Panic Attacks...ugh
 

Just curious if anyone else here has had to deal with them...if so, you can surely appreciate just what this fella was experiencing:


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My wife has had panic attacks. For her they come from out of nowhere. I may have had one the day before I had to confront a trusted partner who I caught embezzling from me. I couldn't breath and tried to drive myself to the er. Couldn't make the pedals work.
More common for me is what OZ talks about. I'm constantly editing what I say. I speak a sentence and while I'm speaking the next one I'm running the previous one through my head to see if I could have said it better.

I briefly had it for a few weeks about 6-7 years ago. Heart rate is sky high, blood pressure is off the chart at 170. Comes on in the evening after 9-10pm, just about the same time I logged onto here. I kept taking my BP but it kept going up. Doc wanted to drug me. Eventually, I let things go and stop thinking about all the stupid siht. That yelling match would have eaten me up, but I learn to let it go. Rode my bike to get some exercise daily back then and it went away. Doc thinks its self induced. Its all gone. Oh, doc also suggested I talk to a head doc. I don't do any of that he suggested. All gone now no matter how mad I get.

$100 says the recreational drugs he's talking about was weed. I used to have panic attacks. I quit smoking weed, no more panic attacks. And I'm not talking about when I was intoxicated. I would have them any time within a few weeks of smoking it.

I guess it sort of happened once, although it was for a good reason. I've been in a few plays at our repertory theater, and I always get a little nervous while back stage, waiting for my cue. Just about everyone does. The anxiety is not stage fright. What the audience thinks of me doesn't bother me. The anxiety comes from being convinced I'll forget my lines and screw up the whole scene, thereby letting down the other actors as well as the audience who want to get their money's worth.

So last year, playing Dr. Grimwig in Oliver!, I go up to Oliver and just freeze. (I was distracted by a late set change and lost my focus.) So I'm just standing there staring at Oliver, not knowing what to say. My head starts ringing, my heart rate doubles, and the sweat starts to pour instantly. The world is coming to an end. I'm convinced the booing will commence any moment. Then the 10-year old boy playing Oliver improvises with me and gets me on track. The scene goes on and all is well. But it was hard to finish the scene.

I apologized to some friends who were in the audience, but they didn't notice anything was amiss. So it was all for nothing, as panic attacks tend to be, no matter the circumstances.

Bad news for your money. It was cocaine and ecstasy.

I concur. I like smoking MJ. Big time. But it doesn't matter if its Indica or Sativa, I still find myself more tense if I smoke it regularly. Avoiding or anesthetizing ones sell to life's problems never makes the problems go away.

Doesn't mean that some tasty Sativa while hiking in the mountains isn't enjoyable of course....

And now...The Rest of the Story.
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Interesting. During college, my schedule was crazy busy since I started my little construction business it seem that the day needed to be another 5 hours longer. I had a hole in my schedule and decided to take a meditating class. It was held in the gym. I walked in there thinking, "god, time to sleep in the dark for an hour". I did fall sleep sitting there a few times, but the benefit of sitting there clearing one's brain help tremendously. it took about a month for me to actually catch on. Loved it, but have not done it since the class. I should start but taking out an hour out of the day would be nuts just to sit and do nothing. This Video really got me thinking about doing it again.

How many of you guys have tried something like it?

You really think? I wouldn't smoke weed even if my doctor ask me to.

BINGO!

I have suffered for years with PA's and it has taken a long time for me to be able to learn things that set one off. Been to the doc, psychologist and finally the answer was in myself. I still get anxious in certain situations like bumper to bumper traffic, I feel I have no way out, so I deal with it by bypassing traffic or setting landmarks which I tell myself the panic will end. I call my wife or a friend and talk through the anxiety.

One thing I can tell you is that it sucks and can be debilitating.

Amen to that.

At Dentist now....it gets me anxious most times as well as traffic. The whole trapped idea I suppose.

Good topic!

I don't have a problem with people smoking marijuana. It just didn't mix well with me personally. I honestly think it's less harmful than alcohol.

They can shake a person right to the core. An attack robs people of everything. In those moments, they have nothing...not even themselves. Humbling, very scary and makes people live in fear of the next time it happens.

So I guess we now know who won't be getting CC permits.

