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In crisis - severe panic attacks for days now

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Codex

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Hi,

I feel wary talking about this to anyone because I've been going through a nightmare but I guess many of you can likely relate and I could really use some support or ideas.

I've had PTSD most of my life - that is nothing new. This year my panic attacks have been worse but about a week ago then went from a couple times a week to an extreme or several times a day. They happen so often right now that I feel like they never stop in the first place (yes, I know they do). They are coming from "no reason" at all. They are blindsiding me left and right. Yesterday was the first time I called an ambulence and they took me up and did an ECG - it was reassuring that I wasn't actually dying but it wasn't as reassuring as I thought it would be. Each time the panic hits - I'm still convinced I'm having a heart attack or going completely insane. I'm single currently and am living back with my parents and they are incredible but I'm draining them (they didn't tell me that but it's just human) because I'm TERRIFIED of being alone when I even sense panic is coming. I'm not sucidal but at times I wish I was because life seems too hard at this point. The ER leaves me waiting for 10+ hours so I can't do the wait because the panic is too strong and I need out. My psychiatrist will see me next week but even seeing me later today would feel like a century.

I don't mean to seem dramatic - I'm just so incredibly miserable and lost right now. I have sent off an email to an old Pyschologist that specializes in PTSD, hoping that she will either see me or recommend someone who can. The idea of seeing someone sounds exhuasting and embarrassing though. I'm starting to feel like I can never break this cycle and this will be my life from now on. Please tell me it can get better. I can't do this for much longer. Yes, I'm on a panic medication and it does help a little because it's new for me and it's been knocking me out (I hadn't slept in five days straight). This just can't be how my life is from now on.
 
Hi,

I feel wary talking about this to anyone because I've been going through a nightmare but I guess ma...
The only thing I can say is I can relate to every bit of that. I know it constently feels like the end is near and that no body can begin to understand but I understand. People seem to always brush it under the carpet after they soon have enough of you. Just know your understood at least by me if not others.
 
The only thing I can say is I can relate to every bit of that. I know it constently feels like the...
Thank you for taking the time to say that. I was really scared even putting anything in words so it means a lot to me that you let me know that you relate. Sometimes it feels like no one gets it and can be very very isolating. I'm very sorry that anyone else has to go through this nightmare but there is some relief that it's not just me and people are making it.
 
What does your diet look like? Have you had exposure to heavy metals or toxins?

I ask as all of these things can make my anxiety skyrocket. Bad diet. Chemical exposure. The list goes on. My body is super sensitive. But, it's worth figuring these things out so that the anxiety decreases.
 
Are you able to try some exercise?

When my anxiety gets too out of control, I find it hard to get the calmer versions of relaxation happening, simply because I can't get my brain to slow down. In those times, I boost the amount of exercise (including incidental exercise like sweeping the floor or walking the last couple of blocks to the shop) I'm doing. Exercise is a good way to force the body's physiological processes to normalise, which brings down my overall stress levels (making me less anxious moment to moment), and reduces how often I get a full panic attack.

When you say there's nothing triggering them - some pdoc's would instantly butt in with "That's not physically possible, because the brain yahda-yahda-yahda...". It is helpful to know that even just thoughts and emotions are enough to trigger a panic attack (rather than needing it to be something happening around us), and that this can escalate to the point where the fear of having a panic attack? Is enough to cause a panic attack:wtf:

Why is that helpful? For me, when the cycle of anxiety is on repeat? It means I need to get out of my head for awhile. For lower amounts of anxiety, figuring it out and rationalising my anxiety helps. But it gets to a point sometimes where the thoughts are just fuelling my anxiety. Again, physical activity helps me break that cycle and get me out if my head for a while.

Peope have different attitudes to whether intense physical exertion is best for combating anxiety. Personally, it's more important for me that the activity engages me and my brain, and that I don't have to work up a sweat to get relief.

Everyone's experiences are different. But as a good rule of thumb; panic attacks are a very physical symptom, and physical stuff is often what helps manage them, whether it be breathing, yoga or exercise.

