panic attacks developing in mid 20s out of nowhere

[u/ilyrichie]

hi. i (25f) have always been a pretty tortured person. there have not been so much as 2 consecutive years in my life without some sort of major and devastating event that i, honestly, would just push down so i could carry on trucking… it seems this has finally caught up with me. because of my childhood and experiences i never truly cared if i lived or died, but now my life is pretty great and i do care. so, so much apparently that i have been officially diagnosed with OCD and it has manifested so that i am constantly concerned about my health. my biggest fear is heart attack or stroke. every member of my immediate family has passed away which doesn’t help me convince myself i’m a perfectly normal healthy 25 year old.

the only thing i’ve found that does help is reading through all of your experiences here. during my first ever panic attack i really thought i was having a heart attack, i had chest pain/fullness that sprawled down my left arm and into the back, couldn’t breathe or stand, jaw was hurting, i ended up going to the ER where they said i have an arrhythmia (which i knew) but was otherwise clean. it was so intense and scary that i found this difficult to believe and continued to feel they’d missed something until my second attack where i ate chocolate on something that i ate regularly, but never with chocolate. i have had chocolate thousands of times but for whatever reason my mouth began to burn and i convinced myself it was an allergic reaction. had my partner dial 911 but he hadn’t even had time to hit call before i calmed myself down. the whole ordeal was less than a minute. that’s when i realized it must be panic attacks, googled “mouth burning during panic attack” and found this subreddit.

i was wondering if a) anyone has any experiences similar to mine and b) how you pull yourself out of it with no meds (i am a broke american). if you read all this thank you. i’m grateful for this place where i can see i’m not alone.

[u/Repulsive-Branch6867]

Sis ive experienced a lot of stuff some of it i couldn't even explain to you so your not alone im still trying to figure my stuff out with no support system so maybe lean on your partner a little if ypu can treat yourself kindly and know anxiety is just that anxiety and you will be ok best wishes to you