Had first panic attack in 10 years?

[1irishninja]

When I hit my late teens I was tortured with panic attacks, general anxiety, agorphobia, OCD, The entire anxiety spectrum basically. It took me a good 7-8 years but eventually through CBT I got to a point where I felt pretty normal again. This past 10 years no panic attacks and as I say I live a pretty normal life I go to work etc no issues.

I'm off on holidays this week and yesterday my Mrs and I were heading into the capital, I'm a small town country boy, rarely be in the city, anyway we were coming into the city on the motorway, as you're coming in there are about 8 lanes on traffic, cars all whizzing past, us stuck in the middle lane, I had a panic attack.

I'd forgotten what it felt like it had been so long, for me a panic attack is a deep chilling feeling of fear, it feels like the hair on the back my neck stands up, and all the colour drains from my face, my mind goes blank and I just have the urge to escape/run. I got through it and it was over in about 10-20 seconds but the worst thing is I though I was cured.

On the way back home we avoided the motor way and took the minor roads which took much longer. I am confused as to where this leaves me now, will it happen again etc? If I am honest this past 10 years where I have been feeling better is probably because I have been living a life of avoidance, I rarely go out of my 10 mile comfort zone that is home,work,parents. I never do anything or go anywhere that has the potential to cause anxiety.

So my question is what do I do now? Or have you any advice?

[sial72]

When you say you though you were cured...having a panic attack in 10 years doesn't mean you have an anxiety disorder. My husband who does NOT have any anxiety disorder has had 2 panic attacks in his life.
The number one thing you have to do is DO NOT AVOID if you do you will start the panic cycle again. Just assume that for whatever reason you had a panic, but don't be too afraid.
Aaah now, about your life of avoidance, well, that is something you have got to think about...would you rather carry on panic free in your 10 mile comfort zone or start pushing a bit?...

[MyNameIsTerry]

It sounds to me like you panicked but didn't let it progress into a panic attack as it is so short.

But it has scared you and it would anyone let alone anyone with the memories you have about it. This is where you need to be careful and not allow it to come back. Our memories and old negative core beliefs are still in there, but we don't use them anymore because we have developed new healthy & positive thinking (with the memories to go with them too).

So, as sial is saying you can choose to bring them back through various means such as avoidance. If you avoid it, you will start building fear around it. You accomodate it so it grows. Why do that? Who says it will happen again? Why not simply not analyse it and write it off as a little blip and think to yourself that it may never happen again?

Pushing the boundaries is a good plan. Personally, I think shrinking your bubble is always a bad thing as it reduces your self confidence in a very subtle way and you may not notice it.

And above all...you haven't had one in 10 years!!! Thats a massive achievement. You made yourself free, you don't have to start it all again now and you DO have the tools to resolve this minor blip again (as I believe you did when it actually occurred).

[1irishninja]

When you say you though you were cured...having a panic attack in 10 years doesn't mean you have an anxiety disorder. My husband who does NOT have any anxiety disorder has had 2 panic attacks in his life.
The number one thing you have to do is DO NOT AVOID if you do you will start the panic cycle again. Just assume that for whatever reason you had a panic, but don't be too afraid.
Aaah now, about your life of avoidance, well, that is something you have got to think about...would you rather carry on panic free in your 10 mile comfort zone or start pushing a bit?...

I don't know to be honest, at the moment my life is restricted but panic free. Could I live with having the panic attacks again? I remember when I had them regularly in the past they led to a period of depersonalization, you know that feeling that you are living in a dream, that nothing is real? Now I definitely would not be able to cope with that again but as I say my life is restricted. Things like travelling I can't do, I've never been on a plane, we took the kids to an amusement park the other day I don't go on any of the rides. Its all just silly things like this I miss.

---------- Post added at 09:10 ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 ----------


It sounds to me like you panicked but didn't let it progress into a panic attack as it is so short.

But it has scared you and it would anyone let alone anyone with the memories you have about it. This is where you need to be careful and not allow it to come back. Our memories and old negative core beliefs are still in there, but we don't use them anymore because we have developed new healthy & positive thinking (with the memories to go with them too).

So, as sial is saying you can choose to bring them back through various means such as avoidance. If you avoid it, you will start building fear around it. You accomodate it so it grows. Why do that? Who says it will happen again? Why not simply not analyse it and write it off as a little blip and think to yourself that it may never happen again?

Pushing the boundaries is a good plan. Personally, I think shrinking your bubble is always a bad thing as it reduces your self confidence in a very subtle way and you may not notice it.

And above all...you haven't had one in 10 years!!! Thats a massive achievement. You made yourself free, you don't have to start it all again now and you DO have the tools to resolve this minor blip again (as I believe you did when it actually occurred).

Yes memories, I have so many memories about anxiety, this makes a lot of sense to me. And it seems like my life since then has been trying to avoid those memories. For example any time I drink alcohol now I have almost like a flash back because I had a panic attack once when drunk, for the most part the thought appears, I let it go, now I am pretty sure if I sit and ponder that thought/memory I could probably conjure up all the old panic feeling and sensations etc. This makes sense when I think about what happened yesterday on the motorway. In the past I had a panic attack on the motor way and had to pull in to the hard shoulder, it was a long time ago but the little memory of this is still floating around somewhere and I still get nervous on motorways, I probably sat thinking a bit to much yesterday and let things go a bit far before trying to distract myself.

The memories make perfect sense. The more I think about this when I have felt anxious in the past 10 years and can't figure out why there almost always has been a past memory floating about that I guess my subconscious is aware off.

[Pepperpot]

Why can't you do all these things?
Ten years ago you didn't have kids did you so you had never took them to an amusement park. So how do you know you can't go on the rides with them? I bet you could. :)

[1irishninja]

Why can't you do all these things?
Ten years ago you didn't have kids did you so you had never took them to an amusement park. So how do you know you can't go on the rides with them? I bet you could. :)

I did once, This will sound stupid, I went on a little turtle boat type thing with my daughter that floats along water, I panicked, well not a proper panic attack. It was because of the being restricted I guess done it. :blush: I've avoided these things since.

[MyNameIsTerry]

The thing is, if you spent time driving on the motorway going from little bits to longer journeys - wouldn't you start to create new memories that are positive because you have had a good experience? This is how you can turn it around and build positive foundation. The more we do things like this, the more those old ones are no longer accessed because the subconscious will come across the positive ones because they are accessed on a more regular basis.

The only trouble is, it can take perseverence to achieve it and some anxiety along the way.