What age did you start getting full blown panic attacks?

[yelle]

since last year, just few days before my birthday, Im 27 then, and now 28. Whew! that was one hell of a ride that I thought I'm gonna die. It sarted w/ dizziness, next comes the rapid heartbeats until half of my body got paralyzed for almost 2 hours, it's like heart attack/stroke lol. But now I can tell that my anxiety is winding down almost unnoticable at times.

[keltoi]

I suffered from general anxiety all my life but didn't have my first panic attack till I was in my 30's. It was shortly after my dad passed away and a friend 'did the dirty'on me moneywise. I was in a restaurant with work friends,cheerfully eating/drinking. I do remember clearly how small,cramped,hot and windowless the room was--and as it was the upstairs floor it didn't even have a washroom. Anyway, like a bolt from the blue suddenly my ears started to ring, black specks and flashes went over my eyes, I went hot and cold and felt terribly nauseous. I started shaking and really thought I'd pass out. I managed to clamber up and ran down the stairs to the toilet down there.once I was out of the room, the terrible panic/nausea etc vanished just like that. I returned to the meal and happily continued--i had no idea it was a panic attack, I blamed the booze!
   Because I didn't think it would happen again i didn't dwell on it...but then, 6 or 7 months later, I was at a similar  restaurant, and I remember this 'thought' popped unbidden into my head: 'hope you don't have a funny turn again.' Well, within minutes, surge of fear,black spots,ringing ears,dizziness,nausea.Again I ran out to the washroom where I was almost instantly ok.
   Then I had quite a long 'good spell' of several years. It was only when I got a nasty physical ailment one summer than my anxiety got way out of control. i thought i was dying and started having weird physical symptoms constantly,punctuated by minor panic attacks. Then I had the mother of them all when on holiday--again,same scenario in a closed in restaurant, only this time I tried to FIGHT the damn thing which just prolonged it. I ran up to my hotel room and lay under the cover just shivering from head to toe with rushing adrenaline. I felt nauseous and weak-legged for 2 days after.
  ant-d's helped that time and again I was free for a while. It all came back last summer, only the restuarant fear  has gone--now it's bedtime and,occasionally, work.

[Linjam]

I've always suffered from anxiety as well. It got worse as I got older and then I think at 24 I had my first panic attack.

[Calamy]

I may have posted this already but I was 16 when I had my first full blown panic attack and I'm 37 now. My mother also had panic attacks in her 20's and 30's.

[freedish]

Started in college when i was 19

[concrete_angel]

Sept 5th 2006..

I was only 30 years old.. It happen well at work and 2 days later, my bosses at the time let me go. They felt like it would be best that I don't work around their daughter, well suffering with a problem as anxiety and panic attacks. I'm now 36.
In March of 2008 I took a job with a family that was abusive toward me, I suffered with a lot of panic attacks. I was having as many as 6 to 8 in a 10 hour period. Those where the worse days of my life. Well Oct 26th of last year the family let me go for not real reason. I thank my high power for letting them let me go. I know it has been hard to find work, but the stress the family put on me was a million times more stressfull. Then not having money and looking for work. I just started a new job in the last part of Jan and I can say that my anxiety and panic attacks have been about to be control much better with the help of meds and CBT.

[Daisy131]

26...but my mom seems to think i had them when i was in elementary school about missing the bus. to which i say, if that's the case, i had one hell of a long dormant period of anxiety! gives me some hope!

[RobertWiggins]

Mine started getting bad when I was about 22.

I started getting what was diagnosed as "migraines" at first...

[pmarie7]

my first-ever panic attack was in 5th grade at a school concert..I was playing the flute and I felt nervous beforehand. Never experienced anxiety before that night. 

[shade]

8. I used to go into full blown panic mode every day when mom was not home from work on time. I was convinced she was in a car accident.  It was awful.  AND she was always late...

[Nouveau]

10 and I'm 22, now. So, not very long, but long enough.

I remember exactly when it happened. I got very sick and had to be out of school for three weeks. For some weird reason, I was dreading going back so much, even though I knew all of the people and were pretty good friends with everyone in my class. I was sick with anxiety the night before and the next day I felt like I was floating all morning. We drive up to the school and I open the door. My hands were shaking, my vision was blurry, my heart felt like it was racing a mile a minute, tears were starting to come to my eyes, and finally, I vomited right there. My mom told me to close the door and we'd go back home. She took the day off, thinking I was really sick, but later on we found out it was just a panic attack, as it all went away as soon as I got back home.
That was the first one and I avoided having one again until I was 15 and then it was really bad for a few months, until I started avoiding situations again. It was much easier to avoid it then, as I was younger and not expected to do much or go anywhere. Having it so young and learning to just avoid things that made me anxious or have a panic attack wasn't good for me, I realize. Because, now, it's extremely hard trying to make myself not avoid things, like I'm so used to doing, and facing things head on.

