Panic Attacks - Part 1
Have you ever gone to sleep only to be woken a few hours later with a vague feeling of apprehension... your heart pounding... your chest hurting... feeling scared that you may be having a heart attack?
You listen to your body carefully. The feeling seems to be kind of strange, as if you are detached from the experience. You open your eyes and the bedroom seems like it is covered with a haze. All of a sudden you feel like a robot that is under the control of someone else. By now you are sure you are dying.
You frantically call an ambulance... it arrives faster than you thought... you are rushed to the A & E room. Doctors and hospital staff are rushing around doing all they can to save your life. Tests are ordered... you are put on observation for 24 hours. The next day your test results are out... and you are in total disbelief that everything is perfectly normal with you. In fact, the doctor tells you that you are in perfect physical condition! You are discharged... you settle a bill of around S$2000... you come home. A day or two later you have the same experience again. Only this time, you don't know what to do.
Questions such as "should I call for an ambulance... will it be the same experience again... will I look a fool... will I have to settle another bill for a similar amount again in vain...?" You stop... you ponder... your thought starts racing in your mind again... "but it is my life... do I stay at home... or do I call the ambulance...? But I just got myself checked... this is so strange... I am sure I am close to dying."
After some time it subsides... you are thinking..."let me see whether it happens again..." you seem fine... you fall asleep... you wake up the next morning... everything seems fine. You go through the day... you get ready to sleep... there is an un-easiness to fall asleep though. But you eventually fall asleep... only to be woken again a few hours later...
This time your heart is pounding with strong palpitations... you are sweating... shaking... hot and cold spells... you begin to experience shortness of breath... you feel lightheaded and dizzy... fears of going crazy grips you so much you feel nausea...
By now you have picked up some courage to talk to family and friends about it. They tell you to see a counselor...
Well, well, well... if you have been there, you know what I am talking about!
For those of you who have not been there, let me tell you that - if you have medically got yourself checked, and everything is normal - this may be what we call a 'panic attack.'
Â