I had a panic attack in a movie theater and since then I have difficulty going, there you go, avoiding "dangerous" spaces. a couple of years later, I had a strong anxiety attack in a supermarket but I immediately thought to myself "no way, this is where I buy food" I took a few deep breaths and managed to get over that feeling. this way of thinking has helped me in other anxious situations
Oh no, I feel you, I had one in a convenience store that I lived near and had shopped at my whole life, and I had to keep going back, there really wasn't any avoiding it at the time. Thankfully, It never became a place I avoided, and now I understand why. I am glad you were able to move past it for the supermarket, at least.
Not me who used to get at lease 3 to 4 8 hour panics a day for no cause and now I take pills 💀💀💀 *also none of these are things work if you have diagnosed anxiety*
Panic attacks can get so bad your muscles become rigid. I had one so bad my SO took me to a hospital. There in the ER waiting room my limbs and face froze in their position. It was like I was frozen. Subsequently I was placed into a wheel chair, softened up partially to fit the seated form, and immediately brought it. Funny when I look back at it. Scary AF when it happened the first time. 😮
My panic attacks come at night, when I lay my head down to rest and my brain has time to relax, then the panic sets in, feels like I'm falling, like my body is getting hot, then an urge to take a deep breath as if I'm out of air, and I am well aware of what sets those panic attacks off... it's the thought of having to inevitably die one day. That's when I have to get up and watch TV or something.
oh my god 🫢 the exact same thing happens to me. Whenever it’s time to go to sleep i just get all these thought about how im gonna die one day and i get super anxious and i just don’t end up sleeping
Absolutely brilliant 👏 I first had a few panic attacks 4 years ago and somehow controlled it after a few weeks but its come back again and I too tried to avoid certain places .....my certain places are waiting at red traffic lights on a motorcycle which can get very scary 😨 but as soon as they turn green all things seem to be OK ..this has helped thankyou 😊
Yep! It’s something I’ve been working on to slowly try to break feedback loops, even for stuff as simple as my fear of the dark. I do my best to walk at a normal pace in the dark instead of hurrying.
It took me a trip to a cardiologist, a CT scan, Echogram to confirm I was suffering anxiety and not a heart problem! Breathing, pausing and writing has helped. Awareness is half the battle, the rest is self regulation. Love your content!
@@itsonlikedonkeykong7536 therapy helps, having a routine with exercise is very essential in helping, therapy might help you navigate through coping mechanism, mine was ERP, at the same time it's a long process, I've managed to stay without attacks for a week or two but just happened last night again, so it's a process, get to the core or the source, these attacks are just symptoms
Edit: Update, still on same meds and therapy is as needed, about once every two or three months currently, and I’m still doing great. 👍 Once had a panic attack that lasted for three and a half days. I’d panic until I passed out, then wake and repeat. I was screaming and crying non-stop toward the end of it, and I was certain that I had gone crazy b/c all my thoughts were dark, violent and hopeless. Luckily, I had people to take me to a safe place for evaluation and care. Turns out I had a psychotic break and needed therapy and some light medication. It’s been two years and I’m on the same meds - zoloft and a bridge drug called buspar - and am continuing therapy on an as-needed schedule - about every two months. Many friends and doctors saved my life, and I’m happy. Please get professional help if you need it.
Same thing happened to me. Always had high anxiety and was diagnosed with panic disorder in my teens (in my 40s now) but I managed to cope fairly well and really only suffered true panic attack 2-3 times per year. Then it hit like a ton of bricks….had several panic attacks one right after the other for 5 days straight. I remember thinking if this was a permanent state then I wanted out. The human body is not meant to be in such a state of fear for that long. Thankfully I had my mom and husband with me 24/7 and lots of really great doctors. On a newer higher dose cocktail now and I’ve been fine but I do suffer from PTSD from that week even to this day 7 years out. Ugh.
I had an anxiety attack in my drs office after being told my bp was stroke level high. I also have trouble sleeping sometimes bc my thoughts start racing and my brain won't shut up long enough. I've been taking 5mg of generic buspar twice a day and its really helped me a lot. I've also been remembering to control my breathing as best I can if I start feeling more anxious than I'd like to. I'm glad you were able to have a strong support network and were able to find a system that's worked for you!
@Amradye I've lived w/ a panic disorder all my adult life and I'm on my fifth day of an "episode "now,it's a struggle living like this,I pray all of us will get the help we need, I too am on medication that's NOT helping me and it's just a struggle to get out of bed days,sometimes I can't at all and I have no support system You are all sooo lucky to have that support,this is a nightmare to live in your head like this,it's a constant fear and debilitating depression has set in now on top of the panic attacks,I'll say a prayer for all of us,bless all your hearts
@@Tammy-it2yu If it helps, I had to stop all caffeine intake as well as all the other things I did (eating right, more exercise, identifying triggering events and changing them, therapy, finding the right meds and the right dosage). This all helped but I still found myself with anxiety and those intrusive thoughts. For me, what really did the trick was one day I figured out how to blank my mind. I stopped all thoughts, even in intense situations that were big triggers for me. I forced my brain to go blank and have no thoughts, like when you put those foam earplugs in your ears. I don’t know exactly how it’s done, but whenever I catch myself worrying about anything, big or small, I blank my mind. That’s the only way I stop the huge waves of anxiety and fear and the cycle of intrusive thoughts. I hear this is coached for athletes and such, and I don’t know exactly how it’s done-I can only describe it like that. You’re in my prayers too, Tammy-it2yu. I hope you reach out to doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, support groups, church groups, priests, family/friends, online support groups, whatever you can get, to get yourself where you want to be. Please be safe. 🤚
I used to have panic attacks. Once I figured out what was happening, i went to a therapist. She said: - Don't work so hard. - Switch to decaf. - Exercise every day. - Try to get a good night's sleep every night. I haven't had a panic attack since. That was 13 years ago.
Only had a panic attack once. I got in a fight with my mom right before work. Went to work mad. She was moving two hours away. Midway through work I asked if she got there okay and didn't hear anything. After work I called her... No answer. Called again and again until I went into a full panic. I thought something awful happened to her and that the fight we had was our last moments together. I've never been so distraught. When I finally got ahold of her I broke down apologizing like crazy. Even thinking about it now still makes me cry. My mom is my best person, I don't know what I'd do without her
The “don’t avoid the thing causing a panic attack (so long as it’s safe)” advice is really good. I got into a really bad car accident recently, and my roommate have me driving the next day so that I wouldn’t keep being afraid of being behind the wheel. Such an underrated piece of advice.
Exactly! I did the same - I've been a passenger in a car accident where I've been injured, but next day I've booked a taxy to visit a surgeon, because I didn't want to stick in the fear. I sweated a lot, but I overcame the fear for future sake.
I am veteran that was wounded in war. Here are some ways I have learned to handle these situations: 1) stop active (for example pull over at a safe location when I am driving and find a spot in the store to stand for a moment). I don’t remove myself from something causing the anxiety, as a last resort I will, but I will try to stay put at safe location. Reason for this, is i don’t want my anxiety to dictate my life and I don’t want to train myself to run away when I am scared. You might not be ready for that and that’s okay…You might need to go slower and start with imagining the crowd or the thing that makes you anxious. Instead I will slow down and ease into it, Don’t be ashamed of feeling anxious!!! Let me say that again Don’t be ashamed of feeling anxious! Everyone’s situation regarding it might differ but it’s a normal human feeling and response to stress. After, stopping activity in a safe place. I will count three deep breaths I am able to hear. I will imagine something that used to relax me. For me it’s waves rolling onto a beach. I live near a beach so it works. I will watch the waves and try to match my breaths. I will then when I am ready slowly open my eyes and my attention to what’s happening around me. I will continue to breath until the feeling subsides. Sometimes I will close my hands in a fist and slowly open it. Trying to match my breaths with the slow opening of my hands. Some of my brothers and sisters count down while they breath. Telling themselves in their mind in a kind voice I am safe, I am relaxed, I am calm…over and over. I don’t use physical comfort during these events, reason is I want to learn how to calm myself and not depend upon others always. I will tell people that ask straight out, I am feeling a little anxious and taking a moment. I will be alright, thank you for your concern. It’s normal to feel this way, and you can live a good life with proper care. You can even overcome it completely. Never give up on yourselves, you all deserve a good life!!
This is amazing, I've had anxiety most my life but was OK at coping, managing it until recently getting panic attacks. I've had anxiety attacks in the past but oh my goodness these panic attacks are a level so beyond that. I feel like I'm about to die when they're happening or my body will give way. It's that severe. In a public place is the worse because like you I try not leave the place & close my eyes and try breath but all I want to do is run away immediately and then I get embarrassed because I think I look a freak to others because I start shaking & sweating & I'm breathing 90 miles an hr. Anyway I really appreciate your advice here. Thankyou for sharing and you're an incredibly, brave, amazing hero what you went through. God bless you 🙏
Slowing down or stopping for a moment is something I definitely do, though I do occasionally find myself in a situation where I can’t do that but I can’t run either. I find redirecting the energy that I get from the desire to run and putting it into focus helps as well. If I can give myself a task with simple instructions, focus on that task and complete it I’ll eventually realize the situation wasn’t that bad. If the situation was that bad then at least I knew what I was doing.
Honestly, having a panic attack is one of the scariest things I’ve ever been through, even though they clearly aren’t as severe as some other people’s panic attacks, but I resonate with people with anxiety and panic attacks❤ Stay strong and drink some water ❤
@@franepapak5491 well I got it once during one of my papers . I was really anxious about it as my mother made a total pressure . I started to sweat and had hard time breathing. I got a chest pain . Later when I thought about it I thought maybe it is because of my previous heart problem . But today when I think about it after watching the video I realized that all that anxious feeling I was getting which I reasoned myself to be because of my previous heart problem were panic attacks
@@franepapak5491 Not everyone has all of the symptoms she listed. And there are MANY more symptoms that people have that she didn't list. I've never experienced cold sweats/chills (and there are other symptoms on her list I've thankfully never experienced) when I've had panic attacks. And I've been having them for almost 40 years unfortunately, so I'm acutely aware what my triggers are, what the physical sensations are and the different stages of my panic attacks. So, keep in mind that you know your body and mind better than anyone because you're the one living in it 24/7. And regardless whether you have one symptom, a mix of several or all of the symptoms she listed, your panic attacks are real and completely valid.
@@franepapak5491 Also, therapists can't (and shouldn't) diagnose ANYTHING. Their job is to listen and provide you with support, guidance, insight - and to believe you, not dismiss what your truth is. If you're in a position to, I'd suggest you try to find a better therapist as a bad one can make things worse for you. You deserve to be seen and heard and to heal.
Same here. Thought i had panic attacks before, but when the first one hit, i was so scared i was going die, it felt like a heart attack. And when i tried researching my symptoms to see if it was, it still pointed to a heart attack, making it worse. I was about to be alone in my home, also, and that made it worse. I ended up begging my sister to come over and possibly taking me to the ER, i was so convinced. My sister has always been my biggest supporter, and best person to calm me. The second she walked in the door, it was like someone snapped their fingers, and it was gone. She stayed until someone got home, i was afraid it would come back and be legit heart attack. I talked to my therapist about it the next day and she gave me some tips to help, such as ice packs for grounding. Im pretty sure the first time i felt cold sweats, but dont think so after that. A few more times, and ive been able to keep them at least at a minimum, slight discomfort using reassuring and grounding techniques. I found reminding myself im ok, its just my body being stupid, helps a lot.
I watched this yesterday and today I had the worst panic attack I have probably ever had. But I remembered this and realized it was a panic attack not a meltdown I was able to adjust my coping mechanisms and let my family know what was happening so they also started to calm down. Thank you for helping me through this.
My family was also concerned whenever my anxiety attacks happened around them (this far its always been food-related). I have to tell them what to do or not to do every time in short sentences because if I think to much about what is happening it gets worse. I often concentrate on my deep breaths to slowly calm down and tell myself I can get through this because it already happened before. Thankfully I think I never experienced panic attacks and I have easy coping mechanisms when it happens. Sorry I rambled too much about myself but I'm glad you're ok :]
Wow, that was a rough hand.. Attacks feels horrible, but are a sign that you should change something in your life. Do more stuff that boost your selfconfidence and energy and know that your are safe. Calm your body down by slowing breathing and feel calmer. Slower heartrate also helps your mind to reduce the anxiety. ❤
I also suffer from these a ton. Super proud of you for consciously change your coping! It’s super hard to do during an attack I know personally. Oh and if you haven’t, cold therapy like high ac in the car or especially cold water in the face helps a ton.
One thing that I learned from a therapist was to say a phrase over and over. She told me to say I am safe. I am happy. I am healthy, over and over. This helps. I also learned to count backwards from 100 by seven or another digit, that’s not too easy or too hard to help my brain focus on something other thanThe stuff I’m feeling.
I feel like this is all Dr Julie hoped to achieve by posting this video. Incredible that you were able to do this in such a distressing moment @typobear
I had those for years when I was younger. Dr's dismissed it as nothing. No one would listen. They didn't care about my suffering. I learned to stop talking about my suffering.
The tip about not avoiding really helped me. I had a bad panic attack last time I was at a concert and it was awful, thinking about being in that scenario again makes me start to panic already, but my parents booked a concert of my favourite band for next month as a present and I really want to go so I’m gonna try push through ❤ Update: I went and I’m so glad I did, it was really fun and I didn’t have a panic attack. Very happy I didn’t let the panic attacks make me miss it
I've learnt over the years that distraction works for me. Not me doing something, cos I never have that much control, but if I'm with a friend or someone that wants to help, I ask them to tell me a story. Literally anything. It could be a funny memory, what they ate for breakfast, the plot of a movie they just saw, or something completely made up. I try to focus on their words individually, not the story as a whole, and since I am no longer focusing on my failure to breathe or my heart pounding, the symptoms tend to resolve themselves. Of course this won't work for everyone, and it doesn't work every time, but my panic attacks (when someone is there to help) have gone from an hour long to sometimes just a few minutes.
For me they mostly are 'inside'. Like I can look completely normal and calm but I'm actually freaking out and thinking so much that I get dizzy. The worst is when I'm supposed to hold a presentation in front of the class because then, aside from the 'internally freaking out', I also start to shake pretty badly. My breathing gets heavy (sometimes it's hard to breath), my heart beats so fast and loud that my chest starts to hurt a little and I can't think clearly. It starts before it's even my turn to hold the presentation and the longer the wait, the worse it gets. I know I should actually go and talk to someone about this, especially since this is not everything but I just can't. Talk, I mean. I always struggle to find words and stumble over them when I'm trying to have a conversation. I also can't hold eye contact and just the thought of someone waiting for me to talk about my ''problems'' makes me nervous and I just want to cry even though it's not actually happening and I'm just thinking about it.
One of the best tips I received from a counselor on controlling my panic attacks is to do math in my head. It forces your brain to move control from emotion to logic. Both parts of your brain can’t be in the drivers seat at the same time. I do something simple like doubling addition. 1+1=2 2+2=4 4+4=8 8+8=16 16+16=32 etc
I have trouble sleeping at night when my anxiety is overwhelming. Someone on the internet once mentioned try recalling the alphabet backwards. Honestly it does help sometimes. I've never made it to A
I play ‘The what if game’ but the what ifs can only be positive. I have full blown conversations in my head. You get better over time and it shorts my attacks.
I'm a college student. I used to have anxiety during public speaking. I was unable to speak to new person, give speech to masses. My heart was starting to beat faster and faster. Everything changed as I took action on it. I did something completely opposite. I stand up as a class representative. As class representative, there was need for me to talk to new people, give orders, convey messages to students. Its been months now, and I can say I have conquered tge anxiety.
I had a very severe episode of anxiety triggered by a bad panic attack when I went travelling with my father and brother last fall. I ended up laying in a hotel room for two days watching the great British bake-off trying to calm myself. On day one after I had been shaking and crying muttering to my dad that I felt like I was dying, he picked up fellowship of the rings and started reading as he held me. He has always been wonderful at handling my anxiety and calming me down. And even though I was quite exhausted the rest of the trip, it will be memories I will always treasure, because I got to feel like a little girl again as my dad read to me
When you are having a panic attack, your body is actually working really well. You are safe. Wow. This is the single, most helpful, comforting and healing information I have ever come across. Thank you so much for this. When the next attack comes on, I will be using this mindset to comfort and encourage myself! Much appreciation.
