Hi my name is Jenni. Panic attacks are nothing new to me; I suffered from agoraphobia for 16 years during the late 1960's & 70's. During the years I occasionally had a panic attack, but coped with it. I developed depression after the death of my father. I was prescribed Seroxat, which I was told was NON ADDICTIVE. I was only supposed to take it for 6 months, in fact it turned out to be 6 years. In January this year I decided to come off Seroxat and gradually reduced the dose, until I was finally off this addictive drug in June. In August I became anxious and one night I woke up with a panic attack, something I had never experienced before. Then I started having them when waking up in the mornings. Insomnia set in and I became afraid almost to go to bed. I bought a couple self hypnosis CD's specifically for dealing with panic attacks. I found these really helpful and I thought I was on the way to panic free nights. Not to be, things are so bad now I am awake for hours during the night and despite practicing all the relaxation techniques for panic attacks, eventually they win. I have been unable to eat for the past 5 days. I am living on Complan and Horlicks. In desperation I reluctantly went to my GP yesterday who has prescribed 20mgs of Citalopram and 5mg of Diazepam to be taken at night. I am not happy to be on medication again, especially as I had gone through the withdrawal process of coming off Seroxat. I asked my doctor if coming off Seroxat had any bearing on my condition. He said no, the time gap was too long. I took the diazepam last night and looked forward to a good night's sleep. Sad to say, I woke up several times and was finally awake at 2.45am, unable to go back to sleep. Panic set in and today I feel awful. Sorry to make this such a long introduction but being almost 70 I have a long history. I find the forums really helpful and just to know there are so many others out who are fellow sufferers and understand just what having panic attacks are like, makes me feel I am not alone.
Regards Jenni
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