
Hi everyone I’m new here, however not very new to anxiety. I’ve had the occasional anxiety attack over the course of my life, but they are few and far between. Usually I get worked up and start to feel nauseous/lightheaded etc. Mild stuff in comparison to what I experienced the other day. 

Yesterday I had what I believe to be was a full blown panic attack. It happened out of the blue. (I’m in final exams but am not feeling worked up, I was honestly having a decent day.) out of nowhere I began to feel like no matter how much I was breathing I wasn’t actually taking in oxygen and was experiencing sharp pain in the center of my chest. My heart was racing and honestly I thought I was about to expire. I had to call my mom and she talked me down (bless her kind soul, I genuinely thought it was my time) 

with that said, I have a few questions:

- is this a normal feeling with anxiety attacks? I’ve never felt this severe and it freaked me out. 
- what methods do you pursue during one of these to calm yourself down and get rid of those feelings?
- are there any preventative techniques you use to avoid having something like this happen?
- is there any way to tell that this is coming on? 

I’m sorry for the plethora of questions and my detailed description. It really shook me up and I’m super scared it will happen again