Panic Attack?? or Worse?
Last night I thought I was having a heart attack. I’m 25 years old, in good shape, and have never had any medical issues. I had smoked some ganja about 30-40min beforehand (which is a regularity for me and has been since high school… i’ve completed college successfully at an ivy and work a full-time job now). However, I’m more depressed now than I ever have been, and last night when I smoked I started to think how weird it is being a human, having organs, etc. I was lying down in my bed watching TV thinking about this, then BAM!!! My heart and head started to pooound! I got up and went for the stairs. My heart started pounding so intensely that it dropped me to the ground.. with my head pounding too.. everything was dark (no lights on).. i couldn’t reach the lights, and I wanted to yell to my dad for help but couldn’t. I couldn’t believe what was happening.. I was just hoping this wasn’t the end, but I thought it was. It felt like I was going to die the way things were feeling in my body. Then, suddenly after maybe 1-2 minutes, the heart pounding subsided just a little, and I was able to get up and race to the faucet in the kitchen. I poured cold water all over my head, hair, and face for a few minutes. Then I started to return to a normal state and I sat down and took deep breathes. I was able to go to sleep a few hours later, scared.
I’m still scared now. I did some research and it looks like this could have only been a panic attack? I never knew panic attacks felt like your going to die of a heart attack. I’m at a loss right now, I’ve never had anything like this happen to me. Anyone with any advice or suggestions, please advise on the steps I should take/what happened to me, it’d mean a lot to me.
Thanks
I advise to go and tell a doctor about what happened.
I never had a panic attack like that, I had everything you can imagine but not this kind and I never heard anybody collapsing because of an attack.
However if you start feeling space out do these steps:
Hey,
You are having panic attacks.
Use these simple steps over and over again until you become the master of your thoughts and emotions.You create your panic attacks not your environment .
Take full responsibility.
I was suffering from panic attacks for 14 years.
I did a lots of research and reading on the subject.
Here is a six-step approach to self-control when dealing with an anxiety attack:
1.ACCEPT–Recognize that you are feeling anxious.Accept your body feelings as a symptom of your anxiety and a sign that something is bothering you.
2.PERMISSION–Give yourself permission to feel anxious about whatever it is that is bothering you."Of course I feel anxious because…. and it is okay to have anxiety.I know what this is and why I feel this way."
3.BREATHE– First, inhale through your nose slowly for two-seconds,mentally counting one, one-thousand, two ,one- thousand.then exhale through your mouth to mental count of four-second-again by one-thousands.Do this for at least 60-seconds.
4.INNER DIALOGUE–Use truthful, positive dialogue to talk yourself through the anxious time.It WILL pass. Examples of dialogue might be,"It’s just anxiety.It will go away. I will not lose control.
I can still go about my business feeling spaced-out.It won’t hurt me."
5.DISTRACT–Get busy.Do something to release some of this self-induced stimulation.Your body is like a car in high gear with the brakes on .Don’t just sit there! Walk,jog, clean closets -but do something.Distract yourself from the way you are feeling.
6.LET TIME PASS– and try to see a little humor in the way you feel.You may feel weird ,you don’t look weird.Give yourself permission to feel weird for a little while. It is no big deal.Try to figure out what is really bothering you. Is it some type of conflict that you don’t want to deal with?Is it a scary thought? Is it a ridiculous expectation you have about yourself? How about the television program you watched last night?What is bothering you?
It takes time and lots and lots of practice.But the only way to stop fearing panic and anxiety attacks is to experience them .Then, work your way through them and begin to see that they won’t hurt you.
There is no need to avoid or fight .
YOU are your safe place and your safe person .
YOU can make yourself feel better.
Feel good!
Praise to Lucinda Bassett !
Comment from Tamas M
Time January 6, 2010 at 2:56 am
I advise to go and tell a doctor about what happened.
I never had a panic attack like that, I had everything you can imagine but not this kind and I never heard anybody collapsing because of an attack.
However if you start feeling space out do these steps:
Hey,
You are having panic attacks.
Use these simple steps over and over again until you become the master of your thoughts and emotions.You create your panic attacks not your environment .
Take full responsibility.
I was suffering from panic attacks for 14 years.
I did a lots of research and reading on the subject.
Here is a six-step approach to self-control when dealing with an anxiety attack:
1.ACCEPT–Recognize that you are feeling anxious.Accept your body feelings as a symptom of your anxiety and a sign that something is bothering you.
2.PERMISSION–Give yourself permission to feel anxious about whatever it is that is bothering you."Of course I feel anxious because…. and it is okay to have anxiety.I know what this is and why I feel this way."
3.BREATHE– First, inhale through your nose slowly for two-seconds,mentally counting one, one-thousand, two ,one- thousand.then exhale through your mouth to mental count of four-second-again by one-thousands.Do this for at least 60-seconds.
4.INNER DIALOGUE–Use truthful, positive dialogue to talk yourself through the anxious time.It WILL pass. Examples of dialogue might be,"It’s just anxiety.It will go away. I will not lose control.
I can still go about my business feeling spaced-out.It won’t hurt me."
5.DISTRACT–Get busy.Do something to release some of this self-induced stimulation.Your body is like a car in high gear with the brakes on .Don’t just sit there! Walk,jog, clean closets -but do something.Distract yourself from the way you are feeling.
6.LET TIME PASS– and try to see a little humor in the way you feel.You may feel weird ,you don’t look weird.Give yourself permission to feel weird for a little while. It is no big deal.Try to figure out what is really bothering you. Is it some type of conflict that you don’t want to deal with?Is it a scary thought? Is it a ridiculous expectation you have about yourself? How about the television program you watched last night?What is bothering you?
It takes time and lots and lots of practice.But the only way to stop fearing panic and anxiety attacks is to experience them .Then, work your way through them and begin to see that they won’t hurt you.
There is no need to avoid or fight .
YOU are your safe place and your safe person .
YOU can make yourself feel better.
Feel good!
Praise to Lucinda Bassett !
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