Am I mad? Need Help!! Sorry v long

Hey, Im new here! Ive just read some of the posts and realised that actually there are people out there which have panic attacks like me. Ive never had actual panic attacks only up until a year ago. I did start to feel rather odd sometimes but found away of calming myself down cept now i cant. I now have had around 10 major panic attacks (parents were thinking of taking me to hospital-they didnt know how to deal with it). However every night i feel on the verge of having them. I feel unreal and like everything around me is unreal. Im scared of life and of dying not now but later on. I dont have any real physical symptom cept shivering and out of breath, however i do scream at my parents for help. When i get over my panic attacks i feel soo majorly stupid that ive had one and that i have been screaming at my parents for help.
Ive started to get scared at night and dont want to go to sleep becoz I know that i might have one. (I normally wake up in the middle of the night feeling totally normal but in a split second im screaming and having a panic attack)
When i was 3 i had open heart surgery after that for a few monthes i used to wake up and scream to death so say my parents.......Do you think im having repeats of this?
Does anyome else have panic attacks and worry about life and why we are here and that we are going to die one day?
Does anyone know what i can to help myself? Am i losing it and going mad?

Sweetie, you're not losing it or going mad. Don't ever feel stupid for having an attack. It's not something you have control over right now, and it's too scary to deal with alone. I have had panic disorder for 11 years now and know what you're going through. It's rough, but you can get through it. If you had a heart condition in the past maybe you should speak to a doctor about them. They are very stressful. I'm not sure how or if that would affect you at all with your heart condition. You always need to take care of yourself and cover all of your bases though. If your attacks aren't bad yet it should be easier to get them under control. My suggestion for you is to go to the doctor and see what they have to say. As far as talking to someone about it I'm always here. You're not alone there are tons of people with these same syptoms, we just have to learn to control them.
God Bless

Hey, your not losing it or going mad! The majority of my panic attacks happen at night because I get worried that I wont be able to make it until morning. I get scared of dying and having to go into hospital. You mention that you had surgery when you were younger and I think that when you've been through trauma, it can cause your attacks to get worse. I used to feel completely stupid once I'd calm down but you have to accept that they're a part of you and there's nothing to be ashamed of. Each time you have one, you just think that you made it through the last one and you'll make it through this one just the same. Like Christina said, we just need to learn how to control them.

Hope this helps!

Bobette xx

You are all missing out on a vital fact here... anxiety doesn't have to be coped with, it can be eliminated. Why don't you read the websites that are available from our international portal at www.stopworry.com OR pick up the phone and have a free conversation with janice Dwyers or any of our other counsellors. You won't be charged and you will see that you don't have to stay this way!

Charles

It is my belief that panic attacks are worse or more frequent at night because it is a time when you feel that everything should be quiet and an attack would be harder to disguise than during daylight when there's a lot of things going on.

If you were lying in bed at night and you heard a scream outside you would be much more likely to react to it than if you heard the same scream during daylight.

I know from my experience that when I'm having an attack I want to keep it from other people. The last thing I want is to wake my sleeping parents because, as you point out, you'll feel silly when it subsides. Very often the idea of attracting other people's attention during an attack is enough to make the attack much more severe.

Also, we have a primal fear of darkness because our eyesight - which we rely heavily on for collecting information - is less effective. It is also a time when, as we were evolving, we would have been much more vulnerable to attack from predators. Even people who don't have panic attacks fear night more than day, that's why horror films aren't set in daylight.

Hope this helps
Chris

Hi,

Wow, your description sounds like a could have written it. Take a look at this link about derealization, depersonalization, and unreality (http://www.mc2method.com/depersonalization-derealization.html). It may be comforting to you. It's quite likely that having these experiences is more likely at night when those fearful, worried thoughts floating around in your mind start to get your "eyes closed" attention. Good luck!

Jessica