Anxiety Attacks

Yes, I experience them every now and then. What I do is deep breathing, convince myself that this is not real and try to get to a location with less stimuli at the moment. They don't come often for me, but when they do, they can be very frightening.

I have what I like to call IBS attacks with a twist. Normally when I stress out I get this really bad pain in my abdomen. But I walk it off or do something physical.
A couple times though, I had this strange one. I was fine one minute, the next I would on the floor in pain and claustrophobic. Its like I am overwhelmed. Its hard to describe it like I see everything but its all blurry and shaky. But at the same time I have so much energy in my joints I can feel it like my body is going to explode. Then I break down and cry and cry and cry. I fall asleep and I feel better. Its really strange. And its only happened twice. Once in nursing school, towards the end when I was having a really really hard time with my family. The second time was when I started working on the floor. My doctor said it was stress related as well. Its scary, I feel like I am losing control of my body.

Panic attacks can certainly manifest physical symptoms and yes, they can be scary. I have also gone to the hospital with chest pains, breathing problems, etc, only to be told that after ruling out the obvious, that it was all in my head. And, sometimes, you worry, while having the panic attack that maybe, just maybe, this particular one is really a physical manifestation of something, which can make it worse, sometimes.

I think that for nurses, it may come from all that we encounter while trying to provide patient care against the odds. The physical and psychological pain of the patients, stress from snarky co-workers and trying to use certain coping mechanisms that are no good (such as smoking, overeating, etc...).

I had a hard time with panic attacks when I first became a nurse. They were so terrible that at times I was terrified with fear to even leave my side of town or drive. I chalk it up to the perfectionist in me because I was so afraid to make a mistake, so afraid someone would take a turn for the worse on my watch, so afraid that I forgot to do something on my shift that I would dream about it and toss and turn. In other words, I was a wreck; felt like I was doing nothing right but at the same time supervisors were singing my praises. They didn't know the torment that I was going through. I took a 6 months hiatus from the LTC position; and after much prayer was able to get my anxiety/emotions under control.

I think stress is commonplace in our profession. I have many types of panic/anxiety attacks. So much so that I am on medication to help keep them at bay, but of course at times I still have them. My most common type is a feeling that an elephant is sitting on my chest, elevated pulse and dizziness, yes, I feel like I am having a heart attack. I have had the full workup as well, just to be told it is stress. It is sad that in our profession that so much stress is put on us........

Oh how I feel for you guys! I've never experienced a panic attack but I can imagine how terrifying they must be. And how confusing it must be to show up at the hospital and be told your symptoms are in your head. I'm so impressed that you all push through and continue doing what you love, that must be so difficult to do. Way to go girls!

Once upon a time I had dreadful anxiety/panic attacks. I did the following:

Stopped drinking any and all alcohol
Started seeing a psychologist

I did not have to take any drugs or anything. My psychologist specialized in anxiety issues. She was fabulous and after about 3 months I stopped getting them. It has been twenty years.