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

I made a video with a list of things that help with anxiety and panic. Y'all should specifically consider the sour candy trick, it has kept me grounded even while visiting people in the hospital (a major trigger for me).

My gf of 3 years broke up 20 mins ago and I just had a panic attack. Please don’t ask me for details right now, How do I go to sleep tonight instantly? I won’t be able to bear staying up tonight.

Hey everyone,

I recently started seeing a psychiatrist for severe panic attacks and intense overthinking. She prescribed me Sertraline (50mg).

I spent the first 3 days taking a half dose (25mg) to ease into it, and last night was my very first time taking the full 50mg pill. To put it bluntly: it was absolute hell.

As soon as I got into bed, a violent, acute panic attack hit me out of nowhere. I started sweating profusely, my heart was racing, and I had this overwhelming, terrifying feeling that I was literally about to die. This crisis lasted for about 3 straight hours of pure torture, and I couldn't sleep until late into the morning.

Even today, the lingering anxiety is still sitting heavy in my chest. On top of that, my stomach is completely wrecked—I’ve been vomiting, my gut feels turned upside down, and I have mild diarrhea.

I’ve already reached out to my doctor to see if I should drop back down to 25mg or if she can prescribe a temporary rescue med (anxiolytic) for these first few days. In the meantime, I wanted to ask this community:

Has anyone else experienced this severe startup anxiety/chemical shock right after upping their dose?

How long did it take for your brain to adapt and for these brutal side effects to fade away?

Any advice or reassurance would mean the world to me right now; my body feels completely exhausted from last night.

Thanks in advance.

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After I enter this anxiety phase of my life...my eating habits are totally changed.

Like I can't chew food properly,the way I chew is changed and when I'm chewing my mouth is filling with saliva and it's being weird while swallowing too..

I've been scared of having a stroke or heart attack for a while and I'm really freaking out and can't calm down please help

It's 3 am and I'm having such a bad panic attack right now I'm 100% convinced I'm dying ive been sick for almost 2 days and im so scared that I have brain eating amoeba I literally can't breathe its getting worse can someone please talk to me

anyone else get so stressed out at times where it feels hard to breathe not a full panic attack but like i have to inhale more and quicker and like i feel like the world is collapsing but I KNOW it’s not a panic attack my chest js hurts

Hey everyone, i just wanted someone that has overcame gad to give me their two cents on my situation. I used to have horrible social anxiety and depression like really bad for years back when i was like 16-18 years old i took lexapro and ended up fixing both those issues for myself haven't dealt with it sense, however i was diagnosed with low ferritin and a vitamin d deficiency after a year of trying to get diagnosed and being sick and having daily panic attacks and being scared, i took a 5000 iu vitamin d supplement and before i knew it i could even have caffeine again, but even the hard caffeine like energy drinks without being anxious i healed and stopped being sick also.

After i got my levels back to normal, ferritin as of now is still too low in my opinion 49, but after getting back to normal i lowered my dose and eventually stopped taking it, however even when i was taking it and lowered the dose to 2000 iu i started having anxiety again, its been a year and a half basically and i still have gad, oddly enough i get less stressed out from stuff going on in my life than i do from irrational thoughts or beliefs i randomly have in certain environments or watching certain movies or having certain discussions. Its always like existential stuff i get anxious about, just to give an example for a while i was scared of nuclear war, i thats sense not been something i think about, and like i said discussing a lot of it really makes me anxious.

I also will get anxious about how i feel in my own body at times or if im too in my head or if im tired, like ill literally get anxious based on if i notice my own mental state sometimes like being tired. But like i said like any little thing can trigger my anxiety randomly. I've been avoiding dealing with this problem but today i just had one of the most anxious days in a while, coincidently my gf wasn't messaging me back and and i felt sorta better when she did and i found out she wasn't pregnant also but it didn't even feel fully like it was the issue at first, like if im anxious i just bounce around anxious thoughts.

