What was your first panic attack like?

[ariannavassi]

I'm new here and have been struggling with panic attacks for one year now. I remember my first one so vividly that everytime I have anything related to anxiety feelings or panic attacks, they intensify because I automatically revert to thinking about my first panic attack. I don't know how to stop it, it's just such a vivid and emotional memory I have. If that makes sense...:blush:

Here comes the long background story guys! :ohmy:

At the time, I was in Greece on an island where my friends and I literally went out every night to drink and club and would come back around 5am-8am. Anyway this continued on for around 2 weeks and so I wasn't getting any real sleep as I have severe insomnia and with the alcohol in my blood, I slept a mere 2-4 broken u p hours for every day. Safe to say as a 15 year old, this was taking a real toll on my body.
At the time, I had just broken up with my boyfriend of 1.5 years as he moved away so I was already in an emotional state and it was affecting me greatly. School had been shit, my horse had injured himself and I was doing stupid things because I didn't know how to handle the single life. I have had anxiety since I was around 12 years old and on top of that I have severe derealization since then which has NEVER lifted off (I am 16).

So on to the actual story. With all this shit happening in my life, I was sitting in the living room feeling out of it because of the lack of sleep listening to pretty sad music which reverted my thinking to all that had been going in my life at the time. I decided to go take a shower and as I turned on the knob of the shower, my knees felt weak and my eye sight began to go dotty/black and felt like my eye vision was closing in. My heart was beating SO SO INCREDIBLE FAST, my throat closed up, I was breathing so fast and shallow, I had tingles all around my body, I had never felt that hot before. I ran out naked outside and my legs gave in because they were so weak. I just laid down on the ground for 5 minutes and my friend came to help me. I would say petrified was the word for that night. I went out but did not drink and came home earlier. Ever since that my anxiety has shot through the roof and panic attacks have been a frequent thing. When I came back from Greece, I got tested for every test under the sun and even got an MRI on my brain. Of course, it was all ok.

When I came back to school, although my anxiety was still clouding over me, I wasn't experiencing panic attacks. Fast forward about a month into school, they started up again and I missed so much school. Eventually somehow they lifted again.
Now, I have a lot of things going on in my life. Things aren't great at home, I'm putting down my horse who is only 8 years old, school work load is crazy because I'm doing the IB, I'm lonely and I've lost so much this year (my boyfriend, my best friend and my horse later this month). I've been panicking everyday this week and it hasn't gone away for 3 weeks. I'm just scared because I was happy but then all of a sudden they came back and now they're so frequent, I feel like they're hindering me living my life. And derealisation doesn't help either every.dam.day. I don't even feel like I'm living anymore and I'm only 16.

Sorry that was so long, thank you for taking the time to read it. The the point I was getting to was: What was your first panic attack like? :unsure:

[rachybabe]

Terrifying, I was working as a care assistant, looking after people in there own homes. I was at at clients house, sorted him out, when just a rush of panic over took me, it was horrible. I had lost my dad a few years previous, I didnt take time off to grieve, just carried on. My mum picked me up, I couldnt drive, then it just escalated from that day on. It was that bad, doctor put me on diazapam, chlorapromazine, venlafaxine, and zopliclone, to sedate me, to rest, I had a bit of a breakdown.

[hanshan]

My first panic attack was when I was 15 or 16.

My parents had been split up for some years. I was living with my mother, but I spent some time in my father's office, where he was struggling to make a go of things.

My father came down with appendicitis. On a Sunday afternoon, I walked about a mile and a half to the hospital, sat and talked to him, and then walked home. Somewhere on the way home, it all went pear-shaped. I couldn't walk straight. I felt like the ground had opened up underneath me and I'd fallen into some dark, frightening pit.

The good news is that that was 45 years ago, and I'm still here, stronger than ever. Anxiety is a bummer, but you can get over it.

[GingerFish]

I was 20 and sitting in my biology class at college and just doing my work and was feeling totally fine, not stressed and then boom! The room started spinning, I was all clammy, my heart was pounding and I had to run to the toilet. I felt fine when I got out the room. It lasted a few mins and when I went back into the class I felt drained and on edge. I hoped it was just a one off but it over time developed into a full on panic disorder.

[jared]

I've had a few instances before when I didn't know whether they were panic episodes or not. I do remember the first time I thought I was having a heart attack was about this time last year. It came out of nowhere at work and I felt my chest get heavy and I had labored breathing. Soon I got that "realization" where I really could be dying and then it took off. We called the ER, they asked for a pulse which was of course in the 100s; and although they were concerned they said to let it run its course but if it got worse to come in. Called my dad and he made it worse telling me I could be in fact having one. I had to lay in the back seat while my wife drove me home, 10 miles out of town knowing full well we were getting farther and farther away from immediate help; i had to breathe in deeply and out slowly and in between air I panicked each time. I took about 3 Xanax and finally settled down to an "on edge" state of mind. I didn't sleep well that night and I was freaked out about my heart for a month solid. Yeah, it was terrible.

