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I just had the worst.. I think panic attack.. but something weird happened? So i’m 19F and I have extremely bad anxiety, I was lying down trying to go to sleep and talking to my boyfriend about all these stressful things i’ve been thinking about and then i started crying and hyperventilating a bit. After a couple minutes i stopped and i was fine but then i felt like inside of me was burning- like i was on fire. I started freaking out and started hyperventilating again and crying hysterically repeating over and over that it was so hot and i couldn’t handle it, i kept rolling over everywhere and was just- freaking. I then got up and it felt like I was blacking in and out, i was walking in circles and just felt… off. My boyfriend told me to go wet a rag and put it on my head and so i did and when i looked into the mirror my image was fine but in my head it felt distorted- like i looked almost uncanny. I started freaking out yet again and ran back into my room, falling to the floor, i ended up hitting myself multiple times throughout this whole thing (which i’ve done before) but then as i glanced at my door in which i was sitting in front of i started freaking out. like losing my shit. i was convinced someone was there, like someone was standing outside of my door waiting for me, i was absolutely convinced. I started frantically walking backwards, pinning myself to the corner of my room just staring at e door. i was freaking out worse than before and just begging for them to go away but nothing was there. then i just slowly stopped freaking out and now im 100% fine, just still unsettled. I’m the type of person to feel much better knowing why something happened then just forgetting about it. Can anyone help explain this???
Hey. I’ve actually had many experiences similar to this but not exactly the same. My anxiety and panic attacks can sometimes cause me extreme physical discomfort (like feeling faint, feeling very cold or hot, being generally overstimulated by physical sensations). I have also gotten hallucinations and warped perception (usually related to dissociation and being convinced that the person in the mirror is not me). I’ve also experienced paranoia like you’ve mentioned and used to hit myself as well. It’s really fucking scary and it sucks. I’m really glad to hear that you eventually calmed down without doing too much damage to yourself.
If you have a therapist, definitely report this to them. They may be able to help. When this starts to happen to me, I tell my boyfriend and I describe my experience to him and he helps ground me in reality.
I’m not sure I can entirely explain it, but I do know for sure that anxiety can easily turn into paranoia and you are certainly not the first person to experience this.
I know you probably don’t want this to happen again, but just in case it does, make a plan for what you’re going to do next time. Figure out ways to ground yourself back into reality or make a plan to call someone you trust (or talk to your boyfriend if he’s there) who makes you feel calm and grounded.
Bottom line, I’d really recommend talking to a therapist about this. They’ll help you get a better understanding.
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