Panic Attacks & Racing Thoughts Anyone?

[bherm324]

I would like to hear other's experiences with panic attacks and/or racing thoughts.

I'm diagnosed with GAD, OCD, Panic Disorder. I get attacks where all of a sudden out of no where my mind starts to race. It usually starts when I'm reading something or when I'm trying to think of something & can't remember what it was or when I feel overwhelmed when trying to explain something. The thoughts race so fast that half the time I can't understand them. Usually when I can, they're scary thoughts about what is happening to me or that the attack I'm having is going to kill me or that it will last forever. During this I can barely talk or read & if I do talk it's usually garbled speech or I don't pronounce things right. Sometimes my heart pounds so fast that I can feel it in my throat. Afterwards I'm shaky or my stomach gets upset. These attacks last less than a minute. I have had some last a little longer than that but never more than about 2-3 minutes tops. I suffer from OCD on a daily basis, mainly just repetitive & obsessive thoughts, which is why I think the panic attacks started for me.

Is anyone else's attacks similar? Do you have issues talking during an attack? Can you understand your racing thoughts? How long do your racing thoughts last? Are they just during an attack? Is it normal to have a panic attack in less than a minute? Is it normal to have only racing thought "attacks"?

Thank you to all who reply!

[Perses]

Yes, yes and yes. I think it's normal to experience every single one of the symptoms you describe. My full-blown panic attacks usually happen when I'm in a situation that suddenly becomes perilous (i.e. a perceived threat). I faint or nearly faint -- it's racing thoughts that lead to rapid heart rate. Usually, I'm somewhere outdoors. I ask for water or lemonade and sit down. I will also walk in figure eights and count backwards. And, once in a rare while, I faint.

More, normally, I'll experiencing racing or intrusive thoughts, which I try to halt by positive mantras or by distracting myself. I can understand my racing thoughts in so far as they aren't "Yippee!! I'm so excited! I just won the lottery!! My life is so great." [i.e. happy positive almost manic thoughts]. Rather my racing thoughts are frightening or uncontrollable and suffocating - squeezing my mind. I guess I see them more as intrusive thoughts. One part of my brain insists on drumming out all other thoughts, like some screaming harpie. Sometimes they are over quite quickly. It's important to recognize that they come, but that they also go. You have to exert control over your mind. Tell the screaming harpie to chillax, so to speak. If they last a while, then definitely my heart beats quickly, or if it doesn't beat quickly, it sure feels like it does, plus my stomach gets queasy.

It's always hard to speak when you are suffering from panic. Really, I find that what appears to you as garbled is really not so much to your listener.