Palpitations are just so weird. They come and go like storms must have before there were weather forecasters. You just wake up and get wet, some days are sunny, and every once in a while you're house is blown away.
I'm a traveler, I'm usually cool the first week, week 2 I'm on daily Xanax (0.25 4x a day) and by week 4 I'm in full blown panic mode (constant palps, paranoia, crying jags etc).
This trip I prepped in advance, got a RX for 10mg daily Lexapro, my 0.25 stopped working so I moved to 0.50 4x a day and MAN - what a beautiful trip! I spent 28 days going through Japan, Korea, Taiwan etc. Not a single palp, or fear. Even went up two huge towers. Of course still tired very easy, feet hurt, and got worn out after 7,500 steps per day.
I felt SO GOOD, I stopped being militant about taking my xanax.. 6am, 12pm, 6pm, 12am.. Those can be hard to maintain when hungover..
Then... (drum-roll), 2 days before returning - I drank a beer at a microbrewery, instantly it felt like my throat was tight, and I couldn't swallow... The symptoms went away in a few hours, assumed I was allergic to some chemical in brewing process and thought nothing more of it - till the palps started... That night had them once every 10 min or so.
The next day every 1 to 2 min palp. After 48hr of hell - I uppped my Xanax dosage to 1mg 4x a day, and I feel like i'm at a zombie party, sluggish, sleepy, not myself - but the palps have almost vanished.
1. Do I stay on this regiment for a week, then taper back to 0.50? Or am I stuck on the 1mg pills now?
I have a 90 day trip coming up in November - most of it booked, and I just don't feel like I can do it.. My brain is willing but my mental illness is not.... Would upping my Lexapro to 20mg help?
Any advice?
Palps are just so strange, coming out of no-where, ruining your life for a week or a month, then disappearing for months.