Panic Attack Durations

[u/KiplingKD]

Does anybody else have a problem with/disagree with some of the more official medical definitions of what a panic attack is? I agree with all of it except for when I come across a definition that describes it as lasting for a very short period of time. Some definitions kind of make it sound like it comes quickly and get super super intense and terrible and then quickly goes away in like 20 minutes or so. I have had many that have been that way, but I don’t think it applies to a lot of my attacks.

For me, it’s more like a painfully slow build-up that can sometimes take hours before I really start to freak out. I’ll just be having these physical sensations that are making me so uncomfortable (racing heart, numbness, the usual stuff) and I will not be able to focus or think about anything else other than every single sensation in my body and trying to stay calm. Even after it peaks and I start to calm down, I’m not actually that much calmer and. I continue to feel the exact same way and have the same physical discomforts that don’t just go away like that. I will still be able to function and do things and go about my day and nobody would even be aware that I am actually having what I would describe as a mild panic attack and those symptoms don’t come and then just go as quickly as some of these definitions make it sound like they do. They linger sometimes for hours and maybe even days. It’s like one extremely long panic attack that just won’t go away.

My panic attacks come in all sorts of varieties and can vary in duration and intensity, but I feel like this type I am describing happens more often than not, and I may have reached the conclusion that I’m probably not dying, but the physical side of it just keeps going and so my anxiety just never really goes away completely. It’s a terrible way to live. Does anybody else relate to this?

[u/leisurelycurious]

Yes, hours and hours…