nickstl
12-04-2013, 10:37 AM
Hi everyone,
I just found this forum today and it is overwhelmingly nice to see that I am not "alone" so to speak. I had what I guess would be considered anxiety/panic, beginning about 10 years ago. I am now 35 years old. I have them fairly infrequently, maybe once every 3 to 6 months, but once I have one they seem to come in bundles for awhile, then suddenly stop again. I could be wrong, but they also seem to have a better chance of occurring if I've over consumed alcohol the day before. I'd just like to sort of explain how I feel when I am having one of these episodes and maybe some of you can comment if this is typical and whether it would be considered an anxiety or panic attack.
Normally when these attacks happen, I suddenly feel like I've just realized I am in a dream. Sometimes I feel like I have already died and am just dreaming all the surroundings and people in my life. My mind races as I sit there contemplating that everything I've thought was real my entire life is just a dream and I'm going to either wake up and it's all gone, or I'm dead and this "reality" is just the last bit of imagination left in my brain before I fully die. This causes this terrible panic as I realize nothing is real and everything and everyone that are important to me in life are just figments of my imagination. I get hot flashes, adrenaline, shaky hands and my voice gets weak. If I am around others when this happens, I feel like I have to put every ounce of energy into pretending like nothing is wrong and trying to keep myself from going completely off the deep end so nobody notices. I can carry on a basic conversation with someone but inside I feel like I am seperate from my brain/body which is having the conversation. Usually within 5 minutes or so the powerful fear goes away and I start coming back to reality. Within 30 minutes of all this occurring I am completely back to "normal" and feel fine the rest of the day. I have found that after having a number of these attacks, I can internally realize what is going on and wage an inner battle with my own mind to try to calm myself down. Deep breathing, etc. I keep telling myself in my head "You are not going crazy, you've had these before. Relax and it will fade." Eventually that works.
I have never seen a doctor about this and never taken any medication for it. It happens so infrequently that I am leery of being put on a med that I have to take daily that would have side effects that might be worse than experiencing these attack episodes every few months. My mother has also had anxiety/panic attack issues her entire life. She takes Xanax as needed but she says she only has issues maybe once a month or so.
I should also mention I never had any panic attacks at all until when I was about 21 I tried some marijuana with friends and had an awful panic attack. I never tried it again and do not do any drugs (other than occasional social drinking) yet still have these episodes seemingly randomly. They also seem to be more frequent when I am in situations that are not "routine". Like being out of town at someone else's house for a few days, etc.
Thanks for listening and any advice or feedback!
I just found this forum today and it is overwhelmingly nice to see that I am not "alone" so to speak. I had what I guess would be considered anxiety/panic, beginning about 10 years ago. I am now 35 years old. I have them fairly infrequently, maybe once every 3 to 6 months, but once I have one they seem to come in bundles for awhile, then suddenly stop again. I could be wrong, but they also seem to have a better chance of occurring if I've over consumed alcohol the day before. I'd just like to sort of explain how I feel when I am having one of these episodes and maybe some of you can comment if this is typical and whether it would be considered an anxiety or panic attack.
Normally when these attacks happen, I suddenly feel like I've just realized I am in a dream. Sometimes I feel like I have already died and am just dreaming all the surroundings and people in my life. My mind races as I sit there contemplating that everything I've thought was real my entire life is just a dream and I'm going to either wake up and it's all gone, or I'm dead and this "reality" is just the last bit of imagination left in my brain before I fully die. This causes this terrible panic as I realize nothing is real and everything and everyone that are important to me in life are just figments of my imagination. I get hot flashes, adrenaline, shaky hands and my voice gets weak. If I am around others when this happens, I feel like I have to put every ounce of energy into pretending like nothing is wrong and trying to keep myself from going completely off the deep end so nobody notices. I can carry on a basic conversation with someone but inside I feel like I am seperate from my brain/body which is having the conversation. Usually within 5 minutes or so the powerful fear goes away and I start coming back to reality. Within 30 minutes of all this occurring I am completely back to "normal" and feel fine the rest of the day. I have found that after having a number of these attacks, I can internally realize what is going on and wage an inner battle with my own mind to try to calm myself down. Deep breathing, etc. I keep telling myself in my head "You are not going crazy, you've had these before. Relax and it will fade." Eventually that works.
I have never seen a doctor about this and never taken any medication for it. It happens so infrequently that I am leery of being put on a med that I have to take daily that would have side effects that might be worse than experiencing these attack episodes every few months. My mother has also had anxiety/panic attack issues her entire life. She takes Xanax as needed but she says she only has issues maybe once a month or so.
I should also mention I never had any panic attacks at all until when I was about 21 I tried some marijuana with friends and had an awful panic attack. I never tried it again and do not do any drugs (other than occasional social drinking) yet still have these episodes seemingly randomly. They also seem to be more frequent when I am in situations that are not "routine". Like being out of town at someone else's house for a few days, etc.
Thanks for listening and any advice or feedback!