School anxiety

[Em0bxy]

So today at school I had two panic attacks, which was "fun". The first one I told my teacher about and she sent me to the nurse, the second one I didn't and she kept asking if I wanted to talk or if I was okay and I was like "I don't know what I need right now" and "I don't know if I'm okay" because it stemmed from overstimulation and it's hard for me to process quite literally anything in that state. I have generalized anxiety disorder so I was honestly expecting that to happen.

[¯|_(ツ)_|¯]

I totally get what you mean about not being able to answer when you're in a state like that.

It's great that this teacher asked if you wanted to talk though, and I'm wondering if you two would have any free time to go over a plan of action on what can be done if you have panic attacks like this in the future. For example, she may be able to help ground you by breathing with you, counting with you, or doing other forms of distraction that can help bring you back to the moment. My favorite grounding exercise is the categories game, where you pick a category (for example, animals or country names) and name everything you can think of in that category.

You can also bring items to fidget with to help ground you. Fidget spinners used to be popular, but there are also things like fidget cubes, fidget rings (more discrete), pop-it toys, or tangle toys. Your teacher that asked how you were doing may even be able to tell your other teachers that these things calm you down so you don't potentially get in trouble for having them. If they don't like them you can also do things like quietly tapping your pen/pencil. Sometimes I also tap my fingers together. For example, I'll tap my index finger to my thumb, then my middle finger to my thumb, then repeat with my ring finger and pinkie, then start from the beginning.

[Em0bxy]

That is a very smart idea. Yeah, this same teacher is my safety teacher on my 504 plan so she'd totally understand it. Especially since I have my 504 for ptsd and anxiety. I have been having panic attacks more and more frequently, but they used to get to the point I wouldn't tell anybody until I'm quite literally about to faint from hyperventilating or sobbing until someone notices, and even then I'd murmur out I'm fine some way or another. I'm scared they'll be an everyday thing and people will stop believing me, because my medications are for self-harm thoughts, nothing is for anxiety or ptsd.