Meggy
31-05-06, 06:16
I have avoided ever even admitting to someone I have panic attacks but I started experiencing them first in my early teens. I'm 57 now. I've gone thru several year periods I don't have any and then periods where I have wave after wave. I do have epilepsy. Many people who do have what is called an aura which is many kinds of very weird sensations or feelings you can have for a minute or two that is a forewarning you're about to seize. One of those auras is called preictal fear, which I've had 4x. It lasts about 3 minutes, then I, thankfully seize and get rid of it because it's so intense it obliterates me for hours.
But since I've never talked to anyone but extremely casually and in big generalities about panic attacks I'm wondering several things to see how I fit in to all this. One is, how long do panic attacks last for others? I've been diagnosed as have "free floating anxiety" too which comes and goes, often why I feel anxious I have no idea. But when I have a panic attack it hits me like something physically wrong with me. I get a gigantic adrenaline feeling burst, like fight or flight syndrome, my heart gallops and I really feel like I'm dying. It's so sudden and overwhelming I keep thinking this has to be something physically going wrong, like hormone shifts but I had that checked, no dice. Those horrid ones last for me about 15 minutes, give or take.
I also wondered if anyone has been awakened having a panic attack. In all the years I've had these I've never experienced until 2 years ago one when I was alseep. I was sound asleep and woke up having a horrid panic attack and that one lasted for maybe an hour. That felt like a real ambush to wake me up like that. I keep thinking how could I have had such panic when I was asleep! I didn't ask either doctor I see because these type of things I tend to get a pat on the back.
I guess my last question is, is this how panic attacks hit others? Like you've been suddenly hit by a wall for unknown reasons? I can be just reading and have one hit.
Meggy
But since I've never talked to anyone but extremely casually and in big generalities about panic attacks I'm wondering several things to see how I fit in to all this. One is, how long do panic attacks last for others? I've been diagnosed as have "free floating anxiety" too which comes and goes, often why I feel anxious I have no idea. But when I have a panic attack it hits me like something physically wrong with me. I get a gigantic adrenaline feeling burst, like fight or flight syndrome, my heart gallops and I really feel like I'm dying. It's so sudden and overwhelming I keep thinking this has to be something physically going wrong, like hormone shifts but I had that checked, no dice. Those horrid ones last for me about 15 minutes, give or take.
I also wondered if anyone has been awakened having a panic attack. In all the years I've had these I've never experienced until 2 years ago one when I was alseep. I was sound asleep and woke up having a horrid panic attack and that one lasted for maybe an hour. That felt like a real ambush to wake me up like that. I keep thinking how could I have had such panic when I was asleep! I didn't ask either doctor I see because these type of things I tend to get a pat on the back.
I guess my last question is, is this how panic attacks hit others? Like you've been suddenly hit by a wall for unknown reasons? I can be just reading and have one hit.
Meggy