The Adventures of Drista

mental health awareness

TW: anxiety, panic attack

Just to let you know, I don't know why I wrote this, but I wanted to share personal experience and make everyone aware that mental health is serious and that you will be ok and you will make it through.

Also, the next Drista chapter is coming out sometime later this week, don't worry ;)

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Hey everybody so I just wanted to get some stuff out of my system because I haven't been feeling the greatest the past couple days. I don't care if anyone reads this or not but

Ok so I have moderate to servere anxiety, and I have been dealing with it since I was 5 years old. I just wanted to explain what a panic attack actually feels like to most people, because I know some people don't actually quite understand it and there is lots of mixed information.

Guys, a panic attack almost feels like death. You feel like you are dying. And that just makes you even more anxious.

My first experience with a panic attack happened in 5th grade. I was going to a dance recital, and I needed to wash my hair before I went. I was congested and sick, and I was coughing, and I was nervous about performing and going up on stage because I didn't want to mess up or puke even (because as I said, I was sick)

So fast forward about 3 hours before I left for the recital, and I was getting in the shower. Everything was going good, but the thoughts of the recital were still in my head. Then all the sudden, the light in the bathroom just got... brighter.

I felt heavy, and I was shaking. I could barely breathe. My heart was racing and I could hear it pumping in my ears. I couldn't hold my body up, and I fell onto the tile floor. The first thing that popped into my head was the words "heart attack"

I screamed for my mom, louder than I have ever screamed before. She burst into the bathroom and pulled me up off the floor. She told me to stop overreacting (don't worry, she apologized later on saying that she shouldn't have said that and she was wrong, because I was just going through an episode) and brought me into my room.

My ears were ringing and my vision was blurry. I could barely see or move, or even speak. I was still shaking quite hard. I fell asleep shivering on my bedroom floor, and woke up about an hour and a half later and resumed my shower.

I don't know why, but I just wanted to say this to everyone. Mental health is serious, and some people fake it and/or don't know how to identify a panic attack in them or somebody else. I just want to let you know that you will be ok, and you will make it through.

Have a great day/night :)