[Blue_Bird]

I was wondering if anyone else has had panic attacks triggered by reading about them or talking to someone about them?

Mine happen multiple times a day and are usually never triggered by anything specific, 99% of them still aren't but lately it seems I seem to have a few more than my normal 4-5 a day going up to about 8 or 9, the extra ones just from reading anything about panic attack symptoms or threads about them causes me to get one, even talking about them with someone like my therapist for example which are things that should help me.

It's not something I want to be afraid of. I want to be able to read about other people's experience's, self help techniques, and be able to talk about them without that triggering more. I was just wondering if this happens to anyone else here? It never happened to me until recently, it's just something I want to get over. I don't obsessively read about panic attacks or anything I just am surprised that simply reading things related to them/talking about them now can trigger them when it never did before. Usually stuff like this and talking about it helps me, doesn't cause more attacks. I guess it's something I'll have to face and work through. I have been in therapy before for something else but the panic disorder is something new that started this past year and I'm just now in therapy again recently and we're focusing on this a lot lately. I wonder if this is just part of facing my panic attacks, trying to overcome them and things getting worse before they get better maybe?

[Piraeus]

Hi Blue Bird.

Have you considered hypnosis to find what is triggering you? I have panic attacks too. Most of the time I don't know what the trigger is. Being around large crowds of people causes me to have panic attacks, but not all the time. I used to drink energy drinks a lot, and that may have caused me a lot of anxiety. Lots of caffeine in those drinks. I don't drink them any more, but I still drink coffee. I'm sorry I can't offer up more advice. I just don't know that much about panic attacks. You could also make a list of questions for your therapist. Well, I hope you find the answers you seek.

Sincerely,

Piraeus

[Blue_Bird]

Hi Piraeus,
I've never considered hypnosis before but that sounds interesting. It's really frustrating having no clue what causes them, I've kept track of when they happen etc, there's no pattern or particular thing that I can see at least. I actually have cut down on caffeine a lot since I used to drink a lot of soda and coffee. The only thing I've noticed that can trigger them in addition to the random ones lately is reading any thing about them or talking about it with my therapist or anyone really. I'm working on trying to be able to read here without being afraid of it happening again because it reminds me of them.

Today I have had 4 panic attacks so far, and none of them have happened due to reading about them here which I'm glad because I think this a really great support site and I like coming here. 4 is a lot better than 9 or having ones that come and go for hours at a time.