What happens to "you" when you have a panic attack? (appetite, sleep)

[movingacrosstown]

I've noticed as the years have gone by and suffering with panic attacks my entire life since 11, they have changed.

Originally. I got the typical heart racing, hyperventilating, swetty palms, shaking, crying, scared, going to die feeling.

After many years of counseling, I've learned I'm not going to die. I still get similar symptoms but feel like I'm going crazy. Although, I know I'm not my brain gets in such a fog and scrambled in a panic attack, I can't concentrate and feel like I'm loosing control. The feeling is horrible and only makes me panic more.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to tolerate meds so I have to just live with this. I've tried coping skills and no luck. Have your panic attacks changed through the years?

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by movingacrosstown

I've noticed as the years have gone by and suffering with panic attacks my entire life since 11, they have changed.

Originally. I got the typical heart racing, hyperventilating, swetty palms, shaking, crying, scared, going to die feeling.

After many years of counseling, I've learned I'm not going to die. I still get similar symptoms but feel like I'm going crazy. Although, I know I'm not my brain gets in such a fog and scrambled in a panic attack, I can't concentrate and feel like I'm loosing control. The feeling is horrible and only makes me panic more.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to tolerate meds so I have to just live with this. I've tried coping skills and no luck. Have your panic attacks changed through the years?

Fortunately, I do not suffer from panic attacks, but someone I know does.

He has greatly reduced these attacks through hypnosis with a therapist, and later by learning self-hypnosis.

Have you tried this route yourself?

Or how about CBT?

[PatrickMd]

Mine were bad in my late teens and early twenties, got much better in my thirties and are hit and miss now.

I do think that once your brain is wired to experience panic, (when there's no obvious threat) it is kind of hard to unlearn.

Here is an excellent free online tool for CBT: Welcome to Panic Center Beta 3.0 | Panic Center

[Sammy0220]

I am okay. I kind of ride through. But I have people who say I am faking it so I get yelled at the hole time. That kind makes it harder

[Rubi3]

I had a panic attack, but didn't know that's what it was. Years later, I finally figured it out and am so thankful it hasn't been a regular part of my life. I was living in an unfamiliar town going to summer term grad school.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by movingacrosstown

I've noticed as the years have gone by and suffering with panic attacks my entire life since 11, they have changed.

Originally. I got the typical heart racing, hyperventilating, swetty palms, shaking, crying, scared, going to die feeling.

After many years of counseling, I've learned I'm not going to die. I still get similar symptoms but feel like I'm going crazy. Although, I know I'm not my brain gets in such a fog and scrambled in a panic attack, I can't concentrate and feel like I'm loosing control. The feeling is horrible and only makes me panic more.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to tolerate meds so I have to just live with this. I've tried coping skills and no luck. Have your panic attacks changed through the years?

I had panic attacks for many years -- throughout my 20s and early 30s. I haven't had a full-blown one since 1991 -- I can date it pretty specifically because it's when I got 2 kitties. It may be a coincidence, but there's something about holding on to a little purring ball of fur that helped me quell the attacks.

Mine would typically start in the middle of the night -- I would wake up in a total, complete panic for no reason at all. They were absolutely terrifying. Once I tried to describe them to my mom, who is claustrophobic. I said, "You panic in closed-in spaces, but as soon as you get out of that space, the panic goes away, right?" She said yes. I said, "Imagine that panic not going away even when there is absolutely nothing there to panic about." THAT'S what my panic attacks were like. Many of them lasted for literally months -- I would always lose weight because one symptom of mine was that I would completely lose my appetite (don't know how common that is). It was like my body was on high alert ALL THE TIME. Ugh.

OP, I really feel for you. I too used to feel like I was going crazy when I got them, especially at the beginning, because the panic came out of nowhere for no (apparent) reason. I remember talking to a friend of mine about it -- we were both in school at Berkeley at the time (he was in clinical psych.), and he told me, "The first thing to remember is that you are not going mad." I must say, that helped calm me some, because he had helped a lot of people who also had panic attacks and he knew some things that would help.

