Desperate Panic / Anxiety attacks - whose dealt with them and how have you managed them?

[OpiateKiller]

Well for those who haven’t followed my other thread I’ve been experiencing episodes in increasing frequency and intensity.

I’ve been having anxiety and panic attacks that are causing me such fight or flight response my legs are going numb. Google says this can happen the body shuts off blow flow to non essential parts of the body.

I’m not sure the reason but it’s either substance abuse related or I had a stroke which is causing it.

What have you done to help? What’s the outlook from here cause honesty this is causing me extreme anxiety and depression I’m never gonna be OK again. I wanted to start to train MMA and fight and it’s not gonna fucking happen if I’m freaking out every day.

Mainly the episodes have happened at work, using a leaf blower and I begin to panic and the noise scares me and I spiral.

Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment my primary is a pretty intelligent woman. I’m gonna tell her about all this.

I can’t really take benzos and don’t really want to have to rely on addictive substances as my nature is ill get addicted and I know experiencing panic attacks coming off benzos sounds like I’d probably commit suicide.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Sorry for all the threads I’m just going through a tough fucking time right now. Today I started to have a panic attack in the barber chair. I almost had to get up and leave. I can’t live my life like this man it’s fucking embarrassing. I feel like I can’t even cope with daily activities anymore.

 

[Mr. Krinkle]

see...im gonna respond and probably everybody is gonna say im out of line for it....but when i got them in my early 40s (which i think they may have been from hormones - i have no idea why i was getting them - my uncle also got them at the same age) but anyway i'd take a xanax to stop it in its tracks and then id be good for a while....might happen again a month or 2 later and then hit it again - but just that one time and that would totally work for me

that worked for me - not sure if it'll work for you or anybody but it worked for me big time...

 

[OpiateKiller]

see...im gonna respond and probably everybody is gonna say im out of line for it....but when i got them in my early 40s (which i think they may have been from hormones - i have no idea why i was getting them - my uncle also got them at the same age) but anyway i'd take a xanax to stop it in its tracks and then id be good for a while....might happen again a month or 2 later and then hit it again - but just that one time and that would totally work for me

that worked for me - not sure if it'll work for you or anybody but it worked for me big time...

I agree the only problem is I'm in a sober house so I can't even do that, and it sucks cause I have 100 klonopin just sitting there.

When you say hormones do you mean steroids?

 

[JoshLobbs]

Fluoxetine helps my anxiety and depression but I cant cum or take extacy. So its swings and roundabouts really. But in the toss up between nutting and rolling, and being a functional human being I choose the latter.

I've tried zoloft but that shit just makes reality dull. And withdrawals are like being tazed in the brain every 60 seconds for a week.

But tbh my brain probably works differently to yourse and I would recommend going to you doctor although he will probably start you off on fluoxetine. Oh and oral solutions of fluoxetine taste awful so go for the pills even if they are a higher dose.

 

[Mr. Krinkle]

I agree the only problem is I'm in a sober house so I can't even do that, and it sucks cause I have 100 klonopin just sitting there.

When you say hormones do you mean steroids?

Oh shit....i don't know but they really kick the shit out of a panic attack or days long anxiety for me - like it totally ends it and im cool again

hormones like the changes you go through as you get older - the male version of menopause

 

[sedgewick1]

You might want to ask your Dr. about Buspar. It's an antidepressant with an anxiety component.

 

[VerbalTruist]

This really might sound dumb, but my wife got me this anxiety workbook. If anyone is interested, I’ll get the title. It’s silly but works pretty well. Maybe look for one your own speed. My anxiety sucks ass.

 

[JoshLobbs]

What's an anxiety work book?

 

[Jabberwocky]

I think you need to be careful with people’s recommendations because there are multiple types/causes of anxiety. If you really want to beat it you need to work out what is causing it rather than just treat it symptomatically. While a benzo will probably alleviate the distress caused by any kind of anxiety it won’t fix any of them. It’s just symptomatic relief.

