I started suffering from panic attacks in December 2020, and wanted to share my very first experience with one to see if anyone has had anything similar.

It was winter break in my final year of grad school this past December and for about two weeks, I didn’t want to get out of bed, I could barely stand up straight, and I was so fatigued. I continuously had episodes of my eyes going blurry, my heart racing like crazy, almost falling over, getting tingly and numb in my feet, and a feeling like I was going to die. I thought I was maybe low on iron or blood sugar. All of my blood tests were fine.

Fast forward to today, I will get panic attacks that are sometimes (but not always) triggered by something. Then, those side effects I listed above will last for about two weeks and then I feel fine again. For example, they have been triggered by walking in huge crowds by myself, my smoke detector sounding randomly in the middle of the night, etc….one time I even went to the emergency room because these attacks were SO constant and affecting my work (I am a speech therapist in an elementary school).

Please please PLEASE send advice on how to manage this anxiety…I can’t live on with my life like this…I’m afraid of doing so many things now because I’m nervous to have an attack. I just took melatonin to help me sleep and even that triggered a panic attack and I can’t stop shaking. I get nervous to try new foods because I panic that I will be allergic to it and need to go to the ER. Please help😔