Fear in the Middle of Darkness

The absolute most terrible part of anxiety is the panic attack. A panic attack can strike at any time; first thing in the morning, as you're driving down the road, middle of the night, whenever. For me, the majority of my attacks happen in the middle of the night. I will be sound asleep and wake up to a full blown attack with absolutely no idea why. In the beginning, I was convinced something must be wrong with me. Maybe it's my heart, or my lungs, or some rare disease WebMD might tell me about. Nowadays I know the all too familiar symptoms right away. However, nothing really stops a panic attack. I just have to ride it out and hope it passes quickly. It never does.
A panic attack, for me at least, involves every part of the body. There's dizziness, the feeling that you can't breathe, a racing heart, high blood pressure, numb arms and legs, etc. To say it's terrifying is an understatement. I can clearly tell it's a panic attack but it's still incredibly scary. It can last a few minutes or even an hour, usually closer to an hour in my case. Then, in the blink of an eye, it's done. No more racing heart, no more difficulty breathing, nothing. What I'm left with, though, is like the worst hangover of my life meets getting hit by a truck. I end up with a headache, massive amounts of fatigue, body aches, and just overall feeling like I just went through boot camp. It usually takes a few hours after a panic attack before I feel truly normal.
I am incredibly lucky that I have a husband who maybe doesn't fully understand anxiety but works with me. When I have a panic attack, he's my go to. I've called him on the road before, having him talk to me until I get home, to keep a panic attack in check. I've woken him up in the middle of the night asking for a glass of milk (it soothes) and had him rub my back while I try to ride out a bad attack. He doesn't necessarily get it but he's always there for me.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have someone they can reach out to. I do my best to let anyone with anxiety now that they can always reach out to me. Panic attacks are one of the scariest things I've ever been through, I will do whatever I can to help someone else going through the same thing.
Some day I hope I hit a point where I don't have attacks anymore. Until then, I will continue to deal with waking up to fear in the middle of the darkness of night