@shade
I used to do that exact same thing. Only my mom worked at night, so I was in panic mode when she left, thinking someone would jump her and kill her on the way to work, then I'd be in panic mode when she'd come back home, thinking she'd be in an accident because of all the traffic in the morning.

[Turbotommy]

I was in the second grade.

I was also in 2nd grade when I had my first panic attack (didnt know what it was till years later). My ocd reared its ugly head around 7th grade. I'm 35 now.

[Shadowfox84]

 

Age 23 (am now 25).  I had anxiety all my life, but never really had a Panic Attack (anxiety plus weird physical symptoms) until now.  They had been getting increasingly worse since 2005, which is the last year I had ECT (Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy) so I have no idea if the ECT has anything to do with it.  There were/are other personal stressors that probably contribute to the intensity as well, but otherwise, I don't know the cause of the physical stuff.

Have a Groovy Day,
Shadowfox

[markidee]

12 years old. I'm now 29. I've got it down too.

[yahne]

i remember being anxious as a child, but my first full blown panic attack didn't happen until i was 16 or 17 but i thought i was just car sick. it wasn't until i was 21 that it started to make me avoid going places. by the time i was 23 i was barely leaving the house unless it was an emergency like a doctors or dental appointment. i had a remission of it where i could leave the house and go about my local town with the help of paxil  from 2002-2006 and then the paxil wasn't working anymore. so i was off of meds for a while until 2009 when i had a literal breakdown of constant attacks to where i wasn't eating, sleeping, losing weight. as of May 2009 i am on 3 meds. i still don't get around my town freely, but i do get outside 4-6 days a week (4 of them walking my neighbor's dogs). i have counseling once a week and  i am getting in the car with my counselor once a week gradually adding a little more distance.

[Nina000]

My panic disorder started when I was 13  years old. I freaked out with my mother and she told me it was a panic attack. I didn't even know they existed until that day. Ive called 911 on myself 5 times since then. Its a horrible condition to have! I , however, have gotten tons better and this is why I don't post here much. I do have bouts of panic every once in a while but my Clonopin helps when I can sense one coming. Its better to realize when its coming, why, and what to expect so we can get through them quickly. I was one of the worst when I lived with my mother. If I do not keep myself busy all the time I will get back into the groove of a panic disorder. I'll be 30 in June. So its been almost 17 years.

[pauly j]

I wish I could remember my first panic attack, but I just cannot remember exactly when, or what the circumstances were!  I have had it for over 20 years, that I know!  I had also had many of them throughout the years!  I would guess that it started in my early 20's.

pauly j

[Morbius858]

My attacks started in June of 2009.  I've been dealing with panic attacks and anxiety ever since.v 

[SeaRunner]

Officially, 14 years old, a few weeks before turning 15.  However, looking back, I'm pretty sure I had a full blown panic attack when I was 8 years old and of course didn't realize what it was at the time.  On that particular occasion, I had many of my typical panic attack symptoms but the one that sticks out most in my mind was depersonalization.  The odd thing is that I don't remember getting overly concerned about it way back then, just lying down for a while.  Oh to be young again!

Jamie

[whippetiggy]

Late 20s for me. I'm 40 now so I've had them for about 12 years or so.

[hope2011]

15 is when mine started and was bad for 2 years then went away.  Now it is back at age 33 and has been bad for 6 months.  Who knows what happens at certain ages of our life with our brains.  It seems that people go into and out of panic attacks at certain ages.

[Emmaww2]

I was 11 or 12.

[gypsyeyes]

age 15

[gypsyeyes]

I got my first one when I was 19. I am 28 now.  Does anyone else have parents with panic attacks? My dad had panic attacks starting around 25 that lasted until he was about 40. He still gets them from time to time and is constanly anxious.  My mom thinks we are crazy lol. Also, my oldest brother has them, but none of my other brothers and sisters get them. I really think there is a genetics link with mine.

Yes, my dad has horrible panic attacks but i never knew how bad they were until my most recent episode which had me in the hospital and then calling paramedics twice in one week. I told my mom I was having problems and she told me that long story about my father and his attacks. he will sometimes have them 2 or 3 a week.

[buzzskill]

I think I was about 15, a sophomore in high school when I had my first full blown panic attack. I actually had it as I was lying in my bed trying to sleep. All I really remember is that I truly thought I was in hell.  I felt as If I was falling in the dark with no idea where the bottom was.. And that is how it began for me.
 BTW I am now a 39yo new father to a beautiful baby girl, she and my wife are the love of my life. I am blessed to have an understanding partner and a healthy happy baby!