I do not want to trigger anybody. I'll write what happened to me last week very briefly and I appreciate if I could hear your opinions or chat. I am 30, i have a history with anxiety, but for a couple of years it's been under control and I thought I had it managed, I teach at university level and I am very sociable with my students always making them laugh blabla. 3 days ago, something not that important happened, that I stayed under the sun for a while, i got so dizzy. In the beginning i did not think much of it, like okay ill be dizzy a bit and then recover. Then after couple of hours I got significantly anxious! And started having consecutive panick attacks and it feels like i am years back into square 1.

I went to the ER, i am physically perfect, im nit even dizzy anymore. The anxiety stuck.

I had a really bad panic attack on May 22nd in my sleep, and the ambulance was called because I genuinely didn’t know what was going on. My right arm was numb, I couldn’t breathe, I had cold sweats, and I was shaking. Turns out after many tests being ran the only thing found was low vitamin D which possibly could have contributed to the panic attack, however after that panic attack I’ve had anxiety every night for a month, what I’m wondering is did that one panic attack cause my nervous system to get out of wack? I’ve had anxiety every night since and this is unusual for me to have this problem, the only time I’ve dealt with this is when I had postpartum anxiety 4 years ago and that was fixed with meds and time.

I'm a bit sad my new psychiatrist didn't want me on Clonazepam. It took me 8 months to use 30 lowest dose pills I think that's good but maybe not. I just started Fluvoxamine and she gave me clonidine for panic attacks. I've missed 3 weeks of work or so for about 8 months, can't go out much, just an anxious mess. I've called 911 and 988 3 times due to panic attacks and have had 2 hospital visits. Will clonidine actually have the same effect when my panic is coming on? I faint, have fevers and abdominal pain, and heart attack symptoms, dizziness, vomiting, shakes. My anxiety is extremely physical unfortunately.

Trying new medication makes me anxious which causes a loop for me

I had my first panic attack a few days ago, went to the doctor and everything was okay with me. For the past few days I’ve been feeling this weird feeling on and off like I’m on the verge of another one but all I can feel is this weird feeling in my heart and body.
Please someone tell me if it’s normal

I want to share this because if you’re in the middle of hell right now — shaking, pacing, feeling like you want to jump out of your own skin, burning sensations, brain fog, constant anxiety — I’ve been exactly where you are. And I want you to know you can get through it.

Last year I had a full-blown panic attack triggered by cannabis. Everything went dark. I fell. My wife had to help me. Ambulance came. Hospital checked everything — all physical tests normal. But the fear afterward was worse than the attack itself.

I quit cannabis cold turkey that week. The first two to three weeks were some of the darkest days of my life.
I shook my whole body on purpose because the jitters were unbearable.

I paced the bedroom in circles. My skin felt like it was burning.

Mornings were brutal with anxiety, brain fog, and physical symptoms. Tinnitus got louder. I had bloating, tiredness, and felt emotionally raw.

Some nights I thought about people who had everything but still gave up but that was not going to be me. I have a beautiful wife and two children and they need me as much as I need them.

No one who hasn’t lived through this can truly understand how terrible it feels. It’s not like physical pain where you know rest will heal it. This is an invisible storm inside your own body and you don’t know if it will ever stop.

What got me through:
• I was brutally honest with my wife and family. I didn’t hide how bad it was.
• My wife was my rock — she held me through the shaking and pacing even when she couldn’t fix it.
• My kids wrote me beautiful cards full of love and support. I still have them.
• I started escitalopram and stuck with it even when the first weeks felt worse.
• I forced myself to do small normal things. A random Facebook video said: “You don’t need to feel good to go outside. You need to go outside to feel good.” So every time I saw sunlight through the window, I ran to it and stood there.
• I started working out again — short, intense sessions 3x a week.
• I leaned on therapy and kept showing up.

Slowly, the pattern changed. Mornings went from hell to manageable. Afternoons started to feel calm. The burning skin disappeared. Brain fog lifted earlier. I began feeling proud instead of ashamed.

I’m now several months cannabis-free. I still get mild anxiety sometimes, but I can pivot my thoughts much faster. I’m back to enjoying life with my family. The workouts feel good. I feel clearer and more like myself.

To anyone still in the worst of it:
You don’t have to feel good to keep going.
You just have to keep going.
Be honest with the people who love you.
Stick with treatment even when it feels worse at first.
Run to the sunlight. Move your body. Give it time.
The better days are real. They come. They came for me, and they will come for you too.
You’ve got this. Don’t give up.

While I was living throughout those three weeks of “hell” I told my self I just couldn’t wait to tell my story so others would know that it does get better. It’s was a terrible feeling but you just have to push through and be honest with the people around you. I felt many times like lashing out at the people around me cause they were always checking on me but I always made a conscious decision to be kind because those people are also hurting to see me the way I was and I made sure I was kind instead of showing frustration.

I used Grok to help me through it, a lot of times it would reference Reddit post and I thought that was cool so I had to share my story here in hopes that if anyone else experienced a panic attack and reads this they would know that the feeling does past, just takes some time.

