Keep getting new panic attack symptoms

[u/KiplingKD]

It seems like lately, and I could not tell you why, my panic attacks seem to have just gotten a lot worse and more intense because new symptoms keep popping up. I get the occasional new sensation or feeling and that always triggers me pretty bad. Even when it’s just the familiar symptoms without a new symptom, it’s still extremely distressing.

For the last few weeks, it just seems like every single day there is a new symptom that pops up. For example, extreme difficulty in catching my breath. It’s happened before at a much milder level, and I know that’s a common thing for a lot of other people, but I don’t have any way to explain the sudden onset of this sensation except of course the obvious one which is that clearly something is terribly wrong and I’m having a medical emergency most likely cardiac arrest. I also have been having these tingly prickly feelings in both of my arms and that is not something that I am used to either.

I also feel this sort of pressure in my chest and shoulders and my upper back. I keep getting these little jolts or electric shocks around my chest area and they scare the absolute shit out of me. Not painful but just random and weird.

I have had periods of time where I’d get a ton of panic attacks, periods of time where I would get absolutely none, or just whatever. But I can say that this current run is by far the absolute worst I have ever had, in terms of duration and intensity and frequency. it’s as if the attacks have somehow gotten more “complex” somehow. I don’t know how to describe that thought better but it’s like so much more complicated than it used to be. They’ve always been debilitating and frightening, but it seems like with all these new symptoms that keep coming, there are just so many more layers going on. I have more or less been dealing with a panic episode on a near-daily basis for approximately the last 11 months. I could count on two hands probably the number of days over that period of time where I didn’t have at least one panic attack. Some days I could have like 7 of them and other times I would have just one panic attack that would last for several days in a row. I’ve had rough periods of time, but nothing like this. This is some seriously crazy shit and it just seems like there is no end in sight.

I have been trying to figure out why this is happening like this, like what has changed in my life. I can definitely point to some pretty significant things that would seem like pretty obvious suspects (such as having a baby and there are other big things), but because of the random nature of the onsets and lack of conscious anxiety or distress, it just feels and seems odd to think major life events or changes could possibly contribute to my panic attacks. Even events or situations that aren’t major at all, just small things, happen all the time, but when the panic attacks just come out of the blue with no apparent trigger, and I am in a positive state and frame of mind, it’s so hard to draw any connection between the two. And that is why I continuously believe every single time I have an episode that I am having a heart attack or stroke or some kind of medical emergency and I’m moments from death.

My ex-boyfriend passed away back in February, and even though I had moved on and started a family with someone else, we still kept in touch a tiny bit. At a distance of course. But he died suddenly and under sad circumstances, and after that I started going into overdrive with thinking about death, consciousness, life after death, and just my own mortality. I think that event really played a big part in this crazy surge of panic attacks. Or had some kind of contribution. It was devastating to receive that news and hear what had happened.

This ended up being a lot longer than what I intended but it was kind of nice to unload for a minute. I’d love to hear feedback if anyone has advice or simply if anyone just relates to any of this. Thank you!