View Full Version : How long do your attacks last?
I don't know about you but I find it really annoying when anxiety workbooks say that panic attacks only last about 30 minutes or so. They say that after you have been in an anxiety provoking situation for a little while you will start to feel better. What they don't say is how to cope if your anxiety stays at the same high level until the activity is finished (which is what happens with me). Does anybody else find that their panic attacks don't calm down until the anxiety provoking situation is over? I'd be interested to know how long peoples panic attacks last on average.
Thanks,
Mike
When it first started it lasted hours!!!!!!!!! but gradually reduced
I havent had many but i had one in the cinema the other week. I went out to the loo just to calm myself down but it didnt really end until the film was over and I got outside. Then when I went to bed I woke up constantly with those horrid adrenaline surges it was awful. Thankfully I havent had one since.
It all depends on what the panic is....sometimes it lasts 5 mins and then sometimes it can go on all day.....sorry!
The actual attack lasts about 30 minutes yeah, thats really the peak of the anxiety. Extreme anxiety can last ages and ages, but i havent heard of the actual 'panic attack' (hyperventilating, losing ability to think clearly, fainting, that sort of general unpleasantness) lasting more than about 30 minutes. Usually never lasts more than 15 for me, thank god, by then ive fallen uncoscious.
Panic attacks last about 30 minutes in England? ;)
So, I'm very lucky because I live in Italy.
Most Italian books on panic disorder say that the actual attack lasts for about 10 minutes and the rest is only anxiety. I was very confused when I read this sort of information, many years ago. My panick attacks lasted much more.
Now, I don't suffer from panic anymore, but I still have annoying general anxiety...
I can say for sure that a panic attack could last an entire day. Like kimmy, I experienced longer attack at the beginning.
My opinion is that you can have more attacks in the same hour or in the same day. Like waves... So, you feel as it is a very long attack.
For me it would be useful to read this on books, to feel "calm" and to be sure not to be a single strange terrible case of panic disorder.
bye
Francesca
oh i wanted to know this question too!. first one i ever got lasted 5mins, and i thought it was nothing, i was actually like wow.. i couldnt breathe how cool!. yeah i aint thinkin that now. i wish i did, i wasnt afraid of them then.
but the next ones i got seemed to last alot longer, then it felt like they lasted a whole day, then it felt like it just wouldnt go away like it was constantly there, then that feeling went away. But yeah if i go out anywhere its like i have a panic attack the whole time im out up until the point i get to the front door then im fine, well its probably not a panic attack the whole time but im certainly there worrying about when or if its even gonna happen again soon!
nomorepanic
25-02-07, 23:57
An actual panic attack cant last that long. It then becomes anxiety.
You can not panic for that long cos the body self-regulates. What you get is anxiety not a panic attack as such.
When I had my spontaneous panic attacks they lasted about twenty minutes but I can't say I was 'right' for at least an hour afterwards...like a sort of mental hangover that took a while to flush through.
When I had my panic attacks as part of my CBT - that is, I was exposed directly to the things I feared, the longest reaction I ever had was about 75 minutes, coming in short waves of increasing intensity followed by a small lessening followed immediately by another climb and this really did feel like a terrible test of endurance. I was physically and emotionally shattered when it finally ended. It ended because I was just too tired for it to continue at that level of intensity but as the weeks wore on I truly did notice a difference and the attacks lasted a shorter time and were less intense. It is terribly important, with this sort of panic attack that you don't give in to it and remove yourself from the feared situation. It truly does pass eventually, honest, but you HAVE to face it down and remain within the feared situation until the panic naturally subsides to (my therapist taught me) a half of its original intensity.
I think a great deal depends on what's causing the attack; my CBT exposure was a simple physical reaction which could be ridden out and to which continued exposure would lessen the reaction but my spontaneous panic attacks were the result of a damaging overload at work and I am confident that these latter ones really wouldn't have got better on their own. AS it was, I had a complete breakdown (I was much too sick to see it coming so it was a total surprise). Having done that I am now fine but it was a sharp lesson to learn and cost me eight months on ciprimil, the first four and a half months of which I was signed off sick. I now do a three day week and a fraction of my previous duties and both my work and my sanity are the better for it.
When I had my panic attacks as part of my CBT - that is, I was exposed directly to the things I feared, the longest reaction I ever had was about 75 minutes, coming in short waves of increasing intensity followed by a small lessening followed immediately by another climb and this really did feel like a terrible test of endurance.
Your explanation is much better than mine.
This is exactly what I meant.
This sort of thing happened to me also longer than 75 minutes: they lasted half a day sometimes, and just a few bad terrible days it lasted the whole day.
Nicola, you are right, from a scientific point of view. But doctors and written documents very rarely give an explanation like Evie's, for example.
