Is this a panic attack or something else...?!
Question: Is this a panic attack or something else...?
Hi,
I have recently been feeling really dizzy and like I'm going to faint in class. The fact that I am in a class while it is happening is making me feel trapped, which makes my symptoms worse. My heartbeat speeds up, and the brightness of the lights in the room become very noticeable.
I have a history of fainting, on or around the time I get my period. The first time it happened I was at home, about 12 years old. The second time, about two years later, I was with my entire school and it was really embarrassing. I never went to a doctor, but my mom and I attributed the fainting to low iron. After I fainted the second time, I had the same feelings of being trapped in the classroom and feeling like I was going to faint. They went away for my entire sophomore year, and now they are returning.
I am an introvert, and I am thinking that this feeling of going to faint and the associated symptoms are psychological because when I fainted in the past I was scared and embarrassed of fainting in public, so not when I feel dizzy, I feel like I am trapped, setting off the panic attack. But knowing this, shouldn't my panic attacks have subsided?
Any information or similar experiences you have would be a great help/comfort.
Thanks!
Additionally, I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what to do if I am in class and I feel this way. Normally if it gets REALLY bad I will ask to go to the bathroom. One I am out of the classroom and walking, I feel fine. It's just really bad when I am being forced to sit in my seat and pay attention.
I have recently been feeling really dizzy and like I'm going to faint in class. The fact that I am in a class while it is happening is making me feel trapped, which makes my symptoms worse. My heartbeat speeds up, and the brightness of the lights in the room become very noticeable.
I have a history of fainting, on or around the time I get my period. The first time it happened I was at home, about 12 years old. The second time, about two years later, I was with my entire school and it was really embarrassing. I never went to a doctor, but my mom and I attributed the fainting to low iron. After I fainted the second time, I had the same feelings of being trapped in the classroom and feeling like I was going to faint. They went away for my entire sophomore year, and now they are returning.
I am an introvert, and I am thinking that this feeling of going to faint and the associated symptoms are psychological because when I fainted in the past I was scared and embarrassed of fainting in public, so not when I feel dizzy, I feel like I am trapped, setting off the panic attack. But knowing this, shouldn't my panic attacks have subsided?
Any information or similar experiences you have would be a great help/comfort.
Thanks!
Additionally, I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what to do if I am in class and I feel this way. Normally if it gets REALLY bad I will ask to go to the bathroom. One I am out of the classroom and walking, I feel fine. It's just really bad when I am being forced to sit in my seat and pay attention.
Answers:
yeah it sounds like a panic attack to me. try talking to your teachers about it. they will understand