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Question- panic attacks

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Posted 1/15/2015 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
I'm curious - how old were you when you had your first panic attack?
Posted 1/15/2015 4:46 PM (GMT 0)
I was 21! Only been having them for 2 years, but feels like a lifetime!
Posted 1/15/2015 5:14 PM (GMT 0)
I was about 22 or 23 and was at a wedding expo with my mom, planning my wedding. Not fun!
Posted 1/15/2015 5:49 PM (GMT 0)
28, about 4 months before I got married. Thank God I was better by the wedding (and the Hawaiian honeymoon).
Posted 1/15/2015 6:01 PM (GMT 0)
I was about 22. It was typical of when panic attacks begin. I was under a lot of pressure to go back to school and do really well, as well as moving out of my parents house. It's common to start getting panic attacks during those times.

When did yours start?
Posted 1/15/2015 6:10 PM (GMT 0)
I've always had anxiety, as long as I can remember, but the panic attacks started later. I had a brief, weird feeling of impending doom one night when I was like 32. Didn't know what it was, but looking back it was a panic attack. I didn't have another until I was 37. Then all hell broke lose and I've been having them ever since.

I was just wondering if that was common or if others have always had them.
Posted 1/15/2015 6:29 PM (GMT 0)
I've been an anxious person since I was young when it came to issues with my health. I think that it was kind of a learned behavior, because most of my family is the same. Then I started in my 20's having insane bouts of nausea and was afraid to drive or go public places without a barf bag in my purse. I guess me first real panic attack was when I was about 28 and I was at work. It was the end of the day and I got dizzy, my pulse was racing and I remember walking to a co-workers desk and telling him I thought I was going to blackout. They called 911 and I ended up at the ER. That was the beginning of REAL panic attacks I guess.
Posted 1/15/2015 8:16 PM (GMT 0)
I was 35...Easter Sunday...at church. I thought I was coming down with the mother of all flu's. That's all I could equate the weak, shaky, sick...feel-like-I-need-to-lie-down-RIGHT-NOW- feeling!

It came seemingly out of the blue for me. I was relaxed, happy and looking forward to one of my favorite holidays...

...but now I know that the supression of family issues, trust issues in my marriage, and struggles with my oldest (then a rebelling teenager) were conspiring to come to a boiling point, and let me know that I'd better start dealing with all of it!

It's been a journey...learned so much, and found this place along the way...

I wouldn't go back and change anything if I could.

S.C.
Posted 1/15/2015 8:23 PM (GMT 0)
I've been an anxious person for as long as I can remember. I had a brief stint when I was 27 right before I got married that I look back on now a realize all my problems were anxiety related. However my first full-blown panic attack didn't happen until last night and I'm 30.
Posted 1/16/2015 12:48 AM (GMT 0)
I remember my first one at 9 years old, my parents had to take me to the hospital I thought I was having a heart attack!

The ER said I had "bad nerves". So it has been a lifetime struggle for me!
Posted 1/16/2015 1:04 AM (GMT 0)
I've always been anxious as long as I can remember. But, I had my first panic attack when I was 28.
Posted 1/16/2015 1:45 AM (GMT 0)
I think it is interesting that most of us had some sort of anxiety before our panic attacks started. Did you S.C.? Sorry yours started so early Brenda!! It's almost like something pushed our already sensitive flight or fight response over the edge into constant response.
Posted 1/16/2015 2:38 AM (GMT 0)
I was 19, in college. I too had symptoms before having an actual attack, but never knew that it was anxiety related. I'm 33 now and I still have symptoms at times that I am sure isn't anxiety related, and the Drs must be missing something more serious....ugh!
Posted 1/16/2015 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
I had one at age 17? after smoking pot (I think I tried it maybe 3 times in HS). I had never heard of panic attacks back then (1988) so I didn't call it or recognize it as a panic attack. Always thought it was just "a bad trip), which it was!

Full blown panic attack at age 22 in college (started outta the blue with a sharp pain in the middle of my back).
Posted 1/16/2015 7:12 AM (GMT 0)
Considering I had my very first this past Boxing Day, I was and still am 20.

I never really considered myself an anxious person nor was I under any immediate stressors in my life but, here I am, still experiencing symptoms 3 weeks later.
Posted 1/16/2015 11:55 AM (GMT 0)
I was 33. After a night out with my best friend, during the night at home when I was sleeping. I jumped up the bed with so much sweat and shaking, shortness of breath, I thought that I was becoming really sick. I never thought that it was panic because my ex-hubby had SEVERE panic disorder and that was the only example I saw before. Mine was nowhere near his condition.

My panic started like a sleeping problem, and my sleep quality is never the same since then...
Posted 1/16/2015 12:02 PM (GMT 0)
I've had anxiety and ocd as far back as I can remember. Panic attacks started at age 13
Posted 1/16/2015 1:14 PM (GMT 0)
I had my first panic attack at age 35, never had a bit of anxiety before that.

It came out of the blue but now that I look back I was under tremendous stress, a very ugly divorce and my mother passing away from cancer.
Posted 1/16/2015 5:58 PM (GMT 0)
MG.,

In answer to your question...

No real anxiety issues previous to the initial attack...but I've come to realize I have always had anxious tendencies/thinking.

However, the first attack was the catalyst that sparked the panic disorder/anxiety issue that did not resolve until I sought help, and worked my program.

S.C.
Posted 1/17/2015 3:24 AM (GMT 0)
I had my first panic attack last year August 2014 and I am 31 yr old.. But oh boy anxiety everyday though sucks..
Posted 1/19/2015 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
I had my first attack at 31, although looking back I think I've suffered low level anxiety my whole life. I've had some big life traumas which were the trigger.
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