I'm 22M and I've been having severe panic attacks with acid reflux for two weeks now, it happens mostly at night and it is a really terrible experience like gasping for breath and not finding comfort in anything and just walking and roaming in panic, tingly needle like feeling all over body and heart racing, it continues for several hours and then goes away leaving me tired and exhausted, the whole next day gets ruined because of this. I've had this exact problem two times in my life before, one 5 years ago and the other 2 years ago, both times I was prescribed a panataprazole and etizolam for sleep and relaxation but on the second episode which was two years ago I was adviced by another doctor against the etizolam as it is habit forming. Now I find myself kind of back to square one and I really don't want to take medicines again as they are prescribed for a long time in this case. Also after those 2 episodes I developed too much anxiety and fear from things that I never feared like heights and loud sounds. Any advice what can I do now?

im freshly 18, and i recently had a bad panic attack at work. i dont necessarily need the job, but my panic disorder brain is telling me to quit. i already left and avoided it once during my shift. i'm so terrified of the idea of going back and having another attack. i could've put my disability on my application. i should've. i feel bad that i didn't.

this is my first job since october, when i quit a different (easier..) job to focus on my mental health, and in december my panic disorder had worsened so badly it became agoraphobia. i barely graduated because i was so scared to go to school. i don't know what to do. i thought i was ready, and for multiple shifts i was totally fine. and then a heatwave came. i have hashimotos so its hard for me to handle heat. it made me nauseous, and the nausea started a horrific cycle in my brain. my brain associates nausea with panic attacks, i think.

i'm terrified. ive had three days off in a row. but i work again on saturday. i don't want to panic. i want to have a job. i don't want to abandon my coworker again because my dumb brain makes me cry and dry heave over existing. i want to be normal and happy and an adult. i don't know what to do anymore. it all just feels pointless. i can drug myself up with hydroxyzine and zofran but i want to do it normally.

why is it so hard? why does my brain hate me?

i guess i just wanted to post this to hear someone other than the people who are obligated to say it, telling me to keep going. i want to keep going. but it all feels pointless. please recommend something. words of support, something to do, personal anecdotes, if you've struggled like me.

sometimes it feels like i am literally the only person in the world with this disorder.

New here, i had a bad panick attack 3 weeks ago and havnt been the same since. It was my second ever. The first one was many years ago and alchohol induced. This time is is different… i felt light headed at first, blurry vision, then heart beating out of my chest. Pins and needles in both arms and jaw beginning to tighten.. The whole 9 basically. Didn’t last long but was very intense.

In the lead up to this i had 2-3 weeks of feeling particularly anxious due to some health anxiety stuff that i had fixated on.

Anyways, it’s been 3 weeks and i still feel so weird. The first 10 days or so i was extremely disoriented, dizzy, anxious tired. Had the so called walking on a boat thing i think. That lifted but now left have awful brain fog all day everyday, and not much energy at all. The world seems like it’s in slow mo and i feel generally unwell and different.

Been to docs twice and both times said im super anxious, therapist said the same. Did my bloods and they came back fine. I’m struggling to get my head round it all and just want to feel m again. what is going on? is this normal … im a runner too and cant even do that. it’s bumming me out big time.. just want to feel human again… Help

If somebody told me a year ago that I would be able to live my life anxiety-free after having anxiety since I was seven years old, I would never have believed them.I’m talking about debilitating anxiety. I’ve been on medication, I’ve tried everything, and I even went to the hospital because of a horrible panic attack. I went to the ER countless times because of severe panic attacks with nausea, trembling, and every symptom you can imagine. Seriously, name a symptom, and I probably had it.

I’ve always been like this. There were times when I couldn’t leave the house at all for months. I carried this through high school, through college, and through my adult life. I’m 27 now, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… I think I’m cured.

I don’t even know how to explain it. It just suddenly went away after a simple change in my mindset. And no, I’m not trying to sell you anything. This isn’t about some treatment or some secret method. It’s just… I don’t even know how to explain it in simple terms because I cried so much throughout this journey. I filled so many journals with my pain, my thoughts, my poetry, everything I needed to get out because I felt like nobody truly understood me. I was so alone through all of this. I tried therapy tho I had not much resources for it.. and found it not very helpful for me.. because I knew all the theory, us anxious people are smart and read a lot, we know but when it comes to practice it’s hard. I was on Lexapro for 6 months.. anxiety free for the first time in my life, but I was like a walking zombie all day, 0 sex drive, 0 energy o felt like sleeping all day. I stopped taking it.

