Panic Attacks Support Group
A panic attack is a period of intense fear or discomfort, typically with an abrupt onset and usually lasting no more than thirty minutes. Symptoms include trembling, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, sweating, nausea, dizziness, hyperventilation, and sensations of choking or smothering. Panic attacks can be very sudden, appear to be unprovoked, and are often...
First off, I'm 24. On Tuesday I suffered a horrific panic attack that lasted hours, I was sitting on the bathroom floor on the phone with my mother, begging for her to get there. I felt like I was going to pass out or die, I even vomited up my breakfast (and the Xanax I had taken to try to calm down). I have never, ever been that bad in my life, it took hours for me to calm down enough to drive my car back to my mom's house (She was following me in her car). Even when we got back to her house I was still a mess, and I didn't eat a thing the rest of the day.
I was terrified and made her sleep in the recliner in the living room while I crashed on the loveseat. The meds and just the general exhaustion caught up with me, but I could only "sleep" for about a half hour before I woke up again, heart pounding.
The following day, yesterday, I was still pretty anxious, we made an emergency appt with my primary doc, who gave me a rx for Klonopin instead of Xanax. After that I had an appointment with a counselor. Back at my mothers I was terrified to sleep again, because the night before I had such a horrible experience, and I feel like I was having nightmares the brief moments I got to sleep. This time, with taking another Klonopin and one OTC sleep aid pill I finally fell asleep. But during the day I only was able to eat half a piece of dried toast, most of a Nature Valley Oat and Honey bar, a tomato, and most of one of those prepackaged cups of Jello.
Today i've been better, but i've eaten even less, just another per-packaged cup of Jello. And the anxiety/panic are still popping up, but not as bad. The Klonopin seems to be helping.
Has anything like this ever happened to anyone? How did you work yourself out of it? I feel so scared that this is going to be how my life is now, and i've been missing work because of it as well. I know you're supposed to positive think, but it's so hard, especially when I feel another stab of panic, I worry i'm going to have another horrible one like I did Tuesday morning.
I was terrified and made her sleep in the recliner in the living room while I crashed on the loveseat. The meds and just the general exhaustion caught up with me, but I could only "sleep" for about a half hour before I woke up again, heart pounding.
The following day, yesterday, I was still pretty anxious, we made an emergency appt with my primary doc, who gave me a rx for Klonopin instead of Xanax. After that I had an appointment with a counselor. Back at my mothers I was terrified to sleep again, because the night before I had such a horrible experience, and I feel like I was having nightmares the brief moments I got to sleep. This time, with taking another Klonopin and one OTC sleep aid pill I finally fell asleep. But during the day I only was able to eat half a piece of dried toast, most of a Nature Valley Oat and Honey bar, a tomato, and most of one of those prepackaged cups of Jello.
Today i've been better, but i've eaten even less, just another per-packaged cup of Jello. And the anxiety/panic are still popping up, but not as bad. The Klonopin seems to be helping.
Has anything like this ever happened to anyone? How did you work yourself out of it? I feel so scared that this is going to be how my life is now, and i've been missing work because of it as well. I know you're supposed to positive think, but it's so hard, especially when I feel another stab of panic, I worry i'm going to have another horrible one like I did Tuesday morning.
Panic is a vicious cycle. Since you've had this last really bad one, your body is on hypervigilance. It's very scary wondering when it will strike again....which probably brings on another one, just because your whole body is geared up and worried.
You might want to look back and see if there is anything that brought this on? I read that some people after eating feel their heart beating faster - that is normal, but it will sometimes cause an attack.
What helped me was I got mad and so tired of having them that I made plans for what I would do when one hit me. I had to try several different things before I found what would help me relax, refocus and calm down during one.
Refocusing is the big key here!!! Hopes this helps a little.
try upping your celexa dose
google fight or flight response, panic attacks never hurt anyone so dont fear them
buspar is generally useless for panic attacks
stay with us and read the other posts
I was really upset by that horrible panic attack, and I was terrified it was going to happen again. But after the emergancy appt with my doc, i've been much better. Like I mentioned she switched me to Klonopin, and she switched me back to Lexapro, on a bit of a higher dosage.
I have been doing much, much better. My appetite has finally started to come back, although i'm still taking it easy i've been able to eat "normal" food, nothing too heavy/spicy/etc yet, but much better than Jello and dry toast.
I've still been staying at my mothers, my doc gave me an excuse for work, and i'm really glad. I was worried and feeling guilty about missing work, but I think i'm doing much better relaxing here, taking little steps to reassure myself i'm ok.
I had a bit of a setback when I went to my mother's work on Friday (decided I wasn't quite confident enough to be by myself the whole day), and I was quite panicky. I took an extra Klonopin and it calmed me down soon enough and I was fine.
But I think that kind of gave me a kick in the butt. After dinner that day we went out to a couple small stores and I was fine. And i've been doing better ever since.
I know it's still going to take a lot of work but i've been doing a lot of thinking and I think i'm going to be ok. There is still a little voice in the back of my head worrying about 'what if it happens again', but instead i'm trying to focus on how much better i've been getting.
Not to say BOOM i'm cured! I'm still nervous about being alone, I still really can't eat too much without feeling a bit panicky, I'm still feeling panicky feelings, and I know I have a long way to go. I'm still mostly relying on the medication but I'm also trying to re-think and re-focus my thoughts and plan to start seeing a therapist (someone I know rec'd me a good one, if I can get him to call me back!).
If this makes sense and isn't too rambley :)
So what if it happens again? Panic can't kill you, my lovely. It can sure scare the hell out of you though. Remember, this is your body's defence mechanism.
You need to relax that sub-concious of yours. It's telling you that there's a lion coming to eat you and there isn't one. Everything goes hyper, the adrenaline's pumping, the heart is racing, chest pains are crashing, blood pressure's up, you're going dizzy and you feel nauseous. In your case, you're actually vomitting. Time for the concious to take over.
STOP!!! There IS no lion! You're now in the phase where you're panicking about having another attack and, believe me, we've all been there. RELAX and BREATHE. Nothing can hurt you. You're safe.
You need some self help CD's. I have some recordings that I can Email you if you want to message me your email address and that goes for anyone else reading this. They help, really they do. They train your sub-concious mind, the bit that makes you panic. I have gone from having all-day attacks to having one every two or three weeks and they are nothing.
Be well, all!
Alli
xxxx