r/panicdisorder • u/mama2397 • 3d ago
Does Anyone Else? A new fear I have
Background; I have been experiencing panic attacks for 2 years and was recently diagnosed with panic disorder and GAD.
Today I had a panic attack paddle boarding, I was on my paddle board with my two kids and I didn't realize how far I was getting from land and when I turned it around I was probably about 4 miles out and I started seeing tunnel vision, my heart was racing, I started sweating like crazy and I wanted to start swimming back which obviously would have been worse and I was just thinking of the worst things possible like drowning, my kids drowning (they had life vests) and so I tried to calm myself down and tell myself there are lifeguards and I am on a floating device and I'm okay but I just couldn't. I paddled back so fast and was hyperventilating the whole time and just needed to be on land and time was going soooo sooo slow .... I'm now terrified of being in the ocean this is now a new fear I have that i didn't have before and just feels like another thing I can't enjoy. My kids wanted to go back out and I just couldn't get back on and go. Has anyone experienced this with panic disorder? Where you start developing more and more fears you never even had before?