I’m Dying: What a Panic Attack Feels Like

Hi im only 14 and I suffer with many side affects ecen suicidal thoughts its living hell everymoment u live u don’t feel like your real or controlling your self please help bc. Medacation isn’t working aand neither is councling

Dear Ethan, Yes, these surges of adrenaline and heart palpitations are very scary indeed. Especially when you are relaxed and they kick-in for no apparent reason. (that is totally typical for panic attacks). I, too, have suffered from the exact thing you have described but with a few other sensations along with those – chills, sweating, hot flashes, mind racing, nausea, tremors. What you have experienced puts you in a catagory of people who are among the bravest people I know. Until someone actually goes through a “panic attack”, they just can not appreciate how indescribably uncomfortable it is (understatement there!) Let me tell you something that I have learned over the years in dealing with these episodes – despite the extreme boldily sensations – they are not physically harming you. Really difficult to believe that since what you experience is incredibly overwhelming. Because I am female, I have experienced child birth. This experience is just as intense as a panic attack and requires all of your concentration to just hold on for dear life. But child birth in and of itself did not cause me any physical harm. Extremely painful, yes, but totally natural. Panic attacks are very similar in that they bring you to what feels like the brink of death, but in actuality it is a very natural thing that is happening to you physically. In my research I have descovered that those of us who are emotionally and/or physically exhausted will be at higher risk for these episodes. It is a false alarm triggered by your fight or flight response. You need to make sure you are consistantly getting a good of rest every night, eating healthy foods, (cut out the sodas and coffee(caffine) and the sugary stuff), getting some regular exersize, staying hydrated (with water!), and learning some ways to manage stress that works just for you . At 15 your hormones are pretty active and that too can contribute to these episodes. That is where my panic attacks began – during menopause- which is all about hormonal changes. Ethan, honey, panic attacks suck, they just do, but our bodies are highly intellegent and equiped to take care of themselves without much involvement from us. Our part is to make some adjustments in lifestyle to help bring harmony to our nervous systems. Sorry this was so lengthy, but I can just so relate to ya and I want to give you reassurance that you are not dying of some horrible disease like it tries to make you believe. Doesn’t hurt to go to your doctor and just have afew things checked out for peace of mind – like your heart for an arythmia, and your hormonal levels – especially thyroid – but more than likely you are a healthy kid and you, like the rest of us brave souls, get to experience a very difficult thing that makes us far more empathetic to others who suffer in this life. Consider making some changes in your lifestyle and your nervous system will respond in kind. Big hugs and blessings to you.

I had my first panic attack last year in September. I had only recently learned what a panic attack was, and definitely did NOT know what was happening to me. It took a while for the attack to actually happen though. When I have them, I just feel weird for a long while before it actually happens. I was at the movies and all of a sudden I just felt nauseous and like everything was just backwards and turned around. I was ok though until the ride home. I was about forty minutes away from home. During that time I started feeling lack of control of my mouth, kind of like I had slurred speach or something. Also, I gradually started getting tingly all over. Then right when I was almost home I started feeling the depersonalization feeling, and that’s when I started hyperventalating. I really thought that I was dying. I had no idea that it was a panic attack. What makes my attacks so bad, I think, is that I feel derealization and I black out. It’s awful. My heart races, I feel like I can’t breath, I tremble all over, and I ALWAYS think that I’m dying. As a result of all of this, I have problems with anxious feelings almost all of the time, and I almost always feel derealization. It’s horrible, and I don’t really know what to do for it because I’m too sensitive to the SSRI’s to take them. I’ve been battling it on my own for over a year now, and I’m starting to get discouraged again.

I am 31 and, over the past 3 years, I’ve had several panic attacks. Almost all of them I believe were triggered by alcohol withdrawl. After a couple days of heavy drinking, I deal with major anxiety issues over the next 48 hours. The panic attacks almost always occur in the middle of the night. I wake up suddenly and the attack is on. Even though, at this point, I’m well aware of what’s happening, it never makes it any easier. The only way I can describe it is that it’s like your sanity is a bedsheet that someone is trying to rip out of your hands. Or if you’ve ever had a bad trip, it’s similar to the mental part of that. I’ve tried everything to talk myself down, but nothing works except time (sometimes 2 hours), more alcohol (bad idea), or a sedative like xanax. I have friends who have experienced the same thing — I typically tell them to think of a phrase, maybe 10 to 12 words and just keep repeating it while using controlled breathing. Praying is a good idea too, if you believe in that. If that stops working, call a friend, if you have one that understands. Anyone that has dealt with this is usually more than happy to help you thru it, since they know how awful it is. Most the time, talking to someone you trust about how you feel is comforting enough to provide some slight relief. If they suffer from panic attacks, they will know just what to say.

