Panic Attacks Or Flashbacks?

[Tobacha]

Today I had a constant like free floating on and off panic attack, it lasted hours...on and off. I think I am coming down off from it...I took my Xanax and felt a little better. But it really took off when I got my hair cut. I get really rigid and numb feeling and like fear coarsing through my veins...Couldn't enjoy really anything much at all. Feelings as if I was going to "pop" out of my body....loose my mind.

I saw my brother slowly loose his mind to Schizophrenia when I was 18 and on top of the childhood abuse and then drug and alcohol abuse (sober now 13 years) my mind is going very fast and I am feeling very fragmented and not very grounded at all. I wonder sometimes if these panic attacks are really flashbacks of a sort. I had a very bad experience on acid when I was18 or so where I believed that I had almost lost my mind the same way my brother had (he was on acid at the time also when his schizophrenia took hold)....

Anyway I thought I would throw this out there cause when I had that "bad trip" I had my first panic attack and believed all sorts of shit it really f*cked,me up to this day...

I'm confused and feeling lost and lonely. Any feedback would help...

 

[DharmaGirl]

I have days like that. I use Ativan if it gets too bad. When I feel like that I ground myself by (don't laugh) coloring with colored pencils in coloring books for adults, making scrapbooks, zentangle. It helps to focus and ground you. I always flip out when I get my hair cut because I don't like strangers touching me. If you can make your bedroom a calming place, you can go in and do relaxation exercises.

 

[Notsowild]

I can definetly relate @Tobacha
I have a schizophrenic sister and my mother had a nervous breakdown. So I have always had a fear of having either. I only have PTSD lol

Today I had a constant like free floating on and off panic attack....it lasted hours...on and off

I had this yesterday but I was trying to cut back on my Ativan

 

[Tobacha]

Thanks guys for your support and feedback...It got pretty bad later on when I went to my meeting I go to. But I took more of my Xanax and it became a bit more manageable. I can feel all of it still lingering there I'm exhausted. Gonna escape in a movie or something. It's like the more I realize I have this disease the worse off my panic attacks have gotten lately...I'll check in tomorrow hehe.

 

[DharmaGirl]

I have a schizophrenic sister a

I grew up with a Schizo-affective brother, a schizophrenic father, an alcoholic mother, and a younger brother I tried to protect. My younger brother is an alcoholic with PTSD, I just have PTSD. I have healed in the past 2 years and hope to go back to work. I am now feeling that if I lived through all I did, I have more strength than I ever dreamed possible. Most of us have that kind of strength, it just takes time.