After recently suffering panic attacks which I havnt have for quite a few years, thus it was a major shock and very frightening, I was so pleased to find this web site and be able to talk to other people suffering the same isues. Sometimes its hard to talk to people who don't have panic attacks because I strongly believe you can only fully understand if you've suffered from them yourself
Hi Lesley
you are so right....i can rember my 1st panic attack the ambulance man told my husband there was nowt wrong with me that i was just suffering a panic attack,because he was told this by a member of the medical professionit must be the case...but to the sufferer it is very real...thankfully i have learnt how to get through these attacks.
Alittle more understanding from the health proffesionals would be a great help but thankfully there are formums out there for people who have been through it to help others.
Take care and rember you can beat it x
hi mazz
Thanks for the reply, its so hard to get your head in the right place to be able to tell yourself that it is a panic attack, they trick you into thinking, no you really are die-ing this time.
Iv done it before and I'll do it again I will get back on top of things.
Best wishes
Lesley
Hi Lesley,
Do you know what may have triggered your attack? If you were able to have some control over it in the past you will be able to again.
It is never an easy road recovering from an attack. You are completely right about talking to others. It really does help one to heal. Stay strong Lesley. You are a fighter. You will beat it again.
Hiya Lesley
so true i have lost count of the number of times i have sat in a ambulance being told everything is fine and do i want to go to hosp knowing i'm fine i can start to reason with myself...i'm lucky theres a fire station at the end of my rd and the ambulance is based there.avoiding hangovers has helped me and distraction,camomile tea avoiding cigarettes and breathing excersises all help you have to find what works for you.but sometimes it does get the better of you...lol i rember once a little old lady had to help me cross the road i could not see blind panic...but the things that led me to this state where nothing to get me in that state....i now take propananol 40mg which work had no side affects so as long as it's working i'll take it good luck
Hi Lesley. I, personally, have no mental health qualifications but I am a good listener. I had my first panic attack about 3 years ago..My mum and brother suffered for years but I never did. At the age of 33, ish, I had one. I was so scared, I couldnt breathe. I jumped off the tube train leaving my friends on it and huddled in the corner, I was going to walk home from London to Essex, I didn't care..there was no way I was getting back on that train. The train pulled away taking all the air with it and I panicked. Touch wood, it is the only attack I have ever had, I am good at sorting myself out, giving myself a talking to if you like. My mum and my friend I was with at the time, who also has regular panic attacks, says this is what I experienced. All rational thinking went out the window, I was gasping for air, crying and generally in a mess. I hope I ever have another and so, so sympathise with panic attack sufferers. It is nothing to be underestimated or belittled by anyone, especially not medically trained people. If there's anything I, or I'm sure, anyone else on here can do to help we are more than happy to try. X
Hi ester, mazz & diane, thanks so much for the support, it really really means so much, im just having a crisis right now, I know it will pass, just very raw at the moment, my husband finds it difficult to understand, probs most people do that hasn't experienced it. its nice to talk. thanks so much
Lesley, you're right, unless the person has suffered themselves it's hard to understand. A good friend once said to me 'remember to breathe'.. I laughed but now I understand what he means. It will pass and you will be ok..thinking of you. X
Lesley, I know what you mean about people who don't have them just don't know, I've been suffering with panic attacks for around 8 years now and its only due to medication I've managed to get them some what under control. But I've been there, when I've felt I've needed medical help from being unable to calm myself down for hours at a time, I luckily had my sister and her partner with me at the time and thankfully i knew what it was but was still unable to calm myself down, when the ambulance people arrived they did nothing, and i mean they didn't even touch me, in fact can you believe the ambulance crew told my sister and her partner that next time it happened to just ignore me and talk amongst themselves!!! I was shocked that they didn't take the fact i couldn't breath and my heart was going a mile a minute more seriously.
My partner found it hard to cope with also, I think it was part not knowing what was going on with me and part not being able to 'fix' me in a way, i think he felt pretty useless, but he was supportive all the way through and still is now, I'm grateful for that as i know how difficult it was for him because he's never had a panic attack, so it was all new and scary for him, just like it was for me the first time I had one.
Thank god for this website, the people on it have helped me out so many times, sometimes over major things, sometimes over silly things in my head, but they've always been supportive and provided valuable information and support, i couldn't have gotten through half of my issues without the people on here.
Danielle
thanks Danielle, Im shocked how the ambulance service treated you, it just shows the total lack of understanding iseven some medical professionals have. When you feel so out of control, you need someone else to take over until your calm enough to reason with yourself aand get back on top of things.
Sometimes its a very lonely thing to suffer from.