Panic and no help

[tamy87]

Hi everybody,
12 years ago (I was 18 yo) I was diagnosed with GAD. I had to restart treatment with Lexapro every 2 years since then, cause panic attacks and phobias would come back. In February 2017 I moved to France. At that moment I was taking escitalopram after a relapse I had had in 2016.

In August 2017 I finished the treatment (under supervision) and I was feeling great, anxiety and panic free. But in January this years, anxiety started to come back. And soon afterwards I started with the most scary symptoms I’ve ever had: extrasystoles (PVCs) and irregular heartbeat in general. Since it was the first time in my life experiencing this, I ended up seeing a cardiologist you did blood tests, echocardiography and ecg. All was perfectly fine, except for an ecg I got done a panic attack and showed a long run of extrasystoles. The cardiologist wasn’t impressed or worried, he just said that if it bothers me too much, he could give me some betablockers but he didn’t think it was necessary.

So long story short, I ended up starting congnitive behavioural therapy and also visiting a psychiatrist who said I’m suffering from phobias and not GAD, and refused to give me any medication for the moment. I just rely on xanax 0.25 that my GP gave me (and doesn’t help that much).

My problem is that I have panic attacks every night, and I feel the awful heart related symptoms every time I step outside. I try breathing, meditation, etc but nothing seems to help me stop having these attacks and symptoms. What am I supposed to do? Every day becomes harder to live. I would appreciate any piece of advice! <3

[peters]

If youre attacks are that bad, and your doctor refuses to give you medication i definitely would consider changing the doctor. Normally you get some Benzos (maybe Xanax dont work for you, there are others which could work better) for acut treatement, and SSRI for a long term treatment.

Also i know some people who had success with psychoanalysis instead of cognitive behaivoural therapy, so you may want to check that out.

And always keep your head up. It will get better, eventually.
Its quite sad that were not able to use Monoamergics yet. From what i read, they could potentially be useful in the treatment of our panic attacks.

[tamy87]

If youre attacks are that bad, and your doctor refuses to give you medication i definitely would consider changing the doctor. Normally you get some Benzos (maybe Xanax dont work for you, there are others which could work better) for acut treatement, and SSRI for a long term treatment.

Also i know some people who had success with psychoanalysis instead of cognitive behaivoural therapy, so you may want to check that out.

And always keep your head up. It will get better, eventually.
Its quite sad that were not able to use Monoamergics yet. From what i , they could potentially be useful in the treatment of our panic attacks.

Thank you very much for your reply peters. I will see the psychiatrist again tomorrow, if she refuses again I'll look for a second opinion. I tried psychoanalysis some years ago but unfortunately it doesn't work for me.
I didn't know about monoaminergics, I'll read more about that