[izzy46]

I was completely different! Lots of stress going on yes and I had been aware that I was completely over reacting to things..shouting at kids etc for not much reason. Anyway..it was Xmas and I was sipping a nice glass of wine and watching Gavin and Stacey on telly. Suddenly I felt this feeling coming over me like all the energy was being zapped from my body! I wasn't aware of any excess breathing and my heart felt fine but I felt myself fading away and thought I was going to die!!!, I called the out of hours doctors and they told me to see GP in the morning if no better. I paced the floor all night crying and felt like i had to concentrate to breath!!!! saw doc next day..cried eyes out and was put onto Valium. I spent 3 weeks on this and just paced round the house all the time! Eventually put on Escitalopram 20mgs. Totally floored me...I slept for days!!!!!! this was 21/2 years ago now and have had CBT. Trying to come off now but feeling awful!!! I feel like I did at the start!!! I honestly didn't think I had panic attacks..it was just like an incredible heat coming over me but I was aware I couldn't breathe properly. I HATE this illness soooo much!!!!!! :0((((( xx

[Sabre120]

My panic attacks are rare, I've had maybe 6-7 in my life, they usually hit after 2-3 nights of constant drinking and lack of sleep (I've cut my drinking down significantly now, but as a student there is the odd night that I get a bit too smashed :P) etc. But when they hit me, bloody hell they hit me like a freight train. My first one I was walking down to university and I started feeling anxious, my chest tightened right up my heart was pounding and I felt faint, I was absolutely terrified and went to my lecture but had to leave after 10 minutes. I went to the university surgery and said I thought I was having a heart attack, the women on reception just asked me to sit down so there I was in a panic loop for 3 hours in the waiting room, everyone looking at me like I was insane, when I finally saw the doctor he suggested it was a panic attack.

My second one was a panic loop which lasted for roughly 12 hours, I tried to calm down and sleep, but as soon as my breathing slowed my heart would do a little flutter and I'd be panicking again. Thankfully I haven't had one for a while, although whilst hungover today, my heart gave me a little flutter which freaked me out and kept me anxious for most of the day, but not enough to launch me into a full blown attack.

[StrayWookie]

Night before my wedding. Picking up my jacket from the Mall. Had absolutely no idea what the hell was happening. Ended up in the ER and they just told me to calm down.

[HKSharon]

I was quite happily watching tv at home alone when I had this doom feeling. It went black for a while then panic set in. My heart was pounding, my throat closing in. It got so bad i was paralized with fear and my fingers went all stiff.....

[Scratcher]

I had my first panic attack at the age of 40, two years ago. It happened in the middle of the night. I hadn't been sleeping properly for a long time, just grabbing a couple of hours in the afternoon and a couple more at night.

One evening I dropped off really early - about 8ish. Wrote up at 2 in the morning. Had a drink of water and then came over all funny. Heart was going like a sledgehammer, pins and needles in hands, one side of my face and feet. My tongue was lolling around in the mouth and I couldn't even speak properly. Told my wife that I thought I was either having a stroke or a heart attack. Went to A&E. They told me my heart rate was a little slow and referred me to cardiology. After the usual set of tests, cardiology told me nothing wrong with heart but I just couldn't accept the diagnosis. And that, I suppose, was the real start of my journey down the panic attack/health anxiety road :(

[LyingScotsman]

My first panic attack struck me in one of the worst places to be. I was in Homebase with my dad looking for paint to paint our windows with. While I was browsing through I noticed that I was struggling to breath right, I was starting to get very hot, and my brian felt like someone was squeezing it tight. Whil those feelings hit me, my dad was walking to the till with the paint, I was thinking to myself that it should go away as soon as I get out of the shop, but disaster hit when my dad ran into one of his old school friends just before he got to the till. I remember feeling burning anger when he was busy talking to his friend. I decided I had to get out, so I asked him to give me his car keys, he asled me what was I wanting then for, until I shouted 'Just give me the DAMN keys!" at the top of my voice. He gave me the keys, and then I ran right out of the shop and straight into his car. Once I got into the car, the feelings were still there, and I tried playing a game on my mobile to take my mind of it, but nothing worked. I thought I was going to faint, and I was ready for it to happen to get me out of this horrific ordeal. 10 minutes later while I was still in full panic, my dad showed up and asked me what was wrong. I begged him to drive me home, so he then got me bacl home. When I was in the house the feelings were still there, but they were not as bad as before. It took me a good few hours for it to pass. Ever since then I have had Anxiety.

[Disillusioned]

I had my first one last year, at the age of 33, while laying on the sofa watching The Oscars. It came out of nowhere. I felt a tightness in my chest and my left arm hurt (I later found out part of this was 'tennis elbow' from holding my tablet too much :blush: ). I woke my wife up (it was around midnight) because I thought I was about to die imminently of a heart attack. She reassured me, told me to take deep breaths and gave me a diazepam. Eventually, I calmed down.

I had more of them over the next few days and weeks and finally accepted that they were indeed panic attacks and I wasn't in much danger of dying from a heart attack or stroke. I mostly dealt with them via breathing techniques and diazepam for the next year and beyond but I was prescribed Propranolol a couple of months ago and they have helped me almost eliminate them entirely.

[GingerFish]

Here's my story -
I'll never forget my first panic attack. I was sitting in biology doing my work, feeling fine and suddenly the room started spinning, I got tunnel vision, my heart started racing, my skin felt as though it was on fire and I wanted to collapse and puke. I ran out the room and I honestly believed I
was drugged or something, especially because it was 100% out of the blue. Ever since that time, I got them in every biology class then it became any college class, then on the way to college on the train and then just any time I was outside then especially in crowds to where I got them every single day and was pretty much house bound because of them. Now I only get them every now and again and I'm no longer housebound thankfully. I think my biggest problem was the fear of having another panic attack after they became a regular thing at college made me panic about getting them outside and at home. I was 20 when I experienced my first one. My mum has suffered with them all her life and my gran started to suffer from them during and after the menopause. She has just recently managed to break out of her housebound stage thankfully.


For me the worst places to cause panics with me are -
*In public transport of any kind (developed travel sickness ever since I started having panic attacks)
*In crowds/crowded streets or shops
*Waiting in a queue
*Waiting in the doctors surgery
*Being outside in the day time. Maybe its because its bright and crowded (or maybe I am now a vampire!)