bobafett22
10-16-2015, 03:34 AM
My panic attacks started about 2 years ago, when I overdosed on speed. I had terrible chest pains and went to the hospital, where the doctor told me my heart had probably spasmed. Following this I had chest tightness for a week. I went to do a couple of ECG's after this because I was very worried about my heart being damaged, but I was assured nothing was wrong with it. Still, I couldn't shake the fear I had over this, and there was constantly this very uncomfortable jittery feeling in my chest. I began having episodes where I was certain my heart would spasm, or even have a heart attack.
As you do, I googled it an infinite amount of times and that's how I learned of panic attacks. I concluded this was what I was having, and began self-medicating with benzos such as Valium and Rivotril. I also stopped drinking coffee, as it would trigger the attacks. When I took these pills I felt normal, good even. But as soon as they wore off the anxiety was there, and once, twice a day I would have attacks of chest pain and terror. After a couple of months of daily benzo medication the police came to my house with a search warrant and confiscated everything. The weeks that followed were awful, stopping the benzos made the attacks even more frequent and terrifying.
After this I moved to a new city. This helped alot and the attacks came more infrequently. Now I could get one or two weeks respite, with just mild anxiety everyday. A great year in my life passed and I moved again, to where I live now. I'm now at a point where I rarely get a full-on panic attack anymore. I still get anxious attacks but with breathing and relaxation exercises I stave them off. I've even started drinking one or two cups of weak coffee every day, and my goal is being able to drink black coffee without any adverse effects.
TL;DR
What I'm wondering is if it's a realistic goal to rid yourself completely of anxiety attacks? Before my incident over 2 years ago I was never aware of my beating heart unless I checked with my fingers. I would get nervous, sure, but never the anxious jitter in my chest. I want to go back to how I was then! Has any of you here been able to do this?
As you do, I googled it an infinite amount of times and that's how I learned of panic attacks. I concluded this was what I was having, and began self-medicating with benzos such as Valium and Rivotril. I also stopped drinking coffee, as it would trigger the attacks. When I took these pills I felt normal, good even. But as soon as they wore off the anxiety was there, and once, twice a day I would have attacks of chest pain and terror. After a couple of months of daily benzo medication the police came to my house with a search warrant and confiscated everything. The weeks that followed were awful, stopping the benzos made the attacks even more frequent and terrifying.
After this I moved to a new city. This helped alot and the attacks came more infrequently. Now I could get one or two weeks respite, with just mild anxiety everyday. A great year in my life passed and I moved again, to where I live now. I'm now at a point where I rarely get a full-on panic attack anymore. I still get anxious attacks but with breathing and relaxation exercises I stave them off. I've even started drinking one or two cups of weak coffee every day, and my goal is being able to drink black coffee without any adverse effects.
TL;DR
What I'm wondering is if it's a realistic goal to rid yourself completely of anxiety attacks? Before my incident over 2 years ago I was never aware of my beating heart unless I checked with my fingers. I would get nervous, sure, but never the anxious jitter in my chest. I want to go back to how I was then! Has any of you here been able to do this?