I’ve always been a fairly anxious person, but I didn’t experience my first panic attack until I was 20 years old. I had a summer job working as a hostess at a busy restaurant in downtown Toronto, and was mid-shift, when I started to feel dizzy. I couldn’t catch my breath. I began to shake. It felt like someone was squeezing my ribcage in a vice grip. My hands and feet started to tingle. The harder I fought to breathe, the more impossible it became until I was hyperventilating. My heart was racing. My field of vision started to fill with spots. I thought I was having a heart attack, certain I was dying.
Coping with panic attacks
Coping with panic attacks
Coping with panic attacks
I’ve always been a fairly anxious person, but I didn’t experience my first panic attack until I was 20 years old. I had a summer job working as a hostess at a busy restaurant in downtown Toronto, and was mid-shift, when I started to feel dizzy. I couldn’t catch my breath. I began to shake. It felt like someone was squeezing my ribcage in a vice grip. My hands and feet started to tingle. The harder I fought to breathe, the more impossible it became until I was hyperventilating. My heart was racing. My field of vision started to fill with spots. I thought I was having a heart attack, certain I was dying.