What Does an Anxiety Attack Feel Like? 3 People Describe Their Experiences
Key takeaways:
Anxiety attacks can feel like the world is collapsing or spinning around you.
It can be an overwhelming feeling of fear, dread, and panic.
Some people try strategies like deep breathing exercises to manage those feelings.
The roof of her mouth and tips of her fingers started tingling, then became numb.
Her cheeks and chest felt hot. Her breathing quickened, until it felt like she was breathing at five times her normal rate. In fact, her breathing was so “out of whack” that she felt dizzy and even saw black spots.
Skye Sauchelli was having her first anxiety attack.
Anxiety attacks are typically intense, specific periods of anxiety. Importantly, anxiety attacks are different from panic attacks, though the terms are often used interchangeably.
An anxiety attack is not actually recognized as a clinical term. But what people call an anxiety attack can come in response to general threats in the future and with some common symptoms: feeling tense, restlessness, shortness of breath, racing heart, and more. However, the specific feeling — and its description — is often unique to each person who experiences an anxiety attack.
In contrast, a panic attack often seems to come out of nowhere. They usually happen suddenly, while anxiety attacks may come on gradually.
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“I think it can be very helpful to know what the common manifestations of an anxiety attack are, so that when you’re in the middle of one, you know what may be coming next,” says Skye, a 26-year-old blogger who lives near Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Her first anxiety attack came when she was 17 and a new driver. While following a detour, she got lost, which triggered the anxiety attack. It “felt like a slow seeping in of intense feelings.”
For a while after her first one, the anxiety attacks came closer together — maybe three or so a year.
“Currently, they’re much farther apart since I’ve implemented breathing techniques, journaling, and have taken care to minimize anxiety in my everyday life,” Skye says.
When Skye begins feeling tense, she prepares for — and attempts to prevent — an anxiety attack. One method she uses is box breathing, which is breathing while counting to four. The pattern looks like a box: Inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds.
Skye also uses a technique called grounding.
“I cycle through my senses and notice five things I see, four things I hear, three things I feel, two things I smell, and one thing I taste,” Skye says. “The effort it takes to go through this exercise works wonders for preventing and minimizing anxiety attacks.”
When an anxiety attack feels like drowning
“My anxiety attacks feel like drowning in a slow-motion marathon race,” says Kris McCormick, a 35-year-old Canadian mom who runs a parenting blog.
Kris’s anxiety began in childhood. She grew up in what she describes as a “dysfunctional household.” She managed her anxiety well until her first pregnancy.
“My attacks started around 6 months postpartum and were triggered by being a new mom,” she says.
When she has an anxiety attack, Kris’s stomach twists into knots and does “the uncomfortable free-fall thing.” That makes her even more nervous, and her hands shake and her chest tightens. All of this shallows her breathing, she says. Her face flushes “red hot,” and her palms and armpits sweat. It becomes hard to form simple sentences or “break free from my ruminating, negative thoughts,” she says.
“All I want in those moments is to be at home and magically disappear from the unpleasant situation, but I can’t,” Kris says.
Kris is now the mother of two, and she says her children are still her biggest trigger.
“I'll have an anxiety attack over bringing my kids to a new park because I’m unfamiliar with where to park, what kids behave in what way, and from stranger danger,” Kris says.
“I’ll also have an anxiety attack over taking my boys to a new doctor because I’m afraid of how they’ll judge my parenting and treat them, even though I’m confident we’re a healthy, happy family. Even picking up the phone to schedule the appointment makes my heart pound, despite how I’m an extrovert and talk on the phone all the time at work.”
Kris’s anxiety does have other triggers as well, including paying bills, grocery shopping, and dealing with her father’s health.
‘Consumed by my own thoughts’
Chad Montgomery, 31, of Vancouver, Canada, has lived with clinical anxiety for about a dozen years.
“My general anxiety is more of a nervousness,” Chad says.
He also has social anxiety, which was spurred by a Crohn’s disease diagnosis as a teenager.
“I can feel very uncomfortable when I am in a group of people I don’t know out of fear of saying something stupid,” he says. “Generally, this is an internal fight I have in my head, where I can no longer be present in the situation and instead am consumed by my own thoughts.”
Sometimes this nervousness manifests into an anxiety attack — such as while walking into a conference where he doesn’t know anyone.
At times, it can feel almost immobilizing.
“When my anxiety peaks, I feel completely frozen,” Chad says. “At its worst, my legs felt like they weighed 1,000 pounds, and I couldn’t bring myself to take a step toward my front door.”
On the worst days, Chad copes by focusing on getting to work so he can support his wife and three children.
“For anybody who may be reading this and is going through something similar, at my lowest point I was very low and it never felt like I was going to be better,” Chad says. “I am married to an amazing wife and have three young boys. I work full time, and I am happy in life. It takes a lot of work and effort, but you can get there, too.”
What does the doctor say?
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH
Medical Editor
Everyone's experience with anxiety is unique and can change over time. It's important to remember that what may trigger anxiety for one person may not trigger it for another.
While panic attacks and anxiety attacks are different, it can be hard to distinguish between the two when you're experiencing them. The most important thing in those moments is to use coping techniques that work for you to help you manage your anxiety.
If you find that your anxiety symptoms are getting worse or you're experiencing panic attacks more frequently, it's important to speak with your mental health provider. It's possible that your treatment plan needs to be adjusted, or you may need a new approach for a short- or long-term period. It's always best to address the situation proactively rather than waiting to see if things get better on their own.
If you're experiencing symptoms of anxiety but haven't been diagnosed, talk to a healthcare provider. Your body is giving you a signal that something isn’t right, and you should take that seriously. Anxiety is a treatable condition — and with the right tools, you can successfully manage your symptoms.
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