All I can say is that i am in the same boat as you. Just know that there are alot of us out here who are suffering right along with you, in the same nervous hell, day after long day. When my daughter was a toddler, i went through an anxiety phase that was so bad, i was so sore from being tense that i could hardly lift her out of her crib! It did calm for awhile, but it came back with avegence over the last couple of years. I too get the real dizzy feeling, and that is the absolute worst to me.

Hang in there...we are here to listen to you on the bad days, and be happy for you on the good ones.

learn CBt and new ways to calm and relax you and dont just rely on meds

I SUFFERED terribly from panic attacks , it was crippling and I feared each day of life would be worse than the previous. I was 21 and going in to my senior yr of college //couldnt drive // could barely move at qll through the lightheadedness -- You must get your body and mind in to a "good " place for a sustained time //to kind of re-train your reality . For me , medication worked and it really is not alot 1-1/2 mg a day of klonopin for 20 years does become addictive to your system but does not make you a drug abuser ( we are too scared for that;) take what you need , accept that sometimes peoples chemicals need assistance and believe me , structured dosage of meds , taken accurately will not kill you as quick as overwhelming stress will --- sure there are other things u can do to live a great life , but meds may have to be a part of it . so what? if you had a physical ailment you would need a lifetime of meds ......relax and dont put so much pressure on yourself to be "normal" YOU WILL BEAT THIS

I get the same way - when I have panic attacks, I feel like I can't breathe and I get very fustrated cuz I don't know whats causing the panic attacks and I don't know when they are gonna come. I've had panic attacks for years now. Just know your not alone.

thanks so much for listening I feel beteer that I am not alone!!

I am with you. I am weening off of xanax. Are you weening with the assistance of a psychiatrist or doctor? I find that it really helps to have the support of my psychiatrist. Do know that all of the symptoms you are feeling are withdrawal. The last time I dropped down from xanax, it took me 3 weeks to feel normal again..it was just awful. I was on .5 of xanax and now am on .25. I am stabilizing for now because the last drop was soooo awful...and of course I am so scared to drop again...but I feel I have to go through it to get off of the stuff 100%. I am with you!! There is a great website..www.benzo.org.uk that provides great information and support on withdrawing from benzo's. I think it makes things easier to have a good support network..family, friends that know what you are going through so you can lean on them because getting off of benzo's is hell. Also it helps me to understand what happens in my brain when I am weening. When we take benzo's we are feeding our brain gaba...a neurotransmitter that provides a calming effect. Because we provide it, our brain then stops making the gaba...so when we drop our doseage...we have to wait for our brain to understand that it needs to now start producing the amount of gaba needed to fill in the gap that we dropped. I definitely suggest weening very slowly and under the care of a physician so that you can judge whether it's really panic or withdrawal. Good luck!!

i live in a constant state of anxiety... with panic attacks from time to tim... also i take many meds also... i take klonopins and have for over 2 years ... and i will continue to take them as long as possible... but some of the symptoms you were describing could be either panic/anxitey or withdrawls too... it is so hard to tell... i woud discuss with the doc on your meds... and my doc also taught me some really good breathing techniques that help out tremendously for the anxitey/panic issues... good luck and hugzzz...

I am just so fusterated I keep thinking something else is wrong with me!!

I know how my day will be when I wake up my head feels heavy and dizzy always and I get very sick to my stomach. Every day this happens I just so want to feel normal I don't even know what that is anymore!!!!

hello Carolyne.
he previous day will always set you up for a bad day the next but of what you are expecting and anticipating -- with all the things that you believed were happening ( dying , drifting intoo the abyss , losing your mind totally, maybe even a heartattack or two , ( none of them have really happened ---- its all THOUGHTS , thats it . i wish you a better today .

The way that you described your symptoms are very similar to mine...I feel like my head is heavy, and i get really dizzy, bright lights bother me, i feel unstable, and just weak. when it gets really bad, i feel like i am about to faint. i also always think that there is something else wrong with me that is just going undiagnosed. on those panicky days, it can be very difficult for me to believe that my symptoms are just being caused by panic. i have been having panic attacks for a year and a half now...and like you, i feel like my life is passing me by, and i just want my old self back.