I agree but I wish we could know for sure that it is a panic attack not something else. I had one recently that lasted for a bit over a week. And it took me a few days to realize what was happening and I just need to find peace in it and wait it out. A few times I was close to asking my husband to take me to the hospital, as I was sure that I was suffocating (my throat was closing). When it happened on the first day, everything was going fine, the usual day at work, and all of a sudden I could not breathe. I started thinking what I may have eaten as I suspected only anaphylaxis can start like this, though I have not eaten anything new and never had allergies. After googling the time frame I realized I am not having it. But it was not going away. Barely made through the day, as got kinda shamed by my manager for "not wanting to close on a holiday". Got better at home in the evening but the same started again next day at work and kept happening for half a week till I realized what I was anxious about (new high stressful task at work that started the next day after my first episode. I knew I was kinda worried about it, but did not think I was freaking out), even saw it in my dreams that week. After it was "kinda" suffocating for about a week more and it went away completely. The only reason why I never went to the hospital is the realization of having to wait there for hours till probably my next shift at work and never be seen by a doctor. My father-in-law had to wait 7.5 hours there in ER with a stroke and for my daughter's broken arm they had to send x-rays to another city for someone to read (took 6 hours) as they did not have anybody. I imagined this nightmare and chose to "die" at home. Colorado Springs, CO
The irony is you think your going to die and have a heart attack but its actually working too good. I have general anxiety but panic attack is a whole other level. I had one in 2002 and I can remember every second, including the depersonalization which was very weird lol
@@annapatton4544unfortunately have them enough you just start assuming everything is stress, I went the opposite way and yes it can be dangerous because I skip going to the hospital when I should because I go oh they will just find nothing wrong and turn out to be anxiety and stress doing a number on my body. You wouldn't believe the kidney n back pain they was new. I'm use to the heart attack feeling every morning I wake up it sucks.
One thing which helps me a lot is being able to identify thoughts which I have just before my anxiety spirals and counteract it with a more positive thought. For example, when I start to notice myself feeling anxious or panicked I often have the thought 'what if I can't cope with this'. In the past that thought used to make me spiral into a full blown panic attack, now when I get that thought I think to myself 'what if I can cope with this' and sometimes that's enough to calm me down.
Thank you for explaining this!! I have a degree in psychology and although I'm no mental health professional, I feel like I should've known the difference between a panic attack and a so-called "anxiety attack." But thanks for clarifying that what I've been experiencing are panic attacks and that "anxiety attacks" are not a clinical category. I have cPTSD and OCD and I've been stuck in a horrible situation for the past three months where I've been having panic attacks almost constantly, night and day. In the past few years I've been through a lot of grief with the loss of multiple close family members, the loss of my childhood pets, two friends dying, and a rare disease diagnosis. After my dog had some abnormal lab results that were similar to abnormal lab results my older dog had before she died, I keep having intrusive thoughts about my dog being sick or dying. It's gotten so bad that I've called the vet multiple times per day even though he repeatedly told me he thinks my dog is healthy and just fine. I had panic attacks all the time as a kid, and they were related to PTSD. I used to have them about once a month as an adult, but lately I'm having 10 or more per day and they wake me up at night. I don't even know what's triggering them anymore. It seems like they trigger the intrusive thoughts and anxiety more than the anxiety and intrusive thoughts trigger them. Maybe it's a bad PTSD exacerbation. I'm not sure, but I've been in therapy and my psychiatrist has changed my medications so many times, and so far nothing is helping.
I could remember several years ago, I suffered severe depression and mental disorder. Was actually diagnosed with BPD. Not until my husband recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 8 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.
I love hearing great life changing stories like this. I want to become a mycologist because honestly mushrooms are the best form of medicine (most especially the psychedelic ones) There are so many people today used magic mushrooms to ween off of SSRI medication- its amazing! Years back i wrote an entire essay about psychedelics. they saved you from death buddy, lets be honest here.
Can you help me with the reliable source 🙏. I'm 56 and have suffered for years with addiction, anxiety and severe ptsd, I got my panic attacks under control myself years ago and they have come back with a vengeance, I'm constantly trying to take full breaths but can't get the full satisfying breath out, it's absolutely crippling me, i live in Germany. I don't know much about these mushrooms. Really need a reliable source!! Can't wait to get them
YES sure of mycologist Predroshrooms. I have the same experience with anxiety, addiction. Mushrooms definitely made a huge huge difference to why am clean today.
I'm so very happy for you mate, Psilocybin is absolutely amazing, the way it shows you things, the way it teaches you things. I can not believe our world and our people shows less interest about it's helpfulness to humanity. It's love. The mushrooms heals people by showing the truth, it would be so beneficial for so many people, especially politicians and the rich who have lost their way and every other persons out there.
Love this video because I'm tired of people feeling anxious about a job interview or something and calling it a panic attack. There is a stark difference between anxiety and panic for me. Panic for me is total depersonalization and loss of a sense of self or a sense of my true circumstances. They come in a spectrum though; some are small and quick and I have to snap myself out of it, and some are sudden feelings of cosmic horror and death that grip me so intensely that I become physically incapable of helping myself. The worst of them can leave me bedridden. I just recently went through one caused by a change in hormones and medication that left me catatonic for a whole day. The only method I've had to tackling them is just understanding them. Knowing it's just a feeling that is temporary and is often caused by many factors that are out of my control and some that are within my control. Even though they still happen, they happen far less and I know what to do about it and how to ask for help.
I'm also thinking about seeking help from a psychiatrist because I believe I don't need talking sessions I have enough family and friends. I guess I only need a psychiatrist and medicine and not a psychologist. I'm still confused. Please suggest
Thank you so much for all the tips you give us! I guess everyone is different but I list things that have worked for me : - practising patience. For example, I am waiting in a line at the supermarket and I feel really uncomfortable and anxious as it seems it is taking so long so I tell myself : you have to be patient and this shall pass. - recognising that 99 % of my fears never actually happen in real life and that nothing (outside of emergency situations) is really worth worrying about. I try to learn to calm down my fears. - getting used to feel uncomfortable feelings without trying to make stories about it - talking to someone even asking for stupid stuff just so I feel less isolated and distracted from the fear You might want to check whether you are a highly sensitive person (which I am) because for us bright lights, noise etc. give us so much stimuli to our brain that it stress us more than the average person! Let's be safe and let's hope for the best in life!
As an autistic I relate to that reasoning, especially keeping in mind that certain stimuli are going to be more likely to overload my nervous system and cause a shutdown
@@enolp It's so important to listen to ourselves and adapt our life to our needs even if it might seem different or weird to the majority. The older I get the more I know what works and what doesn't work for me and it makes life so much easier!
@@souleyes7467 Hope it helps! I find that I need a lot of alone and quiet time too to feel relaxed enough. The most important thing is to listen to yourself and get to know your needs and limitations to find tricks that work for you.
@@TheMaxiSoul thank you for what you said! For me, i both need alone time but also a lot of reassurance from others but it become a high need and becomes a problem
Same thing happened to me on the way home from the dentist at night 5mins into my journey home started to get this tingling sensation or burning sensation central chest legs started to feel funny,had to stop the car on the side of the road, started crying, pulled myself together after 20mins stared driving againing the same thing stared to happened after 3 or 4mins. In the end got my brother in law to come and drive my car home for me, this all started at 530pm today, 4 hours later still feeling this sensation it's horrible
Thank you so much! For the past few months I’ve been experiencing a lot of anxiety which is new to me and a couple of “attacks”. I had no tools to deal with them or any information on what they were. Thanks to this video I now know that they were full blown panic attacks. I started to cry halfway thru the video because I finally found an answer. Now I just need to remember that I am not actually dying and that it will pass, it’s a temporary state.
I started experiencing panick attacks in uni. I get them here and sometimes even when I'm trying to sleep. My breathing gets heavy, my heart pounds and I feel an impending doom like I'm going to die. However as my brother struggled with anxiety he taught me all about it being natural because adrenaline and fight or flight. So now even though it feels bad I let it ride through and the panic attack is over within a few seconds.
So if you're in bed and your heart starts pounding you just continue laying there and let it happen? Because I get the same thing and I get scared and feel like I have to move.
@Pixie_damsel Haha wow, I know the running water helps for sure. And I don't think it sounds silly at all. Thank you for helping me out and telling me what works for you.
@@RockyAliTyson1all my worst anxiety and panic attacks have happened while I was in my bed (I have a fear of something happening while I sleep) lately I've just stayed in bed instead of getting up. I know people say to not have your worries on your sleeping space but honestly I feel like getting out of bed instead of trying to sleep is letting my fears win. So I'll try as hard and as long as I can to deal with it in my bed by using a weighted stuffed animal on my chest, breathing and meditation, stress ball, and sometimes I force my dog on my bed because he sleeps pressed up against me which is almost always helpful.
I've had panic attacks and they're the worst thing I've ever experienced. Sometimes I knew what was causing it and other times I didn't. However they almost always started with a fluttering feeling in my chest followed by my heart skipping beats. I know now that your heart skipping beats is rarely a serious thing and is pretty common. They happen all the time and you're usually not even aware of it. It's just the hyper awareness caused by the panic attack that causes you to notice it. Since I became aware of this I haven't had another one.
Thank you, I suffered pretty badly with ongoing panic attacks due to family trauma, I am doing better now however I tend to avoid a lot of scenarios for fear they will cause a panic attack or an unwanted feeling. Of course I have realised that this only exacerbates it, so I am going to try and challenge myself in a gentle way to go through situations that caused me to feel anxious.
Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.
Can you help with the reliable source I would really appreciate it. Many people talk about mushrooms and psychedelics but nobody talks about where to get them. Very hard to get a reliable source here in Australia. Really need!
Yes, dr.sporessss. I have the same experience with anxiety, depression, PTSD and addiction and Mushrooms definitely made a huge huge difference to why am clean today.
I wish they were readily available in my place. Microdosing was my next plan of care for my husband. He is 59 & has so many mental health issues plus probable CTE & a TBI that left him in a coma 8 days. It's too late now I had to get a TPO as he's 6'6 300+ pound homicidal maniac. He's constantly talking about killing someone. He's violent. Anyone reading this Familiar w/ BPD know if it is common for an obsession with violence.
I just stumbled upon your channel and omg I have been needing this channel. I see a therapist and he is great but my depression, anxiety and PTSD is awful and hearing these explanations and supportive messages it hits in a good way. So Thanks!
I've struggled with anxiety since the age of 9. Diagnosed at 13 but not medicated til age 25. The most helpful thing was seeking help. I could not manage alone. Writing helps me so much. To this day my anxiety is detrimental but it has become such a common term that people don't understand between the state of anxiety which everyone has and a panic disorder. Thank you for sharing on this topic.
I passed one of the worst emotional trauma. Took antidepressants for a couple of months, sleeping pills for 3 months. SUICIDICAL all the time. It was impossible, but here i am after 1 year. Fully recover. There is always a bad day, but i don't give too much importance. Everyone can make it, just don't give up and there will always be hope..
I've let anxiety control my life for about 5 years. I've had countless tests done, heart ones, brain ones, and the only thing they can come up with is 2 autoimmune diseases (nothing related to the heart or brain though). I still have such bad health anxiety, constantly thinking I'm dying and I avoid everything and everyone. :(
Hey..may i ask what autoimmune disorders..share only if youre comfortable. im going through same things..horrible panic attacks almost everyday.. since 6 years...no end in sight.
I am going through the same symptoms since last year,and Thank God I use many techniques to get calm and it helps. But I am always with fear and wake up with a bad spirit 😢😢
I have severe anxiety too, but. I do want I wanna do now if I know if it will lead me I’m anxiety attack then yea I’m outta there lol but best way to get more control of your anxiety is getting a job, why I say that is so you can be more social
Same! I have 2 autoimmune diseases, had a million tests done and have gone through periods of strong anxiety that led to my first panic attacks and consistent thoughts of death. I am very sorry you're going through the same, it's awful. The only thing that I think has helped me a bit is improving my diet, exercise and getting a good dose of sunlight and nature everyday. Wishing you the best!
I've had panic attacks from a young age, originally because of a severe water phobia that I've had since around 10. But as I got older and struggled with anxiety and perfectionism due to abuse, I began developing them more often. I always called them an "anxiety attack" because I felt like I didn't have a "real" anxiety disorder and didn't want to be disrespectful to my friend who has a legitimate panic attack disorder (hers come without specific triggers). This video was so educational, thank you.
This is my first-time hearing someone having a water Phobia other than me it was one of the many reasons that made my childhood miserable. Thank you for sharing, knowing that I am not alone is really helpful.
@@tinbiteermias-o9l I totally agree! I also don't meet very many other people with this fear (have only met one other person online and a coworker's parent, that's it), so it's validating to meet others and know that I'm not the only person who struggles with this.
I have both anxiety and panic attacks. I usually don’t know why, but sometimes it’s pretty clear why I’m getting them. I started going to therapy right away when they both started getting bad af though. My psychologist diagnosed me with PTSD, and thinks that’s the reason, but I’ve had anxiety attacks since before any of the things leading to the PTSD happened, so now we’re checking out what my other problems can be for the 5th time in a few months, like getting fully diagnosed again
The way you explain and know exactly how I’m feeling and what I am doing in words puts me at ease, it helps me relieve myself, knowing that someone understands me
When I am experiencing this. I can now take a step back, I stop with what I am doing, I recognize what is happening in my head. I am talking to myself comforting; say that I am safe, it is okay, nothing can happen, I know this feeling. Then I let the feeling be in my body, don’t resist it but let it be there. This is what helps me a lot. It has cost me a lot of practise and time, but the more often I do this, the better I can handle this. For me it is al about accepting, let it be, welcome it, don’t fight it, and be kind to yourself when you are experiencing this. Know it will be better ❤
I have anxiety attacks quite often, and mostly because I question reality. When I do have that anxiety, I feel detached from my own body/or reality, and those feelings just make the anxiety attack worse. I’ll feel light headed and such and begin to cry, tremble, and sweat. I do have ways to deal with my anxiety attacks though, they are strange but they work. Holding a pack of ice, squeezing a stress toy (someone’s hand does work too), reminding myself that it’s all in my head, or eating something sweet. My anxiety attacks don’t last long, they can happen for a few minutes at most, but I will almost always feel derealized or depersonalized.
My stepdaughter is in competitive cheer and I can only be at an event for about two hours before the anxiety becomes panic. The huge amounts of energy, loud music, and personality types tend to create a hyper vigilance in me, which leads to a sense that I have to remove myself from the setting. It has put huge strain on my relationship with my stepdaughter because she doesn’t feel supported. I will start with the breathing when I feel the anxiety growing to see if it helps. Thank you for this advice!
well, have you tried talking to her about it? if you explain how you feel during the events ane that it triggers your anxiety and even panic attacks, she will probably understand...
