Hour and a half long panic attack -worst one ever!

[MayaH]

Hi everyone,

Yesterday evening I was with my best friend at my house (I live with my parents). I've been diagnosed psychiatrically with panic disorder and dissociative episodes. Mostly these are now manageable, I take very occasional medication and use CBT to get through it a lot of the time. But last night I had the worst most intense attack my best friend's ever seen me have. I was hyperventilating so badly and crying so much I couldn't even speak audibly for a lot of it, I was clinging to my best friend (he was amazing and kept talking and got me my beta blocker as I've run out of the other med, going to the doctors to fix that) and I was so detached that the room felt very small, I had to hold onto my best friend constantly for the hour. I felt really lightheaded and faint, to the point where I kept falling and having to be supported by him and he made me lie down a couple of times. My chest felt so constricted and the crying was so intense, the detachment was the worst by far. I found it hard to swallow my medication properly and wouldn't let my best friend leave me to get me water as I was so frightened. At one point he asked about calling an ambulance or 111 but I begged him not to as we were at my parents house and they're not supportive with my panic disorder. He eventual,y was able to get me into bed and hold my hand until I'd fallen asleep but he was really concerned too. So intense 😢And I help myself and try to do all the right things. This is the first time I've needed major care during an attack. The first time one has lasted for an hour and a half as well, it took my best friend ages to calm me down. I almost fainted and my best friend thought I might need medical help, thankfully I didn't. Has anyone got any experience or tips as yesterday I really struggled and would've found it extremely difficult to cope and even more distressing without my best friend 😢 May-Li xx

[Citydeer]

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad attack :-( was there a particular trigger you can identify in retrospect? Even something little that happened earlier in the day? I read on the NHS website that if a panic attack feels like it lasted more than 30 minutes, it's likely you had multiple attacks back to back (rather than one super long one). I'm not sure whether that knowledge is helpful but maybe what it can remind us is that our response to the first attack can define whether or not we suffer a subsequent one right after. I once had 9 in a row over the course of an evening, it was awful. I've never had that happen since though.

It can be really hard to think logically once you're in the midst of an attack, and what works for one person doesn't always work for another. I find the following method useful that I read about somewhere (forget which site),I make a list of things I am feeling under the following categories:

What physical symptoms am I experiencing?
What thoughts am I having right now, and what was I thinking leading up to the attack?
What emotions am I experiencing right now?

In the end all these different physical sensations, thoughts and emotions all mean the same thing: I am scared. But they don't mean you are actually in any danger. Identifying and articulating what you are experiencing can help give you power over it. Distractions also work well for me. Put all your energy into something intensive for at least a full 5 minutes if you can. Watching tv or something isn't usually enough for me but forcing myself to do something that requires concentration, such as writing a reply to a post on this forum, works for me.