Well, I'm speaking about Italian books and doctors... I don't know about yours...
I think Anglo-Saxon countries are more advanced in this themes.
hollyjollymt
27-02-07, 04:18
my last attack lasted a full 8 hours. i wish it only lasted half an hour, that would have been a lot easier. it was probably my longest one, though. i have had short ones but because i was in public during them, i quickly tried to distract myself to get my mind off it, that usually works. but man, this last one, wooh it was a doozy. an attack for me isn't just shortness of breath and trembling, its severe stomach pain and vometing. i get so sick, i don't even know how i still have any fluids left in me! i don't know how i deal with it, but i get through it. i wish they weren't so severe though, i would have a lot more freedom with my life. but it makes me always worry if there will be a bathroom wherever i go in case i get sick or something. it dominates everything! gahh i hate it!!
My anxiety lasts for days, well actually I am about 2 weeks into the constant feeling of it all now and its taking its toll x
My GP and therapist said that panic attacks can last for days when I asked them but they could have been referring to 'waves' of panic. I've heard about your body being unable to maintain panic for long periods and I can see the sense in that. When I get anxious and panicky I mainly feel nauseous with a dry mouth and the old throat feeling. This makes things worse because I worry that I'll be sick in public and that's my biggest fear.
My recent anxiety came out of the blue in early December when I was out for a meal with my family. I started to feel nauseous and couldn't take my mind off the feeling. Although I finished the meal it wasn't very pleasant and knocked my confidence.
A couple of days later I was starting my first day doing casual work in a new library. After about 15 minutes of work I had the thought 'what if I get those feelings I got in the restaurant again?' and bam, I started to feel really anxious, nauseous, dry mouth, hot and flustered etc. Thinking back these feelings did come in waves for about 4 hours but the general anxiety level remained very high.
Another recent occasion was when I was going to do some voluntary work in a local museum. The day started badly when my PC got a virus. I then got all worked up in the morning and was upset, shakey and unable to think straight. I did travel to the museum and that was probably when the panic attack happened. I felt upset, shakey, cold, pins and needles, and unable to think clearly. Leading up till that point I would say it was anxiety and the fear of panic attacks.
Thanks for all your posts so far, it has been really interesting and helpful to read them.
I would say that panic attacks can last as long as you allow them to. So if you accept what is happening and let it pass over you, then you will find through time then can only last a few minutes. What happens is when we feel in an anxious provoking situation and we start to get symptoms we then start to add on fearful thoughts such as all the What ifs...........this is what keeps the panic in a viscious cycle. The more we add on frightening thoughts the more the panic will increase and seem to last for ever before it fades. The more we look for a reason as to why it happened and what is maybe wrong with us then we just give the panic more power.
The next time you feel panic rising say to yourself - Ok i know its only anxiety and nothing will harm me - and instead of fighting it just let it pass over you - easier said than done I know - but it does work. The power of our thoughts plays such an important part in how our body behaves.
Hope this maybe helps
Darkangel
my first attack happened when i was abroad, seemed to last about three days until i got some early flights home, even after that i seemed to be in a state of panic and anxiety constantly.. now my panic attacks last about 15mins.. think it just takes time.. plus the less frightened you are of them the more likely they are to stop quicker.
In answer to the question how long do panic attacks last, I am sick of reading in books that they can only last 15 minutes. This is twaddle. My first panic attack lasted nearly two whole hours of hell. I was totally distraught waiting for an ambulance which couldn't find me as I was certain I was having a stroke or something. I had two kids in the back of the car and I can't really tell you where the two hours went.
So, the first one was the worst. Successive ones have lasted anywhere from a mere second to minutes to successive panic waves that can go on for weeks, even through the night. Forget about sleep when this is happening as my body seems to be unable to drop off because every time it does it has a panic attack.
There are a lot of dodgey self-help books out there, most recently one has really upset me. In fact I may make a posting about that later. Keep away from Claire Weeke's self help for your nerves. Severely out of date, recommending and advocating sedation, shock therapy and confession. And perhaps belief in God being the way out of it. I have never read such stuff. This is apparently one of the world's best-selling books on anxiety disorders. Steer clear!
So - what's written in books, take it with a pinch of salt there are people writing books on panic who can't begin to understand what it is like and minimise the awfulness of the condition and there are some excellent books out there with great tips - you just have to wade through them to find what is right for you. Unfortunately there is stuff in books that hasn't been researched.
nomorepanic
27-02-07, 14:11
Beadbabe
There are loads of people on here that have read the Claire Weekes books and loved them and they have really helped.
Of course some of her writing is out of date in terms of the therapy but if you ignore that then her other methods are very good and seem to work for a lot of people.
Sorry you didn't find them of any use - not every book will suit every person.
I will still be recommending them on the book list to people.
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