11 Women Share What A Panic Attack Really Feels Like
I had my first panic attack in college. My boyfriend and I were driving on the freeway from the Chicago suburbs to a party on the north side of the city when I felt a small sensation of dread blossom in my stomach. God only knows what caused it, but after a few minutes of this uneasy feeling it suddenly began to bloom: My gut churned, I broke out into a cold sweat, I began to shake. I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself, and when I couldn’t seem to get enough air, all hell broke loose. By the time my bewildered boyfriend found a gas station to pull into, I was sobbing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath, the panic so overwhelming I could only sit and sob and wait for it to pass. Within 20 minutes, it was over, and I was so tired I could have slept for days.
Although I still suffer attacks occasionally, they are thankfully few and far between, and not typically as intense as they were in college. But for years I tried to articulate—in my journal, to a counselor—exactly how it felt to be bowled over by uncontrollable anxiety. As it turns out, I’m not the only one: Everything from television episodes (like a recent scene in “This is Us”) to classical art (Edvard Munch’s famed painting, “The Scream”) has tried to capture the terror and helplessness of a panic attack. Here, 10 women share what panic attacks feel like for them: