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[sasimirobot]

I have never had any unusual health problems but yesterday when I woke up I just felt weird. My heart was beating fast and I couldnt really breath. I thought I would be ok if I just went for a walk/shopping but I couldnt shake the feeling off.

Finally while in a Taxi I thought I was gonna go nuts with some strange fear that I cant describe. Went to the clinic and talked to a really nice doctor. He said that I was stressed from travel and gave me some medication to relax my heartbeat and breathing.

It worked fine (I felt very relaxed) but I just could not sleep the whole night for some reason.

Anyone else have this happen? It wasnt cool at all, and I so relieved that it is over as of today.

 

[Star Power]

Once I was taking a bath, and IN THE BATHTUB by heart started beating really fast and I kept like.. blacking out.. I had to grab a towel and go lay down for a few.

 

[Neo_ZX]

I sometimes (say once a year) get a sudden increase in heart rate too. If I focus on breathing then I can control it somewhat but it's fucking weird. I should ask a doctor about it sometime...

 

[BlackMage]

I had a panic attack one time when i was stoned. Never smoked again! Well ok maybe once or twice...

 

[DJ_Tet]

I had a panic attack around 6 years ago.

I was smoking weed talking to some girl online (I was 22) and she was playing the hell out of me. Turns out later this girl was 14 or something and her parents wrote me and apologized for their daughter's actions, anyway, she claimed she was living with an abusive bf. I was young and naive, and never had any reason not to believe her. Anyway, I got wrapped up in this whole internet IRC drama (sounds stupid in retrospect, but I was high).

I remember I couldn't catch my breath, my chest was pounding and I was sweating. I literally got up from the computer, went to a couch in the office I was working at (small company and I had the keys, didn't have internet at home). I laid down on the couch and prepared to die. I was sure that I was going to die, and I felt bad for dying at the office instead of home lol.

Fifteen minutes later I was fine, but I'll be ok if I NEVER have another panic attack again.

 

[DJ_Tet]

I had a panic attack one time when i was stoned. Never smoked again! Well ok maybe once or twice...

must have gotten some from the same batch I did, you aren't from North Carolina by any chance are ya?

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I'm so sorry, last attack I had was about 2 years ago. I was really stressed about school and had like 5 projects to do over the weekend. I was writing this major English paper and for some reason the power went out...lost about 3 hours worth of work. I started thinking about all the stuff I had done and all the stuff I had to do, and then just lost it. I started freaking out and crying, I couldn't breathe and felt very ill, like I was going to throw up. The horrible thing is that I was worried that I was dying or something...which of course doesn't make the attack any better. My mom came in and helped me through it though, lasted a good 10 minutes though.

I'm sorry to hear you had to go through a panic attack, horrible stuff. I think its become so much more common these days with all the extra stress we have in our lives. Take it easy, buddy.

 

[SKluck]

I don't really know if I've ever had one, but what I describe to doctors/people, they say I have. I honestly don't remember a large portion of my teen years.

 

[DJ_Tet]

The horrible thing is that I was worried that I was dying or something...which of course doesn't make the attack any better.

That was by far the worst thing. I remember resigning myself to the fact that I was going to die.

Even when I got held up at gunpoint delivering pizzas, I've never felt like I would die so hardcore. It was an amazing and frankly humbling experience.

 

[Dan]

Not really a panic attack per se, but when I come down with a fever, and it breaks, I almost always have a strong hallucinatory episode. Twice I've had an irrational urge to count everything in the world and that if I didn't I would die. Probably stems from being a compulsive counter, but anyway I'd just be pacing around the room, panicking because I know it's impossible, sweating up a storm and just going crazy. I have no idea how long it lasts.

Another time, when I was much younger, I thought that there were really fat women rolling around my house like giant bowling balls. The only way to stop them was to turn on every light in the house, and I seriously recall dodging the imaginary women as I did it. Eventually rational thought returned and I had to turn all the lights out.

It really scares me, as when it happens I'm not in control of my thoughts in any way, shape or form, and it's just from a simple fever. For that reason, I have no interest in drugs.