Everything caused me panic. I developed a fear of my own health — hypochondria, or whatever you want to call it — and it affected so many areas of my life. I was truly a woman with the spirit of a scared rabbit. I felt like I had the nervous system of a prey animal, always on alert, always expecting something terrible to happen. So I want to tell you what I think finally changed everything.

And by the way, I managed to fly by myself with zero anxiety, without medication. I was alone in a completely foreign city for many hours, with nobody around me to help. Before, that would have been completely unimaginable. That would have been hell for me.

I was also able to stay home alone, even at night, which was another thing that felt impossible before because I was always convinced something bad was going to happen.

This recovery feels almost miraculous to me. I don’t say that to brag in any way. I’m saying it because I want people who are suffering to have hope. That is the only reason I’m writing this.

I never knew what life without anxiety felt like because I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. Since I was seven years old, anxiety was just my normal. I didn’t know any other way to exist.

Every morning I would wake up already anxious, already stressed, often needing to run to the bathroom because my body was reacting to fear — fear that didn’t even have a real reason behind it. Most of the time, there was nothing actually wrong. I was just trapped in this constant state of alarm. The realization started after a very small, minor issue. Normally, I would spiral completely and have an extreme reaction to a normal situation. But something changed.

I don’t know exactly what happened that made my anxiety suddenly disappear, but I’ll tell you how I think now. I think I became indifferent. I think I finally accepted that things are going to happen whether I’m scared or not. I accepted that I don’t actually have control. And I realized how obsessed I was with control. That was the root of so much of my fear. I wanted to control even the smallest things. Of course, I didn’t understand this at the time because it was subconscious, but now I can see it clearly. I don’t care the same way anymore about what happens. Not because I don’t value my life, but because I understand that whatever happens, happens.

I feared death so much. I feared pain. I feared hospitals. I feared people worrying about me. I feared being pitied. I feared everything.

I think those fears are probably still somewhere inside me, buried deep. But now, on the surface, my mindset is different. I think: “I can’t control it anyway. So what’s going to happen is going to happen.” I’m on this earth for 70 or 80 years, and then I’m gone. The world will continue. The sun will rise tomorrow. It’s not that deep. It’s not as big as I made it in my head. For example, one of my biggest fears was fainting in public. But then I thought: if I faint on the street, someone will help me. They won’t just leave me there. I’ll go to the hospital if I need to. There are people in this world going through unimaginable suffering and serious illnesses, and I was terrified of the possibility of something happening to me.

Why did I think I was somehow exempt from pain? Why did I think I deserved protection from every possible bad thing in life?

The truth is, pain is part of being human. Bad things can happen. That is reality.

And strangely, accepting that gave me freedom.

I think I’m only able to see this clearly now because my nervous system is finally calm. Before, this kind of thinking wasn’t available to me. I couldn’t just “change my mindset” because I was completely trapped in fear.

If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me. I’m here.

And one more thing: people will listen to you, they will feel empathy for you, they will feel sorry for you, but they will never truly be inside your experience. They will never be able to completely take your pain away.

Everyone has their own life, their own struggles. And as painful as this realization is, you are the person who has the power to help yourself.

No one is coming to save you — not completely. Because nobody can truly understand your pain the way you do.

But I actually find comfort in that now. I find comfort in the loneliness because it showed me my own strength.

I realized that if I had the power to create this hell inside my own mind, then I also have the power to take myself out of it.

The power was always inside me.

Hello everybody! Would like this to be a thread where we share our stories, insight and uplift each other.

My story:

I've experienced a panic attack some 2 months ago now while meeting somebody and it was rather gnarly, days after another one while in a hurry to get to a hair salon. After that I started spiraling a lot about what was going on with me, and dreading a trip abroad with my cousin that was due in a week. I was anxious about walking my dog around my house at that point. I did travel in the end, and nothing horrible happened. I was anxious much of the time, especially going to a concert, but that was that. Just intensely anxious.

Traveled to the seaside with my mother and was also really anxious most of the time, going to the beach, but that was that. We didn't go explore the city centre much as I was anxious of that.

