5 Signs you are Experiencing a Panic Attack

Putting a Name to, and Stopping the Fear

There are moments when I think to myself about all the times I felt my breath leave my body. I think about all the times I knew I was going crazy. I knew I was going to die. I knew I was about to have all my thoughts spill out onto the concrete, in the middle of the crowd, like an overflowing box of jigsaw puzzle pieces that had no need to be in disarray. During these moments I think about how I wish someone would’ve told me that I was having a panic attack and things were going to be okay.

It took about 8 years for me to realize that there was a name for what I was experiencing. Instead of going in circles and just Googling things like “feel like my head is in a coke bottle,” or “feel like I’m going crazy,” or even “feel like I’m not real and going to choke,” I should’ve been talking about these attacks to a counselor and getting help to resolve them.

But I didn’t. I waited for years until finally I found the right word for my feelings at that moment: Panic. Today, I can experience a panic attack and understand the neurology and physiology behind it. I can take away its only power and…