baileysemt
Silver Member
As an EMT, I can reassure you all, you will not die from a panic attack.
Will - not.
So stop freaking out. :kiss:
What will kill you is the underlying heart disease, the underlying high blood pressure, the underlying blood vessel spasm syndrome, the underlying weak vessels in the brain that just can't bear the load of another acute stress hormone dump. What will kill you is a heart infarction caused by spasming cardiac arteries, or a blown brain aneurysm.
The *panic* will not kill you.
However over time, stress hormones erode away at the body. The same constant bath of stress hormones that change our brain chemistry and cause the brain to rewire or fire in different ways -- well those same hormones cause other changes in all our body systems. It chews away our reserves and weakens everything. Stress does kill.
OK, that's enough gloom and doom. :crazy: I want to address the acute symptoms that you guys have brought up.
Panic attacks... how scary is that shit anyway?!
One thing that bothers me tremendously about the medical community is that their answer to mental problems is to prescribe a pill for it. That's not to say that meds aren't effective, but I really tire of the "it's all in their head" attitude. Yes, it's in our head. However, the physical symptoms we feel ARE REAL.
Those physical symptoms are not imagined. Your symptoms are not in your head!! When you feel short of breath -- you really ARE short of breath. When you feel chest pain, you really ARE feeling chest pain. Just because the physical symptoms are brought on by a mental condition, doesn't make them any less real. They are real! and they do need to be acknowledged, assessed and treated.
This is one thing where I usually kick all of the other medical personnel out of the room, and the panic attack patient and I sit down, and focus, and talk about it calmly. A few times I've been able to get them over the hump. All that pressure of having these big tall paramedics standing over you, looking expectantly at you like 'what do you want us to do?' and in your head you're thinking they must be looking at you like you're a total nutjob :dontknow: I don't know, that doesn't seem like a very supportive or healing setting to me??? So I give them the boot, introduce myself as a fellow panic attack/anxiety/depression sufferer, and ask if we can just sit quietly and talk, like no biggie. They welcome it. Who wouldn't? I would rather have a friendly face step up and offer to hold my hand on a hard night, than big firemen who don't understand, being all pushy and expectant.
(And that's not an insult against firemen :smile: it's just that people who don't go through this, have no idea what it's like.)
I have seen a lot of panic attacks in my time in EMS, and not one of them has ever had anything radically wrong with them, nor have they died. None of them even came close. (However, they all got checked out just to be safe. It is always a good idea to get checked out, just in case!!)
Yes, I understand that you feel like you're going to die. That is the physiologic reaction in your brain working like it's supposed to! because of the load your body is under. That sense of foreboding and doom is normal. Chest pain, racing heart, light-headedness, shortness of breath, deep fear, nausea, vomiting, tunnel vision/loss of peripheral vision ... these are all normal responses to what your body is going through. Yes, it feels frightening and crappy. But it is normal. That's what the body and brain does when under that particular load. That is truly "fight or flight."
Your body and brain are in survival mode, because your brain perceived a threat (might not even exist to other people, but your brain perceived it somehow). As we are panickers, our perceived threat might be just a sudden sound (not even a loud one), a particular smell, the motion of trees going by the car window, a particular subtle sensation... some people, they really do seem to happen randomly. Maybe it is just a brain chemistry thing, and the "switch" gets flipped chemically. Maybe keep a journal tracking your daily symptoms (all of them) as well as your hormone cycle, life events, illnesses, etc. Describe your panic attacks in detail. Then go back and look for patterns. You might be surprised.
For instance, I know that I really struggle with my symptoms (PTSD, depression and anxiety) as I'm getting sick, as well as when I'm ovulating + PMS/menstruating. Like, just block those days off in a calendar. There's no undoing it, God knows I have tried. Migraines make me more prone to depression and anxiety. Excessive sensory input (visual and auditory -- even the bright sun is sensory overload) just pelts and pelts at me until it pushes me over the edge, in my mind. The panic spools up and spools up, and usually I have to run to a safe place to make it stop. (Safe place = my PTSD safe places.)
I am sorry for the long post. This is one of those things that really bothers me -- how the general medical field seems to handle anxiety and panic. They don't know what to do so they just throw pills at it. What we really need is someone to talk to us and help guide us back to center. They're afraid of doing that (they are afraid they will hurt us worse by doing so), so they give us pills. *sigh*
It is NOT in your head. What you are feeling is real. What you are feeling is normal for what's going on in your brain and body. It's not going to kill you directly. The panic won't kill you. It'll be a weakened internal body system that gives out, that kills you. (Which incidentally is what kills most everybody, eventually!)
So start working on identifying your triggers, so you can work on negating them. This is where therapy comes in. If you can't put your finger on why a certain thing triggers you, then you need to work on a technique to center and calm yourself. If it's simply a brain chemistry issue, then keep working at finding the right medication to help you. There are many meds and they each affect everyone differently. You might have to try several before you find the right one for you. Just keep at it.
Hope this helps to give y'all some hope, and helps to alleviate some of the freaking out. The last thing we need is for people to spiral even worse because now they are afraid they really are going to die from the panic attack! You're not going to die. You must keep thinking positively. The attack will pass and you will be okay.
