Panic attacks?

[alaskagirl]

I noticed that panic attacks have been mentioned a lot. What are they, exactly? I'm not completely sure if I have them in certain situations or not, and I'd like to understand what people are talking about.

[Toaster]

I get them if I am in a crowd that has no structure....like a standing room concert or a big house party.  It's just a severe anxiety that everyone is not in the right place.  I usually end up shutting down, leave the venue, and just sit in a dark corner for a couple hours until I get my nerves back.  I've missed plenty of events I wish I hadn't.  Oh, and shopping malls drive me nuts.  I do all my shopping ridiculously early in the mornings so there is no one else there.

Strangely enough, I don't get the same feeling from structured large crowds.  One of my favorite places to be is a football match with 50,000 people.  But in that environment, everyone has their own assigned seat....their own slot of order.

[SquarePeg]

With me, I get anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Anxiety attacks usually last about an hour, and typically happen in situations that might normally make me anxious.

Panic attacks, on the other hand, are a totally different story. They last about 5-10 minutes at most, but they are about 100 times more intense than anxiety attacks. For me, I start to have trouble breathing, and I get sweaty and my heart starts racing. I start to have tunnel vision, and with most of them, I have even fainted for few seconds! I feel like I am either going to die, or the world is going to end. I have only had about five or six of these in my life, and they happen when a stressful situation is combined with a time when I am not physically at my best (such as early in the morning, or when I'm sick).

So yeah, that's how I experience it.

[zenemu]

Panic attacks can be very frightening, but with experience they can become easier to control and to cope with. The most common symptoms include:

• Rapid heart beat and palpitations
• Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing
• Feelings of Panic and/or fear

There are also less common symptoms which sometimes occur alongside the above:

• Sweating
• Visable Shaking
• Chest Pain
• Nausea, Indegestion or abdominal pain/discomfort
• Feeling light headed
• Numbness in the face or extremities or body
• Chills or hot flushes
• Depersonalization: The feeling of being outside yourself or that you don't exist
• Derealization: A sensation of dreaming or unreality
• Blushing or skin colour changes.

Coping techniques usually involve breathing excercises and various relaxation techniques.