Can anyone help? anxiety and freaked out about people

[JerJer]

This is my first post here. I'm a 36 year old man. I've had panic attacks every so often throughout my adult life. Maybe a few a year. But the past 3-4 weeks they are happening much more. A lot of the day I have this jittery nervousness and am scared to leave my home. I am freaked out about seeing people and talking to people. I feel engulfed in fear.

I start looking up symptoms online and one site leads to another and then another and then it makes me more nervous.

The feeling I have, is like an adrenaline panic attack rush can happen at any time. I have to control the trigger. I feel ultra sensitive.

The other day I only had 5 hours sleep. I left my home and as I'm walking outside I had a full blown massive panic attack. I completely freaked out. I felt I was going to collapse any second and I couldn't get enough air, even though I could breathe deep. I got so scared I ended up at the ER. I thought I was going to just die any second and they would have to pick me up from the ER lobby floor.

As soon as I sat down next to the doctor though, I started to calm down a bit. He took my blood pressure and gave me an EKG. Everything was normal.

The whole episode was about 2 hours. A panic attack for 2 friggin hours! It kept coming in waves. It was like for 2 hours I felt nervous and anxious, but it would get full on panic, then calm a little, then back to crazy, then calm. It was like I had lost control of heart beat and adrenal glands.

I keep thinking the doctors missed something, or what if this or what if that? I keep longing to go to a hospital but I don't know why.

I want to go to yoga class or the gym, but then I'm scared to go to the gym. All the people and equipment and then exercising makes my heart beat faster so I am scared of a heart attack.

Sorry if this post comes across as rambling. I hope some of you can give me some good advise.

Thanks a lot for reading!

[Zuena]

Hi there,

I am sorry that you are going through this.

About wanting to going to hospital.. is it not because you think you will feel safe there? That if something serious did happen you would be in good hands right away? I have found that when my panic attacks are at their worst, if I walk down to the clinic at work and sit down for a bit I feel calmer.

About gym.. maybe you should not try and walk in there and work out for an hour yet, but instead go and visit? Sit in the canteen area and have a drink and then leave. Next time go and just walk through the gym and leave again. Take one section at a time. Break it up in bits and set a goal.. say, in 2 weeks time I want to be comfortable enough here that I can work out without having a panic attack for say 15 minutes, and you take it up a notch from there.

And lastly.. STOP GOOGLING!! There is some good info out there, but I would not advise that you sit on page after page and read up all the symptoms and what has happened to others. I have pretty much beaten this anxiety but I still stay away from google, I don't even read all the posts on here if the headings look suspect, or like something that would set me off. Case in point - I was waiting for the bus on Friday and the traffic in town was HECTIC, so my bus was about half an hour late. I got chatting to a guy who was standing next to me and he asked me where I wanted to go, then advised that I should take another bus which would take me to the same centre. A month ago, I would have freaked out at the thought but I am ok now so decided to do it. I felt a little nervous about it and suddenly I started coughing badly.. just an irritating cough really, it just wouldn't stop so this guy asked me if I suffer from anxiety. When I said yes, he said that he does too and always starts coughing like that when he starts feeling anxious. My point is, the entire weekend I kept thinking about it. I started wondering what other symptoms I have that I am not even aware of. See? You can work youself up into an absolute frenzy just thinking about where this pain or that ache is coming from. So quit the googling, Mr. Especially when you are in this state.

I hope you feel better soon.

Z

[andypaul99]

Sorry to hear you are going through these prolonged panic attacks

I had a panic attack for several hours too and did the A+E thing so i know how you feel, i find that if i find a quiet corner with my i-pod with some relaxing music it goes away pretty quickly, have you tried that?

The worse thing you can do is look up symptoms online, some info is useful but a great deal is waffle that only relates to the induviduals concered and will do nothing but scare you more and give you even more worrying things to think about, believe me ive been there and since i stopped looking everything up ive been far better.

One of the things that changed me is when my therapist assured me there had NEVER been a recorded case of somebody EVER dying from a panic attack. It just doesnt happen and what you are feeling is simply a release of adrenalin into the bloodstream thats all as scary as it may seem at the time.

What do you think is the trigger of your panic attacks? being around people may aggrevate the situation but its rarely the cause??

[JerJer]

I don't really know what's starting this, but I feel anxious all day. I am not sure how all of a sudden it goes away and I feel normal, then it comes back. I feel really alone and scared. Anything I read that mentions any disorder or disease causes me to get more nervous. I know I sound like I'm a total wimp. I don't want to be like this.

[ThePhoenix]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about the panic attacks! Step number one, dont Google anything, ever! It does no good for anyone ever and will only make you feel worse!

Remember when you feel a panic attack coming on that its nothing more than panic, remind yourself you have had it before and it never harms you. It will pass in time, even quicker if you dont give in to it!

I have had the horribly anxious jittery feeling stay around for ages, its not nice! I too find that when I am like that any mention of disease and sickness can trigger me feeling anxious, just try take some deep breaths and dont dwell on it!

[JerJer]

You're right. Google is screwing me up.

This feeling I have lately is a frozen in fear kind of feelling. Like I can't move until the nervousness goes away. I am able to move, but I really don't want to. Anyone feel this before?