Hey so I'm not sure if I had a panick attack. You need to know a little backstory for that. It was early in the morning & my mum & me were in my room & suddenly the light in the whole house went out & it was pitch black & I couldn't see anything. It was morning so it was still dark outside. Anyway my mum said I should wait in my room while she tried to turn on the light. I was hiding behind my door because I got so scared. & I couldn't breathe probarly. Tag as #Mad12 please (1/2)
I just didn't get any air and I felt like I'm going to suffocate. And I thought I am going to die. And it was so horrible. I had to remind myself to breathe but it didn't work and my legs were becoming weaker.Tag as #Mad12 please (2/2)
Hi Mad12,
I’m sorry to hear that this happened! It is definitely possible that you had an anxiety attack (anxiety attacks have a cause, where panic attacks come out of nowhere without a reason). When someone has an anxiety attack, they usually report feeling out of breath and struggling to breathe, racing thoughts, feeling sweaty or clammy, thinking you might die, feeling physically weak, etc. It’s certainly a really awful feeling, especially when you’re trying to regulate your breathing and just can’t. It can be really terrifying!
If you’re ever in this sort of situation again, there are some things that you can try to do to calm yourself down to prevent an anxiety attack from coming on or to relax if you’re already having one. Although it feels like you can’t breathe, breathing exercises can still help because eventually it will help you start breathing regularly again and relax your body. A way to do this is to slowly inhale through your nose for three seconds, hold the breath in for three seconds, and then slowly exhale through your mouth for another three seconds. For other ideas, take a look at our calming anxiety and panic page and distractions page. You might also find grounding techniques to be helpful.
It sounds like this was an isolated incident since you were so caught off guard by what happened, but keep in mind that you can always reach out for professional help if it becomes more regular. To a certain extent, anxiety is normal, especially if someone is under a lot of stress (having to do a presentation, struggling with money, getting into a car accident, etc.) and sometimes that can build to the point where they have an anxiety attack. In those cases, the person doesn’t regularly experience that anxiety. However, it becomes a problem when the person is consistently anxious and regularly having anxiety attacks, which is when it’s important to seek help. Hopefully you won’t have more anxiety attacks since you were just suddenly put under a lot of stress, so this is just something to keep in mind in case it gets worse. You can always take a look at our getting help page if you need it.
Take care!
-Samantha
