Is this serious?

[Sam BatCountry Edgar]

Hi, I'm a new member.

During my earlier teen years - I suffered from extremely horrific migraines. I would suffer from something like depersonalisation (My arms would seem further out than they really are) and I would panic, run to my room, and let the migraine take it's course. Eventually my migraines stopped as I got older but the worrying thought of a brain tumor or possible stroke would panic me. Alas, nothing ever came of those fears.

Until a few months back. I recently lost my grandmother to cancer and I cared for her greatly. After her passing I began to suffer small panic attacks. These would just be small periods of my chest tightening and me lightly feeling 'out of place.' - As time moved on, the panic attacks got worse. I felt a tingling pressure in my head and completely panicked. An ambulance was called out where they checked my heart rate and oxygen levels, and told me that I was suffering from Anxiety and that I had suffered a scary attack.

I've had another one which terrified me - I felt the tightness in my head and like the buildup of my migraines. (My arms didn't feel like mine, heavy breathing, the immense feeling of dread, terror. (I was living in a bad place the last month.) I left but have felt since that terrifying anxiety attack like everything is a dream. I am terrified of having a stroke or heart attack and this disassociation is killing me. I'm terrified I have something serious.

[dazza]

>I'm terrified I have something serious.

You and EVERY OTHER anxiety disorder sufferer.

You absolutely have text-book anxiety where a previous trauma causes overwhelming fear of that trauma happening again.
The fear builds up, and up, and up until eventually it becomes a virtual monster in your head. This monster is SO scary that
your brain sees it as a REAL danger and triggers a reaction known as "fight or flight".

Fight or flight is a primative reaction which ALL animals exhibit when confronted with real or perceived danger.
It is our fundamental way of protecting ourselves. Our survival instinct.

In the case of anxiety - fight or flight is triggered for what seems innapropriately because there's no REAL, tangible danger, but instead
it is triggered by the virtual monster your fears have created within your brain... so it feels kinda weird.

Chest tightness, head-aches, racing heart, vision problems, depersonalisation, etc. are all transient symptoms of fight or flight.

They won't harm you - rest assured of that.

[ElizaV]

This is typical anxiety. I can relate totally to how you feel during those attacks. The main thing you need to remember is that you DON'T have anything serious, you're not going to have a heart attack and you're not going to die. This is your body's response to panic - the 'fight or flight' response. That's what makes you feel the feelings of dread, the heavy breathing etc. The most important (and unfortunately most difficult) thing to do during an anxiety attack is to remember that nothing is going to happen to you.