Does anyone suffer from panic attacks?

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Does anyone suffer from panic attacks and an anxiety/panic disorder?

When did they begin?

How often do you get them?

Do you think it is as a result of an ASD or unrelated?

I'm currently suffering from (in my opinion) very severe ones and wondering if it is a common thing?

I suffer from panic attacks from time to time. I don't know if they're directly related to ASDs, but it isn't uncommon for people on the spectrum to have issues with anxiety.

I had panic attacks starting in my teens. I think it's common in relation to ASD but anyone can have anxiety and panic attacks.

I don't get them very often anymore. I think the books I've read and time spent with a psychologist have helped a great deal. Drugs help some people - in severe cases I think drugs are needed.

good luck with it - I know how aweful they can be.......

Yep. I have this problem. I'm not sure whether to call them meltdowns or panic attacks, though from what I can tell they seem to be the same thing. They happen pretty rarely, but if I'm in a high-conflict relationship, they happen pretty often.

This is one of my big focuses right now, is learning how to avoid or prevent them.

Used to.

Bad life events made such. Turned into Panic Disorder. Sertraline fixed it.

I had my first anxiety attacks while pregnant with my first son at age 21. I would get so frightened at strangers getting too near me that I would abandon my cart in the middle of the store. It got so bad I had to have my husband do the grocery shopping. It got better after he was born, so I chalked it up to pregnancy hormones.

My first full blown panic attack hit when I was on lexapro a few years later. I woke up in a cold sweat, with my heart racing, feeling like someone was sitting on my chest. It was like the terror one would feel after a nightmare, except it didn't pass. The doc prescribed ativan for those " breakthrough" panic attacks.

As I learn more about the way I tick, i' m able to avoid most of my triggers. I say most because if things are dicey at work, or if I'm in the throes of pms, all bets are off. I sort of just white knuckle it through at that point.

I had my first anxiety attacks while pregnant with my first son at age 21. I would get so frightened at strangers getting too near me that I would abandon my cart in the middle of the store. It got so bad I had to have my husband do the grocery shopping. It got better after he was born, so I chalked it up to pregnancy hormones.

My first full blown panic attack hit when I was on lexapro a few years later. I woke up in a cold sweat, with my heart racing, feeling like someone was sitting on my chest. It was like the terror one would feel after a nightmare, except it didn't pass. The doc prescribed ativan for those " breakthrough" panic attacks.

As I learn more about the way I tick, i' m able to avoid most of my triggers. I say most because if things are dicey at work, or if I'm in the throes of pms, all bets are off. I sort of just white knuckle it through at that point.

I was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and spent 6 years housebound, on medication and treated by a psychiatrist. But now I think what I called panic attacks would better be labelled meltdowns. I wasn't diagnosed aspie at the time.

I have anxiety and occasionally have attacks, usually multiple times a month, although the more severe attacks (lke I'm gonna die attacks) are less often. At least I know what's happening when it happens and try to do meditation/deep breathing, relaxation techniques, whatever I can. I've had them while driving and have almost caused accidents from it. Still not on meds.

Full blown panic attacks started in my teens. By my mid-twenties/early 30's - I was showing up at emerg, certain that I was dying. I was treated like crap at first, but then met a very compassionate doctor who referred me to outpatients. I learned to "talk my way" through them - such as actually talking out loud, if possible. I will say, "Ah yes, I feel like I can't breathe. This is part of an anxiety attack. I can actually breathe." I get up to the thresh hold more so than go entirely over these days, and I am told I should not be "getting up to the thresh hold." I don't known what the heck that means - I guess that my anxiety level is still too high.

I have a ton of anxiety both generally and specifically. I think the worst thing right now is I "fixate" on a fear - so, is this a phobia? Or a fixation along with anxiety - or what is the difference? I don't know. For example, I have been locking myself inside and been uptight all summer because I am so afraid of wasps. I had an allergic reaction about 10 years back. Unfortunately, I remember everything - I can feel the whole thing as if it is happening to me now. This is not PTSD, this is the way my memory works for better or worse. I have a visual/tactile memory - it is in my whole body. Then recently I was fixated on flu shot fear - I put it off since October, posted here as I was working up to it - I finally got it, after a number of cancellations, because my germo-phobia became larger than my flu-shot phobia. Anyways - my fixations get so bad they alter my behavior significantly and really wear me out. I obsess - I check shoes for bugs, I disinfect everything and I compulsively use hand cleaner. I am talking to my doctor about that tomorrow. If I learn anything exciting - that is, useful, I will post.

I've always had emotional "meltdowns" and was criticized for being too emotional and often told to "suck it up". Then, around the age of eight, my panic attacks started; and at the time I was under a high level of stress. I still have them, approximately 5-12 times a week.

Oooh, yeah - my parents told me to "knock it off." It kind of sucks when the people you should be able to count on for support add to the injury.

Count me in. Been having them for years.

I had my first "diagnosed" panic attack in November of 2004, and they got more and more regular until I was having them daily (since 2007). Ended up in the ER several times because I was sure I was having a heart attack or suffocating. They first put me on Lexapro, to which I had a TERRIBLE reaction -- severe chest pains, anxiety through the roof, and suicidal thoughts, something I've NEVER really considered until then. It scared me so badly that after 4 days I threw the pills away. The attacks continued, and another doctor put me on Xanax and then Effexor. I recently discovered -- through the most terrifying attack I ever had --- that the Effexor was no longer working for me. My meds were recently switched to Paxil for daily maintenance/control of attacks, and Ativan for immediate relief. I'm still having attacks -- probably need more Paxil -- but the Ativan does well in stopping them in their tracks within about 10 minutes. I had my most recent one just this afternoon.

My attacks usually start with some sensation or pain in my body -- a tightness in my chest, a pain in my abdomen, a stab in my heart area -- which sets off fear that something is terribly wrong with me. Then I get tingling in my arms, then a rise in my heart rate. Then as the adrenaline does its job, I start trembling and sweating. I get light-headed and hot and start hyperventilating. As it progresses and gets worse, I may get chest pains, shaky legs, nausea and dry heaves, and/or a disassociative feeling, as if I'm in the world but not part of it -- that the things going on around me are not aware of my presence. These sensations can be very mild and only last a couple of minutes or they could last for hours, a situation calling "training", where attacks repeat themselves over and over again.

I can't be sure if ASD is a result of my panic disorder. For one, I haven't been officially diagnosed with ASD. Second, during the time I started having them regularly, my life was coming apart at the seams. So I assumed that overwhelming stress is what caused all the attacks. But looking back I can pinpoint times in the distant past when I had what I can call now either panic attacks or meltdowns.

Oh, yeah. Usually when I've been under a lot of stress.

This is related to Asperger's. So is depression. For me a combination of sertraline and alprazolam has been very helpful in controlling emotional issues stemming from lonliness and always being hated and misunderstood.

NT dad who gets panic attacks.

First severe one was about 3 years ago and landed me in hospital, I thought I was having a stroke.

Got onto cymbalta and welbutrin which helps but exercise helps most, I now go to boxing 3-4 days per week and as insane as it sounds, getting in a ring for a few rounds and getting punched in the face is the best thing I can do for myself.

I am currently weening off of drugs and as long as I am boxing and know I have access to ativan for 'breakthrough' attacks I can deal. I use the ativan as a talisman more than I use it for attacks.