So, I believe I have covid 19 and I am finding it hard to cope with that and panic disorder. Does anyone have any advice on how to treat both illnesses at once

Im becoming a lot more calm and having less panic attacks, and im a lot more aware about things. I will find myself realizing things and having very intelligent thoughts while meditating. I use theta wave sounds I’ve noticed they have helped me more then anything else. Best of luck fellow meditators.

Two weeks ago, I got diagnosed with a panic disorder.

It's complicated, but the gist is:

• You start with an ordinary, low-level anxiety disorder.
• The anxiety disorder is untreated or ignored.
• A big stressful event happens. You begin having panic attacks.
• You typically start to associate a specific thing with the panic attacks. For example: The panic attack happened in a doctor's office, so you become afraid of doctors--
• -- so now every time you go to the doctor, it sets off another panic attack, which reinforces the problem.
• You often don't realize you're having a panic attack. Most people don't know what panic attacks really are or what they feel like. People often (mistakenly) think they're dying or having a heart attack.

So basically:

• Something stressful happened to Chuck (his divorce + Jimmy becoming a lawyer). He began having panic attacks.
• Because he believes he's allergic to electricity, he's afraid of electricity-- so now he has a panic attack whenever he's exposed to it. This reinforces his belief.
• It happens every single time he's exposed, so he think it's obvious he must be allergic to electricity, so he's insulted and angry when people doubt him. (I am not crazy!)
• His symptoms get worse whenever he's fighting with Jimmy.
• He's unwilling to believe this is a mental disorder, so he never receives treatment.

Anyway, this was probably really obvious to some people, but it was mind-blowing for me. Before this, it was obvious that Chuck was not allergic and that he actually had some sort of psychosomatic illness, but I thought he was, like, giving himself heart attacks or something. I didn't realize he was having run-of-the-mill panic attacks.

Anyway: Take your meds and go to therapy, kids. Medication has changed my life.

A+ writing

Anybody else dealing with anxiety / panic attacks I'm here to respond.

I am seeking advice on how to best submit for a benefits increase from a current 50% MH rating for (Major Depressive Disorder, Panic Disorder and other specified trauma stressor related disorder with alcohol use disorder). My original claim was submitted back in 2015 for PTSD. However my C&P examiner wrote that I didn't show signs of PTSD but did meet the criteria for other MH issues and I received this current rating instead even though I had a diagnosis for PTSD from a VA physiatrist and it is listed under my problems list. My VSO at the time said not to worry as the VA will only give you one MH rating, so you are good? For the past 6 years I have been attending all my VA doctors appointments, community service board PTSD group meetings physiologists 1:1's monthly. In addition to completing the VA SATP twice in the past 6 years for alcohol and MH. Question... When submitting my request for this MH increase, I am confused as to which DBQ to ask my doctor to complete? should I submit for PTSD using the PTSD DBQ? or submit for a Major Depression increase using the DBQ used for "MH issues other than PTSD"? Any thoughts or actual experiences you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

i overdosed on 2 cans of red bull due to an infection in my blood stream. after i came out of hospital i was convinced there was something wrong with my heart even though im perfectly healthy. ive had panic disorder which pretends to be heart attacks/strokes for 2 months now. ive come a long way, i can leave the house again go on long drives and drink up to 1 pint of beer which i was too scared to do last month. also ive been able to change my mind set from "im going to have a heart attack" to "its just anxiety ittl go away eventually".

im just wondering has anyone ever fully recovered from panic disorder or do i have to accept living with heart attack symptoms for the rest of my life?

ik ik yes I tried phenibut,kratom, and even alcohol. They definitely work but not at all enough. Benzos are the only ones that work. I have a psychiatrist appointment sometime in February. If I’m not prescribed a benzo right away I’m self medicating again with rc’s. I’m at that point…I can’t keep living like this. I would much rather prefer my benzo use to be regulated. I’ve always had extreme social anxiety and a good bit of generalized anxiety (It’s extremely likely that I’m on the spectrum). Although my anxiety is severe I’ve only had a handful of panic attacks sober in my lifetime. How likely is it that I’ll be given another pointless ssri type medication if I tell them the truth that I don’t get panic attacks? I want to be honest but if it’s almost impossible… Rn I’m on vyvanse, buspar, and mirtazapine. I have cycled through ssri type medications for about 4 years.