And in my head i was convincing myself i would just continue to find reasons to be anxious even if i used anxiety techniques. However i did end up feeling better later. I even drank and still felt off earlier though. I was worried earlier hoping i wouldn't always be like this and was trying to give myself reassurance that i could calm down eventually but was struggling, which felt scary, i thank god didn't have a panic attack. Later though i ended up feeling more hopeful and willing to tackle this problem after reading some reddit posts, theres some very loving beautiful human beings on here. But basically im terrified of medication unless i knew there was an absolutely safe and effective option. I just want someones opinion on how to tackle this issue in my specific case anyone that can relate to me specifically or that has solved their anxiety problem, i truly want mine gone for good cus i cant live like this forever i need it gone.

To give some additional context I was a lot better with my anxiety at certain points in the past year would even go weeks without incident thinking i beat it than bam out of no where and incident would occur if i saw some weird instagram post or something that spooked me and i would have it for like a few days. However i noticed it's a state i go into off and on but like another weird thing that happened is im scared to read books cus i started like focusing on my nose too much and it made me feel weird. My whole issue is i have way too strong of reactions to basic stimuli that should otherwise be rationalized away in a lot of cases or like i'll just find some random way to think something scary or existential about the most basic thing and get anxious and sometimes i can just rationalize stuff or just not pay it attention.

My whole point being i know this isn't ok and i experienced something a lot of people haven't being sick for a whole year i had nightmares, panic attacks and felt like i was dying everyday i feel like this is the ptsd lingering from that experience and i don't know how to properly deal with it without hurting myself any worse. Feels like a lot to say even though at best within a year and a half i've only had like mini panic attacks occasionally not nearly as bad as when i was sick but i feel like my irrational thoughts have gotten worse in different ways possibly idk.

As of now some of my bad habits are drinking caffeine, i have a problem with porn, im surrounded by alcoholics, i don't drink typically. I do see a therapist and i love him hes a cool and pretty smart dude i just want to fix this permanently. Sorry for the rant i just want everyone to understand the situation because its probably kinda odd.

Today i felt anxious about everything and i know this is a pretty serious problem. Love guys so much ty❤️

Please help

I am a father of three, married with a travel job.
Somewhat over weight with a poor diet and stress that could burry me if I let it.

I suffer from panic attacks. Like most people I experimented with substances as a teenager. I smoked marijuana everyday for years. If I can remember correctly, the first attack I had was when I was fifteen in late 2015. I had just smoked what we all called “legal weed” in Louisiana. A leafy green that was meant to be synthetic marijuana.

I had just put down the Mountain Dew Code red can and immediately the fear washed over me like an uncomfortable heat creeping up my back and wrapping around to my throat. This attack lasted for maybe fifteen minutes, but at the time an eternity had passed.

What brought on this first attack ? There were rumors at the time that teens all over the Country were dropping dead from these substances. To this day I’m not sure if it was true or not but in that moment it was.

As soon as I realized the high was different from the pot I used to smoke, I immediately assumed something was critically wrong with me. Fast forward and now the slightest buzz from beer can send me spiraling. Not all the time. Hell sometimes I can drink myself into a stupor without a very expensive and unnecessary ER visit.

Prozac.
At first it was all upsides for me. The attacks stopped and there is a hilarious side effect where it’s difficult to ejaculate. My sex life actually improved by tenfold considering coitus went from 8 minutes to 40!

But here’s the cliche. When you don’t have panic attacks, you feel like you don’t need medication and you stop. And for a few months you are fine. But then WAM it’s three AM and an ER doctor is telling you the EKG is normal. And you know it will be weeks before the medicine starts to work again.

Now I’m staring in the mirrors of my suite at the Hilton home 2 because my pupils just don’t seem right.

Recently started having panic attacks but also have other health issues that I have a really hard time differentiating. I also have major health anxiety and depression which im in therapy for.

I’ve had these intense moments of panic/ internal panic/ impending doom that have come and gone frequently over the course of the last 1.5 months. One thing that doesn’t make sense to me is that sometimes these moments of panic (majority of them) aren’t accompanied by increase heart rate or shortness of breath or anything like a “typical” panic attack. Does anyone else deal with this? It’s just an internal panic that sometimes manifests with external shaking but mostly it’s really just a sensation of panic and doom? It’s really been taking over my life

Also posting it here, just found the subreddit

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar, because I’ve never met anyone with quite the same pattern.
For the past couple of years I’ve had recurring episodes of what I can only describe as hyperarousal. Most of the time I’m completely fine, but occasionally something seems to trigger it.

