Honestly there are way more then five things but for this post I will keep it at five. I have been a sufferer of panic attacks since before I knew what they were. I was very young when I had my first one, by the time I was in highschool I was having them on a daily basis. I was officially diagnosed with panic disorder in my early twenties. The lack of education on mental health disorders is why so many people suffer alone, believing they are alone.

– I can’t just get over it:  When I am having a panic attack in public, it feels like the walls are closing in, like there isn’t enough oxygen on the planet. Unless I get away from wherever I am..I can not calm myself down. For me suffering from panic attacks is completely debilitating, at one point I was completely housebound and diagnosed with agoraphobia. Telling me to get over it, is like telling someone with a broken leg to get up and walk.

– Leaving my apartment is a Daily struggle:  I have in the past cancelled important doctors appointments just because I had a bad panic attack about getting on public transportation.

– I am not lazy/unmotivated/making it up:  Sometimes I wish the average person who says these things can spend a day in my shoes. It would be nice if people would try to understand but most only believe what they can see. Also people are ignorant assholes.

– irrational fears are a Daily struggle: I constantly look at the ground when I walk, I have fears about falling on the sidewalk, down the stairs, getting hit by a car. I have fears about being in a fire so I check multiple times that everything is off..that the door is locked. The fears aren’t limited to myself, they involve my family,friends and sometimes people I don’t even know.

_ It sometimes takes me hours to relax enough to sleep:  My SO falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, I envy people like him. I lay in bed for hours over analyzing past decisions, why I’m still alive, if I will still be alive in three years when my son turns eighteen. By the time I finally drift off to sleep, it’s usually close to five in the morning.

There are so many more things that I wish people would get. If you don’t know what it’s like then at least keep an open mind when someone tries to explain.