Yep...can't escape...what if I start to choke...I have to stay still..., s**t, why is my heart racing????....can't breathe...they're leaning all over me...jaw is shaking...can't stay open...gotta get up...can't...f*uck...

Deal with it daily, and for the last 25 yrs or so...first attack was at age 6 (once I learned what was going on).

Try running in place hard for 10 seconds while hyperventilating and then turn in circles five times...then multiply that feeling about a bazillion times :)

For some CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) is magic...for some, it takes more.

I had one....
I was in the hospital and within a few days after getting my guts cut open.
God knows what drugs they were pumping into me.

It was no fun but not as bad as loosing my mind after a previous surgery about 25 years before. Back then, Morphine.....a blast in the ass every 4 hours ....I went nutso. It's tough to find your mind when it's missing. :eek:

I don't do well with hi-tech pain killers either. (Oxycodone?)

I don't care what others do, I just don't want to smoke it. Its like beer, a six pack will last me more then two or three months. Don't get me wrong, I love the way beer taste, just don't always have a craving for it, but it is damn good with Mexican food.

I have, and still do.
I can hum a few bars on my experience if anyone wants to hear it.

My ex would get them occasionally; it's nothing I could ever understand. I assume one's mind has to be pre-disposed to it; such as always being on edge that something can go wrong? I really don't know.

Not really, that is what is awful about it...they can come from out of the blue. For sure you can set yourself up for one, e.g. I have a presentation coming up, what happens if I choke, if my voice quavers, if I shake, if I look like a fool, if I get fired, etc.

...but...if you are sitting in the middle of a front pew in church and suddenly one hits, then maybe the next time you make sure that you sit on the end in the back, and near an exit in a restaurant, and take the stairs instead of the elevator, and, and, and....

Sounds rough :(

Scary when you see it happen especially if you can't recognize it. My plumber and I sneaked out for a long lunch while the boys were working on my job. As soon as he entered the fwy, he froze and almost couldn't pull his truck over to the shoulder. When he stopped, he looked like he just walked out of the shower with hands shaking uncontrollably. I had not idea what happened. I had to drive us back.

Panic attack, or seizure? My best friend has seizures--come out of nowhere. We've been on the golf course before and he has one, and while I can see it happening, he's still trying to grab his club and go hit. It sucks watching him go through that, but I know he just needs to ride it out for usually a minute or so, then he's ok--just exhausted and a little disoriented.

Dentist....that's why I go with sedation dentistry. Good night, teeth fixed, wake up and go home.

Not sure what it is. According to him, its a panic attack. He was completely alert, just couldn't move his arms and looked like if he saw a ghost.

Sure is what it sounds like

I get them every so often. They suck!

Lorazepam and Lexapro keep it in check.

I agree, Lorazepam and Remeron for me, they make me "normal". I only use the Lorazepam as needed. Also Klonopin as a longer acting drug. But I use the benzos very sparingly, like yesterday when my blood pressure and anger went thru the roof because of the friggin Audi dealer that told me the could not even look for the front end noise I have because my tires were not OEM and that they needed to be replaced and aligned. Hell, they did the alignment 2K ago and the tires do not even have 4" on them. This is why I need Lorazepam.

Just in case anyone wants to hear more. It's actually pretty interesting. I like that he's not presenting meditation in a new age, hippy way.

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I didn't watch the video. Too many BTDT's to see it. I avoid anything that reminds me of one.

Are you mad? Mexican = Margaritas - Pizza = beer!

But seriously... I don't know if they were/are panic attacks but I have had three 'episodes'... only way I could describe it would be an extreme claustrophobic feeling that freaks me out. Twice in fairly spacious hotel rooms where I felt the walls closing in so I got dresses and went outside for 10-15 minutes, took some deep breaths, then I went back to the room and went to sleep. Once after minor surgery at home... that one was pretty sever and my wife chalks it up to the anesthesia/pain meds but I dunno about that.

Harris is advocating for meditation which has several benefits and is the practice of being present and present only. I think he is correct in calling out the prevalence of varying degrees of anxiety and depression (...) in people today. Learning to first recognize those feelings and then modulate them is a massive advantage and could be the difference between existing and living. Maybe meditation is a tool that could facilitate avoiding, minimizing or getting away from medications.

So very true.

(on both counts)