“Well, theres really only one thing left that I would like to clear up. Have you ever spoke to anyone who suffers from panic attacks who has symptoms that are occuring daily.”

*Raises hand* Happened to me.

Actually, in response to that I wrote this post. Hope you don’t mind.

“…but sitting and watching TV is a big worry…”

This reminds me of a joke. I walked in to my doctor’s office. She asked “What brings you in today?”

“It hurts when I breathe,” I answered.

“Then what do you think you should stop doing?” (Insert laugh.)

Moral of the story: stop watching TV . Actually, that’s one of your clues right there. What kinds of shows do you watch? Is it with all shows? Is it with shows and not with movies? Is it after you’ve been watching for a certain amount of time? If so, how much time? Do you watch the news? Do you NOT watch the news? Do you watch alone or with someone? Does it happen if you’re watching and doing something else, like cleaning, folding clothes, or washing the dishes? Does it happen day time, night time, or both?

Ask yourself all kinds of questions. Move on to the next type of big attack. When does it happen? From what you told me here, it sounds as if you don’t have an aversion to death, which is a healthy thing, though I wonder why it is you brought THAT up instead of something more akin to watching television? (That’s something else to look at, by the way: what words do you use? What associations do you make in your mind? Does that give you any clues?)

If you want to keep this going, feel free. I’m more than happy to help, and if it means you get your attacks solved, then, by golly, this whole post was worth more than I ever expected.

Once again I appreciate your time and help MIKE

Sounds to me like the starting point for your figuring out why the panic attacks are happening is mentioned right here: increased responsibility. However, that may not be the answer. In my experience, there are usually a specific set of circumstances (or themes) that are at play every time an attack happens. For me, as you saw, it involved the feeling of being watched by my fiscal responsibility to the future. THIS was the cause of everything else, the tying factor. You have to see what your tying factor is.

Another thing you allude to is this: “Point being I’ve been…the one you can talk to, the strong minded one who could deal with the situation without confrontation,” While you may have been the listener, perhaps it’s time you find others to listen to you. Again, for this I highly recommend a psychologist, as well as a new circle of friends you can get involved with, people you can talk to, comfortably. (Maybe by joining a chess club or, if you qualify, a High IQ society, since if you’re above a certain level (say, 130) your emotional needs often won’t be the same as the emotional needs of someone with an IQ of, say, 100, and would therefore benefit from those who are more like you (and vice versa: smeone with an IQ of 100 will find it difficult to relate to someone with an IQ of 130 at an emotional level simply due to the differences in which those two types of people will process information).

As for “wasting my time”, don’t worry about it. I put this post here in order to show people that they’re not alone, that others have gone (and will go) through the same thing, and that there’s always help. As for me, looking at my life I can’t say this wasn’t expected. (Lemme see: a workaholic who has, throughout most of his life been the one who can shoulder responsibility and who would serve as everyone’s guy to talk to. Yeah, that doesn’t scream Panic Attacks Waiting to Happen or anything. On top of that, I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, which just makes things worse.) In short, it is my pleasure to help. If you wish to divulge more information, something you’d rather NOT make public, feel free to email me at norb@gnorb.net. Considering I’m a total stranger (and therefore can’t help but be non-judgmental) I may be a great person to talk to. Of course, the fact that you don’t know me from Adam should also tell you that not everything I say should be trusted until I prove myself trustworthy. If you wish to keep discussing things here, go for it. I’m sure others will, in the future, benefit from our conversations and the outcomes achieved therein.

1) Go see a psychologist. (Note: not a psychiatrist.) They can help you figure things out and connect dots you may not be able to connect yourself.

2) Don’t dismiss the fact that it MAY be biological. Malfunctions in the brain can cause the adrenalin to start pumping in your system (causing the sudden thumping in the chest) which then creates a feedback loop of fear/panic/more adrenalin/fear/panic/more adrenalin… This causes you to have the feeling of needing to run away somewhere (basic fight or flight response).

3) Most of the time, however, it is NOT biological. In my case I had to narrow down what were the situations which were causing me to have panic attacks. I figured out the attacks were coming whenever I felt “watched”, not by a person, but by responsibility. I felt I was faltering in my job at the time (I wasn’t), and I felt I was faltering with my company at the time and therefore being watched and judged badly by the future (I wasn’t, faltering, I mean), and I was reading 1984 (Big Brother was watching). Specifically this dealt with the area of finances, since The Wife and I were talking about having kids ($$$) and one of the big attacks came at a Toys R Us, when we were looking at the Monopoly boards ($$$). In short, it was the feeling of being watched (usually in matters involving finance) that were causing my attacks. Once I figured that out my attacks ended. (Seriously, I haven’t had one — not even a small one — ever since).

