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Utter Panic

Iamroachford

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
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Mar 24, 2002
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I was on a training course last week and had to travel to Kidderminster to attend. Never been there before but it seemed like an OK place to me. Anyway, did the course which went without incident, left the college and I set off back to the car.

Ive heard of panic descending onto people for no reason at all but I have never experienced it first hand. Especially not in a normal town environment. It wasn't a fear of being attacked or any kind of physical harm, I just had a massive urge to get back to the car as soon as I possibly could. The car was only about 50 or 60 yards away though. Really weird. Really really weird.
 
Sounds a lot like a panic attack- when your system just kicks off your fight or flight reaction for no apparent reason. Typically it is a mark of stress, potentially even of stress you are unaware of. If it keeps happening, it may be worth talking to your doctor about- I used to suffer from them and for me the real trick was knowing that it was just a panic attack, that gave me control so I wasn't afraid of it, which stopped it getting any worse and they tended to calm down pretty quickly after that.
 
roachford said:
I was on a training course last week and had to travel to Kidderminster to attend. Never been there before but it seemed like an OK place to me. Anyway, did the course which went without incident, left the college and I set off back to the car.

Ive heard of panic descending onto people for no reason at all but I have never experienced it first hand. Especially not in a normal town environment. It wasn't a fear of being attacked or any kind of physical harm, I just had a massive urge to get back to the car as soon as I possibly could. The car was only about 50 or 60 yards away though. Really weird. Really really weird.
I had that happen to me once, just after finishing a fairly intensive, residential course, too.

Nasty.

Maybe it's something to do with the total immersion in a new environment and intensive course, having to work along with strange people in sometimes intensive team situations.

Course finishes, pressure off, suppressed panic wells to the surface! Something like that?

I'd relax, take it easy and get together with some good friends this weekend, if I were you. Wouldn't try anything too exciting until you're sure you're back to your old form. ;)
 
That's Kiddie for you :D I live nearby, and its not a very nice place to be, but generally you needn't actually panic until after dark.
 
A few years back I flew into a similar state of panic when a street beggar asked me for a donation.

He was hanging around with a fairly well known busker and saw me go to a nearby cash machine. He came up and asked for a couple of quid, saying 'come on man, you're the same as us!' I freaked completely and ran the full length of the street to get away.

I might add that I was on medication at the time for severe depression, I think it was him saying that I was the same as him that did it for me. :(
 
I once spent seven months in a continual state of raw undiluted terror.

It was made even worse because I didn't understand what was happening or why, and nobody could seem to be able to tell me.

Never been the same since...
 
roachford said:
It wasn't a fear of being attacked or any kind of physical harm, I just had a massive urge to get back to the car as soon as I possibly could. The car was only about 50 or 60 yards away though. Really weird. Really really weird.

I used to suffer very badly from panic attacks and for a long time couldn't go out because they'd "clustered" and got the better of me.

This was probably just a random occurrence but if it happens again it might indicate an underlying cause you'd need to look at through counselling or introspection. Either way, if it happens again try to ride it out and slow down so that you take it at your own pace rather than fly with it.

Hope that makes sense. Of course, it could be an unseen elemental entity, but just in case, y'know...
 
happened to me more than once, but usually for a cause, albeit petty

what happens to me every now and then (it has to do with panic, it's not completely off topic) is a sensation of impending doom. can go on for weeks.

(and yes, i suffer from depression and i was on medications for years).
 
I think people may be reading too much into this. Sometimes the 'fight or flight' instinct can kick in by being triggered by something you're not conciously picking up on - which in itself might be based on your brain misunderstanding somthing. That is, it mistakenly picks up on some sort of subtle cue and then !zap!, it kicks off something that makes you feel scared.

Then again, it might've been down to a faulty light nearby sending out high-frequency nastiness and causing a bit of a short circuit in the ol' grey matter ;)
 
JerryB said:
I think people may be reading too much into this. Sometimes the 'fight or flight' instinct can kick in by being triggered by something you're not conciously picking up on - which in itself might be based on your brain misunderstanding somthing. That is, it mistakenly picks up on some sort of subtle cue and then !zap!, it kicks off something that makes you feel scared.

That's a panic attack, surely ;)

http://www.miami-anxiety.com/what-is-panic-attack.htm

"A panic attack (sometimes referred to as panic anxiety), is characterized by the abrupt onset of an episode of intense physical and psychological discomfort (often described as fear) that usually peaks in approximately 10 minutes."
 
Hmm, maybe, maybe not - all I'm saying is that it may not be wise to put it down to some sort of psychological problem, when it may just have been one of those (odd) things. I guess it depends if roachford has any history of this happening before, couple with any history of general psychological problems (depression, etc.).
 
Psych history

Nope. I've never had any depression or related states. It was just a very scary feeling. I couldnt put it down to the fear of being harmed, it was almost the fact that I had to have something around me. Maybe it was a sporadic case of agrophobia. That's the best way I can describe it.
 
I've experienced this as well.

Last year I was feeling generally naff and couldn't be arsed to do anything, and I took myself off to the doctors after a few panic attacks, and he treated me for stress (which I couldn't believe as everything was going reasonably well in my life) and signed me off work. I calmed down after a few weeks and I've been OK since.

However, many years ago I used to visit a friend who lived on a fairly decent council estate two or three times a week, and never had any problems at all. One particular night I was passing a house on a corner and I suddenly felt absolutely, totally and inexplicably terrified, and ran like hell towards the main road. I'd passed this house many times before without incident, and many times after, so why this particular time, I've no idea. I watched the local news and scoured the paper for weeks after for any word of anything untoward happening near the spot, but nothing ever got reported, and the friend heard nothing either.
 
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