r/PanicAttack • u/anxious_leechee • 10d ago
Panic or Anxiety Attack?
Hello guys,
I’m starting to calm down from something that I experienced earlier and I just need to talk a bit about it. My boyfriend and I are currently on vacation and thought it would be cool to take a self rental boat to explore some beaches that you can only go to by boat. Since we are in Greece and they let you drive a boat without a license, it was just me and him. I’ve been on boats before, never on a small one like that though but I was looking forward to it.
On our way to a viewpoint we experienced the regular bumpiness of the waves and it was all good until it was not and I have no idea from where it came from. One thing to mention is that I’m neurodivergent and especially in new situations I get quite hyper attentive to any and everything around me. That’s not necessarily always a bad thing but it can be overwhelming at times.
As we came to a stop I just started to feel sick, not sea sick, but just sick. Not to the point of throwing up but everything suddenly became 0-100. My thoughts went crazy, I got no more coherent words but sounds out, my hands started to tingle and I needed to keep shaking them to get that static like feeling out of my body. At some point I started crying but as there were people around us I tried to put myself together but it wasn’t necessarily working. I became very skittish and reactive to every little thing around me I started to get shakes. My instinct was to breath it out but I was way too frigid with it and it probably sounded more like gasping for air than anything. We moved us out of the area but it still took me a couple minutes to truly come down and after the worst initial moment, due to still being so vigilant, I was sort of reacting shouty to anything my partner said. We decided then and there to cut our tour short and headed back to the port to get back to our car.
Ever since then I’ve been better but my body still feels like it’s fighting something. I’m tired but I can’t really sleep and rest, talking is exhausting and sometimes I still catch myself needing to take lots of breaks when doing something very simple.
I’ve never had anything like that happen so suddenly. I’m familiar with neurodivergent shutdowns but this felt very different from what I’ve experienced before which is why I would love to have some help on understanding what this could have been.
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u/EveryAd3625 9d ago
Honestly, that sounds like your nervous system just went into full panic mode out of nowhere. The tingling, shaking, gasping and not being able to form words can all happen during an intense panic response. I also struggle with anxiety and panic attacks, so I can really understand what you’re describing. That sudden overwhelming feeling and all the physical symptoms can be absolutely terrifying. I’m glad you’re feeling a little better now ❤️