needs to be ready for those ***holes on the right.

The thing they all have in common...governing while being such asswipes

that's only controlled with medication to stop a full-blown attack, it was probably just an adrenaline rush. The physical symptoms are the same. What is different about a panic attack is what goes on in your mind, and it's a world away from an adrenaline rush. Actual panic attacks are the fear of the symptoms of an adrenaline rush that is a cycle of fear producing more adrenaline on top of what's there, and on and on until one can stop the mind from focusing on the fear. An adrenaline rush can also make one feel strong and powerful to the point of near invincability... it's all in the mind.

For instance, I can't have Novocaine because it is administered with adrenaline, and because my disorder I can't often deal with that. For decades I get Carbocaine instead which is much more localized though can also be accompanied by adrenaline which may have something to do with how much of it I need or how much adrenaline is already in my system or both. Though the physical symptoms are exactly the same as a panic attack it doesn't become full-blown and not just because of my meds... the "OMGOMGOMGOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!" component in my mind isn't there though I have to concentrate on reminding myself that if I get the physical symptoms after getting the shot it's only because of the shot. Though my meds will keep it from getting full-blown, if my mind starts to go to "the bad place" because of the fear of the symptoms the symptoms will cycle up to the worst one for me (nausea).

Since I started getting hot flashes last summer and again (but not anywhere near as bad or near as frequent) this summer I noticed that a lot of the symptoms are the same as the beginning symptoms of a panic attack but it comes on instantly and when I'm not feeling anxious and accompanied by the feeling of absolutely ROASTING and sweat.

I'm an old man and I've had them my whole life. For the longest time I didn't know what it was but I damn sure do now.

In fact, it would not surprise me if men had them more... a lot more. One of the worst things about them is the terror that anyone around you might know that you're having one and the epic struggle to not have anyone know. And since they can hit at any time and usually in moments of anxiety, which are much more so when you're in public and especially in a situation you can't just run away from (at work, while your groceries are being scanned, etc.), I would think that men feel much more anxiety of appearing incompetent or weak or ill, etc. The single biggest thing that helped me in social situations was finally coming out and admitting that I was having a panic attack. That's a hell of a lot easier to do these days then it used to be when depression, anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks, etc. were not really talked about or understood by the average person. Even doctors would blow off the issue and just throw Valium at a patient.

Because men are still raised to feel they must be always strong, competent, in charge, etc. I think men that have any of these disorders feel abundantly more pressure and anxiety concerning the fear of anyone knowing and the fear of not being capable or not feeling capable of being successful with their responsibilities in every day life that they're much more inclined to not want anyone to know what they suffer but also the fear of anyone known just compounds the problem.

I was shocked when I first realized that if I was feeling anxious or having the beginning panic symptoms and saying so to whoever I was supposed to be focusing on how most of the time they'd say they had that problem, too, or their friend/sister/husband/child, etc. had that problem, too.

Then add in all the men that have been in a war in this country or just been in the military and deal with the training, and that's a HELL of a lot of men.

Even in today's society women do seem to get a whole lot more leeway in being "permitted" failures, mistakes, wrong turns, whatever-bad-stuff-life-throws-one's-way.

Then again, female hormones have a LOT to do with mental/emotional disorders, so generally I would think all together it's probably pretty even between men and women who tends to be more inclined to have these problems. I don't know... I guess I could put it down to a three sided coin toss (women, men or even split).

The one thing that is really depressing is that with people becoming so much more emotionally isolated from others with family and even "village" bonds breaking up but also with the electronic age that is so devastating to people bonding with people on that level it's that much harder to cope with these things and far easier to start getting them. It astounds me to no end how so many people would rather text each other on their phones than actually TALK to each other. Add to that how much harder life in general has gotten for most people just with the basics of daily living then people are MUCH more prone to anxiety and depression and all the rest.

There is something about the internet that I discovered when I first got a computer is that it's FAR easier to talk about one's most horrid issues and feelings with others just because of the anonymity. There's MANY things in my life that I've never ever even hinted at to anyone other than internet friends and strangers... except for my shrink, but I don't think he counts since he's my shrink and no use to me if he doesn't know all the ugly, and with that job he can't act or react in the same way as anyone else.

Personally, I may have been lucky in a way that both my grandmothers and my mother had big depression/anxiety issues, so by the time I came along everyone in the family knew all about these things. It just took a really long time for me to grow up enough be able to figure out what anxiety, panic attacks and depression actually WAS and be able to tell my parents that I was getting these symptoms, but back then there wasn't much in the way of meds, and with my own mother's bad experiences with meds and even shock treatment it wasn't until the eating disorder after I got out of high school that the medical field had changed for the better so much that they got me to a psychologist (who sucked) and then found my brilliant shrink. I don't even want to think about what it would have been like for me had my family not known and understood these things once I figured it out myself and got me help.

I'll never forget when I first started taking my meds and they started working that suddenly I was thrilled to bits that THIS is what normal people felt like.