Sensory overload, panic attacks, etc.

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In the past four years or so, I have had several panic attacks. I used to think that they were triggered by drinking alcohol, because every time I had a panic attack, I had been drinking in the past couple of hours. However, I recently stopped drinking for several months and continued to have panic attacks in the same sort of situations that I would have done before.

These situations are:
1. Parties where people are crowded together, there is music and people are touching (I notice that people tend to touch each other more when they have been drinking).
2. Events where there are flashing lights or different coloured lights, or screens with lots of different colours and things happening at once.
3. Places where the music is very loud.

In other words, I seem to get them when I am in situations which are both social and stimulating to the senses. They usually don't happen at the beginning of that sort of event, but a couple of hours in. Usually at first I feel a bit "on edge" and I try not to touch people. Sometimes I find something specific to focus on, like a light or the vibrations of the ground if there is loud music playing, and I try to distract myself from everything else. It does work at first mostly. The problems are:
1. After a couple of hours, this coping mechanism just stops working as well. It gets harder to distract myself from all of the different things. I usually feel like just curling into a ball but I can't because there are a lot of people.
2. After I have been drinking alcohol, I am prone to having a panic attack more quickly (this may be because I am distracting myself from doing the coping mechanisms).

I just wondered if anyone else has had the same experience, and how they dealt with it. I usually try to avoid these situations entirely (I don't go into clubs or noisy bars, for example) but sometimes there are events that it is expected that I will attend. Any coping mechanisms beyond what I'm already doing would really help. Maybe I should get some ear plugs to dim the music a bit.

Yeah. It deeply disturbs me, too. Back in the day, when associates from work invited me to a dance club, I'd go and stay a total of about 5 or 10 minutes. After that I was practically jumping out the window. don't go out anymore. I do recognize I have something called Avoidant Personality Disorder. It's not simply that I don't go out, it's also what people would think, how much less I feel than those people, feel like I'm trespassing, etc. It sucks.

Unfortunately, how I deal with it is NOT dealing with it in the first place.

<--- Professional Avoider.

My brother took me out the other night and although the crowd wasn't that large the music was almost painfully loud. I went out to the smoking patio and I found the music to be much more enjoyable filtered through the wall and there were lots of tall chairs that worked great for rocking. An even cooler thing was getting to see the band members doing costume changes. The other last real shows where I had any fun were in a dinner theater type environment, with plush chairs and every table positioned for the best view of the stage.

I am the same way. The only coping mechanism I ever knew was self-medicating with lots of beer. I would do whatever I possibly could to find the most remote and tranquil area of a club or concert but if you are in a group that becomes tricky. These days a little less alcohol and a Xanax gets me thru.

You are sensitive to loud noises, bright lights and uninvited social touching. These are neurological sensory issues--you suffer a mental and emotional processing overload from these things.


When my mother got older, and could no longer drive, I became her driver. This occasionally included trips to visit relatives. Some were just visits, but other times it was for major anniversaries, wedding receptions, funerals, etc. The major anniversaries and wedding receptions involved the renting of halls and having a hired DJ to provide the music. They always played the music at an ear shattering volume, so I always fled the main part of the halls, and hung out either in the rest room or in the lobby. I am not as sensitve to sound as many others here, but the volume the DJs played the music at during these functions was absolutely explosive. I just couldn't handle it. On one occasion I did ask the DJ to please lower the volume. He smiled and nodded, and did nothing. Turns out HE was wearing ear plugs, so he couldn't hear the high volume or my request. At one of the events my hearing was damaged. I got back some but not all of what I lost afterwards. My mother passed away some years ago, so I no longer have to take her to any of those events, and I won't go on my own account. I can handle funerals, because those don't involve a DJ with lethal sound equipment. However, I no longer drive myself on very long trips, as I have sleep apnea, which has gotten worse over the years, and leaves me very tired all the time. I can handle running errands, but there is a very real chance that I might fall asleep at the wheel on a long trip.

No music sounds good at nuclear blast volume level! I am so glad that I no longer have to go to those noisy family functions, and I don't drink, so I don't go to noisy bars and clubs. I now live alone and get to choose my entertainments. I choose not to blow my brains out with mind blasting noise.