It was around 7 pm that night when it happened. She got up from the sofa to get a glass of water when she suddenly felt nauseous, holding her stomach in an effort to try not to vomit. Right then, she started feeling dizzy and stumbled back, falling onto the sofa. She lay there, confused. She was alright just moments ago, what happened? But this was just the beginning. The beginning of the end. She looked up at the ceiling and realized that nothing appeared clear, even though she had glasses on, things still looked blurry and out of focus. Her arms and legs began tingling and feeling numb simultaneously, as though someone were repeatedly shoving thin needles through every pore of her limbs. She started shivering, trying desperately to hold herself together but then began having hot flashes and sweating seconds later. She was completely out of breath and either hyperventilated or gasped as if someone cut off her supply of oxygen. She tried to get up off the sofa, but she physically could not. She was like a writhing corpse. She tried to move her face but realized she couldn’t even do that. She felt like she was having a stroke, half her face felt paralyzed - frozen and numb. She was crying so hard that her entire face was red and tears kept streaming down. Her entire body continuously convulsed, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She would try to stop shaking for a second, but then it would just start back up again mere moments later. The constant uncontrollable muscle spasms were tiring her out. She kept wondering if the madness would ever end. She tried to fall asleep, balled up on the sofa, hoping every second that she could just close her eyes and wake up the next morning. What she would have done for a tranquilizer, right then and there. For four more hours, this went on, until she fell asleep. Four hours of agony where death would have felt like blessing from this hell she was trapped in. The next morning, she woke up in severe pain. Her head, arms, and legs were throbbing like never before. She felt exhausted like she had ran a marathon without stopping and felt traumatized from the night before.

Yet still, this was only the beginning. Panic attacks.