Panic attacks in 10 year old?

[rachw1]

Hi

my dd has had a few episodes that I think might be panic attacks - this started when she had a fever but happened again this morning and she isn't ill now.

She says that everything seems to have 'speeded up' and is really terrified. Holding her for a bit seems to calm her down but she is scared it will happen again and gets tearful just thinking about it.

Has anyone else experienced this with a child - any tips? Or could it be a symptom of something else?

Thanks for any advice!

hi my 10yr ds has anxiety attacks due to bullying and frightened of school,have you asked her if anything bothering her my son worries about everything.sorry no tips but i think at this age they worry too much about silly things.

Are you sure that she is well? Would it be worth getting her checked out again?

Any big changes in her life recently? Childrens inmaginations are funny places!

I've spoken to her doctor and he doesn't think it is anything serious. I can't think of anything particular worrying her, she loves her school so I don't think it is that.

If it is a panic attack get her to read something, or focus on something OUTSIDE her body.
BTW, may sound funny, but is her breathing normal? Does she breathe quite shallow? Have heard that sometimes if they breathe shallowly () then the blood gas ratio gets screwed up, and can trigger panic attacks.

Good Luck

She breathes fast when it is happening - and it has happened twice more today, she's scared to go to bed and I'm really quite worried now.

My DD is 11 and earlier in the year she had some worrying episodes. Not panic aatacks exactly, although she did get panicky when the episodes occured. She was very anxious and tearful and had thoughts of self harming. She never did harm herself thankfully. A couple of months previously, my Aunt had died, my DC were close to her, and shortly after that, my Mum had a stroke and DD was with her the night it happened but slept through it and woke to paramedics in the house. She also had bullying incidents at school. the thing with my DD is that it was very difficult to get her to open up about how she was feeling. Is your DD like this too? If they bottle things up it makes things worse. My DD had to see a counsellor, but only had a couple of sessions and then didn't want to go any more. We didn't press the issue as it was distressing her further.

Things settled down in time. I think a lot of it is down to hormonal changes and so on. Your DD is at the age where there's a lot going on in her body and it can trigger strange things. Could even be the onset of periods. I wondered about that in my DD's case, but they haven't appeared yet and she'll be 12 in Feb. Some girls start at 10 or 11 though.

Keep talking to her, keep reassuring her, obviously you will anyway, but don't push too much, I made that mistake some of the time. I hope things will settle down for her. Definitely investigate if there's anything untoward going on at school, she may not have given you the full picture.