forum What’s the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack??

Started July 01, 2019 by @ColaOfTheCocaVariety

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I want to hear it from real people because I don’t think Google will do it justice.

I experience both, but sometimes it's rather hard to tell which is which, even with me.
Generally, I'd say a panic attack is a build-up of a lot of things; stress from school, work, needing to do (stressful) things etc. At one point it all comes out at a usually stressfull time.
It's often paired with crying and hyper-ventelating. This can be slowly stopped when someone slowly talks to you or takes you out of your room (for example) for a bit.

I'm not an expert on anxiety attacks, but I'd say it's usually one thing you're stressing about. An example is getting overwhelmed at a store.
The anxiety attack can look a lot like a panic one, physically, but will stop once the stressfull thing is taken away/ you're away from it.
Hope that helped a bit :)

As one who experienced an anxiety attack a few months ago, it is generally a cold sweat, hyperventilating, and the feeling of "Oh God, oh God, I'm so very fucked." It didn't last long, about five minutes, but I was certainly shaken.

From what I know, panic attacks are basically when you get a really sudden and overwhelming fear. It comes with a bunch of physical symptoms, like shortness of breath, nauseau, high heart rate, faintness, shaking, etc. (In my case it was shaking, pains, dizziness, shortness of breath, feeling choked up and uncontrollable crying.) It's basically your body getting into fight/flight/freeze mode based on a trigger (which can be totally random, or expected - like withdrawal from a drug or a phobic reaction). After a panic attack, you can start to avoid places or people or whatever you connect with it because there's a very big fear of it happening again.

Anxiety is more… anticipated, I guess? Like, you still have most of the same symptoms, but it can build up over a while and it's usually specifically related to something in your life, like @sharkfinn_ey said. The physical symptoms can be from mild to severe. You can have anxiety in the back of your mind all day, gradually building up as you're stressed and worried and stuff. In my case, I was supposed to give a speech that I'd been freaking out for weeks on, and then right before the practice I just kinda broke and started crying and shaking and stuff. Not so fun.

Also, I will say that I don't actually have an anxiety or a panic disorder. I only get attacks very very irregularly, in high-stress situations, so I'm sure people who have to deal with this more regularly can probably tell you a lot more than me. Hope this helps!

As someone who has had both, I can describe them.

A panic attack is overwhelming fear. You think you are going to die at any given moment. Nothing can save you or protect you. Death is coming, and you are frozen in place. You can hardly move, and thinking is a struggle. Everything you do just makes you more afraid.

An anxiety attack is kind of like getting overwhelmed. There's simply too much going on to comprehend. Too much stress and worry that builds up until you can't handle it. Once again, it is difficult to think rationally.

Hope this helps!

when i had a panic attack, it was pretty out-of-the-blue. i was in an argument, obviously feeling very upset but not hysterical or anything. then the person i was arguing with just… "lunged" is too strong a word, but they sorta-kinda lunged at me. i made a weird distressed sound and i felt the air leaves my lungs, and suddenly i was hyperventilating. it was TERRIFYING. i had absolutely no control of my breathing and my head was hurting because, yknow, i wasn't breathing right. i felt like i was gonna die. and after i stopped hyperventilating, my whole body was kinda tingly, almost like when your foot is asleep but you're really close to getting rid of that feeling

anxiety attacks, in my experience, come in the form of a sick feeling in your stomach. like, really sick. almost like you wanna throw up but you're not actually gonna. there's something specific that you're anxious about, and getting closer to it makes you feel worse. for me, it's usually a task that makes me anxious, like presenting in front of the class. the closer it gets to my turn, the sicker i start to feel. and during the presentation, i still feel sick, but i hardly notice because i'm just so desperate to get out of there. i'm barely aware of anything around me; i just want to say everything i have to say so i can be done. then once i'm finished and sitting back at my desk, i get kinda shaky (sometimes physically) while i worry about how well i did. but after a while, the feeling passes because the anxiety-inducing thing is over and i survived

Both of my most recent anxiety attacks have been before something big I'd been preparing for (a choir concert and getting confirmed) and the closer they got the more anxious I felt. I ended up making it to the concert, then bolting after one song when my hands started to go numb, my vision got all blurry and tunneled, and everything felt echoy. I went to the hallway and broke down, then went home, slept for a solid 10 hours, woke up and threw up.
The second one was for my confirmation and it didn't really start until about an hour before it was supposed to happen. I went downstairs to get dressed and suddenly I felt really sick and anxious and ended up crying and postponing it. The second one wasn't nearly as bad as the first one (when I had no idea wtf was going on and was pretty sure I was having some sort of seizure or something)
I also had the shaking thing, I'd start physically shaking and in general feeling uneasy, and as someone who's generally very closed off, I felt angry that my friends and family saw me at what I considered my most vulnerable. It's kind of awkward for everyone involved, in my experience.

I have more subtle anxiety attacks, but i can't say anything for panic attacks. A place I get attacks a lot is in really crowded stores, i can get headaches and feel overstimulated from all the noise and people. I also get irritated and sometimes lightheaded if I dont pay attention to my breathing patterns, and shakiness can be a factor too. The worst case I had I ended up crying in the store after getting overwhelmed by something or other and that kinda made everything even worse cause it drew more attention. Another thing is after events like speeches/presentations or conversations with people i don't know well. I can get really nauseous and dizzy while i overthink every little nuance in the conversation, no matter how irrational i know it is.