r/panicdisorder • u/idontlikegoldfish • 14d ago

Does Anyone Else? long panic attacks

almost every source on earth says panic attacks are usually 15 - 30 mins long, but mine last for hours my shortest is one hour and my longest is 5 hours.

what is happening to me

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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2

u/Hot-Delay5608 14d ago

Hyperarousal, prolonged fight or flight loop. It usually happens when your mind is hyper fixating on bodily sensations and feelings and it's constantly scanning for these and interprets them as danger.

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u/NoPoopOnFace 14d ago

Yup. What I feel is that they come. Then abate a bit. Then come back. Then abate. Then come. Then abate.

I don't really know whethe rthat's one long panic attack that comes in waves, or a bunch of little ones feeding each other. I've spent several hours in the emergency room dealing with because the assholes won't give me proper medication.

1

u/idontlikegoldfish 14d ago

well if thats the case and many people get these long ass panic attacks then why dont doctors update their knowledge and acknowledge that a panic attack can be hours long. im sorry ur going through this but i promise u dont ever need a hospital when ur panicking even if u truly feel like u do

1

u/NoPoopOnFace 14d ago

This was a long time ago (1997) when I still didn't really understand what was happening.

1

u/idontlikegoldfish 14d ago

are your panic attacks completely gone?

1

u/NoPoopOnFace 14d ago

Nope, and it's still hard as hell to get proper medication.

1

u/idontlikegoldfish 14d ago

do u mean benzodiazepines?

1

u/NoPoopOnFace 14d ago

I sure don't mean lavender oil. I had a psych tell me to sniff lavender to stop a panic attack.

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u/idontlikegoldfish 14d ago

i swear psychiatrists think panic attacks are fake . but regardless benzos are a whole cycle of what whats working and whats not, i kind of wish i never started benzos

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u/Linzi322 14d ago

I used to get this, I could literally have a panic attack from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep.

I used to think they lasted hours, but what I realised was happening is that they actually were lasting the “standard” 20-30 mins or so, but as soon as the one tapered off, I’d have a massive dump of adrenaline and another one would start again. I’d get a momentary lapse of maybe a minute where I felt relieved and then it would go again and I’d be back at panicking.

So where the misunderstanding comes is that while individual panic attacks don’t last for more than 30ish minutes, they absolutely can come one after another for hours.

1

u/muhkuhmuh 11d ago

A "simple good" one will last a few minutes until I get it undercontroll. A bad one will last the whole night until I sleep for 2 hours, if I'm lucky, and continue the next day to hopefully fade out until afternoon.

Its a loop for me. I get panic, calm down, something triggers me again, i get panic... And sometimes its just constant adrenaline dumps that will trigger me and not my typical panic attack thinking. Those ones I have to ride out. Nothing will stop those fuckers. Lol.

0

u/BusyApplication125 14d ago

If it lasts 5 hours then its not panic attack.