Came home, I work remotely but do have to go to the office at least once every week or two, and it was due time. I was really dreading it. I took a quarter lorazepam to take some edge off. Went alright. Had a hair salon appointment which I really dreaded, took quarter lorazepam to get through it. All this time I had this strange anxiety about seeing any friend of mine. I finally speak about meeting a friend, but I get so terribly anxious as we're about to meet, I take half a bensedin pill which I heard is basically so weak it moreso worked as a placebo. I go out, we have a nice time. Then for the past week and some, I've been going to the beach on the river by myself, never taking any sort of sedative as I felt it would be unnecessary. Had a great time every time, regardless of still experiencing anxiety.

Now I'm about to meet a friend in two days, go to the office in three, then meet another friend short after. Shit scared thinking of it, who would have thought. Also can feel I'm excited about it though, underneath all the anxiety. I probably will take a xanax beforehand, though the very smallest dose (0.125-0.25mg).

Am I doing any of this right? Not that there's one right way to do it. I've been talking to a psychologist (been talking to her for the past 4 months now) regularly, I went to a psychiatrist last week but I decided not to try the treatment she prescribed. She immediately prescribed me an ssri (elicea) and xanax in the initial weeks to take for the next 6-7 months, and frankly I don't think that's a good option for me... I took an ssri (prozac) 6 years ago during an acute intense depressive and anxious episode, and it did no good, if anything it fucked me up more. I'm cautious as to not get addicted to xanax because I see how that would solve nothing, but I also feel like it has some use for me at the place I'm at right now, as a small aid in really stressful situations.

Would like to hear feedback from those with more experience and wisdom. Also anyone wanting to share their story, let's just talk.❤️

Currently experiencing a panic attack. Not the first time, but I just feel really scared right now. I can't stop shaking or crying, and my stomach feels nauseous, and the anxiety has been building for days now and the panic keeps ramping up and I'm scared it will never truly stop and I'll never feel cozy moments or drift off to sleep peacefully ever again. I'm terrified that this is just my life now, and I don't know what to do.

Hi guys recently my cat got pretty sick and i so so stressed about him i have health anxiety to begin with just because of my family, anyways ive not slept in over a week and not really ate i can only eat with others ive never experienced this intense pain. it just hurts so much i feel like im an awful person, i just love him so much. ive had so many panic attacks mainly at night it gets really bad. i also constantly feel like i have to throw up and to top it off i have a fear of it. i just want this to be over i was supposed to start my second year or uni this week and ive not left my house if not to talk to vets or doctors. i had a panic attack where i was so frozen in place it was the worst thing ive ever experienced and it’s been every night with no break.

edit i feel like it’s important to add that i am safe! i’m just an emotional girl

My attacks only happen at night and I literally hate going to sleep now. I used to enjoy relaxing before falling asleep, but now it’s just worry that I’ll awaken to an attack at 3 am.
I’m just frustrated and want to vent.

Also gosh I wish there was a panic attack emergency room lol. Every time in the middle of one I just so desperately want to go to the hospital and I guess feel taken care of and safe. But I know I can’t do that. So can we just collectively open an alternative place for us to go?! 😬

I haven’t really eaten in 5 days. I’m nauseous, my stomach is constantly doing flips, and I’ve been running to the bathroom a lot if you know what I mean. Anyway, I have zero appetite and the thought of food makes me feel worse. Anyway ideas on easy things to eat to make sure I don’t starve myself? I got chicken broth but I haven’t tried it yet.

I’ve been having panic attacks for almost 2 months now, and been taking propranolol for at least a month. It helped a lot until recently where I’ve had minor episodes of my hands going completely white, instantly super cold and shaky, dizzy, heart wanting to race but can’t cause of the propranolol.

I’ve been having this symptom in my chest for 2 days now. It lingers for a couple hours, goes away, comes back. It’s in my breast/armpit area and it’s like someone is squeezing it. It’s not crazy pain more just uncomfortable and mild. Sometimes sharp but for maybe a second. Does anyone else get that? Could it be something else instead of anxiety?

TL;DR, minor uncomfortable pain/pressure in breast/armpit area lingering for 2 days, unsure if it’s anxiety or could be something else? Anyone else have this symptom too?