The last part is KEY!! I had my first panic attack when I was hungover driving in the rain. I literally couldn’t drive more than 10 miles down the road. I conquered it by driving 13 hours across state and I beat it … but now it’s different. I had a panic attack while on a date!!! That was embarrassing and I’m trying to beat that cycle
Anxiety is an old friend or mine. Panic attacks are more like unwanted guest appearances i have to deal with, hits and misses. I have experimented with ditterent techniques thanks to my therapist and research. Here is what usually works ( you will need to experiment and see what works for you) : 1. EMDR, I find this works best when done with a therapist but it doesnt hurt to try an app or youtube videos. An app that produces vibration might be better. 2. Box breathing exercices, when you have to follow a box (a square) pattern when breathing and count till 4 at the same time. Inhale while counting till 4, hold while coutiny till 4, exhale while counting till 4 then hold again while countint till 4. And repeat. 3. Vagus Nerve exercises. These have been the more effective for me lately as my panic attacks became more intense. I especially like the ones that focus on massaging gently different parts of the ears. Some focus on eye movement and are effective too. Good luck everyone You got this ❤
I've had anxiety for years and didn't know I was having panic attacks until today. I always used the term "anxiety attack" to describe them because my symptoms didn't fit the stereotypical ones (i.e. chest pain, hyperventilating). Thanks for sharing this! While I'm generally pretty good at managing my symptoms and preventing panic attacks, it's still really beneficial to make sure that I am using the right terms to better communicate my experience, particularly with health professionals! :)
I'm really glad to hear you're feeling better ❤ it's extremely important to be aware of what's going on with yourself so you can work through it. You've made a huge step recognizing the panic attacks ❤
As someone who has both anxiety and panic attacks frequently, this was very useful ! When I get panic attacks or anxiety attacks, it’s usually because of my fears/phobias, or when I’m in a situation that I recognize as dangerous, but with time I’m getting better at handling them, so yayy Thank you for this video !
This is very accurate. I developed severe or chronic panic disorder back in 2017. I had just lost my job, insurance everything and had to move and I was unable to seek any medical help, but it was very bad. Like bad-bad, baaad bad bad. I would have catastrophic panic attacks on the hour every hour to the point I was bed-ridden and would sleep for upwards of 12 hours a night. I developed severe agoraphobia and stayed home for almost 2 years after that, only going out for the bare minimum. When i got working again, work was hard. I would even out bathroom breaks or hide during moments all the time because I felt like my body forgot how to breathe. I felt like my heart had a problem and that it would stop beating at any moment. I would shake constantly, i would feel faint constantly, i lost 35 pounds, i did a ton of preparation-for-death stuff like leaving notes and taking care of things because I genuinely felt i would die. I did go to the ER a bunch during this period, racking up about 4k in debt to hospitals for not having insurance, and it was the worst part of my entire life. I also lost a lot of important relationships. What wound up happening was that I learned to meditate, I learned to think more scientifically about things and even tho it took about 4 years, I became best friends with fear (if that makes sense). I never healed back up 100%, but I healed up close to it. My trigger back then was an undiagnosed hiatal hernia, which gave me sudden feelings of pressure in my chest and as the muscles in my diaphram would occassionally twitch or spasm, I was convinced it was my heart skipping beats. I did learn about the hernia years later, but because of that, everything else unfolded the way it did.
I’ve suffered from anxiety my whole life. I finally got on medication the summer before freshman year in high school. It was absolutely a strange feeling after I took the medicine because I had NO IDEA what calm felt like. I looked at my mom and I said to her, “I feel...weird.” And she just was in shock and realized that I’ve never felt calmness before. It was very emotional and so incredible to feel calm. I think we both cried that day. Now my struggle is being home alone and away from my mom. I go into a state of panic and the only thing that tends to help is having the radio on all the time and breathing.
SAME it is so sad that even now, it still doesn't seem real that people experience calm without strong medications. And I have the same thing with being alone. It's embarrassing because I'm 30 years old! But lately my panic attacks are so constant and so severe that being alone at all is absolutely terrifying, because when I'm alone there is no one to reassure me that things are okay or help me calm down.
I had a bad panic attack recently and I normally can recognize them and calm them myself. What I didn't know about is how if you hyperventilate that can quickly escalate to hyperventilation syndrome and that makes the panic spiral way worse. My arms started tingling then going numb, then my hands literally were paralyzed. I had my friend with me luckily and had to have her call 911 for me because I thought I was literally having a heart attack or stroke and could not use my hands at all. Then my speech started slurring and vision narrowing. Thought I was literally dying. It was treated by taking slow deeps breaths to get my CO2 levels back up, just like a panic attack while the medics check me out. But I thought I was a goner. I wish more of these videos about panic attacks would talk more about hyperventilation syndrome because if you don't know about it and hyperventilate too much it is extremely frighting.
As someone who has struggled with both anxiety and panock attacks my whole life. I can 100% agree with everything you said. I always forget that delayed outbreath - calms! Also, your use of the marker and paper, plus the fact that your handwriting is aesthetically pleasing, is super helpful in remembering the information. Thank you for your content!! ❤
I've had food induced panic attacks since I was 17, I'm not 40. Every single Dr, Psychiatrist, and Psychologist I've been to, and I've been to MANY from 17-40, and they all have said that I have body imagine issues and I'm scared I'll get fat. Well, of course I want a better body but that's not the reason. I effin LOVE food, but any time I eat especially around dinner time my panic level is a 10/10. Every single day I have to do breathing exercises, ASMR, self-hypnosis all of the above just about & I am tired of it. Does this takes so much time out of my day. These panic attacks are robbing me of time...my life. If anyone has any tips please throw them my way. I wish each and every single one of you great health.
Until I listened to this video at 2:30 am this morning, after having yet another “attack” which has had me thinking I had heart problems for nearly a year, and on the brink of dying … it dawned on me since I was shaking uncontrollably, that perhaps this was a panic attack. I looked it up, and found this. if there’s one good thing that came from tonight, it is a huge relief knowing I’m not going to die! Thank you!!! And yes … I have been trying to avoid all things I thought were triggers for my “heart trouble”and I knew I was making things worse! May we ALL FIND PEACE VERY SOON!!!
I tried micro-dosing yesterday for the first time, and I had wonderful experience. I'm someone who suffers from chronic depression, and I was simply happy, not overly ecstatic, but genuinely happy and active with my friends and family. I was even excited to get out of bed this morning.
Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.
Psychedelic’s definitely have potential to deal with mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression, I would like to try them again again but it’s just so hard to source out of there.
I was having this constant, unbearable anxiety because of university stress. Not until I came across bergwilly11_, a very intelligent mycologist.He saved my life honestly
This was so helpful to me! I struggle with panic attacks and they can get to the point there I want to craw away and die in a corner. I often feel alone and malfunctioning when it occurs but you explaining this is my body working to protect me gave me a good reminder. I am not broken.
I found this video when I was feeling extremely anxious and decided to search for anything that might help me relax a little. After finishing the video, I felt a lot calmer and at peace with myself. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Nothing helped me more than not fighting it. Welcoming it, acknowledging it, and then telling it i accept it being there and that it can stay as long as it needs to but i am going to continue do what i was doing... incredibly efficient.
I have extremely severe anxiety that is quite literally debilitating, it holds me back from doing so so so many things and causes me to be at a 5 or a 6 anxiety level wise constantly, and thank you for actually differentiating panic and anxiety attacks :) on a normal day I’m having atleast one anxiety attack per day and or a mini one, and mini panic attacks once a week or more and for someone like me, it’s very very important to know what the difference is and this actually helped! Thank you!
Anxiety is a beast. I don’t often have panic attacks, probably because I’m used to high levels of anxiety. Just had a seven day event of high stress levels, anxiety to the max, a few ASD meltdowns and very little sleep. By day five the meltdown was bad and I was positive I was going to die. Since I was in hospital for a wisdom tooth extraction gone catastrophically wrong, I also couldn’t escape the stressor. I’m now unpacking the trauma of two surgeries to drain the two abscesses (I had to have the breathing tubes set up whilst I was conscious) and the whole staying overnight in hospital when I honestly believed I wouldn’t wake up if I slept. It’s going to take some time. But my mouth is healing nicely and my raging blood pressure is back to normal (it was terrible in Hotel Hell). Things are looking up.
Omg, I can't imagine that in a hospital setting like that. You might as well be locked in a cell as to have that setting. Glad to hear you are feeling better and doing better.
@@theprinceofcrows8691 I can laugh now but the admitting nurse said something that included the reference Hotel California - she probably meant it to reference the copious amounts of drugs (legally prescribed) but I took it as you can’t ever leave. Welcome to the aspie brain. I ended up calling it Hotel Hell and I had to ban the H word (home) until I was actually being discharged.
@@andreagriffiths3512 Oh I know the feeling there. I had an accident long ago and spent almost 8 weeks in the hospital. For most of it they didn't think I was going to recover I had so much organ damage and internal injuries. So talk of home was like a distant fantasy that seemed so impossible that I didn't even want to talk about it. They wouldn't even give me water because they were monitoring my fluids and I had to con the staff that cleaned the place to go get me water at night or get my family to get it for me. I even used to get ice in rubber gloves from nurses and let it melt just to have water to drink I was so thirsty. Part of me thinks it might have been why I lived long enough for them to find and fix the problem after three surgeries and a endoscopy. I did get the Hotel California treatment with the pharmaceuticals but it didn't really do much to phase the pain in any way. It just put you out and made it impossible to know how long you had been out for. Minutes? Hours? It was crazy. Just misery and being physically trapped in that little bed and cell they called a room and nothing but hellish thoughts to deal with when conscious. I actually spent my 21st birthday there the tenth day I was there and got sick during the visit and had emergency surgery the next morning. So I hate hospitals and any setting remotely like that with doctors and institutional living. My panic attacks were months later but if I had been experiencing those in there it would have been the end of me. So you are one tough cookie going through all of that. It had to be brutal. I hope life has been better for you and that things are well. Life has a way of beating the hell out of you but it is magnificent and glorious when it is right. Take care and best wishes.
I love your content Doc. So comprehensive and informative. I do notice that a few of the symptoms of a panic attack can point towards a heart attack for some people. On a personal note, I have nothing wrong with my heart, I don’t really feel anxious about things. I’m 48, almost 49 years old. In March last year I was taken to hospital with chest pain that began during rehab after my left leg was amputated. When I’d been in hospital for 2 days I had a cardiac arrest. Thankfully, this happened in front of medical staff. Nothing came back on the tests. My heart is fine! I’ll be starting my PhD in clinical psychology at Coventry Uni (it’s fully funded and salaried) next year. I hope to be instrumental in changing mental health services for the better nationally through improved delivery and medical engagement alongside peer support coupled with individually tailored modes of treatment. Thank you for being an inspiration xx ❤
I had a panic attack a few weeks ago. It was because i was starting to get flashbacks of my past. I have a lot of childhood trauma, and all these bad memories really took a tole on me. Lucky now, i am doing much better :3 I'm still a teenager, so i try to tell myself that i still have so many things to look forward to. And i shouldn't dwindle on the past.
Thank you for this video. It's so important to educate about this, so more people know what to do in this kind of situation. TL;DR the detailed story of the only time I had a panic attack. I only had a panic attack once. I suffered from anxiety long before that and was doing much better at that time. It was at the top floor of the empire state building. I was tired and stressed because my aunt (whom I met for the first time the day before) offered to buy me the ticket, and I didn't know how to decline. She had already spent a lot of money on me that day, which made me feel like I was out of control. It was also my first time ever in NYC (the city I live in is much smaller). I'd been feeling some tightness in my chest long before the attack, but I assumed I was just tired after a long walk through the city. But then came the shortness of breath and shaking and anxiety, and I immediately knew what was going on even though I had never felt it before. Anyway, I took a moment, counted things I could see, hear, feel, etc., and it fortunately passed. I'm so glad I was able to quickly identify the problem and that I knew what to do. And to anyone who reads all this: know that you're valuable and you matter ❤
I was diagnosed with anxiety years ago, and experience 8 out of the 12 symptoms, some more often than others. I didn't know about all of them until seeing this, but there was a period, not too long ago, where I literally thought I had heart problems due to almost constant palpitations and chest pain. I got checked out, was told I was healthy, and ever since I've been out of the environment I was in at the time, I haven't felt those symptoms anymore. This video puts a lot into perspective. Thank you so much! I just subbed. :)
Based on what you’ve said, that helps explain a phenomenon in my life. Weed will occasionally and randomly make me vulnerable to a panic attack. Has happened about twice.
Thankyou so much for the information you share in your book which I've almost finished reading. I've found it useful as a go to after all the trials and tribulations of the last few years including the loss of my father. I've only discovered your TH-cam today and I can only hope that it gives my mother the tools she needs herself to help tackle her grievance process ❤
One of my best friends gets panic attacks, and this honestly helped me understand the meaning better. Wish you guys well, it must be AWFUL to get them, but you guys are strong
Hi I'm Dr. Julie subscribe & follow me for lots more videos on mental health and psychology. For more on this see my new no.1 bestselling book - Why has nobody told me this before? 👉 linktr.ee/drjuliesmith
mine start with any sort of stomach discomfort. Even if I just need the loo, i could see this as danger of the panic symptoms or worse my emetephobia. I really wish whilst this was happening i could just accept it and make the attacks a lot shorter!
YES THANK YOU. I had this discussion with a prof, and she said she'd TREAT THEM THE SAME. I personally feel like anxiety attacks should be recognized by the clinical community as a phenomenon of their own. It is obviously something that many people experience distinctly from panic attacks.
Psychedelics definitely have potential to deal with mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression, I would like to try them again but it's just so hard to source out here
I’ve been researching on psychedelics and it’s benefits to individuals dealing with Anxiety, Depression, ADHD and from my findings, they really work and I’ve been eager to get some for a while but its been difficult to get my hands on them.
The Trips I've been having really helped me a lot. I’m now able to meditate and I finally feel in control of my emotions and my future and things that used to be mundane to me now seem incredible and full of nuance on top of that I'm way less driven by my ego and I have alot more empathy as well
@@JamesFJohnson I feel the same way too. I put too much on my plate and it definitely affects my stress and anxiety levels. I am also glad to be a part of this community.
Getting diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and ADHD, and getting medicated was a huge help. Also recognizing how my body feels when it has a panic attack, and taking deep breaths when i feel those somatic symptoms.
The list at 2:25 fits for flashbacks too which is also "different" from a panic attack. I think all these terms are talking about the same thing, the involuntary jumpstart activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Maybe we could get in the same page by describing to the boilogical systems and responses instead of relying the subjective description of the sensory experience of bodily functions.
I love the list of intense feelings that you provided and I also like the way you explained how anxiety can spiral into a panic attack. I would like to add that taking deep breaths may lead to dissociation in some people. Another great grounding technique would beThe Narration Technique: Verbally state your current safety and location, and narrate your actions to stay focused on the present moment. This can also involve stating the problem that triggered distress and listing steps to address it.
I’ve experienced panic attacks for more than 15 years and this is the most helpful explanation and advice I’ve ever heard (and I’ve seen therapists before). Thank you ❤️
Excellent video Dr. Julie as always!!✋👏🙌 Having experienced night time panic attacks for over 10 years, you described them perfectly. The fear of facing imminent death and that I was having a heart attack was the most traumatic part for me. Learning that these were panic attacks after googling the symptoms one night and then getting confirmation from my GP that I was not going to have a heart attack did bring me peace of mind. Thankfully after doing a lot of inner work, getting to the root cause of my panic attacks and removing the toxicity from my life I haven't had one in over nine months. What helped me when I was having them though was taking deep breaths, reminding myself that I was safe and that I was going to be ok, drinking a glass of cold water and going outside to feel the air on my face. Taking the natural supplement Valerian root on nights where I had a lot of anxiety during the day helped me as well. Knowing the signs of a panic attack helped me learn to stop them in their tracks before they became full blown, and hopefully they don't come back.☺️🙏💛
@@Wildcheetas I found it to be a very useful natural supplement. I would not take it during the day or if you are going to drive because it makes you extremely tired. I found it to put me in a deep and relaxed sleep. Sometimes it did set my stomach off. I haven't used it in several years and I only used it on those particularly high anxiety days but it did help me. My GP recommended it and I bought it over the counter at GNC. Hope that helps.💛
@@Goldenheart2911 that is so helpful! I am thinking of launching my own vitamin company focused on mood support and I didn’t think of this particular supplement. Thanks for taking the time to reply
I had panic attacks after going through consistent trauma. I never understood they were panic attacks. It took me so much therapy and talking about it to even identify my feelings which were mostly fear. Therefore, I thought for the first time that I must have anxiety. But the times where I would get the symptoms you mentioned were different and I couldn’t figure out what was happening to me. I feel like you really helped me to understand and identify what I am actually experiencing and it makes me feel better that it is only natural and safe that my body reacts this way due to my past trauma. Understanding and practicing healing helps to ease panic attacks and slow them faster. To eventually getting them little or not at all, which is what you want. Breathing really helps and guided meditation. Also physical activity like yoga helps to break the stress and tight grips throughout your body that you might not be aware of. Go outside in the sunshine and take a walk by yourself or with a friend, or someone you trust, in nature and use your senses to feel human again. We are all animals and we have forgotten our nature so it is important to get out and be our animal selves again. Thank you for this educational video. I feel like I am doing much better with this knowledge and awareness. Keep going in life, you all got this. Identifying the problem and utilizing different solutions is the best way. Take your time. 🌟 This too shall pass 🌟
Thank you for validating my feelings about this.... It's hard for me when people say panic attack is the same anxiety attack. It's not!!! I know it only too well as my first panic attack happened when I was 6 years old...in church. I remember it as well as yesterday. It became so bad and as a child I had no way of communicating to my parents or teachers or friends what was happening. It got so bad so i ended up avoiding going places and never wanted to leave the house. It wasnt until I was 18 years old one of my counselors spoke to a psychologist and I could finally put a name to it. Unfortunately I did not connect the the dots about what may have started them until I was 34 years old. It's just very hard for me when people/Drs use the terms interchangeably...Thank you SO MUCH for this validation
Thank you, thank you, thank you!. This is a huge eye and mind opener for me. Everything you said is exactly what I have been feeling. I had been to a doctor and called an ambulance but none even suggested a panic attack so all along I've just self diagnosed myself and not want to tell anyone because they wouldn't understand but this video has really helped.
