Anxiety, panic, is there a difference?

[Pamster]

I am having another anxiety attack this afternoon, I know why but that doesn't help me to feel better. I feel like crying and I feel all anxious about something I can't really control. What do you do when you feel like this and you know it's irrational but you just can't 'think' your way out of it? Is there any difference between panic attacks and anxiety?

I have PSTD from an accident twenty years ago and some of the blame falls on that, but it's really gotten bad lately. I don't really think there is a difference between panic and anxiety, they both can wrap around your gut like a vice and come close to crippling you, you know? :(

[weas]

i know exactly what you mean, i think the difference is marginal at best...... i have attacks quite often, and they really get to be a burden.....my meds keep getting switched around until they find the right combo, but for now i still have the attacks...
-weas

[Pamster]

I know how frustrating it is having your meds adjusted like that, no fun at all. It would be worth it though if they hit the right combination for you that helps alieviate the anxiety and panic attacks. I had a major one yesterday when the car's hood release refused to budge. I just had to get water in the radiator. I did get it open but not before my gut filled with anxiety and I felt a wave of panic because I had to drive somewhere and was afraid the car would overheat. :p

[Lara]

Hi Pamster and weas,
Pamster,
To answer your question about anxiety and panic and if there's a difference...
I tend to think of the anxiety as the background noise and the panic attack is a spike. ____^________^ ___^

The way it works for me is that my actual panic attacks occur when my level of anxiety becomes too great. So the anxiety is constantly there, but at different levels of intensity during my life, but when the anxiety builds up too much is the time that I have the panic attacks. I've always been a bit anxious and that's ok by me to live that way... used to it I guess.

What I have difficulty with is that once I've had one panic attack even if I've not had one for months or years, then they tend to continue. So in a way, when I have one panic attack which seems a bit out of the blue, it sort of acts as a trigger which then raises my background level of anxiety which in turn makes me more susceptible to more panic attacks. Round about way of saying it, but they seem to feed off each other. :rolleyes:

I have certain triggers for panic attacks which at times are manageable, but at other times I seem to have no control over them. I guess the most important thing I ever did was learn as much as I could about how the body works with flight and fight ... learning to notice the subtle changes in my body that might lead to an actual panic attack and then understanding that I wasn't actually going to die and that it would soon pass and I was going to be alright.

It's weird, because a few times I've noticed that if I've been able to stop a panic attack from coming on with breathing changes and relaxation techniques etc., then it doesn't take my anxiety level right down again, it's like the only way that will happen is if I have the panic attack, and then I know I'm not going to have another one that day. Don't know what that's all about. There have been times I've wondered whether what I'm experiencing are actually some type of seizure, but then the next thing I know, the panic attacks are gone for months and sometimes years so I've never bothered looking into it.

edited to add: I forgot to mention something. If I'm standing in front of the engine checking the radiator and start thinking about what might happen or what has happened in the past and I start to have a panic attack then I know that my anxiety levels are too high.

[Pamster]

Thanks for your reply Lara, I am doing a little better today then I have been for the past month, even though I am worried about my car still things could be worse, so I am not sweating it at the moment. I agree with your description of panic attacks being like spikes in the underlying background of anxiety. I think tha tis a great way to look at it.

I am having spikes of panic recently because my car overheated yesterday, but I managed to get home at least, just worried it won't be driveable soon. And I have no $$$ to get it fixed. I wish I had a better car, it's a good car but it's in sad shape. It's so hard on a fixed income to try to save up even two dimes to get it fixed. *sigh*

But anyway, I am sorry it took so long for me to acknowledge your reply, I really did appreciate coming and reading what you had to say and I just didn't have it in me to reply until today. I think it's harder when my son is home, and he's home until Tuesday because of Easter. ;) Anyway, thank you so much for your reply. :D

[tic chick]

hey pamster!

i just saw this thread, so i hope you still read this forum.

i agree with lara. i have generalized anxiety and started having panic attacks at age 19. i didn't want to take any meds because i was of child-bearing age and didn't want meds to mess with future children.

so, i always had a small lunchbag sized brown paper bag with me. when i got the anxiety attacks, i felt like i was going to die, i was breathing like i couldn't catch my breath (hyperventilation) and i felt like i had to leave where i was right away. So what i did with the paper bag was encircle the whole top of the bag with my thumb and second finger to create a hole. then i covered my mouth with the hole and slowly started to measure my breathing, inhaling and exhaling rhythmicallyinto the paper bag. that got me out of the panic attack in a few minutes.

my panic attacks led to agoraphobia (the fear of going outside your home) for a while. i wanted to avoid places where i had panic attacks before, so anyplace outside my house was fair game for a panic attack.

but, i just forced myself to do it. i had children i had to walk to school and things to do. my paper bag was always with me.

when i finished having children, i went to my neurologist and asked him to start trying meds on me that might alleviate my tourette syndrome. one of the first ones i tried was klonopin (clonazepam). within days of starting this, my obsessive-compulsive thoughts were pretty much under control, my general anxiety was gone, and a miracle! my panic attacks of 11 years were gone! (unfortunately, it didn't do much for my ts.)

i sincerely hope you find help for your panic attacks. they are indeed frightening and disable you, even though you know what they are.

jeannie

[annabel]

To me anxiety is a chronic, low grade feeling. Panic is an immediate fight or flight type of feeling.