Hang in there, guys. :kiss:
Bailey
Will - not.
So stop freaking out. :kiss:
What will kill you is the underlying heart disease, the underlying high blood pressure, the underlying blood vessel spasm syndrome, the underlying weak vessels in the brain that just can't bear the load of another acute stress hormone dump. What will kill you is a heart infarction caused by spasming cardiac arteries, or a blown brain aneurysm.
The *panic* will not kill you.
However over time, stress hormones erode away at the body. The same constant bath of stress hormones that change our brain chemistry and cause the brain to rewire or fire in different ways -- well those same hormones cause other changes in all our body systems. It chews away our reserves and weakens everything. Stress does kill.
OK, that's enough gloom and doom. :crazy: I want to address the acute symptoms that you guys have brought up.
Panic attacks... how scary is that shit anyway?!
One thing that bothers me tremendously about the medical community is that their answer to mental problems is to prescribe a pill for it. That's not to say that meds aren't effective, but I really tire of the "it's all in their head" attitude. Yes, it's in our head. However, the physical symptoms we feel ARE REAL.
Those physical symptoms are not imagined. Your symptoms are not in your head!! When you feel short of breath -- you really ARE short of breath. When you feel chest pain, you really ARE feeling chest pain. Just because the physical symptoms are brought on by a mental condition, doesn't make them any less real. They are real! and they do need to be acknowledged, assessed and treated.
This is one thing where I usually kick all of the other medical personnel out of the room, and the panic attack patient and I sit down, and focus, and talk about it calmly. A few times I've been able to get them over the hump. All that pressure of having these big tall paramedics standing over you, looking expectantly at you like 'what do you want us to do?' and in your head you're thinking they must be looking at you like you're a total nutjob :dontknow: I don't know, that doesn't seem like a very supportive or healing setting to me??? So I give them the boot, introduce myself as a fellow panic attack/anxiety/depression sufferer, and ask if we can just sit quietly and talk, like no biggie. They welcome it. Who wouldn't? I would rather have a friendly face step up and offer to hold my hand on a hard night, than big firemen who don't understand, being all pushy and expectant.
(And that's not an insult against firemen :smile: it's just that people who don't go through this, have no idea what it's like.)
I have seen a lot of panic attacks in my time in EMS, and not one of them has ever had anything radically wrong with them, nor have they died. None of them even came close. (However, they all got checked out just to be safe. It is always a good idea to get checked out, just in case!!)
Yes, I understand that you feel like you're going to die. That is the physiologic reaction in your brain working like it's supposed to! because of the load your body is under. That sense of foreboding and doom is normal. Chest pain, racing heart, light-headedness, shortness of breath, deep fear, nausea, vomiting, tunnel vision/loss of peripheral vision ... these are all normal responses to what your body is going through. Yes, it feels frightening and crappy. But it is normal. That's what the body and brain does when under that particular load. That is truly "fight or flight."
Your body and brain are in survival mode, because your brain perceived a threat (might not even exist to other people, but your brain perceived it somehow). As we are panickers, our perceived threat might be just a sudden sound (not even a loud one), a particular smell, the motion of trees going by the car window, a particular subtle sensation... some people, they really do seem to happen randomly. Maybe it is just a brain chemistry thing, and the "switch" gets flipped chemically. Maybe keep a journal tracking your daily symptoms (all of them) as well as your hormone cycle, life events, illnesses, etc. Describe your panic attacks in detail. Then go back and look for patterns. You might be surprised.
For instance, I know that I really struggle with my symptoms (PTSD, depression and anxiety) as I'm getting sick, as well as when I'm ovulating + PMS/menstruating. Like, just block those days off in a calendar. There's no undoing it, God knows I have tried. Migraines make me more prone to depression and anxiety. Excessive sensory input (visual and auditory -- even the bright sun is sensory overload) just pelts and pelts at me until it pushes me over the edge, in my mind. The panic spools up and spools up, and usually I have to run to a safe place to make it stop. (Safe place = my PTSD safe places.)
I am sorry for the long post. This is one of those things that really bothers me -- how the general medical field seems to handle anxiety and panic. They don't know what to do so they just throw pills at it. What we really need is someone to talk to us and help guide us back to center. They're afraid of doing that (they are afraid they will hurt us worse by doing so), so they give us pills. *sigh*
It is NOT in your head. What you are feeling is real. What you are feeling is normal for what's going on in your brain and body. It's not going to kill you directly. The panic won't kill you. It'll be a weakened internal body system that gives out, that kills you. (Which incidentally is what kills most everybody, eventually!)
So start working on identifying your triggers, so you can work on negating them. This is where therapy comes in. If you can't put your finger on why a certain thing triggers you, then you need to work on a technique to center and calm yourself. If it's simply a brain chemistry issue, then keep working at finding the right medication to help you. There are many meds and they each affect everyone differently. You might have to try several before you find the right one for you. Just keep at it.
Hope this helps to give y'all some hope, and helps to alleviate some of the freaking out. The last thing we need is for people to spiral even worse because now they are afraid they really are going to die from the panic attack! You're not going to die. You must keep thinking positively. The attack will pass and you will be okay.
Hang in there, guys. :kiss:
Bailey
