Okay, I get it, you've never actually had a panic attack before so how are you supposed to know what it feels like?

I am here to tell you that having a panic attack is not what the average person thinks it is. Panic attacks are romanticized and it needs to NOT be. We are degrading the symptoms that people have when they are experiencing a real, full-blown panic attack, and that really needs to stop.

Panic attacks are not just a rapid heartbeat or feeling anxious or worried.

Panic attacks are very serious and almost feel life-threatening when experiencing one. A panic attack makes you feel like you are unsafe and a person can even feel like they are dying.

There are many people who go to the Emergency Room during a panic attack because they think they are having a heart attack.

A common symptom of a panic attack is depersonalization, which is defined as feelings of being alienated from or unfamiliar with your surroundings — for example, like you're living in a movie or a dream.

Having had a lot of experience with panic attacks, I can be brutally honest and tell you probably half or more of people who say they had an attack, are probably lying. It is frustrating to us who suffer when the words "panic attack" are just thrown around like it is just a few skipped heartbeats. I have had panic attacks where I temporarily lose my eyesight and hearing.

It is a feeling like no other, that I would not wish on anyone.