Dealing With My Night Time Panic Attack – Brian’s Blog

I have written before that I have to deal with occasional panic attacks. I had not had one for some time until last night. This was a bad one. I know we all have stress and obstacles in our lives and sometimes it just gets to you. I try to be strong man, a good husband, dad, grandfather, friend and provider for my family but sometimes it all piles up and you break for a moment. I take meds for my mental condition and keep fast dissolving under the tongue medicine for emergency attacks. I have been doing just fine and not needed any help for some time until last night.

My wife and I work and then watch the grand kids several nights a week from 6-10 p.m. while my daughter attends school. We love those kids but it is a lot of work and makes it so that the 2 of us get about 5 minutes alone every other day to actually talk to each other. Last night I got home from working at The Boot Grill for our New From Nashville series. I was just sitting there with her when the kids finally went to bed about 9. Right then I was suddenly overcome with complete blank panic.

I could breathe but couldn't get myself to speak. I could hear my wife asking me things and knew what I wanted to say but could not muster up the ability to speak. I just sat there with tears streaming unable to really focus on anything. I started to panic thinking I was going to fade to black and not come back. I wanted to go to sleep but was afraid I would not wake up. I just needed to be held a bit and talked to. I needed to be calmed down and told everything was okay. My wife sat there with the phone in her hand wondering if she should call 911. She then knew to just talk to me. She put a couple pills under my tongue and talked me into a calm state. The feeling left as fast as it came. I felt like a someone who was sick to their stomach and then finally threw up and got it all out. I am very thankful she was there to talk me down. Remember, not everyone has aliments you can see.

I am great today but know that these things can happen without warning. I don't really have a point to this story other than to let you know that if you go through these type of things that you are not alone. There are a lot of silent sufferers out there. Thank you, K99 family, for always being there for me.