Please share positive stories of it helping your dissociation. I’m so sick of living like this.

This is going to be long, but here goes. I'm 48 and have had panic attacks and severe anxiety after I was sexually abused at the age of 5.

I was diagnosed back in 1996. I had no idea what was wrong with me all those years. I hid in silence because I could not explain adequately what I was experiencing to my parents and they just thought I was being a drama queen when I had my attacks. When I would have a panic attack I would tell them "I am getting nervous again". I spent my whole childhood and young adulthood feeling weird and different. I couldn't go to normal things like sleep over parties, or socialize like everyone else because of the "spells" I would get. I only had one good friend and was uncomfortable in crowds or with a lot of people. I am an only child and always felt lonely.

One night back in 1996, I was panicking so bad and so extremely depressed that I called a crisis hotline. They told me I was having panic attacks and gave me the phone numbers of experts to call. I finally had a name for this horror. My first therapist and Psychiatrist were great. I had CBT therapy in conjunction with low dose Xanax and Prozac. Then a year into treatment, I lost my insurance coverage and could not afford to see these providers anymore.

Over the years I took breaks from therapy, but kept taking my meds because I could only afford one provider. Fast forward to a few years ago and my psychiatrist of 21 years decided it was time to retire. He told me I was fucked. I asked why. He told me because nobody was going to prescribe me Xanax as there is a war on drugs going on.

He had to taper me off of them just before he was set to retire. He first tried giving me a low dose of Valium along with a tricyclic antidepressant. The tricyclic depressant made me very sick and I felt zombie like so I dropped it. Prozac was no longer working on me and over the years I tried at least 15 different SSRI antidepressants and none worked or they made me feel bizarre.

I was on a low dose of .5 mg Xanax twice a day for 21 years and never had to raise my dose. The Valium taper was making my panic attacks much worse so he switched it to Xanax extended release and I was back to having 4-5 major panic attacks a day. Then he walked out of my life forever and I had no meds at all.

Over the next 3 years I could not find one doctor who would prescribe me Xanax and would only give me antidepressants which are useless for me or make my condition worse. I ended up quitting my job of 6 year

I know this might sound crazy but I too have been diagnosed with panic disorder when I started having panic attacks twice a day randomly out of no where. I went from walking around one day to being completely wheelchair bound the next and for the next 2 months. Ive stopped having panic attacks all together now but still have a beast of a time driving. I get very tense. Also sitting. I tend to do better reclining or standing. I have a really hars time accepting that this is what is wrong with me and feel like Dr.s just group everything into the anxiety category when they cant or dont want to figure out the real issue.

One thing that really exhausts me that I feel gets overlooked is the frustration panic disorder causes. I can’t trust myself! The average person has natural signals in their brain that warn them of danger. When they begin to feel that awful terrifying feeling of impending doom they’re aware that their gut is telling them something is VERY wrong. Each time I have a panic attack I genuinely feel my life is in danger, but I have to ignore that feeling & if I dare let it physically project everyone close to me (or strangers in public) begin to see me as crazy. When you can’t trust yourself & others don’t trust you & your damaged intuition is firing off danger signals constantly it is beyond aggravating & honestly horrifying. When people ask me whether or not I’m ok during an attack I tell them “I don’t know” because I genuinely don’t know! I’m left in this state of limbo & fear because no one, including myself trusts me.

Can anyone else relate? 🥲

Ps. Yes I’m on meds & seeing a therapist haha

I don't want to go into every detail but I suffer from an anxiety disorder and it makes school and home life very difficult.

