Hi from a newbie

[CreativeCliche]

Hi, I'm CC. I'm 42 and started having panic attacks about a year and a half ago. At first it was just one bad one then 12 months of nothing. Since December it's been a nightmare, though--I was under a lot of stress with a layoff and sending out my current book to agents, etc, and pressure just built and built. Around April everything went to hell and the anxiety attacks were back. Went to the doc and they did nothing but an EKG (fine) and gave me a scrip for Ativan. The stuff worked and made things a lot less intense, but lately I've been having minor attacks almost every single day. Along with the lovely new symptoms of chest pressure and pain, and back pain. So of course even though the Ativan makes it go away 95% of the time, I have heart issues, right? At least that's how my mind goes. *sigh* I've gone so far as to start taking a daily baby aspirin to be safe, because I'm that paranoid about it (tho in fairness, I do have a blood clotting disorder. It's unlikely this is anything but panic, but throw a clot in your lung once and you convince yourself every pain is another one). And today the Ativan didn't work except to get me mellow. Pulse is still up along with the BP. So that doesn't help. I popped more than a baby aspirin today, and damn it if I didn't feel better about 5 seconds after taking it. Too bad it doesn't kick in that fast, which means it's psychosomatic.

Thanks for all the posts from members who've had the same symptoms. I swear I would've been to the doc, lack of insurance be damned, ten times by now if I hadn't read the threads and realized it was pretty common with anxiety.

I've got one more week until insurance kicks in an then I'll be calling the Doc to do a cardio and gastric exam. I'm hoping having both done will ease my mind a little and convince me I'm not a minute from dying. I'm just tired of this--I lived through 9/11 and never had an anxiety attack, for pete's sake. This just came out of the blue, and now I feel like I've lost all control over my life. :-(

[Dcoito]

Welcome!

Your not alone here! Anxiety has an ugly effect on people for sure! Sounds like classic anxiety to me. And it can snowball into panic at times! The Ativan is just a bandaid, and should only be used in an emergency. Changing the you think is the most effective way! Realize it for what it is anxiety, tell yourself that you will be ok. And I need to relax and breath slowly through my nose, using my belly not my chest to breath. Anxiety is harmless! Just feels like hell! Once you weaken it's importance and not let it feed on you. The weaker it will get. Take time for yourself everyday to meditate, relax, breath, and think of good things! And get to your doctor as soon as you can for other help! But just know you are not alone, and you WILL be ok!

KNOW YOUR ANXIETY IN ORDER TO DEFEAT IT!

[CreativeCliche]

Thanks for the welcome, Dcoito. I'm trying to get back into yoga, but with family obligations and a husband who has to travel a lot, it's hard. There's no one night a week I know I can always make. I tried it at home, but my sweet kid wanted to do it with me. Which is nice, and very loving of her, but not really helpful when trying to relax--she has a habit of breaking out into giggles whenever she falls (which is a lot).

When the insurace kicks in, I'm going to get all the medical tests out of the way so I can eliminate anything physical once and for all. And I've already researched some therapists for after that's done. I'm betting it's hormones, given the pattern the attacks seem to follow, but with hormone therapy out for me, I'm going to have to find some alternative, and therapy-based, means of wrestling this beast under control. Until then the Ativan will have to do. My doc gave me a scrip for an AD, but it did really horrible things to my head. I'm not going on them again!

[Dcoito]

That's common with AD. It takes some time to adjust. Also you may need a different kind. Of start out slowly on a low dose. That's what I had to do. I take Paxil. Started on 10MG then 15. And on Monday increased to 20. It was my chose to do it that was because about 15 years ago I dealt with the same thing, and was prescribed Paxil, and I tell you I had horrible side effects! I believe the doctor started me on a to high of a dose. This time around I still had side effects but they was more tolerable. My body is still adjusting as I just increased, but I tell you at this point I am 70% better then I was on day one! And I started them just over a month ago. Your doctor will help you more as well, and after you get some of your concerns taken care of you will feel even more better! There is some good meditation exercises on YouTube from the honest guys. At night while the kids are sleeping try one out, can be very relaxing!