Ultimately, I recommend talking to your doctor about it. They will typically give you a prescription for a sedative. Unless you are dealing with addiction issues, these pills are a good idea to have around. Alot of times, just knowing that you have them will help prevent panic attacks. There are plenty of methods to alleviate panic attacks without drugs, but, for anyone that has experienced a truly awful panic episode, all that matters is getting thru it. If none of those methods work, you know you have a solution that will.

Thanks for this forum, and I wish everyone dealing with this issue the best. It’s nice to have a place to talk about it.

I suffered from my very first panic attack in July 2011 while i was at work on the computer. I literally felt like i was dying! And grabbed my colleague by the arm and said “help me! i’m dying!!!”. I went bright red, hyperventilated and my left arm was numbish/tingly/pins and needles. I thought i was having a heart attack and i’m only 25. Since then, i’ve had a number of these panick attacks and i’ve learned that controlling my breathing is the best thing i can do at the time. I take deep slow breaths, in and out and try to tell myself that i’ll be ok. This usually always helps and within a few minutes it’s all over again.. But during it i am so scared that i am letting go and something is taking me and i’m dying.

I went on lexapro for about 1.5 months and i stopped taking it, as it made me feel numb and indifferent to life. Not a good idea to ever stop taking anti-depressants cold turkey.

In the last 24 hours, i’ve had this extremely weird feeling in my head/brain – like it feels like my brain is trying to rip or tear itself apart, like it can’t take anymore sh!t. It feels like i have stuff crawling in my head and it kind of feels hot. I literally feel like i am going crazy and i feel so damn helpless. Then the wave of panic comes over me and it goes through me, in and out, in and out, hot flush, sweaty palms, then i get cold. It feels so crazy. And my eyes feel like they want to pop out of the socket.

I’ve been stressed with work and other personal issues but never thought that anxiety/stress could make me feel so “insane”.

Has anyone ever felt this weird feeling in their head? If so, how did you try to control it or forget about it?

In the last 24 months, I have been partying hard sometimes and have taken ecstasy/MDMA. And i always blame the drugs for making me this way. It’s never worth putting crap in our mouths.

I never considered myself as ever having had a panic attack because I figure that it would be worse than anything I have ever experienced but one thing that comes close is when I feel like I have hurt my boyfriend I start having all these thoughts that this time I have gone too far, finally he has realised what a terrible person I am to be around and that he is better off without me, I hyperventilate, I cry like a bitch, I pace back and forth and repeat phrases like “I don’t know what to do” or “no, no, no, no, please no, no” over and over.

Also when he asked me to quit drugs I had a similar response (but mostly because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to and that it would be over).

The only other thing I think I’ve experienced that comes close is when I thought that mist outside might be chemical warfare but I actually responded to that with more of a cold rationality (despite the terror I was gonna die) than a breakdown of mental functioning (I basically reasoned that, since I am doomed and can’t escape I might as well go to bed and sleep because I was gonna die whatever I did).

I am just 26 year old had a panic attack recently while i was travelling by bus. I started to fell bad at the same time everything was out of control and my inner felling was telling me i am dying.. Suddenly i went to emergency department where i checked BP and heart rate,,,then physician confirmed i had a panic attack.. Even now i fell something goes wrong and i am always thinking about my brain that what it does why i got panic attack. After reading many articles i come to know panic attack never going to be dangerous and those who are suffering from panic disorder no need to worry as we are not going to die. But still it hurts lot ……pls help us someone else to get rid out of this

Gerty, I understand totally where you are coming from. Like so many of us, we fear the next panic attack. This fear then manifests itself into worry, stress and anxiety. So we are always on the lookout for the next one. I think it’s natural for us to feel this way though, to be scared of the unknown.

A friend of mine told me that his friend “rides the panic attack wave” and in doing you basically feel more in control because you are allowing for the panic attack to do what it always does. I thought this was a very interesting way of dealing with it and thought I’d try it the next time I experienced one…. And sure enough, eventually I did and I mentally rode that wave of panic. The result was that my attack was much shorter, less horrific and I felt pretty good about it afterwards.

As for the drugs, I do think there is a correlation between these mental stimulants and the ensuing panic attacks, anxiety. My best friend who has never had a panic attack, sometimes gets “weird” feelings when listening to certain techno/house songs that are really deep, or if there is a story that we hear that is horrific.

It feels like once you have a panic attack that you’ll never be the same again. This feeling feels like you’ve been exposed to something, a fact or knowledge not previously known, that has changed your perception on everything in life for good. For me this rings true the most because I was never aware of panic attacks, I have no family history of it, no depression and no mental illness. So it was never something I read about a lot or was very interested in, until it happened to me.

