Have you ever had an anxiety attack?

Question

I am trying to grasp the concept of just how many people out there suffer from these. Maybe you know of someone who suffers from this. Feel free to tell me your experience. A friend of mine feels he is alone in this situation...I would like to help him feel better. =)

Answer 1

About 25 years ago I was going through anxiety problems. I knew it was bad when I found I couldn't wait in line at the grocery store with a cart full of groceries. I walked away from them because I couldn't go through with it, I was full of all the above symptoms.

I finally saw a doctor about it, he put me on some kind of anti depressant for about 6 months while I started working on myself through self help books and taking up meditation. The meditation gave me insight as to where my anxiety stemmed from so I have not had a re-occurence since.

Your friend is lucky to have you make him feel better, I hope he realizes it.

Answer 2

I'm only 22, but I have been suffering from anxiety attacks since I was like 16. For the last 4 years, I was even on antidepressants but they still came, not as bad as when I've been off the medication tho.

I've had some that were so bad I couldn't breath and others were just uncontrollable crying for basically no reason. Since I am off antidepressants, they sneak up on me but you just gotta take it easy, BREATH, drink water... or if you prefer to do the mediated route, take an anxiety pill. I, personally, do not think medication is a good idea.. I mean, it works, but it like ruined my body and even tho I felt better taking that stuff, I just felt like I shouldn't have to put extra chemicals into my body.

There are other things you can do for anxiety. Like taking warm baths w/ aromas, drinking certain teas, meditation... If your friend is that bad off tho, he should definately go see a doctor.

Answer 3

I have anxiety daily, but one time circumstances in my life got so stressful that I went into full blown panic attack. I began hyperventilating and had to go to my doctor where they said I was having the symptoms of a heart attack. I am only 33 so I was scared out of my ghord. They gave me shots for sedation, plus I had to keep taking nitro glycerin under the tongue, which supposedly slows the heart or something. My blood pressure was in stroke territory.

I still take anti-anxiety medications daily as well as other pschiatric drugs, but I am not so confident to say that circumstances couldn't send me right off the deep end again.

Your friend will never control that which he denies possessing. Also, he's not alone. I know several people with anxiety problems. Some of them are flat out lunatics, others not.

Answer 4

Yes, I have, first one when I was 13. pretty scary, I thought I was losing my mind and i had no way to way to explain to anyone what was happening. After my first panic atack, I would start thinking whether I have lost my mind and i would think of all these ways to prove or disprove the idea. Finally someone told me that If i am worried about losing my mind, then I am definitely ot losing it lol..but then again, my issues are anxiety combined with OCD tendencies.panic attacks are extremely common so your friend is most definitely not alone. Medications can help, such as short life benzodiazepines,(Xanax, Valium) but they can be addictive if taken on a daily basis for more than four weeks. I have heard that yoga can be extremely effective in learning relaxation techniques

Answer 5

I used to have them all the time, and they continued to get worse until I had a full blown panic disorder. I didn't realize how common they were until I ended up in the ER from a really bad one(thought I was having a heart attack) and the Dr. told me they get 10 people a day for the same thing. To prove the point, the woman in the bed next to me was describing her symptoms to the other Dr. and they were exactly the same as mine.
After that incident I was swamped with other peoples' stories of the same or similar experiences.

Answer 6

Yes, I've had them. It feels as if everything is crashing in on you all at once like a giant emotional tsunami. Usually this happens to me when I have taken on too many projects and can't possibly finish them all, and I begin to panic and can't gwet anything done on any of them. It feels like the end of the world but it's not. My theory is that a person's adrenaline gets going full speed and puts the body into "fight or flight" as it would if you were being attacked by a tiger or something. If it really were a tiger, then one of three things would happen: you escape, you kill the tiger, or you get killed. In all of these, there is a clear END to the danger and your body calms down. But in the modern world, the "tigers" of daily stress just keep going on and on, and the anxiety builds up to the breaking point. I've learned to cope with these attacks by doing yoga breathing and meditation exercises to calm my body down and turn the adrenaline rush off.

Answer 7

I guess I've had a few, but not severe. I do know many, many people who have. My aunt is one of the worst. I told her when she feels it coming on to take a deep breath in very slowly through the nose and exhale slowly through pursed lips (like blowing out through a straw) very slowly. She does this several times until she calms down and it works. I also was a triage nurse in an ER and I had a lot of people coming in thinking they were having a heart attack when all it was, was anxiety or panic. When I had them slow their breathing, they felt much better. The oxygen stays in the body longer, and also help take your mind off what is going on.

Answer 8

Yes, when a wedding I was in turned into a religious service. I had left the church a while ago under very stressful circumstances and was uncomfortable just being in a church so what happened really messed me up. Walking down the aisle I had to bite the side of my face so it wouldn't twitch. After an agonizing service (and messages about women being subservient and divorced people being failures) the entire bridal party went down to have communion and left me on the state alone in the spotlight - I puked after I walked out the church and couldn't get out of bed for a week and was ready to take a long nap in my garage if you catch my drift. For me it had to do with my past.

Answer 9

YES your friend is not alone.anxiety attacks can hit you at any time any where.i have gotten them in the store and you just have to leave.you can't breath the walls are closeing in on you. tell your friend there is help.you can see a dr or find a support
group.there may be something he is not dealing with and doesn't
ever know it i had very bad ones after my mom and dad passed a away. just let him know he is not alone. stress is a big cause
of this good luck

Answer 10

i've had anxiety attacks. the first 2 times i felt like i was having a heart attack. chest pain, short of breath, sweating, nausea. it was scary. i started taking zoloft, and it has helped so much. I hope you're friend will get help from a doctor. this can be overcome.