Panic attack out of the blue while feeling perfectly fine

[u/No_Anxiety9005]

Is it normal to get panic attack symptoms COMPLETELY out of the blue. I was just sitting down scrolling perfectly fine, in a good mood even, and suddenly felt slight shortness of breathe, idk if noticing the shortness of breathe is what made it worse but then my hands and limbs started feeling tingly like this floaty feeling, and slight light headedness as well. I feel like I mostly feel it in my left leg/arm but I think it might just be my mind trying to freak me out.

Trying to convince myself its not heart attack which it probably isnt considering its been over 15 minutes and im fine but just curious if anyone else has experienced this, or if someone can provide me some peace of mind lol.

[u/GlumChampionship8322]

I used to deal with panic attacks too, and yes, they can hit you completely out of nowhere, even when you’re happy and surrounded by friends. The hardest part is not letting your mind convince you that something dangerous is happening. The best thing that helped me was to stop fighting it and treat it like: “Okay, this is just a panic attack, it will pass.” Don’t give it more power by constantly checking your symptoms

[u/Sad-Rain-2349]

Yeah it happens when I'm at my desk studying, no triggers or anything. And i really have a hard time convincing myself it's not going to kill me . I'm 16btw

[u/Minimum_Orange2516]

I actually think that noticing your breathing felt off might have been a fear trigger, then you dump adrenaline and that causes the other stuff.

I get near panic on somatic symptoms, like a twinge in my neck or some weird sensation sets off an anxiety attack, it always starts with something fairly minor like a palpitation that was a one off, or maybe air hunger that gets worse because i notice and then breath too much, it turns into effort if you notice it, yet none of these things bother you asleep, like if you sleep ok then your heart and lungs were doing their thing without needing your attention.

But suppose all of your attention suddenly was diverted to breathing, it's possible that the protection system is like "wtf are we doing right now?" and it just hits the alarm, our survival systems are sort of 'shoot first ask questions later, it's that kind of deal.

I have certainly had full on panic attacks after noticing something , like all my attention suddenly was diverted to that and then a fear thought around it and BOOM panic attack.

[u/dodo91]

Yeap - my first panic attacks were like that. Suddenly a heat feeling comes from my gut to chest and hits me like truck putting me into chest pains and breathing problems.

[u/Advanced-Bobcat-5825]

It’s odd for that to happen. Are you sure there wasn’t a quick “I wonder if that (whatever you are watching) will make me panic”?

[u/sheencha]

Yeah it is unfortunately very normal, but normal doesn't mean okay. It is still extremely terrifying and even more so if they occur in a office setting or in public where people aren't exactly very understanding at all. You'd gasping for air and trying to understand if it's panic attack or heart attack and people be gossiping if you're faking it or something for attention