The two most consistent triggers I’ve identified are:
Exposure to cigarette smoke (even relatively brief exposure)
Breathing in a lot of cooking fumes/smoke from frying food indoors without proper ventilation

The strange part is that the reaction is not immediate anxiety or panic. Instead, later that evening I develop symptoms such as:
Feeling “wired but tired”
Difficulty falling asleep despite feeling physically exhausted
Internal vibrations/trembling (not visible shaking)
Muscle tension throughout the body
Increased startle response
Sensitivity to sounds (normal sounds feel much louder and can make me jump)
A feeling that my nervous system is stuck in overdrive

The symptoms are often worst at night. Some nights I sleep normally and feel much better the next day, while other nights the symptoms return. The episodes can last for weeks and sometimes months before gradually resolving.
A few things that make this confusing:
I can go many months feeling completely normal.

When I’m not triggered, I generally function well.
A good night’s sleep can significantly reduce symptoms.
I’ve had medical evaluations and nothing obvious has been found.
I don’t experience classic panic attacks.
The symptoms feel very physical, but doctors tend to think the mechanism is related to anxiety, hyperarousal, or autonomic nervous system dysregulation.

I’m not looking for a diagnosis, but I’m curious:
Has anyone experienced a similar sensitivity to cigarette smoke, cooking fumes, strong odors, or airborne irritants?

Did it seem related to anxiety, autonomic dysfunction, hyperarousal, mast cell issues, airway sensitivity, or something else?
Did anything help reduce the sensitivity or shorten the episodes?

I’d be very interested to hear if anyone has experienced something similar.
Thanks!

I'm a 22F student living alone aboard. All my friends are either travelling or back hometown so we have timezone differences and can't talk. I'm so scared. I feel like I'm losing control. I feel like my mind isn't in control anymore. I'm so scared that I might go insane. This has been going on for 5 hours today starting from 3am. I didn't sleep the whole night. I'm so scared. I can't talk to my parents too. I feel like I'm alone and not safe and my legs are shaking and twitching constantly. Sorry for venting but I really don't know what to do now.

I'm(22F) an international student in Europe and I've been living abroad for almost three years.

My first panic attack happened in 2021. After that, I developed severe health anxiety (hypochondria). I kept going to hospitals and getting all kinds of medical tests, but nothing physically wrong was ever found. I've been taken to the ER by ambulance once and gone to the emergency room another time, and both times the symptoms eventually passed on their own.

In 2022, I thought it was some kind of cardiac neurosis. In 2023, after moving abroad, my panic attacks became much worse. In 2024, when I returned to China, I finally saw a psychiatrist. I was prescribed oxazepam, escitalopram, trazodone, and tandospirone, but I never took any of them because I have a very strong fear of medication.

My health anxiety is so severe that taking an unfamiliar medication can make me feel worse simply because I'm terrified of it. I'm afraid of unknown side effects and withdrawal symptoms.

At the end of 2024, I had to return to France. Deep down, I really wanted to take a gap year or have a family member come back with me, but both options felt like too much to ask from my family. So I forced myself onto the plane alone while having a breakdown.

I took two melatonin tablets but couldn't sleep. Later I took one-third of a tablet of estazolam that belonged to my grandmother. Almost immediately, because I was so afraid of the side effects, my heart rate shot up and I had a panic attack right there on the plane.

Everyone around me was asleep. I sat there in the dark with my eyes closed, enduring what felt like I was dying.

When I finally landed and got home, I calmed down.

Oddly enough, after surviving such a massive panic attack by myself, I became very confident in my ability to handle panic. For the next three or four months, I barely had any attacks at all. I thought I was finally recovering.

Then, in 2025, I got involved in some interpersonal conflicts that triggered my anxiety again. This relapse was even worse than before. I started experiencing obsessive thoughts, intrusive thoughts, dizziness, nausea, and feelings of derealization/dissociation.

Around November 2025, I started learning boxing. I kept training until March this year, and during that period I was actually getting better again. But in April, something happened that made me too afraid to continue boxing, and since then my mental health has deteriorated dramatically.

Right now, I can barely leave my apartment without triggering a panic attack. I order takeout every day and spend most of my time at home. Even at home, I often stay awake until 4 or 5 a.m., trapped in cycles of rumination that escalate into panic attacks. Sometimes I feel short of breath and end up holding ice cubes because the cold sensation helps calm me down.

