Exactly What is Panic Attack? My Personal Story

When people are attempting to find out precisely what a anxiety or panic attack is then I find it incredibly helpful to refer to a personal experience by way of an explanation. People can relate far more easily to a personal panic experience than merely citing textbook answers.

Several years ago I had a series of panic attacks which happened during the night. These were frightening and I had no idea at the time exactly what they were or why I had been experiencing them. Since then I have read a lot on the subject of panic attacks and general anxiety, how to cope with stressful situations and what symptoms to look out for.

My story is as follows:

My husband and I had been working on a family estate that included a small business park. The estate had tremendous planning possibilities and the company became a target for a vicious takeover attempt. In trying to drive the company into liquidation together with seizing control through some type of management administration, the individuals that had been doing this might only really be successful if my husband and I were no longer around. These people began some considerable harassment in an effort at forcing us into leaving the site.

I had never experienced anything like that before however we did not leave - we had absolutely no intention of leaving and we were not quitters. Nonetheless I was very afraid of the possible outcomes: the family would lose the site, the small businesses on site would leave and we would have no income.

One night I woke up and I was not breathing. In fact I had to force myself to take a breath. I even remember thinking that my heart had stopped beating. I sat up was shaking and sweating, my heart began beating so rapidly it took me a long while to settle back to sleep again.

This same episode happened for several nights in a row and I remember feeling an intense fear and anxiety all the time.. It would not leave me.

Now, I love to go walking, I always have and it never fails to help me feel much better about everything.

Late one November afternoon I was walking up the mountain and across a field, the ground was cold and hard. I had just climbed over the style and was walking to the top of the field with the sunlight shining brightly as it was going down on the horizon. I heard footsteps running towards me, they sounded loud since the ground was frozen. I don't think I have ever experienced such a swell of panic gripping me. My first thought was that someone was running up perhaps to harm me. I turned around swiftly to see.. a sheep.. it was simply a sheep! I do believe I laughed aloud with relief.

What I realized was that the intense primitive sensation of flight or fight that I felt when the footsteps were racing towards me was no different to the feeling that I had been experiencing for the past few days. Intense fear all of the time. So the panic attacks were the direct result of this anxiety and fear somebody was actually trying to steal the family business from us.

There was nothing wrong with me, my heart was alright and from that day on I was fine. No more panic attacks. Plenty of anxiety but now I know how to handle it.

By the way the dictionary describes panic as - a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.

Click Here for FREE Information about
Panic Attacks

http://www.anxietypanic-help.com/