Panic Attacks Suck: Part One

Panic attacks suck. Worse, they are very real. And we aren’t entirely sure what causes panic attacks. Trauma, genetics, stress, helplessness, hopelessness, fear? Perhaps certain individuals may even be predisposed to their effects? Yes to all of those. Debilitating? You bet your ass. How do I know this? I’ve seen their effects first hand. Even more…I suffer from them (and this isn’t easy for me to talk about but I feel I should talk about it). I will say as much as I am able to say right now but know this: as dentists MANY of our patients become panicky when even thinking about dental treatment and that can be a HUGE barrier to good dental care (more on that at a different time).

What is a panic attack? The Mayo Clinic describes a panic attack as “a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or apparent cause. Panic attacks can be very frightening. When panic attacks occur, you might think you’re losing control, having a heart attack or even dying“. Further, the Mayo Clinic states: “[p]anic attacks typically begin suddenly, without warning. They can strike at any time — when you’re driving a car, at the mall, sound asleep or in the middle of a business meeting. You may have occasional panic attacks, or they may occur frequently. Panic attacks have many variations, but symptoms usually peak within minutes. You may feel fatigued and worn out after a panic attack subsides. Panic attacks typically include some of these signs or symptoms: [s]ense of impending doom or danger; [f]ear of loss of control or death; [r]apid, pounding heart rate; [s]weating; [t]rembling or shaking; [s]hortness of breath or tightness in your throat; [c]hills; [h]ot flashes; [n]ausea; [a]bdominal cramping; [c]hest pain; [h]eadache; [d]izziness, lightheadedness or faintness; [n]umbness or tingling sensation; [f]eeling of unreality or detachment. One of the worst things about panic attacks is the intense fear that you’ll have another one. You may fear having panic attacks so much that you avoid certain situations where they may occur” (thank you Mayoclinic.org).

Recently, a very horrible something was perpetrated against me. Within a few days of the horrible something I started suffering from some of the above mentioned symptoms. I have had panic attacks in the past. And in the past I chose to be stoic and “man” through it only to find that my life was eroding away because of my suffering. This time around I was brave enough early enough in my suffering to reach out for help. I went to my MD who immediately started me on some medication.

Am I feeling better? Yes. Or at least the medication is helping me to function. How so? Well, rather than wanting to throw up and cry and then stay home for the day I still want to throw up and cry but am able to work and exercise and do normal life things that, given time, will help get me closer and closer to feeling like me. I may still need to seek some cognitive therapy. But at the very least I am not a crying heap laying on the floor of my bedroom.

So why am I talking about all this and not just keeping it hush hush? Mental illness is an illness like any other illness that knocks us away from living life to its fullest. I go to my MD to get my asthma treated when it knocks me on my ass. And now I can say that I have the strength to go to my MD to have my panic attacks treated when they knock me on my ass. I should not be and I am not afraid/embarrassed to admit that I am suffering from a mental illness. And I wish that folks would not feel stigmatized by our society’s horrible views regarding mental health. I am Danish and Denmark is empirically the happiest country on the planet. Denmark’s happiness comes from many different sources but Denmark doesn’t stigmatize mental illness: Denmark embraces mental illness and treats it effectively and its people are empowered to live wonderful stigma free lives. We Danish Americans are arguably one of the smallest minorities in the USA because ya gotta be nutz to leave Denmark.

I wish to talk more about mental health another day. To wrap this up I encourage anyone who’s suffering from mental illness to seek help. I know how stressful dental school is. Practicing dentistry is also very stressful. And I have had to live through losing student dentists and colleagues to suicide. There’s a lot of life worth living. And it’s good and right to seek help and live to see beautiful todays and tomorrows.