Things people that have panic attacks wish you knew... a thread:

Having a panic attack is not when you ‘freak out’ a little bit. It’s so much more than that. It’s actually when you have severe shortness of breath, heart palpitations and can often feel really dizzy.

We are not being ‘dramatic’ when we say we feel like we are dying. The physical sensation of a panic attack genuinely makes you feel like you ARE dying (especially when you have never had one before).

When a panic attack arises we have so many intrusive negative thoughts that give us the inability to think rationally in any form. It is IMPOSSIBLE to disconnect from the negative thoughts we are having.

In the midst of an attack, we become very disorientated and lose any awareness of our surroundings/where we are. In this moment we are completely being gripped by panic.

We genuinely feel as though/ fear that we are going crazy because we completely lose control of our thoughts, our motion/body/behaviours and can’t seem to get the attack under control. Our body is responding in a very irregular way.

Having a panic attack is incredibly debilitating, crippling and terrifying. Please understand this. It’s like being stuck in a nightmare that you can’t wake up from.

We know it’s scary/saddening for you to see when we are going through this, but the more panicked/scared you are... the scarier it becomes for us. Please just be there. Don’t get angry at us for not being able to rationalise what is going on.

Please don’t tell us to ‘calm down’ or disregard what we are going through. It is not helpful, in fact is incredibly harmful to us when we are in the midst of an attack.

Panic attacks can literally come out of nowhere and we cannot control them.

We can sometimes feel embarrassed after a panic attack (even though we know there is nothing to be ashamed of) so if you don’t appear to be fazed after an attack, it’s so much easier for us to move on.