I know now that I had my first anxiety attack when I was 10 yrs old. My horse tripped and fell while I was out riding one day. My horse was pretty badly scraped up, I was okay....so I thought. I walked her home along with my sister who was on her horse and our dog, everything was fine, until I got home. My mom came out of the house when she saw us and ran to make sure I was okay. When she saw that I was, she went to tend to my horse. We had company over and everything went a bit chaotic around the house my yard and the horse. That was when it happened, I rememeber it perfectly. My heart started to pound, I could feel it in my ears, I could hear it, lights started flickering in the corner of my eyes and filling in, I had a huge lump in my throat I could not swallow, I got very hot, then very cold....clammy... and just when I thought I was going to die, I went blind, at least that's what I thought was happening, maybe I am not going to die, I was going blind! I could hear everyone talking and I was trying to tell them that I couldn't see and then more panic set in and I was trying to yell at them that I was blind, but I was not sure if the words were coming out I couldn't breathe or swallow and my throat and mouth were dry. My mom shouted at someone to bring water and a cold cloth. And that became my treatment for the next several years, well actually it turned to juice because as a child they decided I was hypoglycemic and it was my bloodsugar although my bloodwork never showed results of hypoglycemia.
Doctors went on to constantly run test after test and hooked me up to wires and crazy headcap things that I thought could read my mind! I was terrified, this was going to kill me and if it didn't my parents surely would! I would think I was going to get in so much trouble everytime because if they were "reading" my mind the only words I could think of were bad words! As hard as I tried to keep thinking Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland nothing but bad words kept filling my head.
Then after several years I "learned" to "cope" with these bouts of "whatever it was" the doctors never came up with an answer until much later and we moved on like everything was "normal" except for always having to make sure I had juice with me, gosh if only my parents would have let me have a candybar instead I may have been fine to go right along with hypoglycemia

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dbuttercup,

I remember my first panic attack in the 2nd grade. We were just learning to write in cursive and we has an in-class assignment. I finished the assignment and handed it in to the teacher. Well, I printed the entire thing. I was supposed to do all of it in cursive. The teacher made me start over and it was nearly the end of the day and if I didn't finish I was going to get spanked. I was scared to death. Well I did finish and all the other kids had done home. I new I was going to get spanked. I also new my mom was waiting for me. Finally my mom came in to the classroom, before i got spanked. I was so mortified, embarrassed, and felt stupid. Luckily I didn't get spanked my mom worked things out for me. I am 37 years old and I still remember that day so clearly.

wow yea thats kid of funny you just kind of answered a queston of mine! Not my first anxiety attack but i got really depressed and i thought i had a virus or something that lasted for like 2 months, at about the age of 17 but nothing was wrong with me that the doctors could find! THEY eventually did the same thing to me clearred it as hypoglycemia except i actually believed for a long time thats what it eally was! if i dont eat I get weak so I have to make sure I have enough food in my system to keep me going! Now thogh Im not really sure whats wrong i still get these feelings though and am now overwieght could this all just be my mind messing with me!!!????

quote:

Originally posted by Alison M.:
I remember my first panic attack in the 2nd grade. We were just learning to write in cursive and we has an in-class assignment. I finished the assignment and handed it in to the teacher. Well, I printed the entire thing. I was supposed to do all of it in cursive. The teacher made me start over and it was nearly the end of the day and if I didn't finish I was going to get spanked. I was scared to death. Well I did finish and all the other kids had done home. I new I was going to get spanked. I also new my mom was waiting for me. Finally my mom came in to the classroom, before i got spanked. I was so mortified, embarrassed, and felt stupid. Luckily I didn't get spanked my mom worked things out for me. I am 37 years old and I still remember that day so clearly.

Thank you for your response. It is so amazing now to look back and know what the feelings we had were real... and so were the physical symptoms! At 7/10 yrs old no one would even have considered the possiblity that we could have had anxiety.

quote:

Originally posted by <sBa>:
wow yea thats kid of funny you just kind of answered a queston of mine! Not my first anxiety attack but i got really depressed and i thought i had a virus or something that lasted for like 2 months, at about the age of 17 but nothing was wrong with me that the doctors could find! THEY eventually did the same thing to me clearred it as hypoglycemia except i actually believed for a long time thats what it eally was! if i dont eat I get weak so I have to make sure I have enough food in my system to keep me going! Now thogh Im not really sure whats wrong i still get these feelings though and am now overwieght could this all just be my mind messing with me!!!????

Well, I am not a doctor of course! But I do think that the symptoms of hypoglycemia are very similar to to that of an anxiety attack. I also believe that when we are told something over and over again it becomes the truth in our minds. I've also done the same thing over the years. I would be so afraid of not eating that that I would definately overeat and right now I am at least 50-55lbs overweight. If I forgot to eat a meal then I would be so anxious that I was going to pass out that I would work myself into an anxiety attack. However, if the paramedics came or I went to the emergency room my bloodwork and heart rate would and symptoms would be gone by then, so nothing would come back as low blood sugar. Evenstill, I was told hypoglycemia. So yes, I think it can be in our heads/mind and since we believe it so strongly, we make it true.
Thanks for your input, it's good to know others have gone through this "diagnosis" as well!

i remember mine liek it was yesterday. i was in the 9th grade in my business law class and i remember the night before i wasent feeling good and i had told my parents but they had thought i was just trying to get out of school. so i went in and i told my teacher i wasent feeling good she said do you want to go to the nurse i had said no then 10 minutes later i felt all dizzy and everything and thoought i was gonna die so i said to my teacher if i could go to the nurse she said really i said yes but i cant get up so the nurse had to bring a wheelchair for me. my dad came to pick me up and we went to the doctors and i had fluid in my ears which caused me to be dizzy but i got all nervous and scared and ever since then i was always afraid i was gonna get dizzy and pass out.