Mother of Panic Stricken Teenager

[ahewitt001]

Hi. I am the mother of a 14 year girl. She started with bad anxiety and panic attacks right when school started. The doctor prescribed proponolol for her and she started taking that today. She is having major naseau/vomiting in the mornings after taking it. She is on 15 mg 2 x a day. Will this go away as her body adjusts to the meds?

[mark84]

I have been on propranolol, I've never had that side effect, or even heard of it.
Unfortunately I was myself a panic stricken teenager, and WAS very often sick and nauseous in the morning before school, it's more likely to be a symptom of anxiety than of the medication.
I wish I'd addressed it when I was in my teens, so you are right to go down this path now,, it gets harder if you leave it. I'd advise seeing if any cognitive behavioural therapy is available in your area. The worst thing you can do is let/encourage her to avoid things, avoidance only leads to more mental anguish later on in life.
Good luck, let her know she's not alone, plenty of us here have gone through what she's going through now.
All the best, Mark.

[Hamster01]

Hi there

I was also a panic stricken teenager. Propanalol never made me sick, but anxiety has often made me sick in the mornings. Is there a cause for the anxiety? with me there wasn't, i was anxious about being anxious, scared of being scared. Tell her to try paul mckennas relaxation cd, i was dubious but it it so so good and helpful. Good luck and hopefully it will pass.

[vicky23]

I'm really sorry to hear you're having to witness your daughter going through this. Propranalol will only do so much, from my understanding it basically calms down the adrenaline response so that will help with symptoms like racing heart/ shaking etc but they wont do anything to stop your mind feeling anxious which is what causes the racing heart etc.
This is why cognitive behavioural therapy is so helpful because it helps us see the link between thoughts/emotions/ and how our body responds.


I would suggest going to the Dr who prescribed if you haven't already and ask if maybe the drug is not right for her for some reason or like the others have said it could be the anxiety that's causing the vomiting- did it just start after taking the first dose or has it always been an issue?

I do agree with Mark that avoiding situations that make her anxious will not help at all. However I think you'll need to exercise some wisdom here too, panic attacks are draining and it's important that she gets plenty of rest to recover. It's such a difficult balance to get but I'm sure you'll be able to discern with experience when she's avoiding situations that will make her anxious and when she's just totally wiped out and needs time to recover.

Remember to be aware of your own emotional health too, everyone here knows how horrible panic feels to go through but watching those you love suffer is horrible too. If you have a trusted person you can talk to that's great but there are also people here who are loved ones of panic sufferers, so if you feel you need to get some thoughts out in a safe place then post here and people will reply
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