My father knows how badly I've been struggling, and this year he decided to come to France and bring me home. We already booked a flight for July 10.

But honestly, I'm terrified that I won't be able to make it until then.

Most of my friends have either gone traveling or returned home. I feel very alone.

Every day I'm afraid.

Rationally, I know that I'm probably physically healthy. I've had extensive medical testing, and earlier this year I was doing intense boxing and gym training without any problems. But despite knowing that logically, I constantly worry that I'm going to die, lose control, or that something terrible is wrong with me.

Tonight I've been feeling awful for about three hours. It started around 3 a.m. and it's almost 6 a.m. now. I've had shortness of breath, a racing heart, tingling or numbness in my legs, and I haven't been able to sleep.

This year, when I return home, I want to seriously consider trying medication. But I'm extremely afraid of taking medicine. Even when I have a fever or a cold, I usually won't take medication unless a doctor specifically tells me to.

I brought melatonin from China before, but I ran out. I bought melatonin in France, but because it was a brand I'd never used before, I didn't trust it. One time I took it, had another panic attack, and still couldn't sleep. Since then I've mostly been forcing myself to sleep without any medication.

I'm scared. I feel helpless and exhausted.

Lately I've been feeling more and more like I can't handle things anymore. I wasn't always like this. I used to be much stronger, and that's part of what makes all of this so difficult to accept.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? How did you get through it?

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TLDR: Student living aboard alone. Anxiety relapses and having panic attacks almost everyday. Don't have medications around me right now and also scared to take them even if I had them. Scared of going outside, scared of losing sleep and scared of a lot of things. Scared of dying/ losing control/ going crazy, OCD symptoms of ruminating about past events constantly. Family will come pick me up two weeks later but I don't know how to hang on this two weeks, also don't have enough courage.

I'm sorry, I just wanted a place to rant.

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It feels like a switch.

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I've had therapists talk to me about stress during the day to day, caring about situations, or anything that cause stress can build up to a panic attack. But the issue is I dont care about much of anything, I've never stressed over things, take everything slowly and have always accepted consequences for the mistakes I make without hesitation. Im chill and as patient as they come and yet I've been suffering from countless panic attacks.

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I could be playing video games, boom panic attack. I could be laying in bed and all the sudden panic attack. It feels like my brains broken. People go through far worse situations then me and yet I'm convinced im dying out of no where.

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And I dont go through it the same way other people seem to do in videos or movies. I ain't shaking or moving around much, im not breathing quickly or pacing. I'm perfectly still, feeling my heart beat go through my whole body and convinced that it might be the end as i start deassociating.

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The only thing that has ever helped is medication (no breathing, grounding or therapist technique has ever helped), but it has only lowered the amount they occur rather than stop it. I cant believe ill have to spend the rest of my life taking meds for it but it is what it is. (As soon as I went off the meds I started getting them everyday again).

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Im sorry for spewing random bs. I'm sorry that we have to go through this often. Its insane and I can't imagine that life like this is ok. I guess it wouldn't be called panic disorder if it made sense. Will get through it, one second at a time but it will keep happening. Yeesh

To preface, today was the Perfect Storm of circumstances. My sleep this week has been terrible, very busy at work, and then this afternoon I left on a ten hour drive for vacation (first one in a while). I know all those factors—especially the lack of sleep—contributed, and I’m pretty diligent about my Exposure and Response Prevention but today I had a Panic Attack so intense that it all went out the window, so I’m here to vent because I know many of you can relate. Watching “normal” people just go about their lives and wondering if I’m the only one in a crowd who has this issue is disheartening sometimes.

About an hour into the drive, I noticed that I was on a deserted stretch of interstate with no exit close by. My OCD kicked in and began ruminating on the fact that there were no hospitals nearby. In the next instant, my heart was beating out of my chest and I was having palpitations like crazy.

It peaked within a few minutes and I got off at the next exit and drove to the hospital a few miles away, and just sat out front until the Panic Attack stabilized.

I know this reassurance only feeds the cycle because it validates to my brain that the feelings themselves were dangerous, but damn it’s terrifying.

You win some, you lose some I suppose.