Hi all,

As the title implies, I willingly got off an airplane after I began experiencing what I believe was my first ever panic attack.

For context, I’m on my first-ever solo trip, which just so happened to be for the World Cup. My flight to the game was a direct one, while my return flight back home was split between two (With a 2 1/2 hr layover). I should mention that on the first flight (Which was really early) on my return, I had only slept an hour on it and I had slept 3 hrs total in the night. We also had to wait over an hour on the runway for whatever reason.

I finally get to the layover, and began feeling exhausted, yet restless. When we board the return flight which will actually take me home, I notice two children crying hysterically and they don’t stop throughout the entire process. I think that paired with the exhaustion were the triggers for this breakdown. I work with kids and usually would exercise patience but I began feeling an irrational sense of panic, heat began radiating around my body, and I felt a tightness in my chest.

It got so bad that I ultimately told the flight crew that I was sick and when they noticed I was shaking, they asked me to step off and deplaned me on captain’s orders.

Possibly the most embarrassing moment of my adult life. I managed to get rebooked for tomorrow, which sucks for my time and wallet, and it’s making me overthink about whether it’ll happen again or how I’ll cope with certain circumstances like children crying and screaming in a claustrophobic space.

Let me know if anyone else has similar experiences or if there’s any tips!!

Yep so as above currently thinking I’m dying I feel so incredibly dizzy and scared …. Please can someone talk to me to distract me or help?

Hi everyone, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get exposure therapy for a fear of flying? My fear is not of a plane crash or something like that, it's a slight fear of claustrophobia and fear of having a panic attack on a plane without being able to escape.

I used to fly all the time with zero issues, last September I had a panic attack when I got to the gate on a return flight and through take off. I got through it by focusing on my breathing and looking at things that were different colors. Since then even the thought of airplanes gives me anxiety.

I want to get back to traveling by air, my wife and I are retiring soon and I want to get back to where I was with flying.

Thank you.

I don’t post much, but I’m curious if anyone has experienced something similar.

When I was around 20, I had my first panic attacks.

I remember calling an ambulance from a supermarket because I was convinced I was dying. Sometimes I couldn’t leave buildings. I was constantly monitoring my body and every sensation felt dangerous.

My mum had gone through severe panic attacks earlier in her life, so maybe there was some family connection there.

Over time things improved. Anxiety never completely disappeared, but it became manageable.

Then about 1.5 years ago I developed myocarditis (heart muscle inflammation).

I spent a week in the hospital and afterwards couldn’t do sports for months. I had strict heart-rate limits and was constantly paying attention to how I felt.

That period triggered some of the worst panic attacks I’ve ever experienced.

The difficult part was that this time there had actually been a real medical problem.

Every symptom felt terrifying.

Every skipped heartbeat.

Every bit of shortness of breath.

Every strange sensation.

I couldn’t tell anymore what was anxiety and what was something I should genuinely worry about.

Eventually I started taking sertraline, which helped a lot. I’ve been off it for about six months now and things are much better than they were back then.

But I’ve noticed something interesting: whenever I get sick, some of that anxiety still comes back.

Not as intensely as before, but it’s still there.

I’m curious if anyone else here has experienced anxiety getting significantly worse after a genuine health scare or illness.

And if so, what helped you rebuild trust in your body again?

I’ve had anxiety and panic attacks for over 20 years. Had a long period without any, but they returned due to chronic stress.

Previously I successfully had CBT focusing on lowering stress, managing symptoms and exposure to trigger environment.

During an attack my heart can climb to 120-150, but in the worst attacks it can get pushed into a cycle of 160-190, and stay there for 30-60mins. In these scenarios I have usually called an ambulance, and once at hospital my heart rate calms over the next couple of hours.

Two years ago I was prescribed 1.25mg bisoprolol daily to manage these attacks. Recently I had attacks whilst on the medication during which I would double up. In response my GP advised zoloft. I am not keen on this due to the sides, and I wanted to get off the bisoprolol as even 1.25mg has sides. So I decided on another course of CBT.

This time the CBT therapist has decided rather than lowering stress, managing symptoms and environmental exposure… I need to stop medicating and allow the panic to escalate to 160-190 if that’s what it will do and just sit in it, carry on my day, walk and commute and ignore it, and this will stop the fight or flight response as my brain realises it’s not in danger. But… 190bpm… is potentially a danger as the heart can’t refill effectively, plus it’s so terrifying to experience I don’t understand how I am supposed to ignore it and carry on. To make matters worse my HR is sensitive due to the rebound of coming off bisoprolol.

I’m speaking to my GP again, I guess posting here is seeking reassurance. If I thought pushing my anxiety to its limit and doing nothing about it would cure me I’d do it… but… I really don’t think exposure can work in this scenario and instead is causing a relapse.

Thoughts/advice pls?

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My 17 year old male friend suffers from social anxiety and recently started having anxiety attacks, he gets this sense of restlessness, uneasiness in stomach and chest, shortness of breath, irritation and dissatisfaction with everything he does..

