(Stephanie Dolgoff/ Good Housekeeping) — I hope you’ve never had a heart attack. I also hope you’ve never had a panic attack. That’s because they both feel awful — and have some of the same or very similar symptoms. But only one is imminently dangerous, and that’s a heart attack.
A panic attack, on the other hand, may make you feel like you’re having a heart attack (or something is terribly wrong with your physical health), but it’s typically gone in roughly 20 minutes, with no negative impact on your body except maybe the need to take a nap because all that adrenaline coursing through your veins can wipe you out.
Knowing which one you’re experiencing, of course, would be very helpful. If it were a panic attack — scary though as it feels while you’re going through it— you would ride it out knowing that soon you’ll be kicking back watching Ted Lasso try to understand his own panic attacks. (…)