New to anxiety attacks

[Lokahanawan]

Hello to everyone,

I am new to this forum & to anxiety/panic attacks. I experienced my first one this year, the day after my husband had his heart surgery. I was in the shower when I suddenly felt my heart race & it was a bit hard to breathe. I managed to finish my shower in between the racing heart & shortness of breath but then it got worse. I'm glad my friend was with me at the time because I felt like I was having a heart attack because I checked my blood pressure & it was high. My hands & feet started tingling & I felt faint. My friend called 911 & I was surprised that when the paramedics arrived my symptoms started to subside. Has anyone had similar symptoms? They brought me to the hospital but was not prescribed any medication. That time my insurance was in transition. I was in the process of changing my primary care physician & wanted to wait until the change to take effect to schedule an appointment and I did and it will be tomorrow. Since the first attack I had 2 similar ones but this time I didn't have the racing heart. My blood pressure went up & it felt hard to breathe.
I want to know, what medications were prescribed to you & how effective are they. I also plan to ask my doctor about psychotherapy. Do you think it'll help? I also got more weepy lately. Is this also a sign of depression? But then after I cry I feel a little relieved. My husband suffered a recent heart attack & had to undergo open heart surgery & I'm afraid I might have what he has so maybe this is fueling my anxieties. I have had to call off sick since I went back to work & I hate that fear of when the attack will come again. At church, I cry and when I pray I cry too and feel relief but suddenly get overwhelmed again. Is it this debilitating? Today my husband wanted to do errands but I had to tell him to cut the list short because I was afraid I might have an attack. I was prescribed Lorazepam on my last ER visit as needed and had it with me but have not taken any.
Hope you can give me suggestions on how to cope because I'm afraid my coping mechanisms have gone caput...

[Simmy09]

Hi there. I am also new here. I can identify with a lot of what you are saying. I have been on Lorazepam before. I hate medication and didn't take it properly. Perhaps it could have helped but there's no way of knowing.

I too am quite tearful and cry at the drop of a dime. My emotions have been all out of whack as of late. My anxiety has come on strong which is what I believe drovee back to being depressed. I personally believe psychothrtapy helps but you have to find the right professional. Like medication, finding the right therapist can be a lot of trial and error.

What's helped me is simply opening up to friends and family. Some may not cg understand completely but you will find that others are supportive and may open up about their own struggles with it. We all have anxiety to some degree. Others just have it more where it morphs into a disorder.

To get back, for me I will choose psychotherapy, talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy any day over meds. Simply getting yourself to relax can help with all other symptoms too.

Sorry if I'm rambling. Just know you aren't alone. We can and we will be okay. :-)

[Lokahanawan]

Thank you! As I read your thread I can't help but cry right now because I know I need to reach out to family & friends but I'm one who feels like I can do it all my own & I know I can't. I've been pampered by my husband since we got married you see & seeing him like this really hurts. I will have my first therapy session this Monday.