I love watching your videos since I have struggled with both anxiety and depression. Anxiety nowadays being the most prominent one at the moment, and this is extremely helpful especially since in the past I have had both anxiety attacks and panic attacks in the past and I’ve even had 2 anxiety attacks in school before as I am only 14 and don’t like talking to people about my mental health struggles unless I trust them a lot which takes a while for me to do and even then I normally don’t tell them in person!
Thanks for clarifying the differences. I reckon the panic attack is an anxiety attack but worse. I live with anxiety and depression, both from (I believe) C-PTSD. The things that have worked for me were running, yoga, 4-4-8/box-breathing (or any variation in which the exhales are longer than the inhales) and recently I've been having good results with acupuncture. Subscribed. Cheers!
Up until now i always called mine anxiety attacks because they didnt fit how panic attacks were described to me. But there is such nuance here i can see them for what they really are. Thank you!
I've called the police twice thinking I was dying during 2 panic attacks in my life. I've never been diagnosed but I feel like I will be seeking medical help now
Hello, Dr. Julie! 💖 First of all, I’m so grateful for your videos. I can feel that you are a very empathic psychologist. I love your videos on Instagram. They are very helpful, to the point, healing and creative. I love how you use different things as analogy to helps us visualize our problems. I’m so happy that you’re beginning to upload videos on TH-cam. Here I can understand more deeply about a topic, in this case panic attack. I would like to watch more videos like this, especially about different and useful techniques to cope with a panic attack (self-soothing tips). I’m suffering from panic attacks due to a health trauma (hypoglycaemia, hypotension, palpitations) last year. Since then I’ve been at home recovering. Now I’ve noticed that when I go outside or have a social event, I get anxious, have tachycardia, and I return home very tired. I’m trying to not to avoid it, but still it’s very difficult for me to cope. I hope to learn how to slowly go outside of my home as I used to do before getting really sick. Thank you so much for your help, Michelle
I struggled with anxiety almost my whole life, my first panic attack was when I was 10 years old and I had no idea what was going on but through medication and meditation. I am 44 now and I am happy to say that I have not had a panic attack in almost 20 years. This video was spot on about everything that at least I felt when I was suffering from horrible panic attacks. And your advice is also spot on. Thank you.
I had a panic attack once on a bus after thinking I could parallel park better than someone I saw doing it. It took me a while but breathing steadily helped me calm down. This video is really insightful around managing anxiety in general, thank you so much.
I've got to say, I would put breathing as number 1 head honcho. I feel like the background work of recognising the signals and bodily processes is important for those who have recurrent panic attacks, but breathing is key for everyone whether you only have one once, have them often, have them occasionally but longterm, or even are assisting someone having a panic attack - I wish everyone knew it. Practising breathwork outside of calling on it for panic attacks also really helps too. I fell into it sideways through swimming laps but I've noticed a marked difference now when I am having a p.a in how quickly I can bring myself down, because my body is practised at it and associates it with pleasure/relaxation rather than just shooting my shot mid fear response. Other tips would be if you are cognisant of your thoughts or emotions spiralling then focussing on real objects or features in the room around you can help; I will count the corners in the room or say things to myself like "lightbulb, door handle, water bottle, pillow" to ground myself in external reality rather than my internal fears. To the same end, massaging my own hands/arms/neck after my breathing and heart rate has come back a bit helps. Do some aftercare too when possible - even if it's just quietly sitting and drinking some cold water before returning to whatever it is you have to do. Forcing myself to be 'fine' as soon as all the physiological aspects stop usually means I'm teetering on the edge of tears the rest of the day and can lead back into another panic attack later on. And a piece of advice from an former therapist that stayed with me was to greet your anxiety like an old acquaintance or visitor, name it, acknowledge it when you feel it return rather than aim to eliminate it - by assuming you can and will get rid of it forever and dreading its return leads to that self-perpetuating cycle. I never actually named mine but I will always remember her example for me was a client who called her anxiety 'roast pork belly' because it was so hard to resist even though she knew it wasn't good for her all the time 😂At the time I thought the idea was ridiculous and was still quietly aiming for elimination (ha ha ha), but now I have gone months or years at a time without anxiety or having panic attacks and when it does return I'm better at recognising it, acknowledging it and working to reduce the stressors that are triggering it rather than hoping it will just go away. Even if I can't adjust my situation quickly all the time, it just helps to know that it will pass and I won't be stuck feeling like that forever - it is just a visitor. So apologies to my therapist, she was right.
I think you just clarified for me what actually happend to me last weekend. I had a music festival to go to, completely by myself on saturday, and two days earlier I started to feel palpatations, short breaths, chest pain, which ended up giving me a bit of insomnia. It took me a couple of hours to finally calm myself down and go to sleep. On the day of the music festival, since it was very crowded, there were a few times where I felt little palpatations or like I was going to faint, like I couldn't breath properly in the middle of the crowd. On the next day I was at home, felling better but later that night I was still feeling a bit weird with some of these simptoms and I decided to go to the hospital just to make sure I was okay, bc I was starting to think that I was having some sort of heart attack or something. The doctor examed me, I did a few exams and they all came totally fine. I've felt a bit of anxiety before in my life, but I think that was the first time I actually had a panic attack, because it scared me a little. Don't know how this video got recommended to me, but thank you anyway for helping me to understand.
What I’m having or have had an hour ago 26/6/24 - 7am UK) still feeling uneasy and spoke to 111 they suggesting to go to hospital but with no current vehicle I can’t get there as it’s too far almost 30 mile. I tried to go to bed and got real bad chest pain, stood up went light headed and wobbly, my chest going 10 to the dozen, sweating hot flushes etc. I’m really hoping it’s an episode and not something that will become regular as this is my first time having anything like this. I do feel over the past year though Anxiety has slowly crept up on me, even thing like going out I play scenarios In my head, yet before COVID I never used to be like it, really not sure why I’m like it now, I enjoy just chilling and rather be in then out in the sun annoyingly. Just sat here now hopefully trying to confirm what’s what and sitting upright on the corner sofa with a fan blasting at me, current weathers 19 degree so it’s quite nice. Hopefully get through this and hope more people will too.
I used to have panic attacks but I didn’t know what they were at the time. I was so embarrassed by them that I worked myself up even more and would end up passing out. Workplace would always end up phoning an ambulance for me which in turn made things even worse for me, then every time I had one or felt one coming on I would have hysterical crying fits which made me look manic and I felt weird and crazy. I would get more worked up and think I was going to be sectioned or have irrational thoughts where I would think I would probably just be better off jumping in front or a car or off a bridge rather than feel like this and keep drawing attention to myself and I always ended up passing out. Once I would come round I’d be physically and emotionally drained and fatigued and then I fell into a “depressive” state of mind because it just seemed to be a vicious cycle. Back then mental health was extremely stigmatised and there weren’t as much knowledge or information and social media wasn’t a very big platform for mental health advocates, if anything it was looked upon and judged. I finally visited my GP and engaged in CBT which at the time I HATED it was so confrontational and challenging and at first made me a panic a little more but I knew I had to engage and I couldn’t continue to live like this. It was completely controlling my life. I went on the sick at work, it caused issues in my relationship with my boyfriend and my grandmother who had taken me in. Eventually things did ease after around 12 months but just by educating myself on my symptoms and knowing the physical symptoms were normal and going to pass. I still stuff with anxiety some days more than others but I can proudly same I have it under control after suffering for over 10 years. The more books I read I realise I’ve always suffered from panic attacks, even as a child but I thought because when I was a child I could only explain it as an “out of body experience” as if I was floating above myself and not really I’m my body how I was suppose to know at 4/5 years old that was a panic attack. It always happened when my parents were arguing and fighting downstairs so I knew if I told anyone about these feelings it would cause more issues so I just used to think of it as a super power because I felt in my head whilst I was floating they couldn’t hurt me and sounds was sort of drowned out.
I am an army vet. I used to get panic attacks A LOT. Since then I've quit smoking, I don't drink coffee anymore either. My panic attacks have been far and few between because of these decisions. I still get them, and I'm thinking gastral reflux is what triggers them. I know it sounds weird but I can't figure out what else could possibly be triggers. I always feel like I'm having a heart attack and that I am going to faint. Best thing for me is to walk it off, drink water, breathe to the best of my ability and when it finally comes down a little I lay down. I wouldnt wish this stuff on my worst enemies, because sometimes I feel like I would rather die, no I'm not suicidal, that's just the feeling.
I have anxiety and I am on antidepresive. I had once a panic attack and the week after was the worst, I felt like I was standing on edge just waitting to fall. When I felt it worsted I talk to myself that it is just a panic attack and that I am one in control, I controlled the breathing and I started to close and open my fist. After a week it got better. From there on I am lucky I didn't experience a panic attack that strong ever. Thank you for explaining so well. Your channel really helps me.
I thought I was fucking crazy "I have anxiety about having anxiety" It's the stupidest thing I have ever heard But it absolutely obliterated my life I wanted everyone to get away from me because I could never have peace, I deeply DEEPLY craved solitude to the point where I don't even consider being alone in my own house enough space It changed the way I approached everything How I treated friends, how I treated family, how I treated myself. Don't even ask me about relationships I was either only angry and resentful of the peace everyone else seemed to blissfully enjoy, while I couldn't have a moment of quiet in my head Or I was detached from everyone and everything. Completely cut myself off with depersonalization/derealization To the point where I didn't feel natural joy and forgot how it felt I just stare at the screen and even though I completely knew I found something funny I would barely make a sound After a while, (I guess because I don't remember a time before this) I got so used to being constantly tense and buzzed out from my anxiety that it was just my new normal. But then I would get moments, where enough things were ok enough or I was just too exhausted to be anxious that I would be clear, where I could actually take a breath and it would almost be so overwhelming that I would feel like I could cry because I knew it wasn't going to last I even ended up enjoying being sad, because when I was sad I wasn't anxious, it was like a little vacation I was so young when it all started and no one knew better to help me or tell me what was happening inside and as time went on I became more and more embarrassed and ashamed of how I felt that I started to hate myself so much for being the way I am, that I had no self confidence or self belief at all. Even little things that I knew how to do, I would make mistakes on and then I would doubt myself to the point where not only was I never satisfied with the things I used to enjoy, but I couldn't find any joy in them anymore. It made me think that anxiety could ruin anything that I love And so the "monster" in my head only got bigger Soon I wouldn't even allow myself to think about the things that freaked me out and so I never addressed them. So much time wasted, and so many things that I wish I was myself enough to tell the people I loved before they passed Now that I have a more full grasp of how it all works and what it is I can cope with it. But it's hard to live like that for so long and then living a healthier and better life and even succeeding in quite a few ways It's like I have Stockholm syndrome for my anxiety because I'm not used to not having it It wasn't until I smoked some weed that was strictly CBD that I realized how bad it was. Funny enough my mother said the exact same thing about her first time smoking pot; "It was like my body and mind finally let go" Still a neurotic mess that absolutely contributed to my problems, but at least I understand her now too lol I doubt anyone got to the end to read this. But if you did, and any of this sounds like you, please get help or at least research it online I only intended to write down a bit of my experience, but as more came to the surface I just kept going. I've never told anyone about this, it felt good to put it out in some way.
Thank you Faraday this is something I can relate to totally and it's so good of you to put your experiences on here. So you just about manage I guess❤😐
I never experienced something like this but I kinda get what it could feel like. I hope you get the help you need and remember there is always someone going through the same things as you somewhere in the world, you are not alone! I hope it gets better for you and everyone that lives with things like this.
I'm a student of psychology, but I have never seen such a person who explain things in such a beautiful way. God bless you.
Dr julie
😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
@@stephaniehoeve9681 what is zn
@@johnhipp604idk
Yes.. Best wishes
I had a panic attack in a movie theater and since then I have difficulty going, there you go, avoiding "dangerous" spaces. a couple of years later, I had a strong anxiety attack in a supermarket but I immediately thought to myself "no way, this is where I buy food" I took a few deep breaths and managed to get over that feeling. this way of thinking has helped me in other anxious situations
I’m happy that you were able to recognize it.
Oh no, I feel you, I had one in a convenience store that I lived near and had shopped at my whole life, and I had to keep going back, there really wasn't any avoiding it at the time. Thankfully, It never became a place I avoided, and now I understand why. I am glad you were able to move past it for the supermarket, at least.
Glad you got through that!
Now I feel them coming and restrain them in public spaces
Not me who used to get at lease 3 to 4 8 hour panics a day for no cause and now I take pills 💀💀💀 *also none of these are things work if you have diagnosed anxiety*
A panic attack will drain you of all you’re energy. It’s so hard to walk at all afterwards
My room is extremely dirty
Panic attacks can get so bad your muscles become rigid. I had one so bad my SO took me to a hospital. There in the ER waiting room my limbs and face froze in their position. It was like I was frozen. Subsequently I was placed into a wheel chair, softened up partially to fit the seated form, and immediately brought it. Funny when I look back at it. Scary AF when it happened the first time. 😮
Agreed. The next day after a panic attack I feel like I ran a marathon, I’m so exhausted
I agree I have had a few
Your energy, not you’re energy.
My panic attacks come at night, when I lay my head down to rest and my brain has time to relax, then the panic sets in, feels like I'm falling, like my body is getting hot, then an urge to take a deep breath as if I'm out of air, and I am well aware of what sets those panic attacks off... it's the thought of having to inevitably die one day.
That's when I have to get up and watch TV or something.
This is very stressing,I know it,You are not alone,God will help us.
I’ve had the experience before
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your saviour?
oh my god 🫢 the exact same thing happens to me. Whenever it’s time to go to sleep i just get all these thought about how im gonna die one day and i get super anxious and i just don’t end up sleeping
I’ve had the exact same thing! Its destroying me😢 I don’t know how to get help
“Avoidance feeds anxiety in the long term” I found that very insightful, thank you for sharing. Never thought of it that way before.
Me too...I usually try to avoid the situation...but then I'll be isolated...which can also cause anxirty...omg!
Absolutely brilliant 👏 I first had a few panic attacks 4 years ago and somehow controlled it after a few weeks but its come back again and I too tried to avoid certain places .....my certain places are waiting at red traffic lights on a motorcycle which can get very scary 😨 but as soon as they turn green all things seem to be OK ..this has helped thankyou 😊
Hm... avoiding everyone I ever called friends for 6 months...
Yep! It’s something I’ve been working on to slowly try to break feedback loops, even for stuff as simple as my fear of the dark. I do my best to walk at a normal pace in the dark instead of hurrying.