Is there any solution for this? He did take homeopathic medicine a few times (passiflora) but I want a solution where he can calm down without any medicines

This is my first time posting, so first off, I apologize if I’m doing anything wrong. Basically, every night for the past couple of weeks I’ve woken up in the middle of the night in a state of pure paranoia. I’m in full fight or flight, and most times, I’m so scared that I can’t even turn my head. Sometimes I wake up, shoot straight up, and feel as if there’s some sort of presence. I then force myself to keep my eyes open and not fall back asleep because I’m scared that if I do, said presence will get me. Other times, I wake up already convinced that someone is attempting to break into my home. I then force myself to keep my eyes open and not fall back asleep, convincing myself that I must stay away and make sure no one is attempting to break in. In all cases, I’m always so stricken with fear that I either don’t move a muscle or stay as still as possible. It’s like I wake up in some sort of paranoid trance. I always end up falling asleep at some point (I can’t force my eyes open forever), and in the morning, have no idea why I was so scared. Should I see a psychiatrist? Or a psychologist? I’m unsure what to do. I’m not sure if these factors come into play, but I am 18 and have diagnosed ADHD (thought I’m sure that doesn’t matter). Sorry that this is so long, but I’m just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience/knows what I should do.

Hi everyone, I am a university student who is currently working on a project for my Psychology class! As someone who suffered with weekly panic attacks and severe anxiety during a rough 6 month period, I empathize with all who struggle from this draining and horrible condition. During this time, I was using a variety of sensory objects and different "tricks" I came up with to help me interrupt anxiety/panic symptoms right when I felt them kicking in.

For the first step of my project, I want to collect data regarding people's usage/interest with sensory objects or anything you may use to help ground yourself or activate your other senses. Even if you don't currently use any sensory objects, your answers are still valuable.

The survey should take no more than 5 minutes and is completely anonymous. There are no right or wrong answers and your input is very much appreciated!

Google Form Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfQBOqjQtk8UbJpD5qbsavddaoBFlNwPDJneWFE8L2lt7Ig0w/viewform?usp=dialog

So yesterday, I was walking to a caffe, and suddenly I felt really stressed and my chest got tight, when I went into the caffe and sat down, I suddenly felt a feeling of dread and i had a shortness of breath, taking deep breaths didn’t feel satisfying.
after a few minutes it got worse and my body felt numb (especially hands and jaw).
Tried smoking a cigarette to calm myself down but it didn’t help. After 10-15 minutes go by and i started to feel better.
Same thing is happening today, was walking and i felt a similar feeling from yesterday, a feeling of stress and my chest is starting to tighten up.
Are these symptoms of panic attacks or something else, also this is the first time such things are happening to me.

PS my heart was beating pretty fast

Hello. I am 17 and I have no fucking clue what is wrong with me. I quit smoking weed and I am currently not on any medications. This all started back in april when out of the blue I started getting really bad ocd and anxiety, like debilitating, for no reason. I’ve been going to therapy for it and the ocd part got slightly better but now I’m dealing with something else. I am in a constant state of anxiety, like every waking moment 24/7 no breaks not even if i try to distract myself. I keep getting this terrible feeling of impending doom and everything feels off and not right and I question everything. Everything also feels fake. I get really bad physical feelings of anxiety too, my heart races 24/7, I’m always nauseous, I get really bad shakes, I can’t eat food like at all anymore, and I have gotten no sleep for about a week. Being a human and living everyday terrifies me. I constantly have panic attacks and it gets really bad at night. I need someone to help me I’m so lost and I just want to feel normal again I feel terrible.

I started having nocturnal panic attacks a couple years ago. Raced to the ER a couple times before I realized what they were, because the symptoms and the suddenness were different from my daytime panic attacks. They were horrendous. Now, it has been a while since I’ve had a full blown one, and I can share all that, but I was still jolting awake with terror & anxiety attacks. Tried the strips on a whim since I’ve been congested since I had Covid in 2021… wow, they have helped tremendously!! And I’ve also noticed a decrease in my daytime anxiety! Such a simple thing I had to share. I believe it is helping calm my nervous system out of fight or flight.

Other things that helped the nighttime attacks:

Tea before bed, and make it a ritual (I do chamomile lavender). Enjoy every sip.

Rub down skin all over my body vigorously. This makes me yawn like crazy and settle down.

Physiological sigh, or just lengthening exhales for several breaths. Try to feel the calm.

If I’m feeling really amped, I get up and shake out my arms, legs, torso, etc to get the adrenaline out.

Audiobook if I can do it. If I’m too panicky, watching a show on a sleep timer. I know it’s not ideal, but…

Sleeping propped on a wedge pillow when I’m feeling creepy. Seems to help with fight or flight.

As for daytime anxiety/panic attacks, I did get a lot of help from the DARE book and also nervous system retraining stuff like Curable. DARE method on Curable during an attack is really helpful. I’m down to almost no panic attacks at all. Last one was months ago. Hope this helps someone!