Thread title is a huge clue in.
Basically, I suffer from panic attacks a lot, when socializing. The times I don't have attacks are small groups of friends, one on one conversations, meeting new people in the presence of friends, and a few others. Basically, it seems to me like ratios. I have always been heavily introverted, but I got along despite that. Now though, it seems like if I can't isolate and sort of remove myself, then I just break down.
Recently, I was at a lock in at school, and was having a great time. I was in a group of fifteen, out of a crowd of 400 or so. I had met everyone in my group and was getting along with them and opening up just as much as I do when chatting with my best friends. I felt really great about the situation and was laughing and dancing, and just all of a sudden got hit. I felt nauseous, heart rate shot up, got tunnel vision, felt faint, my extremities hurt, and I just felt cold inside and miserable all of a sudden. I am thinking (speculating with all my inner Internet doctor) that my heart condition, an unusually bad coronary artery fistula, may be compounding the situation.
Dear B12, my questions, based on this ( and a previous lock in that went exactly the same way), are several in number and are as follows. How do I fight the attacks once they happen? How do I distinguish the effects, like faintness and such, from what is being caused by the panic attack and what is my heart acting up in response to the attack? How do I socially maneuver into smaller groups to help prevent these instances?
To answer my own questions, so you guys know what I do and do not know, I'm editing here.
When an attack happens, I usually just sit down, breathe slowly, and try to make small talk with friends to help calm me down, and also get lots of cold water.
I have no clue how to distinguish the two, since a lot of what they cause in a person are the same, although the high heart rate from a panic attack will induce a heart flare-up thing (since attack is taken). They sort of feed into each other, because while I know the panic attack is mental and not real danger to me, the heart issue is, and since I can't tell what is what I get afraid, which heightens the panic attack, and the increased blood flow from that heightens my heart flare up.
The best I have for the social tactics to prevent this are to keep going to these lock ins. I have had panic attacks at the last five and intend to go to the next one still, to keep fighting it til it doesn't happen.
Advanced apologies if formating or reading flow are terrible, if you think my OP is terrible please tell me.