Hope you’re okay hun
It took me a trip to a cardiologist, a CT scan, Echogram to confirm I was suffering anxiety and not a heart problem!
Breathing, pausing and writing has helped. Awareness is half the battle, the rest is self regulation.
Love your content!
Thats exactly what I went through!
Same for me
I’ve currently being suffering from this any tips that have helped you overcome this?
@@itsonlikedonkeykong7536 therapy helps, having a routine with exercise is very essential in helping, therapy might help you navigate through coping mechanism, mine was ERP, at the same time it's a long process, I've managed to stay without attacks for a week or two but just happened last night again, so it's a process, get to the core or the source, these attacks are just symptoms
Same same
Edit: Update, still on same meds and therapy is as needed, about once every two or three months currently, and I’m still doing great. 👍
Once had a panic attack that lasted for three and a half days. I’d panic until I passed out, then wake and repeat. I was screaming and crying non-stop toward the end of it, and I was certain that I had gone crazy b/c all my thoughts were dark, violent and hopeless. Luckily, I had people to take me to a safe place for evaluation and care. Turns out I had a psychotic break and needed therapy and some light medication.
It’s been two years and I’m on the same meds - zoloft and a bridge drug called buspar - and am continuing therapy on an as-needed schedule - about every two months.
Many friends and doctors saved my life, and I’m happy. Please get professional help if you need it.
Same thing happened to me. Always had high anxiety and was diagnosed with panic disorder in my teens (in my 40s now) but I managed to cope fairly well and really only suffered true panic attack 2-3 times per year. Then it hit like a ton of bricks….had several panic attacks one right after the other for 5 days straight. I remember thinking if this was a permanent state then I wanted out. The human body is not meant to be in such a state of fear for that long. Thankfully I had my mom and husband with me 24/7 and lots of really great doctors. On a newer higher dose cocktail now and I’ve been fine but I do suffer from PTSD from that week even to this day 7 years out. Ugh.
I had an anxiety attack in my drs office after being told my bp was stroke level high. I also have trouble sleeping sometimes bc my thoughts start racing and my brain won't shut up long enough. I've been taking 5mg of generic buspar twice a day and its really helped me a lot. I've also been remembering to control my breathing as best I can if I start feeling more anxious than I'd like to. I'm glad you were able to have a strong support network and were able to find a system that's worked for you!
@@stephanieblair-uz9kq Me too 😅
@Amradye I've lived w/ a panic disorder all my adult life and I'm on my fifth day of an "episode "now,it's a struggle living like this,I pray all of us will get the help we need, I too am on medication that's NOT helping me and it's just a struggle to get out of bed days,sometimes I can't at all and I have no support system
You are all sooo lucky to have that support,this is a nightmare to live in your head like this,it's a constant fear and debilitating depression has set in now on top of the panic attacks,I'll say a prayer for all of us,bless all your hearts
@@Tammy-it2yu If it helps, I had to stop all caffeine intake as well as all the other things I did (eating right, more exercise, identifying triggering events and changing them, therapy, finding the right meds and the right dosage). This all helped but I still found myself with anxiety and those intrusive thoughts. For me, what really did the trick was one day I figured out how to blank my mind. I stopped all thoughts, even in intense situations that were big triggers for me. I forced my brain to go blank and have no thoughts, like when you put those foam earplugs in your ears. I don’t know exactly how it’s done, but whenever I catch myself worrying about anything, big or small, I blank my mind. That’s the only way I stop the huge waves of anxiety and fear and the cycle of intrusive thoughts. I hear this is coached for athletes and such, and I don’t know exactly how it’s done-I can only describe it like that. You’re in my prayers too, Tammy-it2yu. I hope you reach out to doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, support groups, church groups, priests, family/friends, online support groups, whatever you can get, to get yourself where you want to be. Please be safe. 🤚
I used to have panic attacks. Once I figured out what was happening, i went to a therapist. She said:
- Don't work so hard.
- Switch to decaf.
- Exercise every day.
- Try to get a good night's sleep every night.
I haven't had a panic attack since. That was 13 years ago.
I wish I could quit working so hard, I know my job is contributing to at least half of my current panic and stress
swiss water 💦 decafe at that 😂
@@nancykenyon2778 true, indeed.
Now 14
why didn't I google that solution, glad they solved it (source - have had panic attacks for the last decade and do all that shit)
Only had a panic attack once. I got in a fight with my mom right before work. Went to work mad. She was moving two hours away. Midway through work I asked if she got there okay and didn't hear anything. After work I called her... No answer. Called again and again until I went into a full panic. I thought something awful happened to her and that the fight we had was our last moments together. I've never been so distraught. When I finally got ahold of her I broke down apologizing like crazy. Even thinking about it now still makes me cry. My mom is my best person, I don't know what I'd do without her
I'm really sorry for what happened, but that doesn't sound like a panic attack, you were just worried about your mom
@@ЯдрьонаБабкаjust what I thought but still it must have been horrible
The “don’t avoid the thing causing a panic attack (so long as it’s safe)” advice is really good. I got into a really bad car accident recently, and my roommate have me driving the next day so that I wouldn’t keep being afraid of being behind the wheel.
Such an underrated piece of advice.
Exactly! I did the same - I've been a passenger in a car accident where I've been injured, but next day I've booked a taxy to visit a surgeon, because I didn't want to stick in the fear. I sweated a lot, but I overcame the fear for future sake.
I am veteran that was wounded in war. Here are some ways I have learned to handle these situations: 1) stop active (for example pull over at a safe location when I am driving and find a spot in the store to stand for a moment). I don’t remove myself from something causing the anxiety, as a last resort I will, but I will try to stay put at safe location. Reason for this, is i don’t want my anxiety to dictate my life and I don’t want to train myself to run away when I am scared. You might not be ready for that and that’s okay…You might need to go slower and start with imagining the crowd or the thing that makes you anxious. Instead I will slow down and ease into it, Don’t be ashamed of feeling anxious!!! Let me say that again Don’t be ashamed of feeling anxious! Everyone’s situation regarding it might differ but it’s a normal human feeling and response to stress. After, stopping activity in a safe place. I will count three deep breaths I am able to hear. I will imagine something that used to relax me. For me it’s waves rolling onto a beach. I live near a beach so it works. I will watch the waves and try to match my breaths. I will then when I am ready slowly open my eyes and my attention to what’s happening around me. I will continue to breath until the feeling subsides. Sometimes I will close my hands in a fist and slowly open it. Trying to match my breaths with the slow opening of my hands. Some of my brothers and sisters count down while they breath. Telling themselves in their mind in a kind voice I am safe, I am relaxed, I am calm…over and over. I don’t use physical comfort during these events, reason is I want to learn how to calm myself and not depend upon others always. I will tell people that ask straight out, I am feeling a little anxious and taking a moment. I will be alright, thank you for your concern. It’s normal to feel this way, and you can live a good life with proper care. You can even overcome it completely.
Never give up on yourselves, you all deserve a good life!!
Thankyou for this!
this is amazing, wishing you the best🤍
This is amazing, I've had anxiety most my life but was OK at coping, managing it until recently getting panic attacks. I've had anxiety attacks in the past but oh my goodness these panic attacks are a level so beyond that. I feel like I'm about to die when they're happening or my body will give way. It's that severe. In a public place is the worse because like you I try not leave the place & close my eyes and try breath but all I want to do is run away immediately and then I get embarrassed because I think I look a freak to others because I start shaking & sweating & I'm breathing 90 miles an hr. Anyway I really appreciate your advice here. Thankyou for sharing and you're an incredibly, brave, amazing hero what you went through. God bless you 🙏
Yes, well said and I am still working on it, I may for the rest of my life. I am ok
Slowing down or stopping for a moment is something I definitely do, though I do occasionally find myself in a situation where I can’t do that but I can’t run either. I find redirecting the energy that I get from the desire to run and putting it into focus helps as well. If I can give myself a task with simple instructions, focus on that task and complete it I’ll eventually realize the situation wasn’t that bad. If the situation was that bad then at least I knew what I was doing.
Honestly, having a panic attack is one of the scariest things I’ve ever been through, even though they clearly aren’t as severe as some other people’s panic attacks, but I resonate with people with anxiety and panic attacks❤ Stay strong and drink some water ❤
Do you always get cold sweats when it happens? My therapist doesn't believe me because I lack that symptom..
@@franepapak5491 well I got it once during one of my papers . I was really anxious about it as my mother made a total pressure . I started to sweat and had hard time breathing. I got a chest pain . Later when I thought about it I thought maybe it is because of my previous heart problem . But today when I think about it after watching the video I realized that all that anxious feeling I was getting which I reasoned myself to be because of my previous heart problem were panic attacks
@@franepapak5491 Not everyone has all of the symptoms she listed. And there are MANY more symptoms that people have that she didn't list.
I've never experienced cold sweats/chills (and there are other symptoms on her list I've thankfully never experienced) when I've had panic attacks. And I've been having them for almost 40 years unfortunately, so I'm acutely aware what my triggers are, what the physical sensations are and the different stages of my panic attacks.
So, keep in mind that you know your body and mind better than anyone because you're the one living in it 24/7. And regardless whether you have one symptom, a mix of several or all of the symptoms she listed, your panic attacks are real and completely valid.
@@franepapak5491 Also, therapists can't (and shouldn't) diagnose ANYTHING. Their job is to listen and provide you with support, guidance, insight - and to believe you, not dismiss what your truth is. If you're in a position to, I'd suggest you try to find a better therapist as a bad one can make things worse for you. You deserve to be seen and heard and to heal.
Same here. Thought i had panic attacks before, but when the first one hit, i was so scared i was going die, it felt like a heart attack. And when i tried researching my symptoms to see if it was, it still pointed to a heart attack, making it worse. I was about to be alone in my home, also, and that made it worse. I ended up begging my sister to come over and possibly taking me to the ER, i was so convinced. My sister has always been my biggest supporter, and best person to calm me. The second she walked in the door, it was like someone snapped their fingers, and it was gone. She stayed until someone got home, i was afraid it would come back and be legit heart attack.
I talked to my therapist about it the next day and she gave me some tips to help, such as ice packs for grounding. Im pretty sure the first time i felt cold sweats, but dont think so after that. A few more times, and ive been able to keep them at least at a minimum, slight discomfort using reassuring and grounding techniques. I found reminding myself im ok, its just my body being stupid, helps a lot.
I watched this yesterday and today I had the worst panic attack I have probably ever had. But I remembered this and realized it was a panic attack not a meltdown I was able to adjust my coping mechanisms and let my family know what was happening so they also started to calm down. Thank you for helping me through this.
My family was also concerned whenever my anxiety attacks happened around them (this far its always been food-related). I have to tell them what to do or not to do every time in short sentences because if I think to much about what is happening it gets worse. I often concentrate on my deep breaths to slowly calm down and tell myself I can get through this because it already happened before.
Thankfully I think I never experienced panic attacks and I have easy coping mechanisms when it happens.
Sorry I rambled too much about myself but I'm glad you're ok :]
Wow, that was a rough hand.. Attacks feels horrible, but are a sign that you should change something in your life. Do more stuff that boost your selfconfidence and energy and know that your are safe. Calm your body down by slowing breathing and feel calmer. Slower heartrate also helps your mind to reduce the anxiety. ❤
I also suffer from these a ton. Super proud of you for consciously change your coping! It’s super hard to do during an attack I know personally. Oh and if you haven’t, cold therapy like high ac in the car or especially cold water in the face helps a ton.
One thing that I learned from a therapist was to say a phrase over and over. She told me to say I am safe. I am happy. I am healthy, over and over. This helps. I also learned to count backwards from 100 by seven or another digit, that’s not too easy or too hard to help my brain focus on something other thanThe stuff I’m feeling.
I feel like this is all Dr Julie hoped to achieve by posting this video. Incredible that you were able to do this in such a distressing moment @typobear
I had those for years when I was younger. Dr's dismissed it as nothing. No one would listen. They didn't care about my suffering. I learned to stop talking about my suffering.
It’s my first time seeing someone understand me so well. It’s like you talking about me, thank you for this.
The tip about not avoiding really helped me. I had a bad panic attack last time I was at a concert and it was awful, thinking about being in that scenario again makes me start to panic already, but my parents booked a concert of my favourite band for next month as a present and I really want to go so I’m gonna try push through ❤
Update: I went and I’m so glad I did, it was really fun and I didn’t have a panic attack. Very happy I didn’t let the panic attacks make me miss it
I got a panic attack in the middle of a Harry Styles concert LOLLL i had to sit down while everyone around me was dancing. It was crazy
Good job! Ik know how hard it is. But it will give you much more fun experieces.☺️
If you overcome you the things youre afraid of. 🤗
Wonderful, that's amazing! You made it to the concert without having a panic attack
Im so glad you had fun!! And WON over panic!!!!
This is so helpful, I have panic attacks a lot, and it really throws an ax throw one’s life.
Do you always have cold sweats? My therapist doesn't think i have panic attacks because I didn't sweat that much.
I've learnt over the years that distraction works for me. Not me doing something, cos I never have that much control, but if I'm with a friend or someone that wants to help, I ask them to tell me a story. Literally anything. It could be a funny memory, what they ate for breakfast, the plot of a movie they just saw, or something completely made up. I try to focus on their words individually, not the story as a whole, and since I am no longer focusing on my failure to breathe or my heart pounding, the symptoms tend to resolve themselves.
Of course this won't work for everyone, and it doesn't work every time, but my panic attacks (when someone is there to help) have gone from an hour long to sometimes just a few minutes.
th-cam.com/video/bha7rwVonm4/w-d-xo.html
Parsing body language ANGELINA JOLIE
@@franepapak5491Your therapist is an idiot. I've suffered debilitating panic attacks for 40 years and sweating isn't one of my symptoms.
For me they mostly are 'inside'. Like I can look completely normal and calm but I'm actually freaking out and thinking so much that I get dizzy.
The worst is when I'm supposed to hold a presentation in front of the class because then, aside from the 'internally freaking out', I also start to shake pretty badly. My breathing gets heavy (sometimes it's hard to breath), my heart beats so fast and loud that my chest starts to hurt a little and I can't think clearly. It starts before it's even my turn to hold the presentation and the longer the wait, the worse it gets.
I know I should actually go and talk to someone about this, especially since this is not everything but I just can't. Talk, I mean. I always struggle to find words and stumble over them when I'm trying to have a conversation. I also can't hold eye contact and just the thought of someone waiting for me to talk about my ''problems'' makes me nervous and I just want to cry even though it's not actually happening and I'm just thinking about it.
One of the best tips I received from a counselor on controlling my panic attacks is to do math in my head. It forces your brain to move control from emotion to logic. Both parts of your brain can’t be in the drivers seat at the same time. I do something simple like doubling addition. 1+1=2 2+2=4 4+4=8 8+8=16 16+16=32 etc
I have trouble sleeping at night when my anxiety is overwhelming. Someone on the internet once mentioned try recalling the alphabet backwards. Honestly it does help sometimes. I've never made it to A
I play ‘The what if game’ but the what ifs can only be positive. I have full blown conversations in my head. You get better over time and it shorts my attacks.
Those anxiety & panic attack's are scary. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy!
My first panic attack send me to the hospital for 2 day..very scary!
I'm a college student. I used to have anxiety during public speaking. I was unable to speak to new person, give speech to masses. My heart was starting to beat faster and faster.
Everything changed as I took action on it. I did something completely opposite. I stand up as a class representative. As class representative, there was need for me to talk to new people, give orders, convey messages to students. Its been months now, and I can say I have conquered tge anxiety.
I had a very severe episode of anxiety triggered by a bad panic attack when I went travelling with my father and brother last fall. I ended up laying in a hotel room for two days watching the great British bake-off trying to calm myself. On day one after I had been shaking and crying muttering to my dad that I felt like I was dying, he picked up fellowship of the rings and started reading as he held me. He has always been wonderful at handling my anxiety and calming me down. And even though I was quite exhausted the rest of the trip, it will be memories I will always treasure, because I got to feel like a little girl again as my dad read to me
When you are having a panic attack, your body is actually working really well. You are safe. Wow. This is the single, most helpful, comforting and healing information I have ever come across. Thank you so much for this. When the next attack comes on, I will be using this mindset to comfort and encourage myself! Much appreciation.
