Panic Attacks

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I get them, not as often as I used to but JesseCat's description fits my experience the best.

The only thing that I can add, is how the world appears in all ways different. It's as if each sense has reset itself and nothing is familiar. My brain often somewhat imagines a red twirling light and my brain is somewhat clear as long as it is in relation to the stimulating event.

As for how panic attacks happen for me:

Generally I have 3 levels of the whole meltdown/shutdown process...

Shutdowns - which are very common for me, are like when I am in a grocery store and its time to GTFO right away, I need to escape or I will not function any more.
when there is no option for escape usually it becomes a meltdown for me... which usually would involve many many tears... for a few years in my teens might have included screaming...

Then... there are panic attacks... Generally a panic attack is worse than a melt down... in fact I am often so locked up that I cannot cry or yell or anything, it's almost like being shut down but without the escaping part... Generally the point where I have a panic attack is when things are so bad that one might consider "is this better than an alternative of death" luckily for me, I do not consider suicide as a viable option otherwise panic attacks would probably be dangerous for me.

The thing is though, Panic attacks are not something that I would group in with the like... spectrum of shutdowns/meltdowns... I would say that a meltdown/shutdown can cause a panic attack but that it isn't required.

If, it doesn't involve over stimulation, or people... I can have a full on panic attack... It can happen simply as a result of realizing that it is impossible to pay some bill or another... or having my car break down and not being sure what I am going to do to afford to fix it... These have nothing to do with ASD triggers, but still create full on panic attacks for me...

I get panic attacks. It causes me unable to breathe, sometimes I start to sweat, I get extremely dizzy, I start to get derealization/ depersonalization, I feel like I am going to faint, sometimes my hallucinations increase, I can't swallow, my heart races and my thoughts races or even sometimes does the opposite and goes blank, my muscles tighten up among other things. That is my description of panic attacks.

I have a really bad one about once a month on average. unless you wanna take meds and gain weight, theres nothing you can do about it.
i think, although i have gone to extreme situations: like i will put my body in in order to stop the panic attack

I told my psychologist something funny I've noticed about myself. I get stressed about nothing at all and have irrational panic attacks that come out of nowhere, but during an actual stressful situation in which most people would panic and freak out, my nerves are cold as ice. I've been in bad car accidents and got out and handled everything very well while everyone else is shaken, and there have been situations where older family members have had seizures and I was the only one around to handle it, and I don't think my heart rate ever shot up. And yet I get panic attacks that are totally irrational and caused by nothing at all. Very strange.

Same here. I can handle giant roller coasters, car accidents, death metal concerts, getting punched in the face in a mosh-pit, but then have a panic attack over loud music suddenly "skipping", over being in an awkward conversation, over someone looking at me weird, or over nothing at all. I don't get it.

Panic attacks and mental breakdowns, sometimes accompanied by rage, have been shaping the way I live my life.

One time I had a panic attack supplemented by a massive breakdown, because my boyfriend left the room to go to the bathroom or whatever, and left me alone with someone I didn't know, and when he got back, I ran away and started uncontrollably panicking, sobbing, shaking, etc., and started verbally abusing him, asking him "Why would you do that to me!? You should have known!" etc. etc. etc. Then I ran away again and locked myself in his room, continuing to act psychotic, and then when I realized how stupid I was and how much I was hurting people around me, I started scouring his room searching for his gun so I could kill myself. I ripped everything apart looking for it, but couldn't find it. He was an emotional mess, and didn't understand what the hell was wrong with me. God it was so ridiculous. I'm normally a very calm, out of the way, undramatic person. But sometimes I just snap over the dumbest things.

IDK if this counts as a panic attack or is more of a meltdown or what, but sometimes when I'm really frightened of doing something and people know I'm frightened and are forcing me to do it anyway, I sometimes cry uncontrollably during the aftermath of the scary thing...even if it turned out to be not as bad as I'd anticipated. I don't do that so much anymore, tho.

not alot for me.. but happens.. dr gave alopams but said only use when rly rly need it.. have not used 1 so good
what happens... start sweating.. alot.. hand tremble.. heart rlly fast.. noise makes prob worse.. breaht becomes a mess..
whole system panic.. i rip paper apart.. wanna run.. hide..

I tend to have mild panic attacks and freak out when my routine is out of whack, but also sometimes it is followed by a meltdown not often though, because most of my meltdowns come from overwhelming stress. If a situation gets worse as I am having a panic attack I will meltdown.

I tend to get them most when I've got something big in my life that I have no control over; big events seem to trigger them unconsciously.

The worst one I had (and my first one) was probably caused by a friend constantly talking about an issue while we were out in a city. It started by me feeling fearful of crossing a road and when we got to a fairly busy area I was gripped by an all-encompassing fear - a fear like I've never known or felt before in my life. I just wanted to escape from the situation and go home. I didn't feel as if I could stand, so I stood against a building with my heart racing until we could get a taxi to get me home. I felt absolutely dreadful.

When I got home I had a very large glass of wine (actually it was in a cup as I didn't feel able to manage to hold a glass, It took about 4 hours before I started to feel normal again. It really frightened me.

When my wife was ill I'd get them whilst driving - just a feeling that I was going to lose control of the car, but always kept them in check by slowing down and concentrating on my breathing.

Horrible things. I am on Paroxetine which seems to help, only I'm finding that even if I fast for three days I'm still putting weight on, but at least I feel less likely to have another attack.

My panic attacks manifest almost in the same way. Three times I even called 911 because i thought i will die - i had some terrible headaches and thought this will led to a stroke. What i want to ask you is it possible you die during these panic attacks? I've read it is not but i really doubt it's true.

I had enough to be said to have Panic Disorder. I don't seem to get them that often now that I take the SSRI (said to really help such).

Still have lots of anxiety though, it's just usually not enough to go over the edge, but then, I'm used to over the edge by now, so I just run with it.

I get panicky when my routine is disturbed. My heart races, my face gets hot and I feel dizzy. In my head I'm screaming "why? why?why? Don't you just understand that I NEED it to be the normal way???" I think if people could just understand how much some things stress us out, they might be more more willing to help us. IDK though.

Yeah I've had panic attacks.....a lot of times its associated with my PTSD and probably the general depression and anxiety, I don't really know if the AS has anything to do with it. But yeah I get them and it sucks.

I have gotten to the point that I can hold off a meltdown during a confrontation, but I end up having it after the interaction ends. It sucks because I will walk away from the situation feeling accomplished that I handled it well, but then I have a meltdown anyway, and it can take hours for me to regain composure--and by then my eyelids are puffy and I look scary. I also had a meltdown recently when I went shopping with my mom and she made me keep shopping after I was ready to give up (I usually get overwhelmed after three stores/maybe trying on five outfits--I don't understand uncomfortable fashion and the fact that no sizes fit the same even in the same store).

Whenever I get them they are at night when I have just about fallen asleep. When I first started getting them each time I was convinced I was dying from a heart attack. My chest feels like it's going into spasm and my heart is going super fast, I go cold my limbs go numb, can't breathe properly and it's like a wave of sensation that feels like death goes through my whole body. I think it's built up stress during the day which gets released in a surge at night.

I do get the occasional panic attack; they usually occur when I'm overwhelmed with something or some circumstance. Stress can set them off, as can some other triggers. Sometimes I'll get this feeling that's hard to distinguish from exhaustion beforehand.

Those usually trigger meltdowns or shutdowns with me. I do not handle confrontation well at all.