Friday, February 06, 2009

The One who gets Panic Attacks

The first time when it happened to me, I just know that I had to sit down and gasp for air. I was having a feeling of losing sense of reality. There was a strange urgency to just drop whatever I was doing and also trying very hard to think straight. Next came the dizziness, and heart palpitations. I can evidently feel my heart beating fast. Can you imagine how I felt when all these just came rushing at me all at the same time? My first attack was many years ago.

You must be wondering what am I suffering from.. or you actually do know. Yes, I get panic attacks on and off. It can happen any time, be it at work, at play , while shopping etc. The underlying reasons for panic attacks are usually genetics and stress. My mind may not recognized the stress, but my body does and so to react to that, panic attacks happen. Change of jobs, stress at home and work, newly married, stress in school are all possible 'reasons' to trigger panic attacks. Of coz not all the symptoms mentioned above will come all at once. One of my symptoms is hand tremors. Ever since the day I got my blood test results back, there hasn't been any hand tremors ever! That's how our bodies react. It was all psychological.. those hand tremors.

Usually the first sign of my attacks come in the form of short of breath. I feel as if I am suffocating, and I have problems breathing. I have to take in very deep breath and it is usually are very laborious deep breaths. Next will be the dizziness/feel faint. At first I even thought it was just low sugar levels... but after much 'research' online, it led me to discover the world of panic attacks :X

In fact, I am not the only person getting panic attacks. A few close friends did too.. we only found out about it when we shared our horrific experiences. Another girl friend just recently had her first attack. Hers occurred in her sleep. She was jolted from her sleep and woke up perspiring and felt shortness of breath. She like many others, thought she was dying.

Thankfully I do not get nocturnal panic attacks. But what I go thru is causing me enough discomfort as it is. I do know what are my triggering factors.. but I see no need to share it over here at this point in time.

Women are more prone to such attacks as it has been medically stated. For a person to get an attack once or twice in his life time, it can be referred to as panic attack. But for recurring attacks, it may be chronic and is termed as panic disorder.

I have been monitoring my situation, and I can safely say that it hasn't occurred as often ...it still does..but it wasn't as bad as it used to be. If it gets worst, I guess I'll go seek treatment.

There are many websites providing more information on panic attacks. I wasn't even gonna blog about this, until Julian provided such info on his blog lately. You may wanna click on his blog for more info and also here as well..

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