I agree but I wish we could know for sure that it is a panic attack not something else. I had one recently that lasted for a bit over a week. And it took me a few days to realize what was happening and I just need to find peace in it and wait it out. A few times I was close to asking my husband to take me to the hospital, as I was sure that I was suffocating (my throat was closing). When it happened on the first day, everything was going fine, the usual day at work, and all of a sudden I could not breathe. I started thinking what I may have eaten as I suspected only anaphylaxis can start like this, though I have not eaten anything new and never had allergies. After googling the time frame I realized I am not having it. But it was not going away. Barely made through the day, as got kinda shamed by my manager for "not wanting to close on a holiday". Got better at home in the evening but the same started again next day at work and kept happening for half a week till I realized what I was anxious about (new high stressful task at work that started the next day after my first episode. I knew I was kinda worried about it, but did not think I was freaking out), even saw it in my dreams that week. After it was "kinda" suffocating for about a week more and it went away completely.
The only reason why I never went to the hospital is the realization of having to wait there for hours till probably my next shift at work and never be seen by a doctor. My father-in-law had to wait 7.5 hours there in ER with a stroke and for my daughter's broken arm they had to send x-rays to another city for someone to read (took 6 hours) as they did not have anybody. I imagined this nightmare and chose to "die" at home. Colorado Springs, CO
The irony is you think your going to die and have a heart attack but its actually working too good. I have general anxiety but panic attack is a whole other level. I had one in 2002 and I can remember every second, including the depersonalization which was very weird lol
@@annapatton4544unfortunately have them enough you just start assuming everything is stress, I went the opposite way and yes it can be dangerous because I skip going to the hospital when I should because I go oh they will just find nothing wrong and turn out to be anxiety and stress doing a number on my body. You wouldn't believe the kidney n back pain they was new. I'm use to the heart attack feeling every morning I wake up it sucks.
One thing which helps me a lot is being able to identify thoughts which I have just before my anxiety spirals and counteract it with a more positive thought. For example, when I start to notice myself feeling anxious or panicked I often have the thought 'what if I can't cope with this'. In the past that thought used to make me spiral into a full blown panic attack, now when I get that thought I think to myself 'what if I can cope with this' and sometimes that's enough to calm me down.
Love this! Thank you, I will try using it ❤️
I do this every time i have panic attack. Telling myself, i coped this feeling yesterday so I can today.
Thank you for explaining this!! I have a degree in psychology and although I'm no mental health professional, I feel like I should've known the difference between a panic attack and a so-called "anxiety attack." But thanks for clarifying that what I've been experiencing are panic attacks and that "anxiety attacks" are not a clinical category. I have cPTSD and OCD and I've been stuck in a horrible situation for the past three months where I've been having panic attacks almost constantly, night and day. In the past few years I've been through a lot of grief with the loss of multiple close family members, the loss of my childhood pets, two friends dying, and a rare disease diagnosis. After my dog had some abnormal lab results that were similar to abnormal lab results my older dog had before she died, I keep having intrusive thoughts about my dog being sick or dying. It's gotten so bad that I've called the vet multiple times per day even though he repeatedly told me he thinks my dog is healthy and just fine. I had panic attacks all the time as a kid, and they were related to PTSD. I used to have them about once a month as an adult, but lately I'm having 10 or more per day and they wake me up at night. I don't even know what's triggering them anymore. It seems like they trigger the intrusive thoughts and anxiety more than the anxiety and intrusive thoughts trigger them. Maybe it's a bad PTSD exacerbation. I'm not sure, but I've been in therapy and my psychiatrist has changed my medications so many times, and so far nothing is helping.
I could remember several years ago, I suffered severe depression and mental disorder. Was actually diagnosed with BPD. Not until my husband recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 8 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.
I love hearing great life changing stories like this. I want to become a mycologist because honestly mushrooms are the best form of medicine (most especially the psychedelic ones) There are so many people today used magic mushrooms to ween off of SSRI medication- its amazing! Years back i wrote an entire essay about psychedelics. they saved you from death buddy, lets be honest here.
Can you help me with the reliable source 🙏. I'm 56 and have suffered for years with addiction, anxiety and severe ptsd, I got my panic attacks under control myself years ago and they have come back with a vengeance, I'm constantly trying to take full breaths but can't get the full satisfying breath out, it's absolutely crippling me, i live in Germany. I don't know much about these mushrooms. Really need a reliable source!! Can't wait to get them
YES sure of mycologist Predroshrooms. I have the same experience with anxiety, addiction. Mushrooms definitely made a huge huge difference to why am clean today.
I'm so very happy for you mate, Psilocybin is absolutely amazing, the way it shows you things, the way it teaches you things. I can not believe our world and our people shows less interest about it's helpfulness to humanity. It's love. The mushrooms heals people by showing the truth, it would be so beneficial for so many people, especially politicians and the rich who have lost their way and every other persons out there.
Where do I reach this dude? If possible can I find him on Google
I used to think I was experiencing panic attacks until I actually started experiencing panic attacks lmao.
Oh goshhh..... hope u better now. Can you elaborate on the differences?
Fainting and fatigue is horrible 😢😢
@@JPMMA507did u cured now ..?
Love this video because I'm tired of people feeling anxious about a job interview or something and calling it a panic attack. There is a stark difference between anxiety and panic for me. Panic for me is total depersonalization and loss of a sense of self or a sense of my true circumstances. They come in a spectrum though; some are small and quick and I have to snap myself out of it, and some are sudden feelings of cosmic horror and death that grip me so intensely that I become physically incapable of helping myself. The worst of them can leave me bedridden. I just recently went through one caused by a change in hormones and medication that left me catatonic for a whole day.
The only method I've had to tackling them is just understanding them. Knowing it's just a feeling that is temporary and is often caused by many factors that are out of my control and some that are within my control. Even though they still happen, they happen far less and I know what to do about it and how to ask for help.
I'm also thinking about seeking help from a psychiatrist because I believe I don't need talking sessions I have enough family and friends. I guess I only need a psychiatrist and medicine and not a psychologist. I'm still confused. Please suggest
Thank you so much for all the tips you give us!
I guess everyone is different but I list things that have worked for me :
- practising patience. For example, I am waiting in a line at the supermarket and I feel really uncomfortable and anxious as it seems it is taking so long so I tell myself : you have to be patient and this shall pass.
- recognising that 99 % of my fears never actually happen in real life and that nothing (outside of emergency situations) is really worth worrying about. I try to learn to calm down my fears.
- getting used to feel uncomfortable feelings without trying to make stories about it
- talking to someone even asking for stupid stuff just so I feel less isolated and distracted from the fear
You might want to check whether you are a highly sensitive person (which I am) because for us bright lights, noise etc. give us so much stimuli to our brain that it stress us more than the average person!
Let's be safe and let's hope for the best in life!
As an autistic I relate to that reasoning, especially keeping in mind that certain stimuli are going to be more likely to overload my nervous system and cause a shutdown
@@enolp It's so important to listen to ourselves and adapt our life to our needs even if it might seem different or weird to the majority.
The older I get the more I know what works and what doesn't work for me and it makes life so much easier!
I also am a highly sensitive person. Thank you for your tips, I'm gonna try them out
@@souleyes7467 Hope it helps!
I find that I need a lot of alone and quiet time too to feel relaxed enough.
The most important thing is to listen to yourself and get to know your needs and limitations to find tricks that work for you.
@@TheMaxiSoul thank you for what you said! For me, i both need alone time but also a lot of reassurance from others but it become a high need and becomes a problem
The worst was having them driving and counting the minutes down on the clock before I would get home.
Same thing happened to me on the way home from the dentist at night 5mins into my journey home started to get this tingling sensation or burning sensation central chest legs started to feel funny,had to stop the car on the side of the road, started crying, pulled myself together after 20mins stared driving againing the same thing stared to happened after 3 or 4mins. In the end got my brother in law to come and drive my car home for me, this all started at 530pm today, 4 hours later still feeling this sensation it's horrible
Thank you so much! For the past few months I’ve been experiencing a lot of anxiety which is new to me and a couple of “attacks”. I had no tools to deal with them or any information on what they were. Thanks to this video I now know that they were full blown panic attacks. I started to cry halfway thru the video because I finally found an answer. Now I just need to remember that I am not actually dying and that it will pass, it’s a temporary state.
I started experiencing panick attacks in uni. I get them here and sometimes even when I'm trying to sleep. My breathing gets heavy, my heart pounds and I feel an impending doom like I'm going to die. However as my brother struggled with anxiety he taught me all about it being natural because adrenaline and fight or flight. So now even though it feels bad I let it ride through and the panic attack is over within a few seconds.
So if you're in bed and your heart starts pounding you just continue laying there and let it happen? Because I get the same thing and I get scared and feel like I have to move.
@Pixie_damsel Haha wow, I know the running water helps for sure. And I don't think it sounds silly at all. Thank you for helping me out and telling me what works for you.
@@RockyAliTyson1all my worst anxiety and panic attacks have happened while I was in my bed (I have a fear of something happening while I sleep) lately I've just stayed in bed instead of getting up. I know people say to not have your worries on your sleeping space but honestly I feel like getting out of bed instead of trying to sleep is letting my fears win. So I'll try as hard and as long as I can to deal with it in my bed by using a weighted stuffed animal on my chest, breathing and meditation, stress ball, and sometimes I force my dog on my bed because he sleeps pressed up against me which is almost always helpful.
I've had panic attacks and they're the worst thing I've ever experienced. Sometimes I knew what was causing it and other times I didn't. However they almost always started with a fluttering feeling in my chest followed by my heart skipping beats. I know now that your heart skipping beats is rarely a serious thing and is pretty common. They happen all the time and you're usually not even aware of it. It's just the hyper awareness caused by the panic attack that causes you to notice it. Since I became aware of this I haven't had another one.
Thank you, I suffered pretty badly with ongoing panic attacks due to family trauma, I am doing better now however I tend to avoid a lot of scenarios for fear they will cause a panic attack or an unwanted feeling. Of course I have realised that this only exacerbates it, so I am going to try and challenge myself in a gentle way to go through situations that caused me to feel anxious.
Same here. ❤ 🖖
#METOO ❤❤❤
That's good! I think I'm a bit behind at the confront it part, but hopefully it will become possible
Yes
Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.
Can you help with the reliable source I would really appreciate it. Many people talk about mushrooms and psychedelics but nobody talks about where to get them. Very hard to get a reliable source here in Australia. Really need!
Yes, dr.sporessss. I have the same experience with anxiety, depression, PTSD and addiction and Mushrooms definitely made a huge huge difference to why am clean today.
I wish they were readily available in my place.
Microdosing was my next plan of care for my husband. He is 59 & has so many mental health issues plus probable CTE & a TBI that left him in a coma 8 days. It's too late now I had to get a TPO as he's 6'6 300+ pound homicidal maniac.
He's constantly talking about killing someone.
He's violent. Anyone reading this Familiar w/ BPD know if it is common for an obsession with violence.
Is he on instagram?
Yes he is. dr.sporessss
I just stumbled upon your channel and omg I have been needing this channel. I see a therapist and he is great but my depression, anxiety and PTSD is awful and hearing these explanations and supportive messages it hits in a good way. So Thanks!
I've struggled with anxiety since the age of 9. Diagnosed at 13 but not medicated til age 25. The most helpful thing was seeking help. I could not manage alone. Writing helps me so much. To this day my anxiety is detrimental but it has become such a common term that people don't understand between the state of anxiety which everyone has and a panic disorder. Thank you for sharing on this topic.
I passed one of the worst emotional trauma. Took antidepressants for a couple of months, sleeping pills for 3 months. SUICIDICAL all the time. It was impossible, but here i am after 1 year. Fully recover. There is always a bad day, but i don't give too much importance. Everyone can make it, just don't give up and there will always be hope..
@@mikelrano2557Thanks for giving hope 😢
I've let anxiety control my life for about 5 years. I've had countless tests done, heart ones, brain ones, and the only thing they can come up with is 2 autoimmune diseases (nothing related to the heart or brain though). I still have such bad health anxiety, constantly thinking I'm dying and I avoid everything and everyone. :(
That sounds awful! Covid probably didn’t help either. I hope you’re able to break free of that
Hey..may i ask what autoimmune disorders..share only if youre comfortable. im going through same things..horrible panic attacks almost everyday.. since 6 years...no end in sight.
I am going through the same symptoms since last year,and Thank God I use many techniques to get calm and it helps. But I am always with fear and wake up with a bad spirit 😢😢
I have severe anxiety too, but. I do want I wanna do now if I know if it will lead me I’m anxiety attack then yea I’m outta there lol but best way to get more control of your anxiety is getting a job, why I say that is so you can be more social
Same! I have 2 autoimmune diseases, had a million tests done and have gone through periods of strong anxiety that led to my first panic attacks and consistent thoughts of death. I am very sorry you're going through the same, it's awful. The only thing that I think has helped me a bit is improving my diet, exercise and getting a good dose of sunlight and nature everyday. Wishing you the best!
I've had panic attacks from a young age, originally because of a severe water phobia that I've had since around 10. But as I got older and struggled with anxiety and perfectionism due to abuse, I began developing them more often. I always called them an "anxiety attack" because I felt like I didn't have a "real" anxiety disorder and didn't want to be disrespectful to my friend who has a legitimate panic attack disorder (hers come without specific triggers). This video was so educational, thank you.
This is my first-time hearing someone having a water Phobia other than me it was one of the many reasons that made my childhood miserable. Thank you for sharing, knowing that I am not alone is really helpful.
@@tinbiteermias-o9l I totally agree! I also don't meet very many other people with this fear (have only met one other person online and a coworker's parent, that's it), so it's validating to meet others and know that I'm not the only person who struggles with this.
I have both anxiety and panic attacks. I usually don’t know why, but sometimes it’s pretty clear why I’m getting them. I started going to therapy right away when they both started getting bad af though. My psychologist diagnosed me with PTSD, and thinks that’s the reason, but I’ve had anxiety attacks since before any of the things leading to the PTSD happened, so now we’re checking out what my other problems can be for the 5th time in a few months, like getting fully diagnosed again
Smoke what exactly? If it's pot that's probably the problem
The way you explain and know exactly how I’m feeling and what I am doing in words puts me at ease, it helps me relieve myself, knowing that someone understands me
When I am experiencing this. I can now take a step back, I stop with what I am doing, I recognize what is happening in my head. I am talking to myself comforting; say that I am safe, it is okay, nothing can happen, I know this feeling. Then I let the feeling be in my body, don’t resist it but let it be there. This is what helps me a lot. It has cost me a lot of practise and time, but the more often I do this, the better I can handle this. For me it is al about accepting, let it be, welcome it, don’t fight it, and be kind to yourself when you are experiencing this.
Know it will be better ❤
I have anxiety attacks quite often, and mostly because I question reality. When I do have that anxiety, I feel detached from my own body/or reality, and those feelings just make the anxiety attack worse. I’ll feel light headed and such and begin to cry, tremble, and sweat. I do have ways to deal with my anxiety attacks though, they are strange but they work. Holding a pack of ice, squeezing a stress toy (someone’s hand does work too), reminding myself that it’s all in my head, or eating something sweet.
My anxiety attacks don’t last long, they can happen for a few minutes at most, but I will almost always feel derealized or depersonalized.
My stepdaughter is in competitive cheer and I can only be at an event for about two hours before the anxiety becomes panic. The huge amounts of energy, loud music, and personality types tend to create a hyper vigilance in me, which leads to a sense that I have to remove myself from the setting. It has put huge strain on my relationship with my stepdaughter because she doesn’t feel supported. I will start with the breathing when I feel the anxiety growing to see if it helps. Thank you for this advice!
As a competitive cheerleader myself who occasionally has problems at competitions, may i recommend noise cancelling headphones?
