Does anyone else have no idea why they have panic attacks? (+ My story with panic attacks)
I had my first panic attack three months ago during a stressful week at work, and it was quite extreme which I believe is because it was my first one and I didn’t know what was happening, I thought I was dying as I read many people feel.
While it was really traumatic, I felt normal the next day and was fine for ages, just thinking it was a once off stress thing.
I’ve had two since then (three in total) both of which have been in the last fortnight, so after my first one I actually didn’t get one for three months.
The first one I had recently wasn’t as bad as the very first one months ago because I immediately knew what was happening, and I tried my best to keep positive and calm. For me, it’s purely a sudden physiological adrenaline spike with no warning, and the mental aspect is just how I react/spiral to the uncomfortable physical symptoms. The worst part for me is the uncontrollable shaking I have for about an hour after that initial adrenaline dump. I was getting in my head about it because I felt like the shaking wasn’t getting better and was lasting a long time and started to make myself feel worse mentally and physically which wasn’t pleasant. I then had virtually no appetite and in fact nausea at the thought of food for 2-3 days after this and was extremely tired needing to sleep a lot. I also felt extremely anxious particularly when it got dark at night. I felt back to normal within a week though but I had a really messed up ‘hangover’ after that one which was new for me.
Just as I was feeling back to normal for a couple of days, and it had been over a week since the last one (appetite back, fear and anxiety had subsided) it happened again. I was laying in bed on my phone and felt the adrenaline dump hit me and my heart rate instantly escalated. I immediately sat up and very calmly did breath-work for 5 minutes or so and was feeling very calm mentally despite my heart rate still up there. Then the shakes set in about 10 minutes post adrenaline dump as usual which was uncomfortable but I was able to stay calm and just joke to my partner about how annoying and uncomfortable it is. About 20 minutes in, I decided to try Propranolol 10mg as my heart rate was around 100-120 still, which my doctor had given me as an emergency med, never had it before. It took probably close to an hour to start working (Or, perhaps the attack naturally subsided by then anyway?) however this time I noticed my shakes went away first, and the the heart rate went down after. Usually the shakes are the last thing to go. Today (the day after) I feel completely fine and not particularly worried about it happening again because last night seemed manageable and not scary, just uncomfortable. I wonder if the Propranolol actually somehow prevented the hangover I felt from the last one because I feel absolutely fine today.
Every panic attack I’ve had so far has been at home, at night around 10-11pm right before bed. Once the shaking stops and my heart rate starts to get back to normal I can finally lay down and I get to sleep super easy as I’m exhausted after it.
Now getting to the point - Other than that first panic attack I had (stressful week at work, overworked etc), I really have no idea WHY I am getting panic attacks. I wonder if there are other people feeling this way and just feeling super fixated on needing to find some sort of root cause. Perhaps I need to accept that there isn’t one. They seem to hit me out of no where when I’m at rest and calm at night, but I’m not really anxious or extremely stressed during the day at work or anything. I see a lot of people on here seem to get panic attacks from a build up of anxiety and fear which makes sense, but for me they just hit me randomly.
Is it just because I had that first panic attack that it’s switched something in my body/brain that makes me far more sensitive to the day to day micro stressors of life? Even then, it makes no sense to me why I had that first one months ago, then nothing for 3 months, then two in a fortnight. Really weird.
I have a bunch of deficiencies which were only checked after my first panic attack - iron (ferritin), vit D, and B12 (fixed via injections now) so I wonder if that has something to do with it. Have been supplementing Iron and vit D for 3 months now.
Also, if anyone has any medication recommendations I should speak to my doctor about for an emergency med that might be better / faster onset than Propranolol, I would love to hear what works for you. Waiting 40 minutes or so for it to start working wasn’t ideal.
I don’t really fear having another panic attack (and I try not to) but I do worry that if they started happening during the day while working, or outside of the house, that it’ll make me spiral and feel out of control. I’ve been lucky they’ve only happened at night at home so far…