What Does A Panic Attack Feel Like?I honest to God thought I was going to die! The worst panic attack of my life hit me while I was driving on a L.A. freeway. I was absolutely positive I was going to crash and I couldn't do anything about it. I was going to die and I was going to cause a wreck that would kill others!Mentally my mind was racing and I could see the crash, I could see the ambulance, then I'd jump to losing my family, my brain just kept sending all these different horrible scenes. Physically my heart was pounding in my chest and breathing was difficult. My neck and the back of my head felt like they were in a plaster cast. My shoulders were so tight it hurt. My arms were shaking and my legs were like rubber. I focused on the bumper of the car in front of me and somehow willed myself to keep going to the next exit. I got off the freeway, went about two blocks and then pulled to the curb. My breathing was becoming more difficult and I knew I was in trouble. I pulled out my cell and called 911. I thought I was having a heart attack. By the time the paramedics arrived I had calmed down some. My breathing was easier but I still didn't feel like I had control of my body. They did the whole exam and found nothing wrong. By the time they were done I felt fine. I was relieved but I also felt so embarrassed. One fireman asked me if I had a problem with panic attacks. I said "No" because I'd never had an attack, I wasn't even sure what a panic attack was. I assured them that my husband was coming to take me home so they suggested I see my doctor soon and then left. My husband had called my best friend Jenny and she drove him to my location so he could drive me home. When they arrived they both wanted to know what happened and I found it difficult to explain. I felt like a freak. "Sounds like a panic attack to me" Jenny said. I didn't know it but her sister in-law had suffered from anxiety attacks for several years. However at that time I just wanted to get to the safety of my home. The next day I heard from Jenny. She had contacted her sister in-law and had her forward a newsletter from Joe Barry, a panic disorder coach, that had led her to controlling her anxiety. Jenny then forwarded that newsletter to me. It was just a quick listing of techniques to defuse the attack itself. Interesting but I figured my doctor could give me advice as to how to handle it. That Wednesday I saw my doctor and after a full exam he pronounced me physically fit. What a relief. I was certain I had a heart disease. When we talked about the anxiety attack, he suggested preventing further attacks by prescribing xanax. He said there were a number of other drugs that are available if the xanax did not work for me. I've never been a fan of taking drugs for anything but I felt I had no choice. Two weeks later the good news was I hadn't had an attack. The bad news was I was to tired and irritable to have an attack if I tried. I stopped the drugs. I decided it was time I learn about this problem so I hit the internet. There is a ton of information but when you distill it down, everybody can tell you "how" an attack occurs, but nobody can say definitively "why" an attack occurs. The "how" is when that part of our subconsciousness that controls the fight or flight reaction is triggered by an imagined danger and starts flooding our bodies with adrenalin. That explains the physical symptoms of the attack. If the danger is real, the body needs more blood to the muscles and a larger supply of oxygen to either run from the danger or fight it. The "why" remains a mystery however most believe it is triggered by a trauma or stress that occured in an earlier time of life. However, almost every study agrees that the biggest debilitating factor for anxiety sufferers is not the fear of something like driving or flying, rather it is the fear of having an attack. Once you have experienced an attack, you will go out of your way to avoid another. That means you put yourself in positions that you feel safer in and that may mean you substantially change your life by not flying or driving or even going outside your home. That fear of the attack is what has the largest impact on the quality of life. In the newsletter it explained that the best way to reduce the fear of attack is to be able to control an attack if it occurs. By knowing that you can end an attack almost instantly, the fear of the attack diminishes and eventually breaks that "fear" loop that is running through your brain. It made sense to me. It became obvious that if I was going to get help with this problem it was not going to come from my doctor. There are several books and programs to choose from on the internet but after reviewing a number of them I chose Joe Barry's Panic Away as it had worked for Jenny's sister in-law so I figured what the heck. It comes with a money back guarantee like most of the others so what's to lose? I'm glad I did. Joe, like a couple of the other top authors, had been a long term sufferer of anxiety and had gone through all the drugs and therapy before discovering a process to defeat the fear of an attack. He writes through the eyes of experience and that is important to me. This book is not a silver bullet. You have to actually practice the techniques but I can tell you that it works. Actually the fact that I can tell you about my attack is a big deal. This website is a big deal. I was so embarrassed I couldn't talk to anybody for fear they would think I was crazy. I thank Joe's book and my friend Jenny for recommending it. 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