Does anyone else feel like they are actually dying during a panic attack?

[xvolatileheart]

I have dealt with this everyday since my first panic attack 3.5 years ago. I experience sheer terror because I believe 100% that I am about to die. It's the worst part of panic attacks for me.

[GingerFish]

This is definitely the worst symptom for me. I am grateful I don't get it with every single panic attack but holy moly, when it hits you, it makes up for not being around during every other panic attack. Even after the panic attack goes away, its the one symptom I can't forget or shrug off. It scares me that much that I can't stop thinking about it and in a way, analyzing it and wondering this and that about it.

[SOBAY310]

Just had one 30 minutes ago after going about 8 months without one. I was driving and all of a sudden I got a hot flash, then the racing heart. I tried calming myself down, then the thought of the panic was going to follow me no matter what sunk in and the next thing you know I'm pulled over on the side of the road and had to pop a pill, but it worked. It's only the second anxiety pill I've ever taken, but I look at it as progress because last time this happened I pulled over called my wife saying I was having a heart attack and then called 911.

The next step will be to keep driving and let the heart race and run its course, but today was a bad one.

It is kind of disheartening because I was just telling my wife how I have been feeling great with no anxiety attacks, and then boom, it hits me. :(

[Ditapage]

all my attacks feel like death. Hell, even a single symptom feels like death. At this point a panic attack that didn't provoke a strong fear of dying would be a luxury.

That and the feeling that I am helpless and can't look after myself and can't even call someone to calm down is what makes my panic attacks pure hell. I went panicking into the ER for a simple ear infection. They hurt and create pressure and headache but my brain went aneurysm, and the panic was out of control.

I feel like if I wasn't convinced during every single attack that I was dying or needed immediate medical help, I wouldn't have "panic disorder"

[cjemc]

I have had many an emergency appointment at the doctors, and trip to a&e during a panic attack absolutely convinced I am about to die. Its horrific isn't it, but thankfully, it was just panic. I have diazepam on repeat prescription now, 2mg, and as soon as I feel a bad one coming on I take one immediately. I hate taking them, but I hate that feeling of impending death even more.

Hi Dazza. Why do you hate taken the diazepam?

[Illuminati]

Use the fact that you didnt die against it. I know, easier said than done but it is the fact of the matter. Time and time again we think were dieing only to live on. Use that knowledge that we survived.

Tell yourself "OK, im having a panic attack, i didnt die last time i wont die this time"

[GingerFish]

Knowing I didn't die during any other bad attacks should help me, but in the moment during an attack, it doesn't.

[Soulcatcher71]

Its strange that during a panic attack, the panic (or what you are panicking about) seems like the 'most real' thing in the world - but later when the panic has gone, you cant understand how you could of ever felt like that?

Its strange, almost like two different levels of consciousness ...

[GingerFish]

Its strange that during a panic attack, the panic (or what you are panicking about) seems like the 'most real' thing in the world - but later when the panic has gone, you cant understand how you could of ever felt like that?

Its strange, almost like two different levels of consciousness ...

Yeah that is exactly how I feel after a panic attack, especially after a major one. I always wonder what on Earth could have made my mind and body feel like that. I usually find though that thinking what could have caused it, makes my anxiety worse but its so hard not to try and work out why it happened.

[Soulcatcher71]

Yeah that is exactly how I feel after a panic attack, especially after a major one. I always wonder what on Earth could have made my mind and body feel like that. I usually find though that thinking what could have caused it, makes my anxiety worse but its so hard not to try and work out why it happened.

At the end of the day, 'thinking' probably is our downfall.
Are you a deep thinker?
I know i am, and that's probably not a help. But at the same time, I'm sure I wouldnt want to go through life with shallow fleeting whispy thoughts all the time ... i don't know.