Yeah, Nerblybear, this is what I was trying to get across. You don't 'suspect' that you may have had a panic attack...the panic attack grabs you by the balls and punches you in the face. You know exactly what happened. And I have done quite the lion's share of hallucinogenic drugs, and seen some pretty freaky things...

rayj wrote: You don't 'suspect' that you may have had a panic attack...the panic attack grabs you by the balls and punches you in the face.

Very good. No panic attacks from Wiggins. Just childish nervousness.

Good luck with those things, you guys. Smoke cigarettes, it'll help.

....

slowriot wrote:i used to suffer from panic attacks in high school and i saw a dr. about it and we pretty much got to the root of it without any need for medication. i think (and i hope this doesn't come off sounding tom cruise-ian) it's possible to control without medical aid.

i think cruise would denounce seeing therapists, [cuz you know, i'm a tom cruise expert] who would tell you the same thing your dr. told you, which is pretty much cognitive therapy.

i don't suffer from panic attacks, but dated someone who did and when you're/they're having them, you know it. i don't wish it upon anyone.

I had never heard of panic attacks before I lived in the US. It seems like a "mainly American" disease to me.

Sly Bug wrote:I had never heard of panic attacks before I lived in the US. It seems like a "mainly American" disease to me.

Ever know anyone overcome with crazy fear out of the blue for no reason?

Sure, it happened though, very rarely, whereas American people talk about this a lot more.
I have no French friends suffering of panic attacks whereas I have at least 3 American friends who do. That said, I have very fewer Americans friends than French friends of course.

No offense intended by the way.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:

NerblyBear wrote:I am now a stable, well-functioning guy.

Law school ought to take care of that.

Well, I guess I'm not fully stable. If I were, I wouldn't have opted to go into law.

By the way, these LSAT games are tremendously difficult for me.

Sly Bug wrote:I had never heard of panic attacks before I lived in the US. It seems like a "mainly American" disease to me.

Probably has something to do with the isolation and anger felt by many people here. Society is very atomized and fractured in the States; this is probably why we have had so much good punk rock. I'm always shocked when I meet people who live in, for instance, Canada or France. They are usually much better-adjusted than most of the people I know.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:Of course, I'm neither a doctor nor a frequent sufferer of severe panic attacks. However, you might want to lay off the G.D. caffeine and get some G.D. exercise. Some people also get help from the pillz.

Less caffeine, more exercise helped me out, as did recognizing what was going on. I still get them once in a while, but not so bad. Last year I had them often and they'd wake me from a dead sleep in the middle of the night.

I get these fuckers all the time. They suck the life right out of me. Right the fuck out of me.

I have always connected it to my impulsive nature, and I have been *slowly* trying to address this. It astounds me how much I am driven by my impulses and emotions and how little control my mind actually has over my body. It's a difficult process for me to understand, because I started getting them after I started smoking pot and dropping acid and what have you, which unfortunately coincided with hitting puberty. These could probably both be instigators, but it would be nice to know for sure and be able to pinpoint what led up to the initial onset.

Eventually I began getting them sober. In a belated response, I kicked all drugs but booze, which I never really thought aggravated these motherfucking lifedrainers to take hold the way the herb definitely did. It's nervousness, extreme self-conciousness, physical and mental anxiety, and of course the previously mentioned 'flight response'--which is very, very real--all wrapped up in a flour tortilla of your own impotence to fight The Beast. I have faced The Beast many times, and The Beast has always ripped me apart. It is shaming. I have never felt so humiliated, but there is nothing to do but keep fighting it however you can.

I used to go to therapy for what I imagine my parents thought was depression but it ended up a waste of time and money. I don't ever intend to go back. There are an infinite number of other people fighting the same fight, and that in every case, that fight is only against themselves.

There's a great quote by the stoic Epictetus, which I yanked off wikipedia:
"When I see a man in a state of anxiety, I say, What can this man want? If he did not want something which is not in his power, how could he still be anxious?"

to be continued...