@@negativedawn136 That's a great idea. Crowds bother me too, the voices all babbling together....ugh.
well, have you tried talking to her about it? if you explain how you feel during the events ane that it triggers your anxiety and even panic attacks, she will probably understand...
@@biancaalves6143 But then you start avoiding things, which is a slippery slope. Don't avoid your triggers.
@@saltiestsiren why would I be going to events that cause me anxiety? it makes no sense
The last part is KEY!! I had my first panic attack when I was hungover driving in the rain. I literally couldn’t drive more than 10 miles down the road. I conquered it by driving 13 hours across state and I beat it … but now it’s different. I had a panic attack while on a date!!! That was embarrassing and I’m trying to beat that cycle
Anxiety is an old friend or mine. Panic attacks are more like unwanted guest appearances i have to deal with, hits and misses. I have experimented with ditterent techniques thanks to my therapist and research. Here is what usually works ( you will need to experiment and see what works for you) :
1. EMDR, I find this works best when done with a therapist but it doesnt hurt to try an app or youtube videos. An app that produces vibration might be better.
2. Box breathing exercices, when you have to follow a box (a square) pattern when breathing and count till 4 at the same time. Inhale while counting till 4, hold while coutiny till 4, exhale while counting till 4 then hold again while countint till 4. And repeat.
3. Vagus Nerve exercises. These have been the more effective for me lately as my panic attacks became more intense. I especially like the ones that focus on massaging gently different parts of the ears. Some focus on eye movement and are effective too.
Good luck everyone
You got this ❤
I've had anxiety for years and didn't know I was having panic attacks until today. I always used the term "anxiety attack" to describe them because my symptoms didn't fit the stereotypical ones (i.e. chest pain, hyperventilating). Thanks for sharing this! While I'm generally pretty good at managing my symptoms and preventing panic attacks, it's still really beneficial to make sure that I am using the right terms to better communicate my experience, particularly with health professionals! :)
I'm really glad to hear you're feeling better ❤ it's extremely important to be aware of what's going on with yourself so you can work through it. You've made a huge step recognizing the panic attacks ❤
As someone who has both anxiety and panic attacks frequently, this was very useful !
When I get panic attacks or anxiety attacks, it’s usually because of my fears/phobias, or when I’m in a situation that I recognize as dangerous, but with time I’m getting better at handling them, so yayy
Thank you for this video !
This is very accurate. I developed severe or chronic panic disorder back in 2017. I had just lost my job, insurance everything and had to move and I was unable to seek any medical help, but it was very bad. Like bad-bad, baaad bad bad. I would have catastrophic panic attacks on the hour every hour to the point I was bed-ridden and would sleep for upwards of 12 hours a night. I developed severe agoraphobia and stayed home for almost 2 years after that, only going out for the bare minimum. When i got working again, work was hard. I would even out bathroom breaks or hide during moments all the time because I felt like my body forgot how to breathe. I felt like my heart had a problem and that it would stop beating at any moment. I would shake constantly, i would feel faint constantly, i lost 35 pounds, i did a ton of preparation-for-death stuff like leaving notes and taking care of things because I genuinely felt i would die. I did go to the ER a bunch during this period, racking up about 4k in debt to hospitals for not having insurance, and it was the worst part of my entire life. I also lost a lot of important relationships. What wound up happening was that I learned to meditate, I learned to think more scientifically about things and even tho it took about 4 years, I became best friends with fear (if that makes sense). I never healed back up 100%, but I healed up close to it. My trigger back then was an undiagnosed hiatal hernia, which gave me sudden feelings of pressure in my chest and as the muscles in my diaphram would occassionally twitch or spasm, I was convinced it was my heart skipping beats. I did learn about the hernia years later, but because of that, everything else unfolded the way it did.
Wishing you a much brighter, calmer future.
I can relate 😢wishing all the best
I understand ❤
Cats, music and reaching out to a loved one are what help me.
Thank you for this. I wrote it all down. Anxiety can be crippling.
I’ve suffered from anxiety my whole life. I finally got on medication the summer before freshman year in high school. It was absolutely a strange feeling after I took the medicine because I had NO IDEA what calm felt like. I looked at my mom and I said to her, “I feel...weird.” And she just was in shock and realized that I’ve never felt calmness before. It was very emotional and so incredible to feel calm. I think we both cried that day. Now my struggle is being home alone and away from my mom. I go into a state of panic and the only thing that tends to help is having the radio on all the time and breathing.
SAME it is so sad that even now, it still doesn't seem real that people experience calm without strong medications. And I have the same thing with being alone. It's embarrassing because I'm 30 years old! But lately my panic attacks are so constant and so severe that being alone at all is absolutely terrifying, because when I'm alone there is no one to reassure me that things are okay or help me calm down.
I had a bad panic attack recently and I normally can recognize them and calm them myself. What I didn't know about is how if you hyperventilate that can quickly escalate to hyperventilation syndrome and that makes the panic spiral way worse. My arms started tingling then going numb, then my hands literally were paralyzed. I had my friend with me luckily and had to have her call 911 for me because I thought I was literally having a heart attack or stroke and could not use my hands at all. Then my speech started slurring and vision narrowing. Thought I was literally dying.
It was treated by taking slow deeps breaths to get my CO2 levels back up, just like a panic attack while the medics check me out. But I thought I was a goner. I wish more of these videos about panic attacks would talk more about hyperventilation syndrome because if you don't know about it and hyperventilate too much it is extremely frighting.
As someone who has struggled with both anxiety and panock attacks my whole life. I can 100% agree with everything you said.
I always forget that delayed outbreath - calms!
Also, your use of the marker and paper, plus the fact that your handwriting is aesthetically pleasing, is super helpful in remembering the information.
Thank you for your content!! ❤
I've had food induced panic attacks since I was 17, I'm not 40. Every single Dr, Psychiatrist, and Psychologist I've been to, and I've been to MANY from 17-40, and they all have said that I have body imagine issues and I'm scared I'll get fat. Well, of course I want a better body but that's not the reason. I effin LOVE food, but any time I eat especially around dinner time my panic level is a 10/10. Every single day I have to do breathing exercises, ASMR, self-hypnosis all of the above just about & I am tired of it. Does this takes so much time out of my day. These panic attacks are robbing me of time...my life.
If anyone has any tips please throw them my way. I wish each and every single one of you great health.
Until I listened to this video at 2:30 am this morning, after having yet another “attack” which has had me thinking I had heart problems for nearly a year, and on the brink of dying … it dawned on me since I was shaking uncontrollably, that perhaps this was a panic attack. I looked it up, and found this. if there’s one good thing that came from tonight, it is a huge relief knowing I’m not going to die! Thank you!!! And yes … I have been trying to avoid all things I thought were triggers for my “heart trouble”and I knew I was making things worse! May we ALL FIND PEACE VERY SOON!!!
I tried micro-dosing yesterday for the first time, and I had wonderful experience. I'm someone who suffers from chronic depression, and I was simply happy, not overly ecstatic, but genuinely happy and active with my friends and family. I was even excited to get out of bed this morning.
Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings.
This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.
Psychedelic’s definitely have potential to deal with mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression, I would like to try them again again but it’s just so hard to source out of there.
I was having this constant, unbearable anxiety because of university stress. Not until I came across bergwilly11_, a very intelligent mycologist.He saved my life honestly
Shrooms was the best trip I had. It was an amazing experience.
Can bergwilly11_ send to me in OH?
This was so helpful to me! I struggle with panic attacks and they can get to the point there I want to craw away and die in a corner. I often feel alone and malfunctioning when it occurs but you explaining this is my body working to protect me gave me a good reminder. I am not broken.
I found this video when I was feeling extremely anxious and decided to search for anything that might help me relax a little. After finishing the video, I felt a lot calmer and at peace with myself. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Nothing helped me more than not fighting it. Welcoming it, acknowledging it, and then telling it i accept it being there and that it can stay as long as it needs to but i am going to continue do what i was doing... incredibly efficient.
I pray for you Julie that the breast cancer,is completely healed,and treated and that you may have peace health joy and happiness in your life
I have extremely severe anxiety that is quite literally debilitating, it holds me back from doing so so so many things and causes me to be at a 5 or a 6 anxiety level wise constantly, and thank you for actually differentiating panic and anxiety attacks :) on a normal day I’m having atleast one anxiety attack per day and or a mini one, and mini panic attacks once a week or more and for someone like me, it’s very very important to know what the difference is and this actually helped! Thank you!
Anxiety is a beast. I don’t often have panic attacks, probably because I’m used to high levels of anxiety. Just had a seven day event of high stress levels, anxiety to the max, a few ASD meltdowns and very little sleep. By day five the meltdown was bad and I was positive I was going to die. Since I was in hospital for a wisdom tooth extraction gone catastrophically wrong, I also couldn’t escape the stressor.
I’m now unpacking the trauma of two surgeries to drain the two abscesses (I had to have the breathing tubes set up whilst I was conscious) and the whole staying overnight in hospital when I honestly believed I wouldn’t wake up if I slept. It’s going to take some time. But my mouth is healing nicely and my raging blood pressure is back to normal (it was terrible in Hotel Hell). Things are looking up.
Omg, I can't imagine that in a hospital setting like that. You might as well be locked in a cell as to have that setting. Glad to hear you are feeling better and doing better.
@@theprinceofcrows8691 I can laugh now but the admitting nurse said something that included the reference Hotel California - she probably meant it to reference the copious amounts of drugs (legally prescribed) but I took it as you can’t ever leave. Welcome to the aspie brain. I ended up calling it Hotel Hell and I had to ban the H word (home) until I was actually being discharged.
@@andreagriffiths3512 Oh I know the feeling there. I had an accident long ago and spent almost 8 weeks in the hospital. For most of it they didn't think I was going to recover I had so much organ damage and internal injuries. So talk of home was like a distant fantasy that seemed so impossible that I didn't even want to talk about it. They wouldn't even give me water because they were monitoring my fluids and I had to con the staff that cleaned the place to go get me water at night or get my family to get it for me. I even used to get ice in rubber gloves from nurses and let it melt just to have water to drink I was so thirsty. Part of me thinks it might have been why I lived long enough for them to find and fix the problem after three surgeries and a endoscopy.
I did get the Hotel California treatment with the pharmaceuticals but it didn't really do much to phase the pain in any way. It just put you out and made it impossible to know how long you had been out for. Minutes? Hours? It was crazy. Just misery and being physically trapped in that little bed and cell they called a room and nothing but hellish thoughts to deal with when conscious. I actually spent my 21st birthday there the tenth day I was there and got sick during the visit and had emergency surgery the next morning. So I hate hospitals and any setting remotely like that with doctors and institutional living. My panic attacks were months later but if I had been experiencing those in there it would have been the end of me. So you are one tough cookie going through all of that. It had to be brutal.
I hope life has been better for you and that things are well. Life has a way of beating the hell out of you but it is magnificent and glorious when it is right. Take care and best wishes.
I love your content Doc. So comprehensive and informative. I do notice that a few of the symptoms of a panic attack can point towards a heart attack for some people. On a personal note, I have nothing wrong with my heart, I don’t really feel anxious about things. I’m 48, almost 49 years old. In March last year I was taken to hospital with chest pain that began during rehab after my left leg was amputated.
When I’d been in hospital for 2 days I had a cardiac arrest. Thankfully, this happened in front of medical staff. Nothing came back on the tests. My heart is fine!
I’ll be starting my PhD in clinical psychology at Coventry Uni (it’s fully funded and salaried) next year. I hope to be instrumental in changing mental health services for the better nationally through improved delivery and medical engagement alongside peer support coupled with individually tailored modes of treatment.
Thank you for being an inspiration xx ❤
That’s so cool! Best of luck in your studies, we need more people like you in the world!
I am 24 and last year I had a Similar symptoms that of heart attack for more than 4 months
I had a panic attack a few weeks ago. It was because i was starting to get flashbacks of my past. I have a lot of childhood trauma, and all these bad memories really took a tole on me. Lucky now, i am doing much better :3 I'm still a teenager, so i try to tell myself that i still have so many things to look forward to. And i shouldn't dwindle on the past.
Thank you for this video. It's so important to educate about this, so more people know what to do in this kind of situation.
TL;DR the detailed story of the only time I had a panic attack.
I only had a panic attack once. I suffered from anxiety long before that and was doing much better at that time. It was at the top floor of the empire state building. I was tired and stressed because my aunt (whom I met for the first time the day before) offered to buy me the ticket, and I didn't know how to decline. She had already spent a lot of money on me that day, which made me feel like I was out of control. It was also my first time ever in NYC (the city I live in is much smaller). I'd been feeling some tightness in my chest long before the attack, but I assumed I was just tired after a long walk through the city. But then came the shortness of breath and shaking and anxiety, and I immediately knew what was going on even though I had never felt it before. Anyway, I took a moment, counted things I could see, hear, feel, etc., and it fortunately passed. I'm so glad I was able to quickly identify the problem and that I knew what to do.
And to anyone who reads all this: know that you're valuable and you matter ❤
I was diagnosed with anxiety years ago, and experience 8 out of the 12 symptoms, some more often than others. I didn't know about all of them until seeing this, but there was a period, not too long ago, where I literally thought I had heart problems due to almost constant palpitations and chest pain. I got checked out, was told I was healthy, and ever since I've been out of the environment I was in at the time, I haven't felt those symptoms anymore. This video puts a lot into perspective. Thank you so much! I just subbed. :)
Thank you so much for explaining this 🙌🏻 Anxiety attacks and panic attacks are incredibly different in general and will be also amongst people!
Based on what you’ve said, that helps explain a phenomenon in my life. Weed will occasionally and randomly make me vulnerable to a panic attack. Has happened about twice.
Weed can also make anxiety worse. Speaking from experience 😅
Thankyou so much for the information you share in your book which I've almost finished reading. I've found it useful as a go to after all the trials and tribulations of the last few years including the loss of my father. I've only discovered your TH-cam today and I can only hope that it gives my mother the tools she needs herself to help tackle her grievance process ❤
One of my best friends gets panic attacks, and this honestly helped me understand the meaning better.
Wish you guys well, it must be AWFUL to get them, but you guys are strong
Hi I'm Dr. Julie subscribe & follow me for lots more videos on mental health and psychology.
For more on this see my new no.1 bestselling book - Why has nobody told me this before?
👉 linktr.ee/drjuliesmith
mine start with any sort of stomach discomfort. Even if I just need the loo, i could see this as danger of the panic symptoms or worse my emetephobia. I really wish whilst this was happening i could just accept it and make the attacks a lot shorter!
I thought my first attack was a heart attack. It really did feel like I was going to die there and then. Thank you for this video.
YES THANK YOU. I had this discussion with a prof, and she said she'd TREAT THEM THE SAME. I personally feel like anxiety attacks should be recognized by the clinical community as a phenomenon of their own. It is obviously something that many people experience distinctly from panic attacks.
Psychedelics definitely have potential to deal with mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression, I would like to try them again but it's just so hard to source out here
I’ve been researching on psychedelics and it’s benefits to individuals dealing with Anxiety, Depression, ADHD and from my findings, they really work and I’ve been eager to get some for a while but its been difficult to get my hands on them.
The Trips I've been having really helped me a lot. I’m now able to meditate and I finally feel in control of my emotions and my future and things that used to be mundane to me now seem incredible and full of nuance on top of that I'm way less driven by my ego and I have alot more empathy as well
I was having this constant, unbearable anxiety due to work stress. Not until I came across a very intelligent mycologist. He saved my life honestly
@@JamesFJohnson
I feel the same way too. I put too much on my plate and it definitely affects my stress and anxiety levels. I am also glad to be a part of this community.
@@RicardoSilva12299Does he deliver to various locations?
Getting diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and ADHD, and getting medicated was a huge help. Also recognizing how my body feels when it has a panic attack, and taking deep breaths when i feel those somatic symptoms.
The list at 2:25 fits for flashbacks too which is also "different" from a panic attack. I think all these terms are talking about the same thing, the involuntary jumpstart activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Maybe we could get in the same page by describing to the boilogical systems and responses instead of relying the subjective description of the sensory experience of bodily functions.