 

[yoshifumi]

i've had really crazy panic attacks where i vomit and think i'm going to die

 

[yoshifumi]

those are generally not a good time until you look back on them

 

[={<SMOKE>}=]

I had a panic attack one time when i was stoned. Never smoked again! Well ok maybe once or twice...

i've had several with high. i still smoke from time to time though...

 

[Ill Saint]

I had one (my first) a few months ago. I didn't really know what the fuck it was until only recently.
But yeah, all the symptoms -- heart pounding, sweaty, ghost white, and that sense of impending doom. I was close to calling for an ambulance until I told myself to calm the hell down.

Must have lasted only about 5 minutes. Really sucked though.

 

[miyuru]

I haven't had anything serious, but procrastinating has really screwed me over, especially studying for organic chem. Usually with a project or something I stop in the middle and say to myself "I'm so screwed" with only 8 hours left until it's due, but I just tell myself to keep going and I make it through eventually. With OChem, I just said "I'm screwed" and ended up with a B-. My dad comforted me during the drive to school that morning though when he said he failed OChem in undergrad. Funny how I was mostly pressured because of his phd in chemistry lol!

 

[Jill Sandwich]

Yep, I've a history with stress related illness and panic attacks. Thankfully they've calmed down a bit since my late teens, but every now and then I seem to have a couple of months a year when it comes back. Heart palpatations are the worst, where it beats a billion times a second and you think you're having a heart attack. VERY scary when you've never had them before. When that happened the first time it dragged me further into anxiety as I thought I was going to die all the time. If you can feel the adrenaline building up inside you the best way to combat that is to breathe into a paper bag or similar. This stops you hyperventilating and brings your adrenaline down, and it's also reassuring that you know you can control it.

 

[Ryo]

Panic attacks sux.. I had frequent attacks during ten years.. yes that is 10 years. I almost went totally nuts from it, but then I got a new drug that calmed everything down. Took it for a year, and now I am free from not only the drug but allso the attacks. Now I only get them if I am totally exhausted physically and mentally, wich isnt that often =)

 

[Belfast]

Ahhh, yep. I developed these just a couple months ago. The first one I had was just after eating some Checkers. Over a couple hours time, it got harder and harder to breathe. Eventually, I just started to get really panicky and decided I'd drive myself to the hospital. On the way there, while *I* was driving, it struck. Thankfully, the hospital wasn't far, and it was around midnight so there weren't many cars out, but I remember feeling absolutely horrible - sweating, hot flashes, nervousness, extreme shortness of breath, hear palpitations, and *then* at one point, I had a sharp pang in my chest. I hadn't had very good eating habits for the past few years, so yeah, my initial reaction was, while I was driving, "I'm having a fucking heart attack!" It didn't help that there was a lot of construction at the hospital going on and it was hard for me to find the door to the emergency room. Probably one of the worst experiences of my life, and yeah, one of the major things about it is that you feel like you're going to die. I said to myself "No, no, I'm not going out like this!" and, well, I didn't. I've spent the rest of the summer with doctors and medicine and whatnot trying to figure out what prompted my anxiety/breathing problems in the first place. We still have no concrete answer, though I'm beginning to think its linked to eating. I've had 3 anxiety attacks since the first one and other instances of mild anxiety that don't escalate *that* far. Ironically, most of these have comee just after I eat, including the very first one. Before this, I was perfectly fine and a pretty happy person who didn't have much stress in his life, but now, its completely different. If one good thing has come of all of this, I've largely changed my eating habits, but until I find out what is physically triggering these problems that I'm having, I don't think I'll be completely rid of it.

 

[Crispy]

Once I was taking a bath, and IN THE BATHTUB by heart started beating really fast and I kept like.. blacking out.. I had to grab a towel and go lay down for a few.

This could be because of the bathwater being too warm, that way your body can't lose it's own warmth and overheats. Some people with private swimming pools died that way.

 

[sasimirobot]

Thanks guys! Now I understand that what happened isnt so rare and can be treated easily. I just need to chill out a little longer when I travel, not spend so much time "on the run" worrying about catching planes/taxis/trains etc...

The drugs are cool though, too bad I only have enough for a few days. (Heh)