Sorry to post here so soon, but I've never actually known anyone with anxiety! I went to a doctor for my breathing problems, and he says he thinks when I had a panic attack, it damaged the muscles in my chest. Has anyone with anxiety experienced this? I'd never heard of it before, but I've only had problems with anxiety a few times so I suppose I wouldn't really know. Also, he gave me hydroxicine for when I feel like I'm going to,"run screaming down the road," as he put it; it's an antihistimine, oddly enough, so has anyone that's taken it experienced drowsiness? Counterproductively, medication induced drowsiness will definitely send me into a panic attack, so I want to know before I take it. Again, sorry to bother, and thanks for your time!
Ah, anxiety, my old friend. Your heart starts racing - you can feel your pulse in your hands and face and it feels like your heart is going to explode out of your chest. Adrenaline burns in your veins, making even the tiniest touch feel electric. Your palms might be sweaty, your mouth might be dry, your hands might shake, your knees might feel like they want to give way. Your hindbrain is screaming at you, making you want to run or hide or lash out uncontrollable, do anything, anything to get to safety. Maybe you want to tremble, to scream, to throw up, to claw your skin off, to do whatever it takes to release the pressure within. ... So maybe that's more of a panic attack than regular old anxiety. Anxiety is less extreme than panic, but can still utterly suck. I'm new here, and IIRC we're not supposed to give medical advice, but you should know that there are other options besides antihistamines that work for anxiety (but have higher potential for abuse, which is probably why the doc didn't give you any) and you might benefit from a second opinion.
I have anxiety. It gets triggered by small everyday things and I start getting an anxiety attack. Above person person already explained what it feels like so I'll tell you what it looks like. I imagine I look like I can't breathe and gasping for air, blood from clawing my skin (yes it actually bleeds), and tears everywhere. Also I'll add that your brain absolutely cannot even begin to think clearly enough to even attempt at fixing anything or being productive in anyway so stop yelling at me parents!
Anxiety and panic attacks are horrible. When I have them my chest tightens, its hard to breathe, start shaking really bad, and get dizzy, almost to the point of passing out. When all of this is happening you feel like your having a heart attack or even dying.Then after it passes I usually feel really exhausted all day. Its horrible. I usually pop an ativan to calm me down.
It's difficult to explain. I've ALWAYS had anxiety, but it's been worse this year. It gets triggered by bullying. I had a panic attack about 2-3 months ago that really effected my life. I still have about one every week or every other week. If people are near me, I feel like all eyes are on me. This causes me TONS of anxiety because I don't usually get attention, so when I do, I don't understand how to handle it. If I'm alone as it's happening, it's triggered by thoughts, and/or memories, and/or feeling alone and abandoned. The walls feel like they're closing in. I'm freezing, but sweating. I can't breathe and I start crying hard. For me, I hug my legs to my chest during the attacks. I bury my face into my knees. Then I get really angry that I'm either all alone or everyone is either staring at me or surrounding me. I'm claustrophobic, so that's another trigger - people surrounding me or enclosed spaces. The only thing that calms me down a little bit is listening to music. It takes a while to stop crying. So, that's what it's like for me. My mom doesn't give me meds from her personal experiences, so nothing really prevents the attacks.
For me when I have a panic attack it feels like my chest is imploding, my hands shake to the point that if I were to hold a cup the liquid would all spill out, I get super dizzy and I feel like i am going to cry. I have permanent anxiety as well which causes a slight hand shake (hardly noticeable unless your looking for it) moderate depression and constant questioning of my decisions.
When you feel like you want to go screaming like a manic goat and just despise your body and physical appearance.
Wow, uh, maybe I've had anxiety for longer than I thought. You guys' input is really helpful, since it really helps to know that some of what I'm feeling is credible. So, for me, when I feel panicked, I can stay like that for upwards of 8 hours; how long does it last in your experience?
For me I get a bad impending sense of doom and I can't stop freaking out about whatever's giving me anxiety, and I get a stomachache, light headed, hands shaking, adrenaline goes way up. For me it usually goes away after whatever I'm worried about is over, and then all that energy just turns into adrenaline.
For anxiety, a good analogy that I've seen is that it's like you're constantly feeling like you're about to put your foot down on a step that isn't there or like you're leaning back in a standard four-legged chair and just on the edge of falling over. For panic attacks, it feels like I can't breathe so I end up hyperventilating unless I try to consciously slow it down, heart rate skyrockets, feel light-headed and dizzy, always end up crying.