I love the list of intense feelings that you provided and I also like the way you explained how anxiety can spiral into a panic attack. I would like to add that taking deep breaths may lead to dissociation in some people. Another great grounding technique would beThe Narration Technique: Verbally state your current safety and location, and narrate your actions to stay focused on the present moment. This can also involve stating the problem that triggered distress and listing steps to address it.
I’ve experienced panic attacks for more than 15 years and this is the most helpful explanation and advice I’ve ever heard (and I’ve seen therapists before). Thank you ❤️
Excellent video Dr. Julie as always!!✋👏🙌 Having experienced night time panic attacks for over 10 years, you described them perfectly. The fear of facing imminent death and that I was having a heart attack was the most traumatic part for me. Learning that these were panic attacks after googling the symptoms one night and then getting confirmation from my GP that I was not going to have a heart attack did bring me peace of mind. Thankfully after doing a lot of inner work, getting to the root cause of my panic attacks and removing the toxicity from my life I haven't had one in over nine months. What helped me when I was having them though was taking deep breaths, reminding myself that I was safe and that I was going to be ok, drinking a glass of cold water and going outside to feel the air on my face. Taking the natural supplement Valerian root on nights where I had a lot of anxiety during the day helped me as well. Knowing the signs of a panic attack helped me learn to stop them in their tracks before they became full blown, and hopefully they don't come back.☺️🙏💛
Hello I would like to know more about your experience with Valarian root !
@@Wildcheetas I found it to be a very useful natural supplement. I would not take it during the day or if you are going to drive because it makes you extremely tired. I found it to put me in a deep and relaxed sleep. Sometimes it did set my stomach off. I haven't used it in several years and I only used it on those particularly high anxiety days but it did help me. My GP recommended it and I bought it over the counter at GNC. Hope that helps.💛
@@Goldenheart2911 that is so helpful! I am thinking of launching my own vitamin company focused on mood support and I didn’t think of this particular supplement. Thanks for taking the time to reply
@@Wildcheetas You're welcome 💛 Best of luck with your company🎉
I had panic attacks after going through consistent trauma. I never understood they were panic attacks. It took me so much therapy and talking about it to even identify my feelings which were mostly fear. Therefore, I thought for the first time that I must have anxiety. But the times where I would get the symptoms you mentioned were different and I couldn’t figure out what was happening to me. I feel like you really helped me to understand and identify what I am actually experiencing and it makes me feel better that it is only natural and safe that my body reacts this way due to my past trauma.
Understanding and practicing healing helps to ease panic attacks and slow them faster. To eventually getting them little or not at all, which is what you want. Breathing really helps and guided meditation. Also physical activity like yoga helps to break the stress and tight grips throughout your body that you might not be aware of. Go outside in the sunshine and take a walk by yourself or with a friend, or someone you trust, in nature and use your senses to feel human again. We are all animals and we have forgotten our nature so it is important to get out and be our animal selves again.
Thank you for this educational video. I feel like I am doing much better with this knowledge and awareness. Keep going in life, you all got this. Identifying the problem and utilizing different solutions is the best way. Take your time. 🌟 This too shall pass 🌟
Thank you for sharing gonna do this things ❤
Thank you for validating my feelings about this.... It's hard for me when people say panic attack is the same anxiety attack. It's not!!! I know it only too well as my first panic attack happened when I was 6 years old...in church. I remember it as well as yesterday. It became so bad and as a child I had no way of communicating to my parents or teachers or friends what was happening. It got so bad so i ended up avoiding going places and never wanted to leave the house. It wasnt until I was 18 years old one of my counselors spoke to a psychologist and I could finally put a name to it. Unfortunately I did not connect the the dots about what may have started them until I was 34 years old. It's just very hard for me when people/Drs use the terms interchangeably...Thank you SO MUCH for this validation
Thank you, thank you, thank you!. This is a huge eye and mind opener for me. Everything you said is exactly what I have been feeling. I had been to a doctor and called an ambulance but none even suggested a panic attack so all along I've just self diagnosed myself and not want to tell anyone because they wouldn't understand but this video has really helped.
Dr. Julie,
Where are you these days?
It's been more than a year and you didn't upload any videos. ❤
I love watching your videos since I have struggled with both anxiety and depression. Anxiety nowadays being the most prominent one at the moment, and this is extremely helpful especially since in the past I have had both anxiety attacks and panic attacks in the past and I’ve even had 2 anxiety attacks in school before as I am only 14 and don’t like talking to people about my mental health struggles unless I trust them a lot which takes a while for me to do and even then I normally don’t tell them in person!
Thanks for clarifying the differences. I reckon the panic attack is an anxiety attack but worse. I live with anxiety and depression, both from (I believe) C-PTSD. The things that have worked for me were running, yoga, 4-4-8/box-breathing (or any variation in which the exhales are longer than the inhales) and recently I've been having good results with acupuncture. Subscribed. Cheers!
Up until now i always called mine anxiety attacks because they didnt fit how panic attacks were described to me. But there is such nuance here i can see them for what they really are. Thank you!
I've called the police twice thinking I was dying during 2 panic attacks in my life. I've never been diagnosed but I feel like I will be seeking medical help now
It’s so nice to hear this professionally explained, thank you so much for taking the time to make this🙂
This was so helpful! I recently discovered my journey with anxiety and am excited to push through this battle.
Hello, Dr. Julie! 💖
First of all, I’m so grateful for your videos. I can feel that you are a very empathic psychologist.
I love your videos on Instagram. They are very helpful, to the point, healing and creative. I love how you use different things as analogy to helps us visualize our problems.
I’m so happy that you’re beginning to upload videos on TH-cam. Here I can understand more deeply about a topic, in this case panic attack. I would like to watch more videos like this, especially about different and useful techniques to cope with a panic attack (self-soothing tips). I’m suffering from panic attacks due to a health trauma (hypoglycaemia, hypotension, palpitations) last year. Since then I’ve been at home recovering. Now I’ve noticed that when I go outside or have a social event, I get anxious, have tachycardia, and I return home very tired. I’m trying to not to avoid it, but still it’s very difficult for me to cope. I hope to learn how to slowly go outside of my home as I used to do before getting really sick.
Thank you so much for your help,
Michelle
I struggled with anxiety almost my whole life, my first panic attack was when I was 10 years old and I had no idea what was going on but through medication and meditation. I am 44 now and I am happy to say that I have not had a panic attack in almost 20 years. This video was spot on about everything that at least I felt when I was suffering from horrible panic attacks. And your advice is also spot on. Thank you.
I had a panic attack once on a bus after thinking I could parallel park better than someone I saw doing it. It took me a while but breathing steadily helped me calm down.
This video is really insightful around managing anxiety in general, thank you so much.
I've got to say, I would put breathing as number 1 head honcho. I feel like the background work of recognising the signals and bodily processes is important for those who have recurrent panic attacks, but breathing is key for everyone whether you only have one once, have them often, have them occasionally but longterm, or even are assisting someone having a panic attack - I wish everyone knew it. Practising breathwork outside of calling on it for panic attacks also really helps too. I fell into it sideways through swimming laps but I've noticed a marked difference now when I am having a p.a in how quickly I can bring myself down, because my body is practised at it and associates it with pleasure/relaxation rather than just shooting my shot mid fear response.
Other tips would be if you are cognisant of your thoughts or emotions spiralling then focussing on real objects or features in the room around you can help; I will count the corners in the room or say things to myself like "lightbulb, door handle, water bottle, pillow" to ground myself in external reality rather than my internal fears. To the same end, massaging my own hands/arms/neck after my breathing and heart rate has come back a bit helps. Do some aftercare too when possible - even if it's just quietly sitting and drinking some cold water before returning to whatever it is you have to do. Forcing myself to be 'fine' as soon as all the physiological aspects stop usually means I'm teetering on the edge of tears the rest of the day and can lead back into another panic attack later on.
And a piece of advice from an former therapist that stayed with me was to greet your anxiety like an old acquaintance or visitor, name it, acknowledge it when you feel it return rather than aim to eliminate it - by assuming you can and will get rid of it forever and dreading its return leads to that self-perpetuating cycle. I never actually named mine but I will always remember her example for me was a client who called her anxiety 'roast pork belly' because it was so hard to resist even though she knew it wasn't good for her all the time 😂At the time I thought the idea was ridiculous and was still quietly aiming for elimination (ha ha ha), but now I have gone months or years at a time without anxiety or having panic attacks and when it does return I'm better at recognising it, acknowledging it and working to reduce the stressors that are triggering it rather than hoping it will just go away. Even if I can't adjust my situation quickly all the time, it just helps to know that it will pass and I won't be stuck feeling like that forever - it is just a visitor. So apologies to my therapist, she was right.
I think you just clarified for me what actually happend to me last weekend.
I had a music festival to go to, completely by myself on saturday, and two days earlier I started to feel palpatations, short breaths, chest pain, which ended up giving me a bit of insomnia. It took me a couple of hours to finally calm myself down and go to sleep.
On the day of the music festival, since it was very crowded, there were a few times where I felt little palpatations or like I was going to faint, like I couldn't breath properly in the middle of the crowd.
On the next day I was at home, felling better but later that night I was still feeling a bit weird with some of these simptoms and I decided to go to the hospital just to make sure I was okay, bc I was starting to think that I was having some sort of heart attack or something. The doctor examed me, I did a few exams and they all came totally fine.
I've felt a bit of anxiety before in my life, but I think that was the first time I actually had a panic attack, because it scared me a little.
Don't know how this video got recommended to me, but thank you anyway for helping me to understand.
What I’m having or have had an hour ago 26/6/24 - 7am UK) still feeling uneasy and spoke to 111 they suggesting to go to hospital but with no current vehicle I can’t get there as it’s too far almost 30 mile. I tried to go to bed and got real bad chest pain, stood up went light headed and wobbly, my chest going 10 to the dozen, sweating hot flushes etc. I’m really hoping it’s an episode and not something that will become regular as this is my first time having anything like this. I do feel over the past year though Anxiety has slowly crept up on me, even thing like going out I play scenarios In my head, yet before COVID I never used to be like it, really not sure why I’m like it now, I enjoy just chilling and rather be in then out in the sun annoyingly. Just sat here now hopefully trying to confirm what’s what and sitting upright on the corner sofa with a fan blasting at me, current weathers 19 degree so it’s quite nice. Hopefully get through this and hope more people will too.
I used to have panic attacks but I didn’t know what they were at the time. I was so embarrassed by them that I worked myself up even more and would end up passing out. Workplace would always end up phoning an ambulance for me which in turn made things even worse for me, then every time I had one or felt one coming on I would have hysterical crying fits which made me look manic and I felt weird and crazy. I would get more worked up and think I was going to be sectioned or have irrational thoughts where I would think I would probably just be better off jumping in front or a car or off a bridge rather than feel like this and keep drawing attention to myself and I always ended up passing out. Once I would come round I’d be physically and emotionally drained and fatigued and then I fell into a “depressive” state of mind because it just seemed to be a vicious cycle. Back then mental health was extremely stigmatised and there weren’t as much knowledge or information and social media wasn’t a very big platform for mental health advocates, if anything it was looked upon and judged. I finally visited my GP and engaged in CBT which at the time I HATED it was so confrontational and challenging and at first made me a panic a little more but I knew I had to engage and I couldn’t continue to live like this. It was completely controlling my life. I went on the sick at work, it caused issues in my relationship with my boyfriend and my grandmother who had taken me in. Eventually things did ease after around 12 months but just by educating myself on my symptoms and knowing the physical symptoms were normal and going to pass. I still stuff with anxiety some days more than others but I can proudly same I have it under control after suffering for over 10 years.
The more books I read I realise I’ve always suffered from panic attacks, even as a child but I thought because when I was a child I could only explain it as an “out of body experience” as if I was floating above myself and not really I’m my body how I was suppose to know at 4/5 years old that was a panic attack. It always happened when my parents were arguing and fighting downstairs so I knew if I told anyone about these feelings it would cause more issues so I just used to think of it as a super power because I felt in my head whilst I was floating they couldn’t hurt me and sounds was sort of drowned out.
Mine started really early too, around 3 years old. I always felt a bit odd for that, so I appreciate you sharing this. 🤍
I am an army vet. I used to get panic attacks A LOT. Since then I've quit smoking, I don't drink coffee anymore either. My panic attacks have been far and few between because of these decisions. I still get them, and I'm thinking gastral reflux is what triggers them. I know it sounds weird but I can't figure out what else could possibly be triggers. I always feel like I'm having a heart attack and that I am going to faint. Best thing for me is to walk it off, drink water, breathe to the best of my ability and when it finally comes down a little I lay down. I wouldnt wish this stuff on my worst enemies, because sometimes I feel like I would rather die, no I'm not suicidal, that's just the feeling.
I have anxiety and I am on antidepresive. I had once a panic attack and the week after was the worst, I felt like I was standing on edge just waitting to fall. When I felt it worsted I talk to myself that it is just a panic attack and that I am one in control, I controlled the breathing and I started to close and open my fist. After a week it got better. From there on I am lucky I didn't experience a panic attack that strong ever.
Thank you for explaining so well. Your channel really helps me.
Thank you for explaining everything so well! Very useful and educational video.
I thought I was fucking crazy
"I have anxiety about having anxiety"
It's the stupidest thing I have ever heard
But it absolutely obliterated my life
I wanted everyone to get away from me because I could never have peace, I deeply DEEPLY craved solitude to the point where I don't even consider being alone in my own house enough space
It changed the way I approached everything
How I treated friends, how I treated family, how I treated myself. Don't even ask me about relationships
I was either only angry and resentful of the peace everyone else seemed to blissfully enjoy, while I couldn't have a moment of quiet in my head
Or I was detached from everyone and everything.
Completely cut myself off with depersonalization/derealization
To the point where I didn't feel natural joy and forgot how it felt
I just stare at the screen and even though I completely knew I found something funny
I would barely make a sound
After a while, (I guess because I don't remember a time before this) I got so used to being constantly tense and buzzed out from my anxiety that it was just my new normal. But then I would get moments, where enough things were ok enough or I was just too exhausted to be anxious that I would be clear, where I could actually take a breath and it would almost be so overwhelming that I would feel like I could cry because I knew it wasn't going to last
I even ended up enjoying being sad, because when I was sad I wasn't anxious, it was like a little vacation
I was so young when it all started and no one knew better to help me or tell me what was happening inside and as time went on I became more and more embarrassed and ashamed of how I felt that I started to hate myself so much for being the way I am, that I had no self confidence or self belief at all.
Even little things that I knew how to do, I would make mistakes on and then I would doubt myself to the point where not only was I never satisfied with the things I used to enjoy, but I couldn't find any joy in them anymore.
It made me think that anxiety could ruin anything that I love
And so the "monster" in my head only got bigger
Soon I wouldn't even allow myself to think about the things that freaked me out and so I never addressed them.
So much time wasted, and so many things that I wish I was myself enough to tell the people I loved before they passed
Now that I have a more full grasp of how it all works and what it is I can cope with it. But it's hard to live like that for so long and then living a healthier and better life and even succeeding in quite a few ways
It's like I have Stockholm syndrome for my anxiety because I'm not used to not having it
It wasn't until I smoked some weed that was strictly CBD that I realized how bad it was.
Funny enough my mother said the exact same thing about her first time smoking pot; "It was like my body and mind finally let go"
Still a neurotic mess that absolutely contributed to my problems, but at least I understand her now too lol
I doubt anyone got to the end to read this.
But if you did, and any of this sounds like you, please get help or at least research it online
I only intended to write down a bit of my experience, but as more came to the surface I just kept going. I've never told anyone about this, it felt good to put it out in some way.
Thank you Faraday this is something I can relate to totally and it's so good of you to put your experiences on here. So you just about manage I guess❤😐
I never experienced something like this but I kinda get what it could feel like. I hope you get the help you need and remember there is always someone going through the same things as you somewhere in the world, you are not alone! I hope it gets better for you and everyone that lives with things like this.
Wow, thats me at the moment ❤😢 Thank you SO MUCH from the buttom of my heart for sharing!