My Doctor Wont Help

[mark74]

Hi all
Im at my wits end here,just need some help/advice.Been suffering from panic attacks for most of my life now but always managed to cope untill 4months ago when for whatever reason it got to a point where i couldnt go out because of them.Anyhow after changing my doctor(because this practice is close to my home)he decided to not prescribe me ANYTHING.i was literally begging him to give me something to help me with my symptoms.Made a new appointment to see another doctor and guess what it was the same doc,same thing happened again and now i have just give up.Doctor says medicen is an option but not for now..........i hyave a counseller and do some CBT with her,doctor seems to think this will cure me,maybe it will but what about now.Doing my day 2 day things is areal struggle,thats if i can get around the panic to do them.My doctor says i have "a fear of fear"but wont prescribe me anthing.....sorry for going on but needed to sound off and hopfully be reassured tht im not going mental and get some advice

[Meltdown]

Maybe you should change Doctors again?

My Doctor prescribed Propranolol when I first had these symptoms , but at such a low dose (10mg) that they made no difference. I took nothing for more than a year, and really struggled.

Then I went back to my Doctor, and am now on 40mg once or twice a day, which really helps!

CBT does work, but takes time. In the meantime, change Doctor (or threaten to next time you see your current one!)

[PUGLETMUM]

:) hi mark, im afraid that i agree with your doctor, and current thinking is that meds have very little impact on 'fear of fear'. ive been there,ive had the meds, theyve worked and then you come off them and then at some point in your life your back with anxiety:wacko: the meds do work, but they also give you a false sense of security,and you fail to manage your symptoms alone. dont think im patronizing you because im not - ive felt exactly the same as you, three times in the last 10 years!!! one phase lasted for literally years!!!!well i could function but i had no control over my thoughts because i dint know that the anxiety was causing them and if i lowered the anx i would gain control of my mind:shrug: im only just recovering now from a period of anxiety that reduced me to where you are now, but im now better and i didnt take one tablet.

docs are very reluctant to give meds,because they can be addictive(very effective, but addictive and there arepplon here who will testify to that!),and because although you feel your world has come to an end, the doc has perspectiveon the matter and knows that you are suffering from high anxiety, which is caused by the panic cycle?until you stop being frightened of how you feel your anxiety will stay high. i would recommend starting immediately to work on your breathing, because you are probably breathing rapidly from your upper chest instead of getting air into your lower lungs(hyperventilating), and you could work on progressive muscle relaxation so you can identify when your muscles are knotted with tension. you have to do these exercises many times a day at first, its no good not doing them and then saying 'oh i still feel terrible, and i want something to take it away' this is a common request from ppl feeling like you are now. make a commitment to lowering your anxiety, through correcting your breathing and by learning to realx your body and within a few days you will start to feel human again:yesyes: and not only that but you get a real sense of acheivement because you learn that you dont have to be a slave to your negative feelings:winks:
tc, emma

[purplehaze]

Hi mark

Part of me agrees with emma because in the long term the medication wont pull you through. In the short term I dont think The doc is being that supportive and giving you something to help you now would be a stepping stone towards moving forward. It may be prudent to go back to the doctor and again formulate a plan with them. This may be a course of medication along with CBT or some other therapy. Yet in the mean time keep working on the areas that are causing you to panic and start to confront the fear step by step... remember we learn to be afraid and we can reverse this process...but dont look at medication as the only answer. I know exactly how you feel and I have begged my doc for many things during my bad times but I promise you that you will come through this as YOU DO HAVE IT IN YOU.

Take care

[neptuno]

Hello Mark !

Emergency tip for panic using EFT........

Tap you collarbone and say to yourself "I chose to be calm and in control"

Keep doing it as you feel your breathing calms down. This tip works for me and my "fear of the fear". You can find out more about EFT on
www.emofree.com (http://www.emofree.com) whre you can get free downloads.

Hang in there - we're all in the same boat !
Be kind to yourself

[Bill]

Once you go down the medication route, you can begin to rely on them to ease your panics and so coming off them can then raise your anxiety because you could feel you can't cope without them.

Your doctor knows that you're receiving CBT which is a long term solution to your panics whereas medication is only really of short term benefit, can have bad side-effects and only eases but not solves your issues.

I think your doctor is waiting to see if CBT helps you because it's the better option even if it does take time to be effective. If you don't respond to CBT then he may well consider the less favourable option of medication.

I cope fine without meds but I did once try them all without any lasting benefit so if it were me, I'd have more faith in CBT and in the meantime learn ways to cope with the panic symptoms your mind and fears are causing because it's far more beneficial in the long run.:winks:

[jacq]

Hi Mark,
I have been on both sides of the for and against meds. At my old doctors everytime i visited i was told medication was the only solution and i reluctantly tried cipramil which has got a good track record, but it was not right for me and i had terrible panic attacks, much worse than the original symptoms. I then tried propranalol and took them for 3 years, but although they stop the symptoms of the fear eg racing heart and shaking they dont really stop your thoughts so i still felt afraid. I then moved house as i could no longer leave the house to take the kids to school and had to move over the road to one, and had to change doctors. On my first visit for a repeat prescription he refused to renew it and told me to stop them straight away and that there was no evidence that you got withdrawal from beta blockers, but he couldnt offer me any alternative, not even counseling as i had had it previously he said there was no point trying again. Now 5 years of suffering later i was at my wits end and went back begging for some help and he reluctantly refered me to my local mental health service and a nurse visits me every monday for a couple of hours to chat. The strange thing is that this nurse is pushing for me to go and get a prescription for cipramil again saying i didnt give it long enough to work, but now i have a phobia of taking drugs and am scared to, but the nurse is saying that i am so afraid of the panic that i am not open at all to any suggestions he makes and if i was more relaxed i may feel some improvement. So who is right the doctor or the mental health nurse, it seems to me if they cant even agree then what hope have their patients got. I have decided that meds arent going to help me as i realise that they are only really masking the fear and that at some point either you have to stop taking them and deal with the attacks coming back or you stay on meds and your body gets used to them and you need bigger doses to get the same effect. Like you everyone has episodes where they think this has got so bad that i cant fight it anymore, then you realise a week or a month down the line that you have adjusted again until another symptom comes along to terrify you. It is just hard to remember at the time that it will pass and that we on this site are proof that there are probably hundreds or thousands of us feeling just like you at this very minute.

Jacq x

PS. i agree with neptuno i use EFT and find it a very good technique to concentrate on when you are panicking.

[Pink Panic]

Hi Mark,

Like Jacq I too was told by my GP that Medication was the only solution to my anxiety and I couldn't expect to get better without it but I was too terrified to take them.
Two years on my Psychiatrist now says that Medication is not the answer for me and wouldn't even give me Propranolol for my morning panic symptoms!
Counselling has been the answer for me, that and finding sites like this where others undertstand exactly how you are feeling.
Medication is the answer for some people but don't rule out other options as well.

Hope you begin to feel better soon.

Pink.

[Alabasterlyn]

I think this is a difficult one as obviously we all know how awful it is when our anxiety is sky high and we are desperate for a quick fix to calm ourselves down. However I am inclined to think that long term your GP is most likely doing you a favour.

I started with anxiety problems many years ago as a teenager and was only ever offered meds. I was put on benzos rather than given therapy and 27yrs later am now dependent on these dreadful meds. I have also been taking anti depressants for the last 13yrs as a direct result of the long term effect of taking benzos. All of this would be fine if I could say I felt okay, but I have very bad agoraphobia, health anxiety and depression even though I am on meds! To me this just goes to show that medication is not the answer on it's own.

As other people have suggested there are many things you can do yourself to ease your anxiety and perhaps we sometimes forget that we are able to empower ourselves by just taking some simple steps to help with our anxiety. Breathing exercises, relaxation, exercise and watching your diet are all things that will help your anxiety and give you the satisfaction of knowing that you don't always need to pop a pill to feel better :hugs:

[mark74]

Thanks all for youre re assurance that medication might not be the right thing for me.Its still hell trying to get through this but maybe long term it is for the good,i dunno only time will tell but at the moment it dosent feel i can get throught this

[trac67]

Hiya

I was on citalopram for 8 years and during that time they really did help me, but now I have come off of them I am back to square 1 and having to begin the fight all over again, meds do really only mask the problem, looking back now I wish I had never gone down the meds route and just fought it myself. Some doctors are far to quick just to dish out meds and push you out the door instead of getting to the cause of the problem.

Love

Trac xxx

[Cupcakes]

Hi Mark,
I have started taking st johns wort and used to have it years ago and it helped with general mood. Its only been about ten days , my problem is anxiety/panic that stop me from doing things and make me feel awfull , so uneasy , unsteady , I jolt alot when sitting quietly. I also take magnesium ok ( got b vitemins in it )good for nervous system , primrose oil capsules and a multi vitemin. I feel first time round they really did help me and chill me out so I wasnt panicing. It takes about 3 weeks to feel a difference. I swear by them , I know like the other guys said and your doctor said that you must address things yourself. But for me personally the fact that I am taking these things sort of makes me feel like I am helping myself and then gives me the strengh to tackle the rest. St johns wort has a forum called kellys st johns wort forum and it is a really informative site. I used to take kira st johns wort which is a bit expensive but this time round I have just bought some sainsburys ones £1.59 for 60 you take one or two a day. I know people say you get what you pay for , once I can comment on these I will , I need to give them a couple more weeks. Its the hypericin ingredient in st johns wort that is most important. A friend recommended the sainsburys st johns wort, so I thought what the heck. When you start taking st johns wort they do say that you may get sunburt a bit more easily because of increased photosensitivity or something ?!. So make sure shades are worn. I need to sort a few things out and am thinking about seeing a hypnotist too. As i just cannot relax ever, I am like a cork with a lot of pressure all the time and thats the adrenalin. Also watch your diet etc, excercise just take a walk even 5 mins . Keep stress to a minimum , dont commit yourself to too many things if it is hard at the moment , do one thing at atime , dont get ovre whelmed . Everyone is different , talk to some friends if you feel like you could confide in them, I did this as I was trying to act normal round my friends like nothing was wrong so stressfull, I just ended up sobbing and couldnt stop they were great. xxxx

[shoegal]

Hi Mark,

I'm not sure what the answer is. I think it depends on the individual. I have suffered from panic attacks on and off most of my life and when I was a teenager I was give valium like smarties, but now I can't even get the odd tablet for an emergency! I have recently used a low dose anti-depressant which I feel helped me to build up my confidence a little. I am now coming off these meds and I do not feel I am back to square one. I think without the short term meds I would have had difficulty even getting out of bed in the morning! I think long term it's good to get counselling and CBT to help you learn to cope with your symptoms, but I also think short term use of meds during a particulrly difficult time is fine. I think it's up to the individual because everybody is different.

I hope this helps a bit, and I hope you feel better soon.

Love and hugs from shoegal xxx