Besides DSA, are there any other support organisations to help me with my disorder?

I’ve struggled with panic disorder and panic attacks ever since I had my first one and I got stuck in a loop of fearing it would happen to me again, before that I lived a normal life. It’s been 2 years and I’m exhausted of this. My main question is, does anyone know if this is literally all in our heads? (Even if the physical feelings are real) is this something that we 100% CAN control, we just don’t? Or is it some sort of chemical imbalance that only being medicated can help?

Hi! I recently began to struggle with a panic disorder. It started with me panicking every time I felt a slight pain in my arm or chest, I could swear that I was having a heart attack or serious health issue. Now the panic attacks come daily MULTIPLE times a day, with no trigger or warning. And its not that I’m feeling sick anymore, it’s just insane fear, worry, and a very uncomfortable feeling. I completely zone out and find it hard to speak to others. They last from a couple minutes to 2/3 hours. I get paranoid being by myself and begin to get unwanted racing thoughts so now I can’t even be home alone for too long. I spoke with my psychiatrist and was prescribed Prozac (long term help) and Xanax (for immediate help). I’m scared to start taking the Prozac because I’ve read about the intense side effects, but I’ve taken Xanax when I feel so much better within minutes. I’m really not trying to take it everyday because I’m scared of addiction. But I’ve started to wake up with horrible anxiety in the middle of the night multiple times a night and I honestly don’t want to depend on the benzos. I’ve tried CBD and it made my panic worse. Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice on how I can move forward?

Sorry for the long post but I'm kind of in a bad situation.

On New Year's eve for the first time I took amphetamine, and as I wasn't really feeling the effects I took a lot and of course I drank alcohol at the time (dumb, I know). I didn't feel any different, except at one point in the night my mood went downhill and I started crying, scared that my friends don't even like me. So my friends started cheering me up and I felt better and continued with the party after like an hour. I wasn't really feeling like myself for a couple days after, as I took strong painkillers for a couple of days straight because of an ear infection. One night I woke up drenched in sweat and had a strong panic attack, first one in years. It took me a long time to calm down. For the next 10 days every night I was scared of it happening again and paranoid so I had to make my body fall asleep on its own by going to bed really late. Long story short I'm in the middle of my second panic attack and I need to know if it was drugs that might have caused it. One thing I know I won't be touching any drugs for a long while now. I have an appointment scheduled with my psychologist, but being in this state right now it seems like eternity. I'm considering buying CBD oil as I've heard it helps. I'd be very grateful if you could help me with that

I’ve struggled with my mental health since the age of ten. Finally diagnosed at age 19. I haven’t worked in exactly ten years. Been on disability for 7 years. I have zero friends. I don’t have family that I’m close with but live at home with my mom. (Who I never see). I feel like I’m stuck in a nice isolated jail (my room) and I can’t even go out if I wanted to because of my anxiety. Isolation makes things so much worse. Has anyone dealt with or is dealing with a similar situation? On top of that I still feel like a 19 year old teen stuck in a 29 year old body because I’ve done nothing with my life.

31 Female 150 pounds No medications I vape but do not smoke cigarettes or use cannabis Symptoms for 6 years

Where do I begin 😅 I’ve been suffering from extreme cardiophobia for about six years now. It all began from taking a dab (cannabis concentrate) and fainting afterwards. I never had anxiety from using cannabis in the ten years I used it, but I had an extreme panic attack with heart racing, sweating, and fear. Ever since then, I have become obsessed with taking my pulse multiple times a day. I’ve also been suffering from intense heart palpitations off and on. Currently not experiencing the heart palpitations as much, but I never experienced them before the cannabis episode. I don’t use cannabis anymore.

I have had multiple tests done on my heart. Several EKGs, an echo, holter monitor, the works. All tests showed my heart is fine. But I cannot seem to shake the fear that something is wrong with me.

