Pookie
29-08-08, 04:25
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone can relate to some of the symptoms I experience during my panic attacks.
The worst one I have ever had was while being a passenger driving on the highway about 5-6 mths ago. It came out of nowhere! First, I became nauseated and began to stir in my seat feeling very unsettled. I felt like there was an anvil on my chest, the very tops of my shoulders were extremely tense and began tingling in my hands and feet.
Before I knew it, the tingling progressed all the way up my arms past my elbows, up my legs and past my knees to my chest and what really freaked me out was my feet aggressively turned inwards, my fingers could hardly bend. At this point I felt like my body was just shutting down and I couldnt move. My fingers became so stiff and curled, I was holding a water bottle and I completely without any effort twisted the bottle completely (empty). My speech slurred so bad I could hardly get words out properly no matter how hard I tried. I could hardly breathe at this point and no matter what I did just couldnt stop the escalating- it all just happened so fast!
I didnt know what was happening to me because it was my first attack, I literally felt like I was having a seizure or something, it was terrifying, I cant even begin to describe it. I hope to never experience it to such degree again. :shrug:
Since then, I have experienced (once/week) I guess you can say "mild" attacks. First feelings of nausea, heaviness in my chest, then tingling begins through my hands and fingers stiffen up. I start to hyper ventilate almost. The harder I try to keep my breathing normal the worse it seems to get, then follows dizzy spells, light headedness-almost like I lose focus and everything begins to spin. I start to become very anxious. I need to get up and walk, I pace, feel like I need to go to the washroom, grab a glass of water...
Once it passes I am extremely tired, I feel like someone just sucked the energy right out of me, its crazy! Has anyone else had such an experience? Are these symptoms "normal" for a panic attack?
Thanks in advance. :winks:
The worst one I have ever had was while being a passenger driving on the highway about 5-6 mths ago. It came out of nowhere! First, I became nauseated and began to stir in my seat feeling very unsettled. I felt like there was an anvil on my chest, the very tops of my shoulders were extremely tense and began tingling in my hands and feet.
Before I knew it, the tingling progressed all the way up my arms past my elbows, up my legs and past my knees to my chest and what really freaked me out was my feet aggressively turned inwards, my fingers could hardly bend. At this point I felt like my body was just shutting down and I couldnt move. My fingers became so stiff and curled, I was holding a water bottle and I completely without any effort twisted the bottle completely (empty). My speech slurred so bad I could hardly get words out properly no matter how hard I tried. I could hardly breathe at this point and no matter what I did just couldnt stop the escalating- it all just happened so fast!
I didnt know what was happening to me because it was my first attack, I literally felt like I was having a seizure or something, it was terrifying, I cant even begin to describe it. I hope to never experience it to such degree again. :shrug:
Since then, I have experienced (once/week) I guess you can say "mild" attacks. First feelings of nausea, heaviness in my chest, then tingling begins through my hands and fingers stiffen up. I start to hyper ventilate almost. The harder I try to keep my breathing normal the worse it seems to get, then follows dizzy spells, light headedness-almost like I lose focus and everything begins to spin. I start to become very anxious. I need to get up and walk, I pace, feel like I need to go to the washroom, grab a glass of water...
Once it passes I am extremely tired, I feel like someone just sucked the energy right out of me, its crazy! Has anyone else had such an experience? Are these symptoms "normal" for a panic attack?
Thanks in advance. :winks: