If you're new here, check out our popular post about conquering anxiety and panic attacks. Thanks for visiting!

Many people’s first attack tends to follow the same pattern. You will be doing something quite ordinary like reading, driving, watching television or eating out when … zap! Before you know what is happening, you find yourself in the middle of your first panic attack.

In my case I had had a relaxing evening at home and had gone to bed early after a long, hot bath, taking a new book with me. I was totally engrossed in ‘whodunit’, when suddenly, there I was having what turned out to be the first of many attacks. To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

Some people have their first attack while they are asleep and find themselves abruptly shocked into waking, but not because of a bad dream. Instead, they will have been sleeping quietly when suddenly it strikes; this is very disconcerting as that also happened to me on numerous occasions..

Most people have their first panic attack spontaneously, apparently with no prior warning; but some do have them during a particularly stressful moment, such as when they are giving a talk to a group of people, taking an exam, or attending an important meeting in which they have to take an active part.

No matter where or when they start, there is a great deal of similarity in the symptoms people have. Whatever you experienced in yours, you can be reassured that others will also have felt the same.

Panic Attack Symptoms

There are a number of symptoms which you may have experienced not only during your first, but also during subsequent attacks. See if any of these sound familiar:

“My body froze like a statue. My pulse would race very, very fast.”

“My sense of reasoning and perception would become completely muddled and confused.”

“‘Terrifying.”

“A ringing in my ears would occur and my body temperature dropped.”

“It happens very suddenly - I feel faint, hot and sweaty. My heart beats rapidly. I feel I can’t move or speak and that I just want to lie down. My stomach and chest are churning inside.”

“Numbness in my hands and then this feeling that I couldn’t breathe. A feeling I was going to have a heart attack and a dryness in the mouth. Hearing my heart pounding; palpitations and an overwhelming fear that I was going to have a heart attack and die.”

“A tingling sensation down my left arm. A constant pain above my chest; also tightness of the chest. A cold sweat. The need to breathe in more air. Total panic and shakes. I had thoughts of fear that it was a heart attack.”

“High heart rate; sweating; flushing sensation in head; twitching muscles; feeling of coldness in hands and feet; wanting to go to the toilet. I thought I would collapse or faint, or even die.”

My own experience with my first attack when I was comfortably reading my book in bed, was that first of all I started shaking quite violently and then sweating profusely. I remember noticing I was breathing heavily and then I had an overwhelming desire to go to the toilet, and very quickly had to dash there. A feeling of terror started to overwhelm me; during later attacks the terror took the form of thoughts that I was either going to die or lose my grip on my life and go mad.

Of course I didn’t, and haven’t since. Neither has anyone else. Neither will you. But the feelings you have are incredibly unpleasant to say the least, and the full horror is difficult to convey to someone who has never experienced them. One analogy I read likened it to suddenly finding yourself looking into the jaws of death and experiencing the full terrifying horror of what you might see there. Yes, I think that’s a fair description of what my panic attacks felt like.

Share This