Most recently, a new symptom has emerged. Nocturnal panic attacks. A few months ago I woke up with extreme fear/impending doom/heart racing/tingling face and hands/uncontrollable shaking/tight chest. Almost every single night I either wake up in a panic, or upon waking in the morning I have a small panic attack. I’ve pretty much learned that it’s not going to kill me (although that’s what it feels like) but I am absolutely miserable.

I went to an urgent care desperate for answers as I have exhausted ERs and can not afford them, and was prescribed hydroxyzine. Problem is I of course googled negative side effects and I’m now fixated on Long QT syndrome. My anxiety has me too scared to take medication for anxiety. It’s an endless, miserable cycle. I also have a bottle of propranolol collecting dust.

What can I do? Doctors tell me I’m fine but I don’t feel fine. I don’t have typical anxious thoughts as most of my symptoms appear only physically, which in turn makes my mind go crazy as if somethings wrong internally. Am I safe to take either of these medications?

Edit: also want to say that I’ve had a history of drug abuse (cocaine, mdma, ketamine 🥴) so I’m wondering if being clean for three years and in somewhat of a detox has manifested itself in panic and anxiety? That’s my self diagnosis 😅

Hi.

For a faster read, scroll down to the numbered paragraphs.

For the fastest read, scroll to the bottom 4 paragraphs.

For the slowest read, read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

I suffered from panic disorder for around 9 years. I now no longer suffer from them, and it's been like that for 2-3 years.

A year ago, I made a long reddit post detailing my situation and progression in strategies, including how I eventually stopped suffering. As I mentioned, it's a rather long post, but to summarize it very briefly: I am a professional musician and used to get panic attacks consistently while performing on stage. This lasted for around 9 years and was a huge negative in my life. Eventually I was able to fully ACCEPT my panic attacks, which in turn caused me to not get them anymore.

If you have any interest in reading the full on yammering version, that's here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PanicAttack/comments/ja4x0y/musician_with_a_decade_long_panic_disorder_no/

Since I posted that, a few people have reached out to chat about their own struggles with panic attacks. I greatly enjoyed talking with them as I fully know the despair that panic disorder can bring and I also fully know how talking with someone/not feeling alone in your struggle can be really validating. In talking with these people and in having more time to reflect on my recovery, I've thought of a few ideas that I didn't include in my initial post/rewording of things that might make more sense to people. I'd love to share them here.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm not an expert on panic. I will however state everything matter of factly, so just assume that every sentence begins with the phrase "in my humble opinion".

1.) Your recovery will be/feel more spontaneous than it will be planned. In my initial post I said that my most important point was that "you will stop caring if you have panic attacks before you stop having them". I still believe this is the case and wanted expand upon it. The normal reactions when faced with something as scary as panic disorder is to either run from or fight it, (fight or flight) We get so freaked out by the panic that we often try to escape it, often times by avoiding situations that trigger it. (flight) We either stay in that strategy and live a restricted life, or we move on to trying and "beat" the panic. (fight) This is where I lived for a very long time and includes researching all sorts of strategies to arm you against your panic enemy. If you'r

I was never officially diagnosed with Avoidant Personality Disorder, but a psychological assessment I had to do for ADHD screening, strongly suggested I might have it. I also have panic disorder, which I've been long aware of, as it began in early high school. I'm curious as to how common these two disorders are together. Could panic disorder be misread as AvPD? How many people have both of these "disorders"?

"Just exercise". "Keep yourself busy". "Its all in your head, just tell yourself you're fine". "I know you feel like youre having a heart attack, have you tried to meditate it away?"

I cannot fix a chemical imbalance in my brain as easy as you fucking people make it sound like I can. Sometimes it gets bad enough to be seemingly out of my control. Your lack of good advice and your bullshit quick-fixes do not help at all.

"I give you options and you shoot them down without trying them".

You ever consider you're not the first to suggest it? Making me feel like shit during a panic attack really helps, eh?

I have been on 75mg of sertraline for almost 5 weeks, Still VERY anxious all of the time. Starting too think this is not the right med for me.. any one else ?

(trigger warning: lots of mentioning of vomiting and suicide, whining and bitching)

overview of my issue

This shit destroyed my life. I get furious thinking about how none of the adults around me ever helped me. 22 years old and I'm just beginning to understand this. I've had to figure out everything on my own. It all started a minute into my first soccer game when I was 10 years old. I'd been perfectly fine at practice and sports at school before this. I suddenly became hyper aware of dryness of my throat and threw up on the field. Since that moment I've had a fear of vomiting and will get what I suspect are panic attacks which heightens my gag reflex which causes it to be super threatened by things everyone else finds normal like phlegm or dryness. When the vomiting starts I can't stop until the feeling in my throat returns to normal. The act of throwing up causes more phlegm to come up which causes a feedback loop for my gag reflex and anxiety. I feel like I'm going to die because I absolutely cannot stop throwing up and I imagine I will somehow asphyxiate. The phlegm only clears my throat when my stomach is empty. This makes me more on edge on a full stomach. If I don't have plenty of water to rinse my mouth out to help clear the phlegm, I will have intergalactic levels of panic until I get to a source of water. I think it's a mix of panic disorder and emetophobia. It's the worst thing I've ever experienced. It's taught me that my mind will always betray me for no reason and that nothing will ever be okay. It's dissuaded me from physical activity for several years. It's taught me not to try and to always give up. Whenever I have an attack I just want to put a shotgun slug through my brain and shut down these worthless endocrine and nervous systems of mine so I never have to experience this shit again.

no one ever helped me

No one ever helped me. My horrible conservative, sex-after-marriage, dumbass pediatrician repeatedly just suggested post nasal drip and prescribed allergy medicine despite the fact that for the first several months I was experiencing this I severely restricted my diet to a some very select foods and threw up very often and was anxious 24/7. Yeah, post nasal drip totally does all that all the time right? No teachers at my elementary school understood. They thought I was pushing myself too hard physically despite it happening within a minute of physical activity, and me placing in the annual school race a couple years ea

I am agoraphobic as well as having had panic disorder. I suffer from panic attacks less often now though.

An app called Finch helped me immensely. It's free to download. I even boasted about it to my therapist, and she's been telling her other clients about it.

Basically, you journal and do journal exercises. There are breathing exercises and soundscapes. There's also a little SOS toolkit in there when you're going through an episode. And you take care of a pet! There's more than that, but It's honestly something I look forward to every morning. Honestly, I wish the app had a whole subreddit.

It worked really well for me, especially when I was spiraling out of control. I was having panic attacks every single day up to 10 times a day.

I just saw a post about Finch on another subreddit, and it made me think of you guys.

Also, a book called DARE by Barry McDonagh helped me start to conquer the panic attacks that started to manifest into physical symptoms. I would get chest pain, and I even got like hot burning sensations and vomiting after a while. This book really helped me a lot. It's free on Kindle Unlimited.

I left my job 4 years ago because of my panic and anxiety disorder, I haven’t been able to work since. It’s so embarrassing. My family and friends are supportive but I still can’t help feeling embarrassed that I can’t function like a normal human being because of this

Any tips .. had a panic attack for first time in years … used to have had disorder for years … was finally free .. losing control rn.. any tips to snap out of it .. positive messages only … love you guys ! This stemmed from trying to break out my bubble and start dating lol

(30) female. I feel like I’ve tried so many medication for anxiety and panic disorder the only one I can think of that helps is buspar. I’m on it 3 times a day but also coming off cymbalta because my dr doesn’t think it was helping. My anxiety has now regressed to how I was a year ago having multiple panic attacks a day. Thinking about trying Wellbutrin again. Lexapro is a no because when I took it I looked like a cracked out owl and m pupils were dialed. Any suggestions I can give my dr to try would be appreciated.

Side note: I do want to have children eventually but I need to get my anxiety under control.

Hello!

I'll cut to the details....

I had my first panic attack at age 10 for no reason. I noticed my nose went numb and my mind overreacted and I experienced a rush of all the fun symptoms you all know too well (whole body going numb, short breath, impending doom and certainty of death, blurred vision/turning dark, etc.).

I experienced attacks in public and at home for the next 2-3 years on a consistent basis. I didn't take medication or do CBT. I did develop some weird humming noise habit that seemed to be like a coping mechanism which would seem to help attacks from occurring.

About 3 years after my first attack, I decided that enough was enough. I decided to induce an anxiety attack and my goal was to have the worst anxiety attack I could ever have to show to my whole being that it wasn't a big deal. After trying this multiple times, each attack became less and less severe.

Even in public, when I start thinking "An anxiety attack might happen, it will happen, it is happening" (this is a classic way it happens lol), each subsequent attack became more and more manageable. Eventually I was able to just not care that it was coming because the intensity was so low and it didn't matter anymore.

It's been 15 years since I felt any semblance of an anxiety attack. I forgot I had them until I randomly stumbled on this subreddit lol. Everyone is different, but my ultimate advice would be to make a decision to directly confront your anxiety attacks privately, and develop a strong faith that what you are doing will cure you.

I have panic disorder and my doctor prescribed me 10 mg of lexapro. I know it's mostly for depression and GAD, so I'm a little skeptical about its effect on panic disorder. I get panic attacks every night, so I'm hoping this works for me.

I’ve been taking Busbar twice daily for 5 months and Xanax on an as needed basis for when I feel the onset of a panic attack or to get rid of one currently happening. Busbar worked great at first but as the doses increased I feel like my panic attacks got worse and more frequent. I brought this up to my doctor and he suggested I try the highest dose to see what happens. Worked fine for a week or two, then my panic attacks became worse than before the medication. It does absolutely nothing for me, which is so weird to me. I’ve been taking the Xanax almost daily for the last couple months because of this l, and even the lowest dose .25mg is super effective. Should I be worried about it’s addictive nature even though I am able to go multiple days without the Xanax as long as my panic disorder allows me to? Should I talk to my doctor about switching to Xanax as my daily panic attack preventative and then something else for a last resort as needed pill? Or is there another medication that worked well for you on a day to day basis?

As I’m sure all of us are, I’m so sick of living like this. I’ve done it for 12 years since I was 11 years old not knowing when my brain is going to go crazy and put me in pure terror.

I'm brand new to Vraylar (starting my second week), and I've been taking it at night. Honestly, my mood is already a thousand times better. I have more energy, less depressive moods, and it's been a godsend for productivity.

With that being said, my generalized anxiety and panic disorder seem to have gotten worse with the increase in energy. I do have Clonazepam to neutralize it when really necessary, but I prefer not to take it too often.

Is this a side effect that will taper off? Or should I expect my anxiety to stay elevated even after I've been taking it a while? I want to keep taking it, because I've felt amazing (despite some other side effects of insomnia and restlessness), but my panic disorder is quite crippling. Is there another good way to counteract this if it's expected to continue?

This is going to a long post but if you have the time to read, I would really appreciate it.

I kind of want someone else's opinion on my medication other than my doctors. So I have had a very hard life to say the least, My childhood was far from sweet and I experienced a new very traumatizing experience probably once a month from the moment I was born and that followed me all the way too my teenage years.

My parents were very bad drug addicts, So we're my siblings and I was the youngest I suffered very bad anger spells and would rage out for attention also had some suicide attempts very young I think first one was when I was 9 years old than more 11, 12, 13, 15, 18 and 20 but besides the point.

Fast forward too let's say 12 years old I started smoking alot of weed and drinking pretty heavy until I was 15. When I was 15 I got into a really bad car accident which left me doa, I woke up in the hospital strapped too a bed which made me very angry, Around this time I had been experimenting with Hallusagenic drugs also and had somewhat of an "enlightenment" I wasn't angry anymore or have uncomfortable anger fits where I would destroy everything, That part of me died when I was 15 but when I tried something called SAS which is pretty much MDMA I had a bad reaction,

I Was panicking very bad all night after that one dose of MDMA first time I had ever experienced anxiety. I woke up the next day, Rolled a blunt lit it and all of a sudden I was panicking not knowing what was going on with my body I went home crying to my mom telling her I was dying that feeling lasted an entire year, I never got on any meds for it.

I used hydroxyzine as needed but it just made me sleep and I felt really disconnected from reality in that time, I wouldn't even sit on my porch I was terrified of the sky,, My ears rang and I had huge pressure in my ears made me feel like I was on an airplane. I was completely agrophobic at 15 years old and I had no idea what agrophobia even was until I was 23, When I turned 16 and I just... snapped out of it out of nowhere it lasted one year. I never talked to a therapist, I was diagnosed one time by a CPS worker who came to my house and that was it.. I dropped completely out of school at 15 so my 8th grade year and never went back. The judge granted it due to my mental illness.

I lived totally normal, No anxiety.. no panic no medications of any kinds. I wouldn't travel or go on vacation, Because it scared me and made me think I was going

Hello! I’m f18 and I’ve been struggling with horrible health anxiety that sometimes worsens for the past year. I posted this on another anxiety related subreddit because of how desperate I am hehe.

It started with first heavy disassociation and being hyper aware of my existence and death to the point where I’d have extreme panic attacks for nearly an hour and just feel like I wasn’t real, or maybe too real. Idk I can’t even describe how horrifying it is properly without sounding insane.

After that it slowly started progressing into a fear of having a deathly allergic reaction to new foods I would try or things I didn’t eat often like seafood etc. I would feel like my throat was tightening on me and just would overall freak out. Keep in mind I’ve literally never had a bad allergic reaction to ANYTHING except for sneeze attacks with cats and hives all over my body with cauliflower but never anything that affected me terribly. It’s not my first time dealing with anxiety relating to food and the tightness in my throat as I had a huge fear of choking when I was younger as well and could barely eat our at restaurants for a while bc of it, so I’ve never really had the best relationship with food to begin with.

Then that slowly progressed into fear of ALL foods and for a good week I was living off of Ensure protein shakes and whenever my anxiety gets too bad I just resort back to drinking them. Luckily I’m a lot better now at eating, just not too much new stuff I’m uncomfy with.

Now I’ve become a bit of hypochondriac and been worrying that I have random diseases that relate to my anxiety symptoms. I’ve been having black streaks in my phlegm for months now (I don’t smoke or live in an area with poor air quality) so I was a bit worried about lung cancer for a while. Then I was worried about epilepsy because I would get nauseous and dizzy around bright lights and am HORRIBLY afraid of seizures (even though I’ve never had nor anyone in my family). More recently it’s been asthma and I’ve felt out of breathe and a tight chest (which is a common symptom of my anxiety attacks) but I’m worried about the correlation to asthma (again no one in my family suffers from asthma) I also went to the doctor for check up and even got blood work done and everything came back perfect and perfectly healthy but I just worry they just didn’t look close enough or something because my symptoms feel so unbelievably real sometimes.

Usually it’s eating that triggers my anxiety attacks

In June, I had my first panic attack randomly after smoking a delta 8 cart. I had smoked them a couple months before, so it wasn’t new for me. I was a previous marijuana smoker a couple years before this without having a panic attack.

Since I’ve been having panic attacks, I’ve made so many changes in my life. I quit vaping and all nicotine products, I quit THC, I started eating healthier and cut out sweets, I started an SSRI in July (Sertraline 50 mg, which was then increased to 100 mg a couple months ago).

For the last couple of months, I notice that my heart rate goes up when I barely do anything. It doesn’t go super high, maybe low 100’s at most. I can get out of bed and walk to the bathroom, and it’ll go up and I feel somewhat winded, not totally out of breath. It’s frustrating because I’ve never had this problem until my panic disorder kicked off.

