Dont really know whats wrong with me, request help from you

[nycityinsomniac]

This past month i have been in a few situations where i felt like i was going to go crazy and it was for little things. One example is when i was in the barber shop the other day, the barber kept holding my left ear down when he was buzzing my hair. It took him a really long time to buzz the left side and the feeling of my ear being held down was driving me absolutly insane. I had to dig my nails into my chest and inflict pain on myself to keep from thinking about it. I almost had to tell him to stop so i can use the bathroom just to get over this loss of self control.

Prior to these couple of experiences I have had panic attacks in my past in the moive theater and right before falling asleep in bed. I have no idea if these two things relate with eachother. I do have some stress in my life but its nothing too bad. Im in the military and im worried i might get this feeling of going crazy and needing to escape something while im at work and this could really hurt my career. Im worried about this can someone please relate?

[niq]

I find that mindfulness is the best way to deal with panic attacks. Have a read of this article;
http://www.panicattacks.com.au/mindful/mind.html

Rather than trying to ignore or distract yourself from what you believe to be the source of the panic, you should try to examine it in a neutral way. If, for instance, you are having your hair cut and you feel some discomfort in your ear then you should examine the sensation. Ask yourself; how does it feel? Is it pain? Is it discomfort? Is the sensation in my ear or my head, or both? etc. Stay emotionally neutral. Just examine the sensations with curiousity. Distractions can be useful too, but they probably won't have any long term benefit. If the mindfulness doesn't work, then you can still revert to a distraction.

I still have the rare panic attack (particularly in shopping centres), but they have certainly reduced in intensity since I have adopted this approach. My panic attacks usually start with a sensation in the chest.