I’ve had anxiety attacks before, but recently they’ve felt different. To be honest I never fully understood the difference between panic and anxiety attacks, but I’m wondering if what I’m experiencing resonates more with a panic attack.

Here is one example: Today I was backing out of a parking spot when I heard a slight crack under my tire. It startled me a little, but I soon realized it was just a piece of trash I had crushed. I then went about pulling out of my spot, thinking “Whew, it was just a little piece of plastic.” In my mind, everything was fine. Literally all I had done was thought for a split second that maybe I had just bumped something with my car.

But suddenly I felt this insane feeling of fear and adrenaline. My heart was pounding and I was suddenly really really disoriented and lightheaded. I was trying to take a deep breath but couldn’t. I was shaking and hot but also cold at the same time. I was nauseous. I felt like I was buzzing but also like I was numb. I had this overwhelming sense of hopelessness and was convinced I was about to die, that something horrific was about to happen. Not in an suspecting way, not based on logic, just based on the way my body and mind *felt*. I can’t put it into words. I just felt this dark ominous cloud over me. Finally I calmed down just trying to do my best to distract myself and breathe, but from that point on for the rest of the day I was ridiculously sleepy. It was like a mental exhaustion like the kind I feel after taking a test.

All because of a faint cracking sound under my tire.

And this exact feeling has happened to me on multiple different occasions, the single similarity being that it’s always triggered by something *briefly* and *barely* startling.

I feel like I’m going crazy. I feel like I sound like a lunatic explaining this simply because I’ve never heard anyone say it like this. I feel like I’m crazy. And I don’t really have anyone to talk to lately. Does anyone relate???