freeme
04-12-09, 16:11
Does anyone else suffer from paralyzing panic attacks? My first (and worst) attack made my entire body go numb and tighten up. I could barely breathe because my chest muscles were so tight, my hands curled into misshapen claws, I couldn't move my arms and had limited movement in my legs. My face completely froze, too, with my lips pursing into an O, sort of like this :ohmy:
I called 911 (thought I was having a heart attack and the numbness was my body shutting down) and the EMTs told me that it was a panic attack, and that the paralysis was because my muscles weren't getting enough.. something (oxygen? carbon dioxide?) and that caused them to tighten/constrict uncontrollably.
Since then, I've had many more panic attacks that presented with the numbness, though now usually it never gets quite that bad. Still, it can be pretty scary and frustrating, because my face still paralyzes into the pursed "O" face and I lose any fine motor control with my hands. One of my biggest anxieties is public humiliation and/or passing out/losing control in public. My partner has a company dinner tomorrow evening that I'm supposed to attend, and I'm already apprehensive about it because I don't want to go all freakazoid and be unable to move my lips!
Does anyone else experience panic attacks like this? If so, what do you do to keep sane? I experience many other anxiety-related symptoms (lightheadedness, dizzy, heart palpitations, etc) but I feel more confident about being able to manage those when they occur. The full-body numbness I find really difficult to control. So far, the only thing that really works is exercising to get my blood pumping and my heart racing, but that's not really a viable option during a formal dinner or in the car ride over.
I guess I just want to know I'm not alone in this, and that there's (hopefully) an easier way of dealing with it. None of the self-help literature I've read has specifically mentioned this symptom, and the normal recommendations (deep, steady breathing, muscle relaxation) seem to put a dent in it once it starts coming on. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated...
I called 911 (thought I was having a heart attack and the numbness was my body shutting down) and the EMTs told me that it was a panic attack, and that the paralysis was because my muscles weren't getting enough.. something (oxygen? carbon dioxide?) and that caused them to tighten/constrict uncontrollably.
Since then, I've had many more panic attacks that presented with the numbness, though now usually it never gets quite that bad. Still, it can be pretty scary and frustrating, because my face still paralyzes into the pursed "O" face and I lose any fine motor control with my hands. One of my biggest anxieties is public humiliation and/or passing out/losing control in public. My partner has a company dinner tomorrow evening that I'm supposed to attend, and I'm already apprehensive about it because I don't want to go all freakazoid and be unable to move my lips!
Does anyone else experience panic attacks like this? If so, what do you do to keep sane? I experience many other anxiety-related symptoms (lightheadedness, dizzy, heart palpitations, etc) but I feel more confident about being able to manage those when they occur. The full-body numbness I find really difficult to control. So far, the only thing that really works is exercising to get my blood pumping and my heart racing, but that's not really a viable option during a formal dinner or in the car ride over.
I guess I just want to know I'm not alone in this, and that there's (hopefully) an easier way of dealing with it. None of the self-help literature I've read has specifically mentioned this symptom, and the normal recommendations (deep, steady breathing, muscle relaxation) seem to put a dent in it once it starts coming on. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated...