Panic Attacks

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When things overwhelm me or stress me out, or I get afraid or sad, I often have very violent anxiety/panic attacks. I was diagnosed with severe anxiety, but my psychologist tells me that that's from the Aspergers.

Do other Aspies get panic attacks? And if so, would you mind describing them and what can cause them?

Idk if I have had a panic attack, but I have had mealdowns. And what causes them for me are unexpected (and unwanted) changes in plans, to much happening at once, stuff like that.

I'm guessing you mean "meltdown"? And I suppose that's another word for the things I'm talking about. Those kind of things start them with me.

What happens with you, if you don't mind me asking?

I do. I first notice one is coming on from my breathing. It's like, all of a sudden, I cannot get enough air. I start to sweat, and my hands clench so hard I cannot open them. My legs start cramping. I lose the ability to speak, my vision is distorted, and my chest starts to hurt. Then I start hyperventilating, which causes most of my body to go numb. People say that the first time they have one they think they are having a heart attack or a stroke or something. My thoughts have never been that coherent during but, looking back on my panic attacks, I can understand why someone would think that.

For me, it's usually being in a crowd that triggers it. Feeling enclosed by a wall of people on every side, unable to move, unable to avoid physical contact. Or having too many people focused on me or what I'm doing. Or being in a situation where I don't know what's expected of me; every time I start a new job I'm on the verge of one (and have actually had them at work occasionally, talk about embarrasing) until I settle in and figure out the routine.

I want to hug you so badly (if you'd let me). That's so alike to me.

Yeah, I get them in crowds. Social situations. I've never had a birthday party or gone to a birthday party without having a panic attack. Situations with boyfriends often make me anxious, too. When I'm overwhelmed, like having to move houses. Or most often, when I go into a state of stress and self-loathing. I have disturbingly low self-esteem and self-image so I'll start thinking bad about myself and put myself down until my self-esteem is so low it's practically cuddling up to the Earth's core.

My panic attacks include severe hyperventilation, rocking back and forth, crying, sobbing, screaming, talking to myself, pacing, fetal positions, locking muscles, self-harm impulses (I do not cut, but I will bite my hands and arms), and I've fallen to the ground and convulsed violently before. I'm nearly inconsolable until my adrenal glands drain and I get a horrible headache.
I remember once after my Dad had finished giving me a lecture on how I was the most selfish person he had ever known and that he was ashamed I was his daughter, my Mom came in to ask what was happening and if I was okay, and I screamed and stabbed a pen into my head still I fell to the ground and my Mom told me to breathe because apparently my face turned blue.

...Sorry if that was a bit too much information.

Just, anxiety attacks are NOT good.

Meltdowns, yes, sorry, my brain is tired

Now that is a simple question with less simple answer.
For me, as the name would suggest, I get overloaded with stuff, anxiety, anger, information, sound, temperature, everything just gets to be to much. And I just want to be left alone to curl up in a ball and blubber for a while.

Not the best description, but as I said, my brain is tired.

I'm tired too. I should actually be going to bed soon. Gotta get up tomorrow early to go to a Choir Festival competition for school.

Have fun

Usually aggression by others, angry words (at least these are the most common triggers). If someone gets in my face and starts talking aggressively I can feel myself start to melt but I usually keep my composure. My last meltdown one person scolded me, then another one came at me. I then within 15 minutes went from moderately composed to a shaking/crying wreck with a headache. I was inside a nuclear plant and away from my vehicle which was an hour away (behind government security gates also). I couldn't really do anything other than work for 12 hours that way and hide my face from others/keep something in my hands.

But a lot of the times a trigger is something completely random, like once someone stole something from me. Although I could get another pretty easily I simply broke down. I believe it was one of the yoda dolls you'd get from burger king?

I've been getting severe panic attacks lately. Actually, I just had one about an hour ago.
I am unsure what triggers it but I think I have been depressed as of lately. I usually suppress my emotions or am unsure of what I am feeling so I just let everything kind of slide (most of the time I am convinced I don't have emotions, all emotions are not real, etc.) and I guess it comes back to bite me in the ass. In the form of a panic attack.

When I get them it feels as if something is crushing my chest. I am hyperventilating and cannot breathe. I feel unreal, as if I am in a dream and I am about to die. I feel I am going crazy. I get cold and clammy. I can't think straight if at all. I start shaking as if I am in the freezing cold arctic with no clothes on. It's the worst thing ever. And I get them at night, when I am alone (insomnia) and they just come and go.

I am strongly against artificial medications, (Valium, Xanax, etc.) so if I have access and I find I cannot calm down for the life of me I'll have a small glass of wine. It takes the edge off.

If I am mentally strong enough, I try to talk myself through it. I'll watch something funny like the Big Bang Theory, or listen to an upbeat favorite song, or google pictures of guinea pigs (or other equally adorable, fluffy small animals.) Or I'll just keep surrounding myself with positive things until I feel silly enough to calm down. It works most of the time. If not, plan B (as written in the paragraph above) is magical grape juice.

And since those things only help to calm the initial attack, it's always a good idea to keep a journal of sorts to get to the root of what is really bothering you. And then work on fixing these real life issues, whatever they may be. Or else the attacks will just keep coming.

Similar to the others. Starts off initially with difficulty breathing. If advances from there, I lose every bit of ability to think or rationalize what is around or what to do. My legs become useless and numb and weak, and my arms and whole body has this whole sense of something that can only be described as pure dread.

In a similar manner to the others, my autistic breakdowns (panic attacks, meltdowns, they all seem to be the same) occur when things do not fall in line with my System, which is a purely and objectively logical mental construct used to make sense of the world. Also, extreme stressors (such as extreme insecurity) can often incite enough stress to make me closer to the breakdown.

I always keep a plushie tinman with me. No matter where I go. When I start feeling even a slight sign of unease, I shake him to distract myself. I try to get others to talk to me and distract me. I play video games, go to sleep, walk around in circles, and (I do not advise this) sometimes claw at my skull when its too much to bear.

I have had panic attacks, they are very different to shutdowns for me. They are also different to the urge to smash (which thankfully is waning with age)

Panic attacks on their own are usually caused by hyper ventilating. Breathing in and out of a paper bag works well to recover a normal breathing pattern. That worked well for me and I had no qualms about using that technique anywhere.

Jason.

Yes, I have panic attacks. I was put on anti-depressants to help me with them, but I took myself off as they gave me panic attacks as a side-effect,
My breathing goes fast and shallow, my heartrate increases alot, my chest and all muscles are very painful, I shake, I feel sick, I feel faint, my head hurts alot. I get really hot and clammy too. They still scare me a lot, even though I've had them for many years now.

They are normally caused by either me suppressing emotions for too long, or me taking public transport or there being lots of people.

I had mild panic attacks for years - they could be triggered by just about anything but usually they happened in crowded places. To this day I associate grocery stores with them. Most of my life they were pretty manageable - if I could get outside and be by myself and just breathe for a while they would wane and I'd be ok. A few years ago I had one at work that was so bad I didn't recognize it as a panic attack - I thought it was a heart attack. That was when my marriage was falling apart and the stress level was what ratcheted everything up. I went on Zoloft after that one and it didn't do anything but make me physically dependent on Zoloft. When I tried to get off of it several years later I found that the physical effects of withdrawal were worse than the panic attacks. It took me 6 months to wean myself off of it, and I'll never use meds again based on that experience.

I also distinguish panic attacks from meltdowns, which I have a lot more often - although these days a panic attack is often followed by a meltdown. My meltdowns always seem to build in intensity until I finally lose it over something trivial. I had one last night actually, over a grilled cheese sandwich that fell apart when I flipped it. Took me a while to get the kitchen cleaned up after that one (melted cheese is pain to clean up, and it gets everywhere).

I have panic attacks relatively often, especially when things aren't going so well. The worst times, I actually had convulsions, but generally, I only breathe badly (hyperventilation or shortness of breath, it depends) and feel like I'm going to explode.

They seem to just happen randomly, but generally during more stressful periods. I generally start by feeling anxiety, and then find a reason why I'm anxious.

I get panic attacks. Sometimes in social situations I'll start hyper-ventilating and then I'll start shaking. I usually hear a buzzing in my ears and everything seems fake, almost like an out of body experience. My palms get really clammy as well.