I have had a few different types over the years. I had GAD which manifested as hypervigilance and seemed to be influenced by PTSD from child abuse. That was best dealt with by therapy but it took years and I also had a course of ECT which helped a lot. However for many people Cognitive B4ehavioural Therapy is beneficial for this kind of anxiety. I also had extremely distressing anxiety as an adult caused by ruminating thoughts about bizarre things. The thought, which was completely irrational, would get in my head and I would just obsess and obsess over it until i was almost paralysed with anxiety and could not think about anything else. I tried therapy but it did nothing for this. The thing that was most effective long term was Abilify and after 5 years on Abilify I stopped it and the problem was no ;longer there even when I was unmediated. The third types of anxiety I got often was related mostly to drugs. As I got clean I would periodically have really severe anxiety/panic attacks at night with no obvious trigger or cause. The long term treatment for them was healthy living, exercise, and sleep hygiene.

However, whatever the type of anxiety you have the physical symptoms are generally quite similar and you can use the same few techniques to get immediate symptomatic relief immediately while you are waiting for long term treatments of the root cause to take effect. The tried and true method is breathing exercises. Yu can take a class, learn online or get instructed by a therapist. The more complex step is then Mindfulness which includes breathing as well as other types of meditation-like relaxation exercises. After I learned this stuff (and it takes a while to learn and you need to practice) I rarely turned to medications to deal with symptomatic anxiety. I have always been able to get benzos including Xanax a few years back from doctors but I rarely use them for anxiety (I save them for post-drug bender sleep and recovery)

 

[OpiateKiller]

I think you need to be careful with people’s recommendations because there are multiple types/causes of anxiety. If you really want to beat it you need to work out what is causing it rather than just treat it symptomatically. While a benzo will probably alleviate the distress caused by any kind of anxiety it won’t fix any of them. It’s just symptomatic relief.

I have had a few different types over the years. I had GAD which manifested as hypervigilance and seemed to be influenced by PTSD from child abuse. That was best dealt with by therapy but it took years and I also had a course of ECT which helped a lot. However for many people Cognitive B4ehavioural Therapy is beneficial for this kind of anxiety. I also had extremely distressing anxiety as an adult caused by ruminating thoughts about bizarre things. The thought, which was completely irrational, would get in my head and I would just obsess and obsess over it until i was almost paralysed with anxiety and could not think about anything else. I tried therapy but it did nothing for this. The thing that was most effective long term was Abilify and after 5 years on Abilify I stopped it and the problem was no ;longer there even when I was unmediated. The third types of anxiety I got often was related mostly to drugs. As I got clean I would periodically have really severe anxiety/panic attacks at night with no obvious trigger or cause. The long term treatment for them was healthy living, exercise, and sleep hygiene.

However, whatever the type of anxiety you have the physical symptoms are generally quite similar and you can use the same few techniques to get immediate symptomatic relief immediately while you are waiting for long term treatments of the root cause to take effect. The tried and true method is breathing exercises. Yu can take a class, learn online or get instructed by a therapist. The more complex step is then Mindfulness which includes breathing as well as other types of meditation-like relaxation exercises. After I learned this stuff (and it takes a while to learn and you need to practice) I rarely turned to medications to deal with symptomatic anxiety. I have always been able to get benzos including Xanax a few years back from doctors but I rarely use them for anxiety (I save them for post-drug bender sleep and recovery)

Yeah so I’ve been trying to do some research and everything you said seems spot on.

Interventions for treating anxiety after stroke - PMC

Approximately 20% of stroke patients experience clinically significant levels of anxiety at some point after stroke. Physicians can treat these patients with antidepressants or other anxiety‐reducing drugs, or both, or they can provide psychological ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I’m pretty positive this is cause I had a stroke when I went into precipitated withdrawal this summer. It was probably the closest to death I’ve ever been.

This article says that if it’s panic disorder or phobia which makes sense it’s one of those and not GAD. It says antidepressants may help but honestly I’ve always been against SSRIs I don’t want my dick to not work but I may not have a choice.

