Panic attacks - long term health effects

[Grumpy_guts]

Hi guys,

I've suffered from anxiety and PAs for quite some time now, nearly 10 years and have been having a lot of panic attacks lately, particularly over the last month or two. I thought they'd cleared up a bit but they've come back with a vengeance, particularly in the middle of the night.

I've also started a new job in the last week and now have to get up quite a lot earlier in the morning than I have been used for the last 2-3 years. This is leading to me to being very tired but also being a bit anxious about having a panic attack in the night, disturbing my sleep and thus making me even more tired than I already am. Like most people I'm a lot more anxious when I'm tired and a lot more likely to have a panic attack and thus, as you can probably see, I'm in a bit of a vicious circle!

Although I'm sure the new job has accentuated the anxiety & PAs, I don't believe it's caused it.

In fact, alcohol seems to be my biggest problem at the moment and having even one or two drinks during an evening is enough to give me panic attack in the night. I don't drink during the week at all and although I like to have a few beers at the weekend, I don't knock back entire bottles of whiskey or anything like that!

I should also mention that I don't take any meds for my anx / PAs.

Anyway, my question here is: in the long term, are PAs bad for you? I know that an individual panic is not going to kill you, however, is having a panic attack every day for your entire life eventually going to lead to a heart attack or other complication? We're constantly told how stress is a major factor of heart disease and physiologically, general "stress" and anxiety / PAs are pretty similar, ie. increased heart rate etc.

I think in a roundabout way, I'm trying to decide whether to go back onto the meds or not... The panic attacks don't seem to be going away of their own accord and there's always some new "life event" that it's convient to blame the them on. I've tried counselling and herbal remedies etc but the only thing that ever worked properly were the various prescription meds from the doc. I stopped taking them some time ago due to the side effects and the fact that I felt I was a slave to them but now I'm thinking that if things aren't going to get better naturally and if my long term health could be in question, perhaps I should give them another go?

What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Terry

[andrewc]

Hi there

Sorry to hear what you are going through. Personally speaking I would go back on the meds. I for one couldnt do it without them. I feel great now and there is absolutely no side effects from them so what the hell.
I dont know what meds you were on before but I am taking Citalopram.
Started on 20mg then 30mg adn then 40mg.
I have now reduced to 25mg and I still feel fine. I will carry on reducing to see if I dont need them any more. If it turns out that I do then I will take them for as long as it takes

Best of luck

Andy

[noworriesnocries]

I would go back to my doctor and talk to him/her... maybe there are other meds that you can try...
I don't think panic attacks cause any harmful problems later in life even if they are frequent. i read in a book , i gorgot the name though, they even strengthen the heart, as it is getting quite the exercise

[Grumpy_guts]

I would go back to my doctor and talk to him/her... maybe there are other meds that you can try...
I don't think panic attacks cause any harmful problems later in life even if they are frequent. i read in a book , i gorgot the name though, they even strengthen the heart, as it is getting quite the exercise

That's interesting you say that because to my mind, part of benefit of excercising is raising the heart rate and get the blood pumping, which is of course, exactly what happens when you have a panic attack.

But then again, the same happens when you get stressed and as we're constantly told, that's bad for you...

So what's the difference? Obviously, when you excercise you stretch and tone your muscles, which is clearly a bonus but whats the difference between deliberately upping your heart rate by excercise and your heart rate increasing through PAs?

Will be going to docs soon to discuss the meds, just need to find a new doc as I've just moved house.