4) Small attacks were usually the result of my fearing that I would have another attack. Again, this caused a loopback cycle. Fear caused an increase in adrenalin which pushed me to panic (clammy, numb hands; heart palpitations) which caused fear which caused an in crease in adrenalin which pushed me to panic, etc. The key here is retreating into your mind and remembering that this is ALL in your mind, and that soon it will pass. Meditation, especially Yoga, comes in very handy here.

FYI: Cut off the caffeine, smoking, and alcohol consumption, at least for a while. You may be able to go back to them later on, once you’ve worked through the issues.

There are a lot of things you can do about your panic attacks, but most of this boils down to the following: First, you ARE likely a very healthy individual. The panic attacks ARE in your mind. Yes, they have biological components, but that’s just your minds chemicals interacting with each other. Next, you’re probably fairly intelligent, which means your mind is collecting more information than most other folks. That’s good in that, hey, you’re smart, S-M-R-T! That’s bad in that the panic attacks will be triggered when you gather more stimulation that you can handle on a certain subject (in my case, again, it was finances and the fear of being “watched”). Finally, remember: you’re not going to do this alone. Make sure you socialize with friends and they know what’s going on. A true friend will be able to help you. You’re not crazy (hopefully), you’re not homicidal (hopefully), and the only thing “wrong” with you right now is that your “fight or flight” response acts up at weird times, something which can, with discipline, be overcome.

Take time out to relax. Read a few books. Find out what you really are meant to do in life. You’ll find that when you’re happy, when you feel like you’re doing what you’re meant to do the panic attacks won’t come any more. But first you have to figure out the reason (or reasons) you’re getting the attacks in the first place.

The dentist told me it would take several visits to start my way into having a healthy mouth, after my second cleaning which was a few days later than the initial visit I awoke in the middle of the night feeling like my throat had closed and I couldn’t breathe. This only lasted a few seconds and while now scared I was able to fall back asleep….

The next few days I noticed this feeling of a lump in my throat like something was stuck there and then more and more the sensation of my heart pounding and skipping beats{palps}became common, Being a longtime smoker I decided that it was time to throw them away and I quit scared that they may have finally done me in.

The feelings were getting worse and I went to my cardiologist to get a echocardiogram, the results were normal and he disagreed that quiting smoking was the reason for my new found problems, He suggested that it sounded to him like fear and panic.

What followed that very evening was a full blown attack of somekind that caused my entire body to feel like it had fallen asleep. shaky,cold and lightheaded, it lasted about 15 minutes and my mother gave me a lorazapam to calm me down as I thought this was the end. It passed and happened again two days later. I then felt it every once in awhile but never as severe as these two occasions. However symptoms like heart palpations, dizziness, exhaustion, difficulty breathing, numbness and tingling in hands, buzzing in head when trying to sleep, out of body sensations, twitching, fast heartrate, choking feelings, anxiousness, and more occured on a every day basis, while sometimes for weeks these symptoms are not as strong as other times not a day goes by without one or a series of the following affecting my life.

I have been to the heart doctor at least a half dozen time in the last 16 months, to my family doctor countless number of times and have seen every doctor of almost every field inbetween, the results have been all positive. But really its negative because at least a physical abnormality could be treated. More than one doctor has said it sounds like panic attacks but my response to this is ‘How could it be constant?’ if it happened once in awhile and the rest of the time I felt normal I would not mind so much.

Im now 32 years old and don’t want to suffer from this forever, also I’m not a person who wants to go on anykind of anti-depressant, one allergy doctor perscribed cloenazapam for me to take if the feelings are really bad and I have taken it only 4 or 5 times since and only at night when it seems the symptoms are at there worst. I cannot deny that I feel better now than when this first began, but the bottom line is it’s still there and I’ve become used to some of the feelings, which is to say I don’t get as scared now as I once did.

Please let me know what you think………………………Thank You

I swear I was holding my breath the entire post, which is a really long time, my you. That was no short post! Whew!