Just some ideas while your supports are swinging into action for you. It will get better.
 
I don't mean to seem dramatic - I'm just so incredibly miserable and lost right now. I have sent off an email to an old Pyschologist that specializes in PTSD, hoping that she will either see me or recommend someone who can. The idea of seeing someone sounds exhuasting and embarrassing though. I'm starting to feel like I can never break this cycle and this will be my life from now on. Please tell me it can get better. I can't do this for much longer. Yes, I'm on a panic medication and it does help a little because it's new for me and it's been knocking me out (I hadn't slept in five days straight). This just can't be how my life is from now on.

There is a thread @Codex called Anxiety, Panic & Hyper-vigilance and I strongly suggest you click on Forums at top of this page and then scroll down and click on the above-mentioned thread to learn more about how other members here in forum have dealt with their anxiety thus panic attacks. I was having them and knew why; mine stemmed from extreme trauma memories that kept being triggered and flashing me back all throughout the day. I strongly do not believe that since you've been diagnosed with ptsd that your panic attacks are coming from nowhere at all as you've stated and would like to know more about why you've been diagnosed with ptsd please only if you can talk about this.

And I could not get the horrible panic attacks or the nightmares under control with anti-anxiety medication until I finally after a long, long time began to try and get honest with myself and try and deal one day at a time with the extreme sexual, physical, and verbal abuse that was lying beneath the surface and thus causing me to panic and feel so terrified just like you @Codex. And this is just part of my story and journey and no one else's.

So @Codex after three decades of this hell and sitting in cognitve therapy I finally had to go to EMDR Therapy and you can google this. Have you had any D.B.T. (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)? Talk to your therapist as to what your therapist thinks and feels is causing you to have multiple and daily panic attacks and whomever diagnosed you with post traumatic stress disorder may know your history of having panic attacks and hence the ptsd diagnosis.

So what does your therapist say about all of this? I care so I've risked here @Codex and have asked you a few very hard and tough questions throughout my post to you and if you care about your sanity and trying to more healthily move forward in your life you may want to dig down deep and ask yourself what's causing you to panic and be TERRIFIED and work on trying to stop panic attacks by only trying to be rigorously honest with yourself about what may be causing same. I believe now is the time to get painfully honest with yourself and perhaps even your past. You have found people here in forum that speak your language but first you must begin to only try and speak the unspeakable and only try and reach out here with more of what you may know that's been causing you to feel "...so incredibly miserable and lost right now."

I'm starting to feel like I can never break this cycle and this will be my life from now on. Please tell me it can get better. I can't do this for much longer.

You've said that you've had ptsd most of your life so don't you think it's time to start dealing with why and get rigorously honest with yourself and in here and start trying now? This is not about me this is about you and you trying to come to a point of looking what lies beneath and finally opening up the can of worms that's causing you to panic and be terrified. And now is the time to start talking about this here in forum or with therapist or you may very well contend with nightmares for the rest of your life, just saying.

I'm not sucidal but at times I wish I was because life seems too hard at this point.

I'm so very tired now and have felt sick most of late afternoon and now into evening and it's now past time for me to only try to go to sleep. I care and have stayed up to show you I care. So now I will sign off here; know this I have risked here to be honest with you about myself and what I think only may be going on with you. However you are the only person that will be able to try and look beneath deep down inside of you at what's truly causing you to even broach the term suicide in your thread you've posted here. Caring.
 
Thank you for taking the time to say that. I was really scared even putting anything in words so it mean...
You are welcome. I fear being judged when I write in someone's mind or elsewhere and sometimes of being triggered so I know all about that. I am glad I was of some help and wish there was a lot more I could do. I am here for you still. I also hope some of the other other posts are helpful to you. Hugs
 
Gosh, I wish I could offer some reassurance other than just saying that I've been through this also (except I was having panic attacks every day for a month). But it did eventually go away and I've only had a few since. I've found that having a conversation with someone or multiple people helps a lot.
 
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