being just stress.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2016 09:46AM by Eric K.

Mine were brought on by them telling me that I was developing uterine cancer. I'd never had panic attacks before that.

I agree with everyone else that it's time for a doctor visit. It's possible that you just panicked about the panic attack and prolonged it, but even at my worse, they never lasted that long.

I have them. They come from nowhere most of the time. I believe they are based on some kind of fear. The most effective thing for me is to do something vigorously physical like running. That makes it go away quickest. Do something that makes you sweat.

You're right, incognitotoday. That's because you're burning off the excess adrenaline in your body which is causing you the symptoms.

The panic is just the physiological response of a flood of adrenaline hitting your body. It's that fight-or-flight response.

If you burn off the excess adrenaline, you feel better. But it's still best to be medically checked to make sure that it's not something for which you should not be trying to do any intense exercise. Just going out for a walk would help.

Almost every year, I have a panic attack on the first day of a semester. Why does that trigger it, I don't know, but it's only been the last two semester they went away. Instead I accidentally poked someone in the face with my finger. :(

After you see a doctor to bad any medical issues, there are some calming mind tricks you can use. One is the breath slowly and deliberately while you do this:

Find 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste.

Another is to find one of those visuals you can use to coincide with deliberate, paced breathing, like the geometric screen savers from the 90s. It sounds weird, but it works.

The last attack I had was last fall when I had a cervical cancer scare and the NP at the PP was very kind and understanding about it, let me fill out my info in a waiting room.

ETA: I'm so sorry for your son, MikeT. I hope the docs can find some way to help him.

Exercise helps, too, when I'm feeling particularly anxious or on edge, as does cleaning something.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2016 07:33PM by Itzpapalotl.

Thankfully not...just the odd very deep dark hole I fall into due to depression.

RB

I second everyones advice here. Get thoroughly checked out. Hope you find it's nothing!

30 years ago, at 35, I developed Anxiety Attacks, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Major Depression. Suffered with it for 3 years until my wife demanded I get professional help. Part of my problem was working for years under tremendous stress as Parole & Probation Officer while dealing with a caseload large enough for 3 officers. The other part probably hereditary as some of my ancestors who had depression problems. Finally saw a psychiatrist and got therapy plus medication. I am no longer seeing a doctor, but I am on medication, probably for the rest of my life. Life is much better!

In your case, you should not be concerned unless it becomes a recurring problem. Examine what is happening in your life now and is there anything which could have brought it on? If you do keep having problems, please seek professional help without delay. I endured 3 years of basically hell because I did not.