Yikes, sorry...I reread my post and realized that I actually wrote the word seizure instead of attack.

I don't kow what else to call it I guess, because when I fall or collapse during an attack, I tremble all over, and shake my head and arms from side to side, (I can hit my head on things if not stopped), gasp for breath and usually also experience panic hysteria at the same time which is a sort of screaming rhythmically for breath. The only other term I've heard used for it is a "complete or full panic attack" which doesn't describe it much, in my view.

But I should have written the word attack, not seizure. Sorry, it was late and I was not thinking clearly.

Brenda

I have a friend who is epileptic, and he has grand mal seizures. It's not all that rare.

I know, that's why I said some therapists and patients use the term loosely, because of some of the similarities, it's not an actual medical term for it.

There are a couple of inaccuracies in your description. Firstly, people don't fall down because they're shaking; they fall down because they're unconscious. Secondly, you don't need to call a paramedic; all you do is make sure the person is clear of anything they might hurt themselves with (furniture, etc) and leave them to it.

Well, I also fall down when shaking too much, because my legs won't are shaking so bad they can't hold me up. I also have gone into unconsciousness, you are correct, I can faint, or pass out so to speak in a full attack.

I know the paramedics don't need to be called, as do all my friends and family who know about my situation. However, when someone starts shaking and gasping and falls down unconscious, the average bystander's first move is to call an ambulance, which was what happened in the earlier years when I was unable to explain not to do that, and before I was educated enough myself.

And in my case, you don't really leave me to spasm all over the place, even if I am being prevented from hurting myself, because I've taught people how to get me to calm down, rather than going to the point of fainting. But yes, if no one is there to help, I simply go through it. You can't die from just a panic attack, although the person often believes they can because they are panicked and it's very scary, unless you fall on something and hurt yourself seriously, crash a car, etc.

You would call a doctor if the person went into status epilepticus, which is the dangerous state where one seizure leads to another and another. This places great stress on the body and brain and needs to be controlled, usually by immediate and heavy sedation.

That doesn't happen with me, once it's over, it's over, and then I need the Xanax to more or less reset all my stress levels.

Panic attacks are just that. Not to belittle the unpleasant nature of them, but what you describe is simply a panic attack, not a grand mal seizure.

I admit that, and I said seizure when I meant to say attack. Like I said, it's an informal way of the patient describing it in therapy, not a professional manner to term it by. Sorry for the confusion. I think it started by other people who didn't understand it, describing it in that manner for lack of anything else to compare it to.

The other thing to note with full-on grand mal (or as the literature calls them these days, tonic-clonic) seizures is that they can be very distressing for bystanders to witness. The person having the seizure remembers nothing.

Believe me, when people first see me have a full complete attack it is VERY scary and distressing to them. And I remember very little in a full on attack, hardly anything, to be honest. But I've scared people to death by writhing, screaming and gasping on the floor, so I try to avoid it from happening as much as possible when I can.

Brenda

You're having severe panic attacks.

Confusing the two could have bad outcomes for you if you're incapacitated and medication is required.

You're exactly right, so I never call it that when having one, it's just called a panic attack. I only ever used the term in therapy, for the most part, to describe the severity of it so I just fell into habit when describing it.

In the future I'll do my best to call it a full-on panic or complete panic attack.

Thanks!

Brenda