Here are a couple of things that I remember that helped:
- As soon as I felt like I was getting one, I distracted myself IMMEDIATELY by, for example, turning the TV on. (This was how I started watching ESPN -- there is something about mindless sports talk at 3 a.m. that was just soothing to me.)
- Reminding myself that what I was feeling was simply a physiological response -- i.e., adrenaline was coursing through my body. I didn't know WHY it was doing that, but it was just physiological -- absolutely nothing had changed from about 5 minutes before when I WASN'T having a panic attack, so clearly this physiological response would eventually go away (and it did, although it always took longer than I wanted it to).

I was never on meds for the attacks, although I would have tried them if I had thought they would help. My sisters get them too, and as I wrote my mom is claustrophobic, so I think I probably am predisposed toward them.

Best of luck to you, OP. They are really terrifying, but you will survive them!

[Challenger76]

I'm 37 and have been having them since 16. My 30's have been the worst time of my life, but slowly getting better. The panic attacks now just make me really mad and irritable because I have them every other day, mostly when away from the house. I feel the symptoms coming on and then I start to get mad because I HATE living this way. Meds don't help because they wont give me benzos for nerves due to a past alcohol problem.
Overall anxiety is also a big problem. You can only take so many deep breaths before you just wanna pull your own hair out.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Challenger76

I'm 37 and have been having them since 16. My 30's have been the worst time of my life, but slowly getting better. The panic attacks now just make me really mad and irritable because I have them every other day, mostly when away from the house. I feel the symptoms coming on and then I start to get mad because I HATE living this way. Meds don't help because they wont give me benzos for nerves due to a past alcohol problem.
Overall anxiety is also a big problem. You can only take so many deep breaths before you just wanna pull your own hair out.

Have you tried CBT? What Is Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

Don't live this way when you can live better

[ScooterMcTavish]

I've had them since my grade school years, and have found that mine have changed, mostly due to doing my own CBT, without understanding what CBT actually was. But it literally was a self-regulating mental process, rationalizing away why what you were anxious about was irrational.

In my 40s, mine have also turned towards the "feeling crazy" part. When one has had some therapy or CBT, they know there are no reasons to panic, and they know they can rationalize why they should not panic.

Yet still having the panic attack when one knows they know better makes them feel out of control, or like they are losing their mind. People who suffer from panic attacks and anxiety are tightly enough wound already, and this loss of control against the rational brain does make one feel like they are losing it.

Best wishes OP. Only advice I can give is to:
- Stay away from stimulants or depressants, as both seem to trigger some anxious reactions. A cup or coffee or a beer likely won't trigger it, but over consumption of either can.
- Avoid situations or people that cause stress or conflict. Many people's anxiety and panic attacks come from childhood experiences with these exact same stimuli, and both make the brain and body react unconsciously
- Get as much rest as you can. A rested brain is much better able to deal with normal everyday stresses, helping you avoid having normal stresses turn into panic attacks
- Find a place of peace for a little time each day. If it is in the work commute, turn the car radio off, and instead process your day, allowing you to proactively deal with anything that may later trigger a panic attack. If you're at home, turn off the TV, put down the PC, and listen to some soothing music (Mozart vs. Metallica)
- Ensure good physical comfort at bed time. Don't eat 3 pieces of KFC with gravy before bed. Don't drink a gallon of water before bed. Make sure your room is cool. When sleeping, negative physical stimuli can cause anxiety and panic attacks while sleeping. This makes you tired, which makes you more susceptible to panic attacks, and it becomes a vicious cycle.

[Kibbiekat]

I get sweaty, feel like I'm going to puke, shaky. I only really get them when I fly. A few flights ago I told myself I was fine and willed myself not to have one. It worked. I didn't have one. It doesn't seem to work every time though.