panic attacks!!!!!!!! [Archive]

m15helle

06-03-09, 14:14

Hi i was just wondering out of curiosity if anyone has been through what i am experiencing today....i am agoraphobic and suffer from the dreaded p.a's...i dont usually have that many and really just feel on edge most of the time... but today its different- i have had the panic attacks on and off all day...not huge ones and not lasting for too long, but just constant.....could extra stress which is going on cause this as i feel like i am going mad!!! please share your experiences with me, as i would like to know what others go through aswell... thanks michelle xx

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chbun

06-03-09, 15:14

I have panic attacks/agoraphobia and anxiety on and off since I was 19. I am now 27. I have tried various forms of treatment - anti-depressants, beta-blockers, self help books, psychotherapy, herbal treatment and now CBT. I have beaten panic attacks off many times and relapsed back into them. I am currently having a relapse because my fiancee left me (he was my main source of support - we were supposed to be getting married next month - had to cancel the wedding, the dress - the lot). I have taken an extended period of time of work this time to try and conquer the anxiety for good. I have experienced panic attacks for days on end - up and down - peaks and troughs. It is truely awful and without doubt the worst thing I have ever experienced. Things that have helped me to beat panic attacks are: paroxitine (the first time) combined with a book called - 'Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway.' I didn't have a relapse for 2 years on this. Then my GP refused to prescribe Paroxatine and put me on Escitalapram. I was on this for 5 years and suffered a relaspe about twice a year ending with the one I am currently having. I was then moved to Venlafaxine (which disagreed with me) and now have been on Sertaline for a week.

Although the drugs help - they aren't the answer. They give me the motivation to fight the panic. I find beta-blockers very good at controlling racing heart and shaking but the andrenalin rush still appears I'm afraid. I have found the best thing to do it - is to accept the panic. Instead of fighting it - I think- 'ok I'm having a panic - let see if I can calm down without running away.' Sometimes I have done this and it DOES go but sometimes I give up and run to the hills. You've just got to keep trying -even if its only small things. I'm trying to do one thing every day that scares me and that is almost everything!

When in the midst of a really bad panic - I have found the following useful - listening to my IPOD when outside, phoning a friend, playing a game on my phone. When it really gets bad I take 3 7/11 breaths. Thats a breath in for 7 seconds 11 out. I put my hands on my stomach and really really force myself to concentrate. I also talk to myself in my head like I would talk to a child. In a really calm, slow voice. I practice doing this in my own home. I imagine what I am going to do first and bring on the best panic attack I can - then try and calm down. Imagine yourself as an experiment!:roflmao:

Charlottex