Horrible Panic Attack Today...Worse one to date!

Hi guys, brand new to the forum and brand new to making the decision that it's time that I seek professional help for this issue.

Here's a little background...I'm 31, married, a father, have a job I love and generally speaking, I can't think of any stress that would set one of these awful panic attacks off.

I've been having these panic attacks off and on for around 6 years now. I've never been diagnosed with any mental health issues and my stubborness has kept me far away from the docs office haha. Panic attacks have hospitalized me 4 or 5 times now. The most recent "bad one" was last March and it put me in the ER overnight to be closely monitored because my symptoms were so close to that of a heart attack.

I say "bad one," because I do have "little ones" from time to time. But those ones I can deal with. Again, nothing triggers them, they just are. While doing some research here and there online, I've found a couple sites that give "self tests" to determine if some underlying mental health issue could be the cause. You see, I tend to focus A LOT on the bad in life. I obsess about the unknown future and death and for no reason, because I feel I have a very happy life.

I do have a history of some drug use back when I was 18-22 years old, but have been clean for 9+ years. I also quit smoking cigarettes back in 2010 and since then, I gained a crazy amount of weight (45 lbs). I was overweight before that a bit (should weight around 200lbs...I was 235lbs before the weight gain that put me at 282 lbs. Because of my weight and family history, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure back in 2012 (right before my last ER visit) and have been taking Lisinopril ever since.

I've done a great job of dieting and am back down to the 245lb range and have just been feeling fantastic lately. Recently, I decided that I really wanted to get down to the 200lb range for myself and for my family, health-wise. So last week I decided that it was time that I really focus on cutting weight and getting back to being in the great shape I was in in my early 20's.

Which leads me to what happened today, out of nowhere. I decided to take my two year old daughter out for a long walk in her stroller to burn some calories and what not and to keep my mind and motivation level high. I was doing well...it was hot out today, but nothing that I hadn't dealt with before and I was well hydrated I thought. Prior to the walk, I did have an extra cup of coffee...I usually have two, today I had a 3rd. Man, I was moving right along through the neighborhood and feeling great and my daughter was enjoying the stroll as well. The walk total would've been close to 3 miles I assume, had I finished but halfway through the walk, again, out of nowhere, I started to feel a little chest tightness, followed by extreme tingling sensations that literally shot around my whole body...followed by an adrenaline rushed that caused me to stop walking all together, to try to gather myself. Then, two sensations that were new to me hit, I became extremely dizzy and then short of breath, while also feeling weak in the knees.

I tried to continue the walk, knowing that I was almost home and hoping that it was just another panic attack. But the new symptoms...they scared the crap out of me more than anything. I thought that I was done...like my life was coming to an end and the last time my daughter would see me, would be as I fell to the ground gasping for air. I walked to the front of the stroller and looked at her and just hoped that I could fight through it.

I seen a man outside of his home and with every last bit of strength I had, I starting pushing towards him and asked if it would be OK if I took a break on his porch for a moment and he was very nice about it. I sat there briefly, with the feeling of dread consuming my entire existance and trying to decide who I should call, 911 or my wife. It was absolutely awful and the whole time my daughter had this look of concern on her face, like "what's wrong with my Daddy?" After a few minutes of sitting down, I called my wife. Since I got home I had yet another one maybe 20 minutes after that and I told my wife that it was time for the ER, but I calmed doen a bit shortly after. Today has been awful...I've felt drained since the panic attack and it seems like I cannot relax without little ones coming and going, over and over again.

I guess I just wanted to share this with people who may know what I'mgoing through.

I have had one panic attack that had me feeling dizzy and short of breath on top of the other things you said. I had just taken some of my Xanax and shortly after I ended up having a panic attack due to one of my usual triggers that's almost a 100% guarenteed panic attack. Well since I had just started feeling the Xanax on top of the panic attack I was extremely dizzy. It made it so much worse I actually had to crawl in bed with my mother like I was 5 years old again (I'm 19). She didn't really say anything as she was asleep and only half woke up when I told her what was happening. She just always shrugs me off when I tell her even though I'm desperate to hear something that will remind me that I'm alright. Anyways back on point, I was so incredibly dizzy that I had to close my eyes because just perceiving the world around me was too much for me to take in. I had both hands over my eyes as if I had to hold them shut to save my life. My heart was also racing faster than it usually does during these attacks so it made it feel hard for me to breath as if my breathing was stuttered. I felt drained and tired immediately (I attribute the dizziness/drowsiness and the being tired to the xanax) but I was afraid if I let myself fall asleep I might just not wake up even though really I just wanted to sleep it off.

So yeah the dizziness was very scary for me as well as it was bad enough that I had to close my eyes in fear that it would make me nauseous if I continued to just take in the visual information.

Luckily I haven't had that since, and I have actually been feeling a lot better on a day to day basis. My anxiety is low, hardly any physical symptoms, and zero panic attacks for about 2 weeks. After that I had just decided that it really can't get much worse than that and I had made it through it so I stopped giving it the energy it craves. Whenever a worry pops up I try to quickly dismiss it and have been largely successful. A couple times the worries came close to overwhelming me, but I have it a lot more under control than it was a month ago and a month ago was seeming good to me compared to the month before so I guess that means I am improving with time. I hope this trend continues.

Yes! I know exactly what you're going through and I'm sorry. I just responded to another thread post and I listed the same symptoms you had, but I also get swallowing difficulties with mine.