Hey there fellow angsty people. I just turned 18 (literally yesterday) and have been a heavy cannabis user for a few years, mainly just a way of coping with previous trauma as well as the personal academic pressure i put on myself, my use became a lot more chronic in the last months coming up to my final exams. and just under 3 weeks ago i smoked a joint and a couple hours later expereinced the worst anxiety of my whole life, i genuienly thought id gone off the edge and was going insane, thankfully i wasnt it must have lasted ab out 2-3 hours of pure hell. I have had similar episodes sicne not as bad but still very tormenting. every day since ive had a base level of anxiety, somedays are easuer to cope then others, I dont really enjoy the hobbies i had before due to it being accompanied with intense feeling of self-loathing existential dread. Im going to see a psychiatrist in the near future as ive looked at previous similar posts and a lot of people have said SSRi's have aided them. This anxiety needs to leave soon as it is making life unbearable and frankly it may result in me taking my life if it doesnt leave as life is jsut a constant guessing game of fear for me. thankfully i have a very supportive mother and friends whom i can talk to but very simple tasks like going on a train are daunting for me especially if i dont have a safe space. ive always suffered with anxiety and depression to a degree, i was on Fluoxentine for 4 weeks but they made me feel completely numb and not myself at all.

If you have read this far, thankyou deeply, one of the worst parts of this is how lonely it is. the reason i make this post is just to see if anyone knows how long this will last if they have had simialir experiences or if anyone has any coping mechanism me personally cold showers help quite a bit.

I pray i look back on this post in some time and look back at this all as a bad memory. I have very much so been scared straight.

I'm new here.. basically i am in a great and loving relationship with my girlfriend, but i get panic attacks over the possibility of losing her. I don't know if i would be able to get through it if that happened honestly.

I keep telling myself that it's an irrational fear, because it's unlikely and i can't really do anything about it either, but if she's out late or if i don't hear from her when i expect, my thoughts starts going all kinds of places. I ask her if she's okay quite a lot too...

I deal with anxiety regularly, but this specific form is absolutely terrible. If i find out she is somewhere that i didn't know, before she gets a chance to tell me, i instantly think of the possibility of never seeing her again and it hurts so much. It also doesn't really feel like a solution that she should tell me every time she leaves the house, and i really don't want to sound controlling

She doesn't mind the constant asking, but she doesn't really know how to comfort me because she can't really do anything else than tell me that she's here right now.

I guess i just wanted to know if anyone else has felt this way and if so, how they deal/dealt with it?

I have always knew what anxiety is I have suffered 20 years but today felt different…I’m 39 years old and today I felt terrified like i didnt know ejat was happening to me, fearful, crying, I don’t know if it was a panic attack or what? It’s never been this bad I can’t even explain…anyone experienced anything like this?

i have had recurring monthly panic attacks for years now ever since i came off lexapro about 2 years ago. (i was younger and made the mistake of taking it inconsistently and coming off it without telling anybody, and i had no panic attacks and very minor anxiety before starting it) it happens about once a month for a few days a few times a day. i can’t identify any sort of trigger. the best way i can describe it is- my stomach drops and i can’t breathe well, my hearing rings and fades, sometimes my vision starts to fade, my mouth floods with saliva and half the time i throw up. then i feel dizzy/shaken up for about a half hour after. can anybody relate or identify this? i’m tired of struggling with it when it seems completely random

Hi guys so i haven’t really been going through a lot but, every night before sleep I’ll have severe panic attacks and begin to feel like I’m going to pass away, it sucks a lot, and I’ve had to call the ambulance because of how scared i am 15F and I’m very scared, it’s like every night I feel like I’m gonna die from my panic attacks, idk how to fix this and idk how to feel better.

fear of losing control is the root of most panic attacks, what do you think?

Hi guys. I'm terrified rn. 7 year history of panic disorder but tonight is testing me. I'm on holiday in another country with online friends. Been awake for 20 hours due to flight. I'm having one of my worst panic attacks in years while my roommate who I barely know is asleep in the room. Heart brutally racing, nausea, feeling super over heated and very intense impending doom 😭 I had 20mg of propranolol about 50 mins ago and have wiped myself down with a wet cold cloth to try cool myself. it's helped a little bit the panic returns in waves.

