Does anyone else get these? I hav'nt gotten them in years but they have started again, always when I'm outside. It feels like I'm getting a heart attack. Arggghhhh I hope they stop, it's driving me nuts.

They're really horrible, I know. I have them a lot. At least once a week, usually. Especially lately because there's been so much going on. I feel frantic, feel like my heart's going to come out of my chest from pounding so hard, feel like I'm going to faint & sometimes can't breathe. I wish they would stop for me, too, but I have no way of doing that because they come about so suddenly. I hope yours go away soon, too

I get them a lot, basically anything can set one off. I regularly get heart pains due to panic attacks and sometimes I can't sleep because they get that bad. Really I don't mind (although my heart is pounding now just thinking about it). Just some deep breathing and I can usually shrug it off within the hour, along with some furious sobbing. I've long accepted that this is normal.

Thanks guys. Well I just had another one today when I went the shop. I felt I could'nt breathe and was certain I'd pass out. It's strange, about four months ago I'd get mild anxiety from walking over bridges, fly overs etc. Now it's getting so bad I can't even go outside the door and the only thing that stops the panic attack is a sleeping tablet. But my Doctors won't give me any more because they say they are addictive--why give them out in the first place if they're addictive? I'll probably have to go back on anti depressants to stop them-anti depressants which don't even work.

I've been dealing with panic attacks for years. I used to get really bad ones where I'd freak out so bad I actually passed out, but that hasn't happened in quite a while. Two or three months ago I started to experience mild panic attacks again so my doctor put me back on anxiety meds and I've felt better since then.

What meds are they?

I get them sometimes, whenever I get worked up about something, etc. Soulesshuman: I get the same time thing sometimes at night. I lay there and get to thinking(and worrying) about this or that and my heart starts pounding before long, like I'm running a race or something. Breathing also gets faster. It can take me a while to calm down from this and finally get to sleep.

Yes, I've had them. They used to come more often on previous years, more seldom nowadays (which of course is positive). It must be over six months since I got my previous panic attack.

What usually triggers them for me is some kind of humiliation or shame. Those things are especially bad for me because I have avoidant personality disorder. In the past I have gotten panic attacks from things such as posting to a forum and being ignored (I realised how pathetic I must have been to get ignored, which triggered shame and eventually an attack), being seen hiding from library clerk in front of whom I humiliated myself (hence hiding), being told mean remarks or being rejected. Things like that.

I have rarely experienced panic attacks as frightening. I didn't fear them even in the beginning even though I felt worried due to my reactions, but because they always had a clear trigger, it was easy for me to understand that it was a physical response to a mental stress more than anything. I hope I am not upsetting anyone by saying this but sometimes panic attacks feel like a relief to me. Feeling unreal or "being outside myself" is a very intense part of my panic attacks, and feeling that after something painful that triggered the attack truly feels like a liberation. I am aware of what's happening in/to my body but my mind is just completely... blank or distant. And after the attack is over I always feel so tired that I barely remember what just happened.

Panic attacks seem to be a very bad thing for many people, but for me, I am okay with them if I can just be alone when they come.

I get them if I'm under a lot of social stress. Difficulty breathing etc.

Had my first one in september last year. Didn't know what it was and was convinced something was wrong with my respiratory system since I couldn't breathe properly. Thought I was going to die.

Now I have lower stress tolerance than before. Maybe it's a result of having been isolated for too long.

The last time I had one was when a female friend of mine stayed the night at my house a few months ago. I was convinced in my mind that she was going to try and come on to me sexually, and that freaked me out really bad and caused me to panic while I was trying to sleep. I think I slept one hour that night.

I went on anti depressants and vallium and now the panic attacks are starting to go away.

i suffer from panic attacks alot

im on Zoloft atm and it's better now then it was before but i still have atleast 1 or 2 panic attacks every week.

and once i had a panic attack im really anxious the following days and it's alot easier that i get another attack.

Same with me. Once I get one I am more liable to have another one in the following few days. I get really severe panic attacks, to the point I feel I am going to pass out or go insane. However they only occur in intervals of five years-usually lasting a couple of months. This is the longest period I have had panic disorder, but it seems to be slightly improving since I changed meds'. I always carry some vallium, sleeping tablets and water with me as a precaution.

I have these attacks only when I do things I love and makes me wish I didn't love doing them so much or often for the matter. Even when becoming overly excited I'll have a panic attack. Ever since I had my first one and fainted from it at work one day I've been pretty cautious when I feel one coming on and try my best to try to calm myself with great effort.

Not that often. Though one time I woke up and noticed my shirt and blanket were soaked. Then for a few nights after that I had problems breathing and chest pains. I thought for sure I was going to have a heart attack, but it turned out to be anxiety.

I have them occasionally. Usually in areas with a lot of people or when a group of people start walking behind me and talking.

My panic attacks have drastically decreased since I started taking Celexa (generic citalopram). I still have them, but nowhere NEAR as often. When I do have them, Klonopin (generic clonazepam) helps them go away sooner.