Panic attack symptoms: Why me?

When I suffered panic attack symptoms, this was a question I asked myself A LOT. To start with, I didn’t even realize that I was experiencing panic anxiety attacks – I just knew I was confused, scared, and it felt awful!

Signs symptoms of panic attacks are extremely frightening.

Indeed, you may not even realize while you are experiencing symptoms of panic attack. This is because, in that moment, the cause of panic attacks has overwhelmed you and the last thing on earth you can think about is a panic attack cure!

However, chances are that while you are reading this article you are recovering from a panic attack… and it most likely happened recently to you. So this page gives you information on some of the panic attack symptoms you may have experienced, and what you can do in the future to prevent them from overwhelming you.

These are the top ten symptoms of panic attack that I have personally experienced, as well as friends of mine have experienced:

- Faint/feeling like you will collapse
- Dizzy
- Can’t breathe
- Heart beating either too fast or too slow
- Feeling weak
- Feeling like you’ve gone ‘out of body’
- Feeling frozen
- Spasms of panic
- Confused, disoriented
- Drained after the panic attack

So you may have read through this list and thought “Yes, yes, yes, I experience all of these symptoms!” You may have experienced even more symptoms, or perhaps only a few.

The thing is - a panic attack is always unpleasant. Whether you have every symptom under the sun, or only experience one - if it’s bad enough to affect your life it’s time to do something about it.

I have mentioned the work of Dr Claire Weekes elsewhere on my site. I mention her again here because it was one of her books I read that cured me (and I mean CURED me) of anxiety and panic attacks. It didn’t happen overnight, but I was cured without the need for any medication at all.

I like Dr Weekes’ method because it is a completely natural form of self-help using cognitive therapy for panic attack symptoms. Basically, changing your thoughts changes how you feel. It’s that simple. This completely agrees with all that I KNOW about auras and energy, so I am convinced that this is the way to cure panic and anxiety disorders.

Anyway, Dr Weekes explains that a panic attack is your body’s oversensitized ‘fight or flight instinct’ fuelled by adrenalin and supported by a frayed nervous system. To start with, you may be consciously triggered by something (my trigger was an overly crowded room), then over time, the panic attacks can become subconsciously triggered.

Dr Weekes talks about some peoples’ panic attacks being like “intense waves of panic” called a panic spasm. She talks about how exhausting it is for people to try and act and behave normally, while all the time being so fearful of falling victim to the grip of a panic attack.

“Attacks of panic usually decrease in severity, and number, following a pattern. The person practicing acceptance passes gradually from being terrified and dreading panic, to disliking it; then from disliking, to finding it no longer mattering. This does not mean that panic no longer comes. It takes time for no-longer-mattering to bring no panic. It is important to realize that panic can still flash and no longer matter. This is the beginning of recovery.” (Complete Self Help for your Nerves, by Dr Claire Weekes, p. 72)

Panic attacks become a purely physical thing after a while, when the fear is removed… you must change your thoughts, learn to be unafraid, and then give time for recovery.

After all, the panic attack symptoms, the fear – it can’t hurt you. It’s just that fearful feeling – fear of fear itself – that fuels the cycle.

Peace lies on the other side of panic.

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