Panic Attacks

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Has anyone dealt with them, successfully?

I've had a few bouts of panic attacks, and I was only able to stop them with klonopin or xanax. Once I broke whatever pattern was there, they came much less frequently.

If you mean dealing with them as they happen without medication, over time I learned to identify them as panic attacks and remind myself that I am not near death. I still make a handful of ER visits a year because of them, but I am able to cope better in general.

Unfortunately, I've been getting phobic over pills.

I had once put my arm into a bush, and pulled it out, with thirty-one wasp stings. There was minimal swelling, no discoloration, but I could count all the holes. I had done well for over three days, when it had suddenly occurred to me that my tongue may be swelling, if only a little. As a large man, I took a single Benadryl, just to be safe, reading the list of side effects. I began to hyperventilate, and, probably within fifteen minutes, could see flashing, white lights, alternating with black. I had stumbled up the hallway to ask for a trip to the ER. When my vitals were checked, I was told that there was absolutely nothing wrong with me; I was only having a panic attack. I was placed in a chair, within the doctors' line of sight, and sweat a puddle on the floor of the air-conditioned room. Upon becoming coherent, again, I was prescribed a generic version of (the same) Benadryl, prednisone, and an epi-pen, just in case. Every time i took the pills, the symptoms started to return. So I quit taking them.

I couldn't make myself take a pill, for some two years, afterward.

When I absolutely had to break a fever, I took a common, OTC pain reliever, after much trepidation. Being that I had never built-up a tolerance, I will admit that only one, small dose worked magnificently.

Then, I got a wasp sting, this summer, and another time, in the autumn. I didn't go to the doctor, because of how I may have been treated. I really wasn't sure of whether I was allergic or not, and the panic attacks eventually subsided into the background.

Eventually, I wouldn't go outside, much, for fear of the wasps. And, I slowly became shut-in, spending several hours a day on news, while everyone else was gone. The holidays became extra hectic, due to relatives staying in the hospital.

I've been having extreme paranoia, to the point of physical symptoms, over simple vitamins pills and common food additives, until I thought that everything may have been making me allergic, and I have not been eating so well for a couple of weeks.

I was telling myself that I only felt OK when I wasn't eating, and then, when I wasn't drinking.

But, I remembered that one, angry doctor, and I read, once, twice, ten times, twenty times, that these were all symptoms of anxiety, before my appetite and thirst slowly started to return.

I realized that I had picked up a case of strep throat, began taking care of it, and started taking care of myself, again.

I was able to wind-down at some low-key, holiday functions, and was overcome with a sense that my life had been spared from imminent catastrophe, although I was never particularly in any danger, which I had not caused myself, through neglect.

Yeah, this is pretty familiar to me. It's like every single thing becomes a new avenue for panic to move in and everything increasingly feels unsafe until there's not much left you can do without triggering another attack. I believe this is agoraphobia. One way I coped with this was actually moving out away from where all the panic had happened because I was starting to associate the place with the attacks, and spending as much time away as possible. I don't think that's generally a good option, though.

It may help to get a therapist to be able to talk about this. I don't know what to say about the pills, although I suspect that benzodiazepines effectively make panic attacks impossible - so if you took the pill, you'd get the attack, and then it'd stop and the pill would probably knock you out the first several times you took one... But that's still, getting over that hurdle, right?

I'm not sure what to suggest, because without the pills to stop them - and they do stop them - I don't think I would have been able to develop coping mechanisms for when I didn't have the pills. It might be worth a try to attempt if the pills do no good.

Another possibility might be valerian, which is a stinky herbal extract that can come in liquid form that also helps with anxiety. It's not nearly as strong as benzos (like klonopin) but maybe a liquid will help where a pill would cause problems?

For now, it helps me to know what a panic attack is. I think that knowledge has put me further ahead than I've been in months.

I know that dwelling on side effects is a definite trigger for me, but are you able to function on these drugs? Or, do you only use them very occasionally?

Initially they knocked me out. Once I got used to them, I was able to take them and not fall asleep. I could be functional although I had no anxiety responses to anything, which could be good or bad depending.

I mean I went to job interviews after having taken one.

The real problem is the chance for rebound panic attacks after they wear off. I didn't really have that problem, or if I did the rebound was much milder than what I was getting on my own. Some are worse for this than others.

I don't currently take anything for panic attacks. Given how infrequent they've been I am not sure I need it?

I've never had a true panic attack, so this may not help. I apologize.

If I really overdose on caffeine, I will have the symptoms of a panic attack: anxiety, trouble breathing, heart racing, sweaty hands, that kind of thing. My lungs actually feel like they're frozen, I take a breath and it feels like I haven't inhaled at all.

If it's not that bad, I'll read something that has no emotion attached to it, the comics, or sudoku or some such thing. If it's really bad, I go into a seperate room. I will try to get control of my breathing by (I know this sounds nuts) singing. Very softly, because I'm tone deaf.

Panic attack and too much caffeine are very much the same feeling.

I used to wash down a heavy breakfast with la arge pot of coffee, and sweat it all out, doing hard work in the heat.

Before I had a name for this condition, it took less and less caffeine, to make me feel the same way, until I was just overwhelmed all the time.

Besides the breath control, I will also vouch that music, or something that you really care about, can help emotional release. There's something about decompressing that makes it all come out.

On top of AS, I have Agoraphobia! I still haven't figured out how to stop the panic attacks, sorry. :/

I got them all the time at the drop of a hat as a kid.

I had a particularly bad bout of depression during which I experienced frequent panic attacks. That was 8 years ago and I hadn't had one since , until a couple weeks ago . Telling myself/ having others tell me that it was just a panic attack which I had been through many times before and that I was not dying helped to shorten the duration and lessen the severity of the attack.

Hearing that it was only anxiety, from a judgmental person, made me feel worse. I think it's important to hear it from a non-obliging person.

It is certanly not "only anxiety." Anxiety is excessive, intrusive worrying about things that may or may not be likely to happen. When I took a trip with a friend recently, my worries about accidents or about having the car towed because something went wrong, or some other such thing was anxiety. If it had prevented me from going, it would have been impairing in that instance. Panic attacks are the feeling that death or maybe some other horrific consequence is imminent, or at least the feeling that if you don't act right now, death is inevitable. They may be a form of anxiety in the same way that totally wrecked car was in a "fender bender."