I can’t help but think I have heart problems. I’ve had two EKG’s and two chest X-Ray’s done, plenty of labs, and checked out numerous times by medical professionals. Everything is normal. I’ve never been told I have an irregular heartbeat or anything of such. Yet, I can’t help but feel that something is wrong.

I’m frustrated because, I bought a home BP Monitor last week. I used it twice, and both times it had an irregular heartbeat light flashing. Once again, I’ve never been told I have this. Maybe the monitor is inaccurate. It’s just frustrating. I go to my PCP again next week. I’ve made her aware of this issue, a clinic that I am established at every 6 months is also aware of this issue, and the hospital staff is aware of this issue. Nobody seems concerned, so IDK.

Hello!

I’ve recently been diagnosed with panic disorder. It all began 4 days after starting meds for colitis/kidney stone. Now I have daily panic attacks. It’s been 3 long and excruciating weeks full of panic attacks that seem to start without any triggers. I’ve only experienced this after smoking too much weed, but only a few times. I went to urgent care and a PCP to rule out any other health issues and so far every doctor has told me that I am healthy.

Also, I recently developed this weird feeling that goes from my neck to my torso. It’s like sensitivity/tickling/tingling. Sometimes it get so uncomfortable I can’t sleep. It also has led me to really long panic attacks. Has anyone else felt this?

Also, I was prescribed with Prozac yesterday and will start taking it today. Has anyone had the same experience as me and if so, did Prozac help?

Thank you!

hi everyone, i’ve been on dating apps for a few months, but i have never met up with anyone from them, because i am too nervous. recently i deleted tinder and bumble and stuck with hinge, because i believe that’s where more people want actual relationships. there have been many nice people who want to go on dates with me, but every time they ask me i start shaking and start into a panic attack. i want to find someone very badly, but it feels impossible when i’m stuck in this cycle.

This is going to be long, but here goes. I'm 48 and have had panic attacks and severe anxiety after I was sexually abused at the age of 5.

I was diagnosed back in 1996. I had no idea what was wrong with me all those years. I hid in silence because I could not explain adequately what I was experiencing to my parents and they just thought I was being a drama queen when I had my attacks. When I would have a panic attack I would tell them "I am getting nervous again". I spent my whole childhood and young adulthood feeling weird and different. I couldn't go to normal things like sleep over parties, or socialize like everyone else because of the "spells" I would get. I only had one good friend and was uncomfortable in crowds or with a lot of people. I am an only child and always felt lonely.

One night back in 1996, I was panicking so bad and so extremely depressed that I called a crisis hotline. They told me I was having panic attacks and gave me the phone numbers of experts to call. I finally had a name for this horror. My first therapist and Psychiatrist were great. I had CBT therapy in conjunction with low dose Xanax and Prozac. Then a year into treatment, I lost my insurance coverage and could not afford to see these providers anymore.

Over the years I took breaks from therapy, but kept taking my meds because I could only afford one provider. Fast forward to a few years ago and my psychiatrist of 21 years decided it was time to retire. He told me I was fucked. I asked why. He told me because nobody was going to prescribe me Xanax as there is a war on drugs going on.

He had to taper me off of them just before he was set to retire. He first tried giving me a low dose of Valium along with a tricyclic antidepressant. The tricyclic depressant made me very sick and I felt zombie like so I dropped it. Prozac was no longer working on me and over the years I tried at least 15 different SSRI antidepressants and none worked or they made me feel bizarre.

I was on a low dose of .5 mg Xanax twice a day for 21 years and never had to raise my dose. The Valium taper was making my panic attacks much worse so he switched it to Xanax extended time release version and I was back to having 4-5 major panic attacks a day. Then he walked out of my life forever and I had no meds at all.

Over the next 3 years I could not find one doctor who would prescribe me Xanax and would only give me antidepressants which are useless for me or make my condition worse. I ended up quitting my