Audio piece - stories of people who have suffered from panic attacks.

[bluepanda]

Hi Everyone,

This link is to an audio piece I made to try and describe what it is like to suffer from panic attacks.
http://www.esnips.com/doc/26afbd08-b.../Panic-Attacks

I made it because I suffered from panic attacks very badly as a teenager, to the point where at times I thought I could not feel my legs and would run out of the house in the middle of the night to try and escape the intense feeling of fear. My panic was mostly attached to a fear of death. At time I felt very lonely as this was not a topic I felt I could talk to my friends about and most of the time I tried to keep it from my family because I thought they would worry about me.

I am now in my twenties and I am a lot better. I have learned to control the cycle of fear and panic by realising that I can control my thoughts rather then having them control me.

At university I found it much easier to talk to others about this and discovered many more people than I had expected had suffered from similar experiences. I made this piece to try and explain the experience of panic attacks to non sufferers and people who were suffering from the symptoms but didn't understand what it was.

I would not recommend listening to it if your panic attacks are easily triggered as it features heavy breathing and a rapid heart beat. However if you still wish to listen to it then please let me know what you think.

[peaceofmind]

Thank-you for creating that little audio clip, it's not often enough that you hear people talking so openly about panic attacks.....i love hearing other peoples stories
....so here's mine....

i've had them since i was 12..just sitting in my registration class at the end of 1st year in high school... i noticed this lad i fancied was sitting staring at me & i felt really self concious and went all funny..my heart started beating really fast & i felt as though i'd risen out of my body and was looking down on myself..i couldn't hear what my friends were saying..and i went from feeling really hot to freezing cold...it was terrifying....then it just kept happening randomly for no apparent reason...i was too embarassed/scared to tell anyone..not even my parents and thought i was having some sort of nervous breakdown (even though i didn't even know what a nervous breakdown was) and i made up all these scary ideas about it in my mind..i became withdrawn and depressed and after a few years went to my doctor about it...he said he thought it was stress related & gave me a sheet with relaxation techniques...Although i'v always been fairly clever i left high school as soon as i could as i felt it was full of too many horrible memories...to cope i often drank excessive amounts of alcohol as a teenager and got in with a bad crowd. I had a few jobs in retail then took a few months out to travel..still bemused/lost with having these random panic attacks when i returned i got a job in sales/marketing which i hated at first but every morning we started a 6am and did alot of possitive motivation workshops we did alot of crazy stuff like pretending to put on rhino costumes so that we'd be very thick skinned etc.. it really brought me out of myself & completely changed my life my confidence went from 0.1 - 10+ and i went on to bigger & better opportunities. At my peak i was earning £50 per hour some days and i became a shopaholic in place of the alchoholic who was very image concience ...i discovered Susan Jeffers books & tapes & went to motivation/success seminars they became like the glue that kept me together ...i feel i've made alot of progress since when my panic attacks started at the age of 12 but i'v also made alot of mistakes too..sometimes our fears can be the platform for success but unrestrained success can blurr you judgement just as much. I'm 30 now and striving to find balance..although i don't really get panic attacks anymore i do get high levels of stress anxiety and bouts of depression and still feel as though i'm flawed in some way due to the panic attacks and still haven't found a truely lasting loving relationship yet but i know that if i keep searching and by learning about others experiences & sharing our my experiences with others it'll bring us closer to where we all want to be - In harmony with myself and others

[bluepanda]

Hi peaceofmind,

Thank you for your feedback and especially for sharing your story.

My worst panic attacks came at a time when I felt an extreme lack of control in my life. Overcoming panic attacks starts with gaining a sense of control and realising you do not have to be drawn into the negative thoughts that can often lead to an attack. If I had been able to talk to others and had this information available to me at the time, I would have realised I had the power to stop the cycle of negative thoughts, fear a panic much sooner.

I hope by sharing stories, panic attacks will become a more open issue where sufferers get the support they need without feeling stigmatized and many more people will be able to regain control of their lives