With that said, I feel as though it was also a realisation, a way of becoming, and about life and our purpose in life. I question everything and don’t feel so invincible anymore. Life is much more precious after it all.

You mentioned about the back of the head vibrating and I know exactly how that feels. I think maybe this has something to do with our blood pressure increasing perhaps? My mama always massages the back of her head when her blood pressure goes up and maybe the stress and anxiety we are experiencing increases our blood pressure and we feel this vibrating, crawling feeling at the back?

I’ve started to see a clinical psychologist who has delved into my early childhood and life and once after not seeing her for a few weeks, I had been feeling really good about everything and was telling her about how great things were etc. What she said to me was this, “do you think your tolerance levels to stress have just increased?”. I nearly had a panic attack when she said this. Because just as I thought I was managing my stress, it felt like i actually wasn’t. This comment really bugged me and still is because as a woman, I have not had my monthly visitor in about 3-4 months, and again my therapist said this was all due to stress.

So sorry this is so long but I just want to say to whoever is reading this, is that life is good, by experiencing panic attacks, we are no different to anyone else, i think through the experience we can learn to become more in tune with ourselves, to look after ourselves and to listen to what our body is telling us.

We panic for fear of the unknown and usually stress about something that will probably not even happen, we worry about the future, but we shouldn’t be. Because all we have is the NOW.. That is all we have and all we should be living in.

Perfect recommendation: Please download the audiobook of “Ekhart Tolle – The Power of Now”. I think many of you will gain something from this audiobook.

: ) lots of smiles and good feelings to you all

Greetings to everyone. I FINALLY FOUND THE CURE!!!! I have suffered from anxiety my whole life – all of 46+ years. I started suffering from panic attacks back in 1995 when I survived a catagory 5 hurricane down in the Carribean. Since then I have been searching for the answer as to what was wrong with me. I had so many different tests done at the doctor’s office. I have tried so many different types of therapy. So many different medications. I changed my diet. I started walking regularly. None of these things CURED my anxiety. The first step was FINALLY BELIEVING that all of these scary and totally uncomfortable (understatement) bodily sensations were actually due to MY FEAR OF THEM. It is not easy to not fear something that is scary, but all of the horrible bodily sensations WILL NOT DO DAMAGE. I know they won’t do damage because I have continued to live and have suffered for 17 years with panic disorder. When you FEAR the sensations, you keep the cycle of anxiety going and going. The way out is to try to accept the feelings as a natural occurrence to an overly stimulated nervous system. If you are suffering from anxiety and/or panic attacks, you may not realize it but you have been under too much stress for too long. Our nervous system does have a limit to what it can handle correctly. When we overload it, it breaks down – ‘nervous breakdown’. I just had the hardest time believing that all of the physical symptoms were being caused by the natural fight or flight instinct that had gone hay wire. I thought there had to be something seriously wrong with my heart, or my hormones, or my brain, or what ever. No – all of this was stemming from my fear of the feelings and the unknowing of what was causing them. I want to recommend three books. “Peace From Nervous Suffering” , “Hope And Help For Your Nerves” – Claire Weekes, and “At Last A Life” – Paul David. You will see that our misunderstanding of what is happening and our reaction to the sensations is what keeps this disabling affliction going on and on. I hope someone will read this and post and read one of these books and finally find the freedom from the fear that binds them. My heart goes out to all of you who suffer.

Diane!!! I did hesitate when I wrote “I found the cure” only because I remember the hope I had with every new thing that I tried that this was going to be the cure, and then to find that these things just didn’t seem to deliver and I would just gain even more fear that I was doomed. I was looking for an answer outside of myself because I was unaware that the answer was inside of me – my very own thoughts, attitudes and reactions. These teachings go right along with scripture about putting on the mind of Christ – but until I read the book, At Last A Life by Paul David, I just couldn’t be convinced that my fear and reactions were keeping me in a continual anxiety cycle. I have had very little anxiety in the last several days. Very little. I am sleeping several hours a night, compared to the 3 or 4 I had been getting for the passed couple of years. We need to get this information out to everyone who suffers from any kind of nervous ailment. Pharmaceutical companies are making fortunes on suffering people and not leading them to the actual cure to all of this. I will do everything I can to promote these books on healing your nerves as this is where the truth is found!!! God bless you dear, and may true peace continue to be with you.

I think that most people have no idea what a panic attack really is and probably think it’s somewhat “fake” or at least “all in your head”. It’s hard to understand what it feels like – physically – and how real it is, unless you’ve had one.