Posted by grapebubblegum on August 1, 2001, at 15:31:06
I am confused. I have heard people say things like (and granted, this is an extreme example) "They didn't have the shoes in my size and I just started to have panic attacks." Then there are more serious examples like, "I was so worried that my son would not arrive home OK that I went into a panic attack." I don't know what goes on inside anyone else's head but I have experienced extreme worry about someone and even a general mood upset but it didn't seem the same as a panic attack. I'm not trying to split hairs verbally; I don't like to argue semantics and I know for a fact that it must be very hard for someone who has never undergone a panic attack to know what it is and thus they may be likely to label something else as a panic attack, but are there any other panic attack sufferers out there who know what a panic attack is? I am starting to wonder if my panic attacks are something else that I have not yet defined because they entail symptoms much worse than being worried or upset or "panicky." I know that makes no sense, but when people say they are panicking over their tax extension, I am pretty sure they mean something else. To me, anxiety and panic are different although of course I won't rule out the idea that one lays the groundwork for another or is really a more potent version of the other; it just doesn't seem quite that way to me, though.
That said, I'm sure there are different degrees of panic attacks, but in light of the standard advice like "they may seem scary but they are not harmful and they are self-limiting..." I am starting to wonder if I am dealing with something else. My doctor said it is true that people with severe panic attacks may be seen pacing, uncommunicative, or curled up in a ball on the hospital floor shaking their head and repeating "no," until injected meds drag them with great difficulty into unconciousness, but I am wondering if there is such a thing as crossing a line from "panic attacks" into a different condition altogether.
poster:grapebubblegum
thread:72927
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010731/msgs/72927.html