Attack of the Panics!
I was just having a normal, chill day with Samantha. We were kinda worried about how neither of us have jobs right now, but we went to Lowes and asked if they were hiring, which, of course, they weren’t.
So we end up riding around wasting time, then go hang out at our friend Lauren’s dorm. We’re just hanging out, chilling, and all of the sudden, out of NOWHERE, I started feeling suffocated, like I couldn’t breathe and my heart began to feel like it was beating out of my chest. I started freaking out and telling my friends something was wrong and that they needed to call 911 because I felt like I was going to die. I wound up fleeing the room, all dizzily and lightheaded, gasping for breath. It was AWFUL, I was freaking out on the couch in the common room for like 20 minutes. Sam had to convince me that my heart rate was completely normal and that I was breathing perfectly fine.
We pretty much agreed that I had had a major panic attack. Everything described on that page is EXACTLY what happened to me.
From Wikipedia:
“Panic attacks are very sudden, discrete periods of intense anxiety, mounting physiological arousal, fear, stomach problems and discomfort that are associated with a variety of somatic and cognitive symptoms. The onset of these episodes is typically abrupt, and may have no obvious triggers. Some, notably first-time sufferers, may call for emergency services. Many who experience a panic attack, mostly for the first time, fear they are having a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. Sufferers of panic attacks often report a fear or sense of dying, “going crazy”, or experiencing a heart attack or “flashing vision”, feeling faint or nauseated, heavy breathing, or losing control of themselves. These feelings may provoke a strong urge to escape or flee the place where the attack began (a consequence of the sympathetic “fight or flight” response).”
Everything in bold is exactly what I just experienced. I have never had a panic attack, and I had no IDEA how horrible and intense it could be, and how unexpected and random it was. It was especially bad since I was probably not in the right mind set to deal with something like that at the time. It was a truly awful experience, it felt like a bad trip, except it was worse cause it was REAL and completely not drug-related.
So yeah, that was my day… I took some Xanex to calm me down, and I feel much better now, and hella tired.
