Anxiety Attacks, anyone suffered with them?

[krisbarry]

My first anxiety attack was about 6 years ago and frightened the life out of me. I thought I was going to die.

 

[Milk Man]

Ive had clinical depression for about 5 years now, about 3 years ago it progressed into anxiety. Thankfully ive only had the one 'attack' as such; I did feel as though I was going to die too. It felt like I was literally having a heart attack. This was brought on by zyban (quit smoking drug) which exacerbated the underlying anxiety.

Now I take a drug called efexor-xr which really helps. Avoiding excessive alcohol definitely helps too. Oh, and NOT quitting smoking too .

 

[Mouse]

Hey Stop the clock,

I'm actually on a disability pension because I have severe agoraphobia/panic disorder, so I live with anxiety attacks almost every day.

Milk man, I hate to tell you this but you can still give up smoking : It's taken me almost 2 and a half years of hell trying to give up, but I haven't had a smoke for almost 10 months now and I feel a lot better for it.

cheers
Mouse

 

[tech/a]

Sitting on a plane in the middle of the Indian Ocean at 2 in the morning and 6 hrs to Perth wondering if it was possible that all the hype may not be hype and we maybe tommorows headline.

Yeh I guess I have and perhaps 50% of those on most long haul flights of late.

 

[Julia]

Sitting on a plane in the middle of the Indian Ocean at 2 in the morning and 6 hrs to Perth wondering if it was possible that all the hype may not be hype and we maybe tommorows headline.

Yeh I guess I have and perhaps 50% of those on most long haul flights of late.

Well, presumably you're now home safely Tech. Hope you had a great holiday.

I don't think the sort of anxiety you experienced is what other members are referring to. A friend of mine gets panic attacks periodically and they seem to just occur out of the blue. Despite being in a less than happy marriage, she's basically a fairly calm person with a philosophical attitude, not given to worrying about things and pretty much "going with the flow".

But then one of these attacks come on and she can't breathe properly, gets chest pain (this worries her because she actually has heart disease and thinks she is having another heart attack), gets a strong sense of impending dread and fears she is going to die. When it passes, she feels shaken and quite weak but after a few hours is quite normal again.

It seems an odd phenomenon and I can't help wondering if there's some biological basis to it when it occurs suddenly in someone who has not been conscious of feeling anxious.

Julia

 

[krisbarry]

Yes mine are spontanious they happen for no reason at all, so they are non-specific to my environment, not like a phobia which triggers them off in some people.

They seem to happen to me after a long period of stress, then when I stop and relax, they seem to come on really bad.

Meditation helps me.

They are horrid and run in my family, so there is a genetic factor too.

My heart starts racing, I get really hot, start sweating, shaking. I feel like I am going to pass out. I have out of body experiences and I feel like nothing is real, I lose touch with reality. Its like having 20 cups of coffee, try it and you will most likely experience all the above. It really is frightening!

 

[Happy]

A friend of mine gets panic attacks periodically and they seem to just occur out of the blue. Despite being in a less than happy marriage, she's basically a fairly calm person with a philosophical attitude, not given to worrying about things and pretty much "going with the flow".

But then one of these attacks come on and she can't breathe properly, gets chest pain (this worries her because she actually has heart disease and thinks she is having another heart attack), gets a strong sense of impending dread and fears she is going to die. When it passes, she feels shaken and quite weak but after a few hours is quite normal again.

It seems an odd phenomenon and I can't help wondering if there's some biological basis to it when it occurs suddenly in someone who has not been conscious of feeling anxious.

Julia

This can be heart condition and anxiety understandably being triggered by it.

Unless she had one of those attacks in the presence of doctors who could rule out heart stressing out.
It is hard to rule out heart without the doctor.

 

[kgee]

My sympathy to anyone who has or does suffer anxiety attacks....when I was younger and going thru tough times I had 3 attacks which I believe were exasperated by smoking a lot of marijuana I quit smoking and haven't had any since...although I'm very conscious of them
All 3 times they were brought on just as I was to enter a doorway it was a paralysing effect and very scary
To Julia if your friend smokes pot I'd tell her to give it away and if not get some professional help...I have heard from a friend that anxiety attacks are one of the easiest pychological disorders to address although I can't remember why that is
Anyway good luck

 

[Kauri]

Yes mine are spontanious they happen for no reason at all, so they are non-specific to my environment, not like a phobia which triggers them off in some people.

They seem to happen to me after a long period of stress, then when I stop and relax, they seem to come on really bad.

Maybe it has something to do with your trading "gems" like LVL.. BTV.. PNO ?

 

[krisbarry]

LOL, yes trading on the stock market can be very demanding at times and I am sure it has caused me to suffer a few anxiety attacks.

But there is a very big difference between my heart skipping a few beats when a trade comes good and a full blow attack.

I am sure happy at the moment though

 

[Milk Man]

My sympathy to anyone who has or does suffer anxiety attacks....when I was younger and going thru tough times I had 3 attacks which I believe were exasperated by smoking a lot of marijuana I quit smoking and haven't had any since...although I'm very conscious of them
All 3 times they were brought on just as I was to enter a doorway it was a paralysing effect and very scary
To Julia if your friend smokes pot I'd tell her to give it away and if not get some professional help...I have heard from a friend that anxiety attacks are one of the easiest pychological disorders to address although I can't remember why that is
Anyway good luck

Definitely! I feel that marijuana also hastened the onset of the conditions I have, having to quit probably made it even worse. They are hereditary but not usually until later on in my family. Alcohol certainly doesnt help and may actually have more negative effect than other drugs. It is very easy to get help, though it may be a life sentence of pills. Id certainly rather taking a tablet every day than being a quivering mess.

 

[noirua]

 

[moXJO]

View attachment 179266

Anxiety has really gripped the nation

 

[wayneL]

Anxiety has really gripped the nation

With good reason.