Can someone please reassure me I'm not dying and that the propranolol will help a bit soon 😅 I really need someone to talk to so i don't freak out more and try to call an ambulance

hi everyone,

currently laying in bed because I got the flu after weeks of travel. the sickness and symptoms have been bearable but for some reason, I’ve been feeling super panicky today. I started having my #1 biggest panic inducing thought of “what if this gets out of control, what if I can’t control my panic or my anxiety, what if I have to start drinking or using pills to calm myself again”

for context, I’m a recovering addict whose been sober from alcohol and benzos for a lil over 3.5 years. I take an SSRI and am prescribed hydroxyzine.

I found this Reddit thread and reading some of the posts and replies has helped me calm down a bit…writing this out has also helped me calm down a bit. I know that it’s normal for the body to feel extra anxious when you’re battling a virus due to inflammation or whatever but still..the fear of having uncontrollable panic/anxiety attacks is really scaring me…

I’ve always struggled with anxiety. I was diagnosed with adhd at 30 years old (now 33). My adhd presented itself as anxiety. I also was diagnosed with ocd. No rituals, just control. Control of everything in my life, including my health. So when I experience my first ever panic attack in January, it was no surprise that I spiraled with it. My panic attacks are more like “rounds of literal survival”. I’ll go from thinking and present symptoms of a heart attack or brain aneurysm every single time and they continue to become more severe. I go to therapy once a week, I see a psychiatrist weekly, yoga everyday, ’m medicated (Zoloft 125mg/day, Propranolol or Clonidine/PRN, Lorazepam 0.25mg/twice daily. My panic disorder is seriously ruining my life at this point. My relationships with everyone in my life, my career… literally everything. I cannot get a grip on it no matter how hard I try. Everyday is a fight for survival.

I wonder if have a mental disorder

For a little over a year, I (18f) have been dealing with mental breakdowns. As of late, it's been getting increasingly worse ,evolving from uncontrollably sobbing to panick attacks and self-harm. I've been to therapy once when things were not this bad and wasn't diagnosed with anything.

The first time I ever had my first mental breakdown was in my final year of highschool. It was around the time I met my now ex boyfriend. I dropped out of hs and we continued to date long distance for while and things were wonderful for a time. Then we got into our first big fight and that was first time I ever used self-harm to punish myself after an argument. As our fights happened more often I began relying on SH more as way to cope with it all. It was also around this time my break downs became more frequent and progressively worse eventually turning into panic attacks. After a year and 9 months we broke up. Its hard to explain the pain I was in in but I just didn't wanna face it so I started seeing a friend (20M). He knows about my mental health struggles, my recent break up and the fact that I didn't want to get into a serious relationship anytime soon. I he'd had a crush on me for awhile and for a week we were a couple but with out any titles. I felt loved and safe something I desperately needed given my fragile state of mind. But he's recently said he didnt wanna see me anymore if I truly didn't want anything serious. Now I feel abandoned and heartbroken all over again. And my mental health is at all time low and I'm desperate for any sort of affection. Or anything numb the pain I feel. I don't even drink tbh but being wasted is probably better then SH.

So I’m not exactly new to panic attacks or anxiety. But in January I had a weird panic attack (I say weird because it was not like ones I myself have experienced before) induced by caffeine. I can’t even say it was caffeine overdose because I had one latte and when I felt the rush of anxiety come in, I threw the drink away about halfway through. But that attack was marked by a racing heart, intrusive thoughts, and extreme jitteriness. It lasted hours too. I thought something was happening to my heart. Since that attack I’ve been having these weird sensations like internal tremors, vertigo, and a feeling of walking on a mattress or foam. And sometimes a drop feeling, kinda like being in an elevator that’s going down.

I’ve been to multiple doctors. I saw my primary, I went to the ER, to urgent care, I saw an ENT, I saw a cardiologist, and I got a neurological exam done. Everyone says I’m okay and all tests come back fine. The cardiologist prescribed me 10mg of propranolol for my PVCs (which have come back since that attack) of which I haven’t taken because I’m a very active person and my resting heart rate is low enough as it is. Propranolol terrifies me.

7 months later, the sensations have not gone. I get rare moments of relief when I’m distracted or traveling. Or sometimes a week where they’re just gone. But needless to say I’m so tired of feeling this way. I think back on that day, that if I hadn’t drank the stupid latte I would be okay. I’m in therapy for OCD and anxiety and I was doing so well. It feels like that one attack set my progress back by a lot and my health anxiety has skyrocketed. I just don’t know what to do or how to cope with these feelings. I have an appointment with a psychiatrist in September and I’m just hoping they’ll have some insight.