Help! first panic attack? long..
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| Mon, 01-10-2005 - 3:11pm |
Really Long, I'm sorry, but I need advice/help to figure this out.
I think I may have had a panic or anxiety attack last night. I have never had one before, but I can't figure out what else it could be. I have a call in to my doctor right now and she's supposed to call me back at home to discuss it.
Does anyone suffer from these?
I was just sitting on the couch watching Extreme Makeover Home edition with my husband last night when all of a sudden I got this incredibly strange feeling in my body and head. I felt like I needed to move, or my blood would stop pumping or I'd pass out or somethign.. but I didn't really feel dizzy or faint, it was just a mental thing, like I thought if I didn't stand up, I'd black out. So I stood up and then it felt like there was a fuzzyness or electricity in my thighs and face. my upperlip and roof of mouth and cheeks felt numb and tingly. I even slapped my own cheeks a couple of times as an experiment and I could feel it but it felt a lot lighter and less painful than I would have expected. I told my husband. He suggested I go outside where it was really cold. That helped for a few seconds, as it felt refreshing and ALIVE. My mouth still felt funny and now my jaw felt clenched, I tried eating an ice cream bar. It didn't taste that good and I had to eat it really slowly because My mouth and head felt so funny. I'm pacing around the house and my muscles feel really tight.
All of this is scary but I don't want to alarm my husband so I am trying to be calm. Also, because I'm a nurse, for some reason, it is hard for me to seek medical attention when I don't really think that anything is wrong. I am telling myself that my pulse is normal and I don't have any chest pain or jaw pain and I'm not having trouble breathing so I'm probably okay. I convince myself that maybe it is from the cough medicine I've been taking --although I wasn't taking any more than the recommended dosage.
Other symptoms I have is that I feel like my body is really light, like I'm floating, and it feels unreal and I'm trying to convince myself that it will go away, but there are other parts of me that are afraid I'm going to die. Through all of this I'm pacing the living room and I'm still able to watch the tv show, although distractedly, but it isn't so bad that I absolutely can't concentrate.
The show is over and I am feeling a little better, but not very good, I just can tell that it is ever so slightly better. I keep telling my husband I just want it to go away. He asks if I want to go to the hospital. I say no. He asks again, I refuse. HE suggests I take a hot shower. That helps for a while. I take one in the dark and that is nice. I brush my teeth and that is nice, but when I get out, I swear my peripheral vision is slightly less, especially what I would normally see if I looked up. I still feel crappy and I just can't stop thinkign about it. My husband puts on a movie in bed and we lie down and he rubs my back. As long as I am talking or moving or doing something active, I feel a lot better. But if I lie still, suddenly I focus in on my body and how strange it feels. We watch the entire movie and during some of it I am feeling relieved, like it is getting a lot better, but then another wave of the "Feeling" comes back and I'm frustrated again. This happens quite a few times during the 2 hour movie. When the wave of the feeling comes back, it is never quite as strong as the last one, but still bad enough that sometimes I can't watch the movie anymore, I have to roll over and close my eyes and just listen.
Eventually the movie is over and I still feel funky. I can't sleep because when I try to sleep I feel like I'm floating on the bed and I am super aware of my breathing and I feel like--oh my god! my breathing is too shallow, or I'm not breathing enough, or if i fall asleep I will stop breathing and i"ll die!.
Eventually (now it is after midnight, and all of this started at 8:30 or 8:40) I realize that maybe I'm having a panic attack and so I get up to go do research online.
I find out that a lot of my symptoms are like a panic attack. And the fact that it came on incredibly suddenly and peaked in the first 10 minutes and then has slowly gone down after that sounds like a panic attack, although the websites say that panic attacks usually only last 30 minutes to an hour or so at most, and here it is 4 hours later that I'm doing research online and still feeling strange. Also, the symptoms almost always say racing heart, and I never had a racing heart. There were times that I was ultra-aware of my heart beating and it felt a little funny in my chest (not a palpatation) or I could hear it in my ears, but it was never racing.
The tingling in the face and muscle tightness and fear and feeling that you will stop breathing are symptoms. As are the feelings of unreality and floating, etc.
Also, I read that often a first panic attack happens between ages of 20-30 and I'm 26. Also I read that it is more common the day AFTER drinking alcohol, and it just happens that on saturday (the day before this happened) I had a few drinks and got buzzed, and I almost NEVER drink.. literally maybe 2 or 3 times a year. also I read it can be a result of stress or fatigue, and I've had this cough for 4 nights now and nothing I take helps so I end up coughing for a couple hours before I can finally fall asleep and end up getting only like 4 or 5 hours of sleep at night, which is unusual for me.
Anyway, I finally fell asleep around 3 am, when I still felt a tiny bit funny but not too bad, I could finally relax enough to fall asleep. That was over 6 hours from the onest of symptoms. Now I didn't wake up until 11:30, finally i got some sleep! And I still feel a little funny, ot too bad, I can go about my day, but I feel a little jittery, as though I drank a strong coffee on an empty stomach.
Can anyone share their experiences, advice (Besides see a doctor which I am already trying to do). Has anyone ever had a panic attack WITHOUT their heart racing? Has anyone ever had one that lasted as long as I am describing?
thanks,
Casey

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Wow. When i had my first panic attack 6 months ago, i thought i was the only one. After reading all this, it is so nice to realize that lots of people have them. Reading your message brought back so many memories of my main panic attack. Being completly honest, mine was brought about by pot. my boyfriend and I smoke occasionally to relax after a stressful day,he uses it for his anxiety instead of anti depressants and it works so much better, for him. I guess i had taken too much and an hour later, my mind started thinking that I wasnt breathing enough. Instead of being able to shut it off, my mind took this thought and ran with it, not fun for me. After going through this for a few hours, what calmed me down was laying next to my boyfriend and just feeling his heart and his breathing patterns. From laying like this for an hour, my mind was able to go back to normal and I had control over my body.
Since then, I have had panic attacks, but have gotten really good advice on ways to distract my mind and put these ideas to the back of my head. My therapist gave me the idea of picturing something in my mind and using a single line to outline the image.
Some other ones that are probably stupid but worked for me were to try to think of as many names for each letter of the alphabet that I could, or to try to count backwards from some huge number. My boyfriend and I are also very serious, so sometimes i envision our wedding and get lost in picturing my dress and things like that.
Like yours, mine often took place at night as I lay down to go to sleep. I couldnt help but be afraid that something would happen to me while I slept. For me tho,reminding myself of the things around me and the things I have to do in my life ( get married, write my story, have kids, and be a great teacher :) ) helped greatly.
I wish you the best of luck in all this and hope that everything goes okay.
Hi Casey.
First I want to tell you that I have read that these attacks can last up to 30 minutes too, and I thought there was something terribly wrong with me b/c mine can last for days and up to a week.
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