#heres help

[donutunicornpoop]

I feel better about me now.

[notanordinaryhuman]

Panic Attacks.

I have been suffering from panic attacks for over a year now and I can tell you that they are the most frustrating and embarrassing things that I have ever gone through because I am panicking about absolutely nothing!

However, it's not just the mental voice in your head that says "There is something wrong" which puts you into a panic attack, it's the physical side of it as well. Which is much more complicated, but this is the basics of it. Two chemicals called adrenalin and noradrenalin from the adrenal glands on the kidneys are released into the body which causes the brain to go "FUCK! SHIT! DANGER! DANGER!" which then sets the body into "Fight or Flight" mode.

Fight or flight is what the body does when it's either preparing to fight off something that is supposedly going to harm them or run like hell. This mode has been present in every single human being which has ever existed. Back in the stone age, humans (cave men) were faced with many dangerous creatures who were quite happy to tear humans to pieces for food, such as: Sabre-toothed tigers. This fight or flight mode has saved many cave men from getting eaten alive by these things but I'm sure that you are all aware that in the 21st century there are NO sabre-toothed tigers walking around our streets, looking for tasty humans to snack on.

A more likely situation in the 21st century would be, if a person with a knife attempted to attack you. Your brain would either decide to stand and fight or say "FUCK THIS SHIT" and run for the hills. So that is what happens when we are put in danger.

Now, some people, we don't know why, suddenly have a dose of adrenaline and noradrenalin put into their system by the kidneys even though there is NO DANGER present. I can tell you now, that this, scares the shit out of the person who is probably just sitting there watching TV. As their heart rate goes up and they begin to panic because they think they are either having a heart attack or think something is majorly wrong with them. This is called a PANIC ATTACK.

Remember, that panic attack suffers DO NOT choose to have an attack whenever they bloody well feel like it. The body is not supposed to be giving off these chemicals at these points but unfortunately in some people these chemicals are just given off, we don't why this happens but it just does.

So, if you know anyone who is suffering from panic attacks please remember that they CANNOT HELP THIS and you can't just go up to them and say "Hey man, just calm down, there's nothing scary going on here, we're just at a party, so CALM DOWN"

I mean think about it logically you're not going to walk up to someone who is having a heart attack and say 'Jeez man, can you quit having this heart attack, you don't even have any heart problems so why the hell are you having a heart attack?.'

In conclusion, if you are ever faced with someone having a panic attack, please try and do your best to calm them down but not in a patronising way.

In my experience, what's helped me best, is just someone's presence or simple physical contact. Such as, a hand on my shoulder or holding my hand. Just, remember, 2 things:

DON'T panic, yourselves, it will only make the person panic more.

DO NOT tell the panic attack sufferer to CALM DOWN. I mean, no shit Sherlock, it's not as if they've been trying to do that for the last 10 minutes!

One last thing, don't just assume that every panic attack looks the same. Different people have different panic attacks. Some people just hyperventilate where others collapse. They are very unpredictable. However, that doesn't mean that you are completely useless, YOU CAN HELP. Just be there for them, speak to them in a soothing tone, hold their hand, ANYTHING that will make their attacks easier to deal with.

I hope this has helped guys. <3