Redditors who have had a panic attack ... what was it like?

Here's my story about how I got a panic attack out of.. joy.

Girlfriend was going to visit, and I'm anxiously waiting at the airport. Just arrived there, sat down on a bench at the terminal, and spaced-out for a minute next to some tourists to take it easy. Suddenly i feel like I'm breathing manually, and I didn't think much of it, thought it was mostly a drag. But when my body was gradually going numb I thought that whatever was about to happen it can't be around tourists. So while having the numbing sensation of 1000 needles in my body, and trying to catch my breath, all while making it look like a stroll, I'm making my way outside the Terminal and found a bench there to sit on. There things got worse and it felt as if I was about to black out. As the numbness spread to my legs, my vision was degraded to flickers, and it was a struggle to stay conscious. As things worsened I created a little plan, and forced myself to breathe regularily to prevent myself blacking out. Then once my legs permitted me to walk I attempted jogging around the Terminal (at this point I didn't care about looking like a fool anymore). Immediately after the jog I went to the Terminal restroom and drank a lot of water, repeated the jog, then drank more water. Once my girlfriend arrived I had thankfully overcome the shitty state and we could head home. Haven't told her, and haven't had an attack since.

Trying to rationalize that episode by telling myself: "that's what happens when you eat a chocolate bar & CocaCola for breakfast". But at 21.2 BMI that shouldn't have been an issue. In short, it's your body that's panicking, not you. But damn it's scary 0/10.

/r/AskReddit Thread