The article also says like you said if you’re having phobia it won’t respond to medication and may need other routes like therapy and exposure to anxiety causing situations.

This sucks.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah so I’ve been trying to do some research and everything you said seems spot on.

Interventions for treating anxiety after stroke - PMC

Approximately 20% of stroke patients experience clinically significant levels of anxiety at some point after stroke. Physicians can treat these patients with antidepressants or other anxiety‐reducing drugs, or both, or they can provide psychological ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I’m pretty positive this is cause I had a stroke when I went into precipitated withdrawal this summer. It was probably the closest to death I’ve ever been.

This article says that if it’s panic disorder or phobia which makes sense it’s one of those and not GAD. It says antidepressants may help but honestly I’ve always been against SSRIs I don’t want my dick to not work but I may not have a choice.

The article also says like you said if you’re having phobia it won’t respond to medication and may need other routes like therapy and exposure to anxiety causing situations.

This sucks.

You are pretty young right? A year or two of focussed rehabilitation/recovery to deal within your anxiety and it will seem like a distant memory before too long. If it’s possible try and see specialists that focus primarily on anxiety disorders and be clear with them that you understand the different between short-term symptomatic relief and long-term recovery and that you want a treatment strategy for both.

Also, if nothing else works, keep an open mind towards ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy) as a last resort. It has an undeserved scary reputation from the way it was used decades ago but it is very different and highly safe and effective now. Although it still can cause minor memory loss. But as I said it is a last resort. I felt like different (and much more calm and centred) person after I had it about 10 years ago.

EDIT: ECT is not typically used just for anxiety. It is used for treatment resistant depression and bi-polar when pharma treatments have not been successful. However because both these things are co- morbid with anxiety more often than not many people who get ECT for bi-polar or depression report that their anxiety has been greatly improved as well.

 

[OpiateKiller]

You are pretty young right? A year or two of focussed rehabilitation/recovery to deal within your anxiety and it will seem like a distant memory before too long. If it’s possible try and see specialists that focus primarily on anxiety disorders and be clear with them that you understand the different between short-term symptomatic relief and long-term recovery and that you want a treatment strategy for both.

Also, if nothing else works, keep an open mind towards ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy) as a last resort. It has an undeserved scary reputation from the way it was used decades ago but it is very different and highly safe and effective now. Although it still can cause minor memory loss. But as I said it is a last resort. I felt like different (and much more calm and centred) person after I had it about 10 years ago.

EDIT: ECT is not typically used just for anxiety. It is used for treatment resistant depression and bi-polar when pharma treatments have not been successful. However because both these things are co- morbid with anxiety more often than not many people who get ECT for bi-polar or depression report that their anxiety has been greatly improved as well.

Thank you. Yes I’m 27 I’m gonna ask for a psychiatrist to go to tomorrow from my doctor

 

[OpiateKiller]

You might want to ask your Dr. about Buspar. It's an antidepressant with an anxiety component.

Hey I just wanna thank you I’ve been looking into this drug and honestly I think I’m gonna try to get on it. It sounds perfect honestly for my current situation so thank you I’d never heard of it

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Yeah so I’ve been trying to do some research and everything you said seems spot on.

Interventions for treating anxiety after stroke - PMC

Approximately 20% of stroke patients experience clinically significant levels of anxiety at some point after stroke. Physicians can treat these patients with antidepressants or other anxiety‐reducing drugs, or both, or they can provide psychological ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I’m pretty positive this is cause I had a stroke when I went into precipitated withdrawal this summer. It was probably the closest to death I’ve ever been.

This article says that if it’s panic disorder or phobia which makes sense it’s one of those and not GAD. It says antidepressants may help but honestly I’ve always been against SSRIs I don’t want my dick to not work but I may not have a choice.

The article also says like you said if you’re having phobia it won’t respond to medication and may need other routes like therapy and exposure to anxiety causing situations.

This sucks.

Hey man, I've been following your threads and posts and I'm sorry you are having trouble with anxiety/panic attacks.

My entire mental health journey started with panic attacks. The psychiatrist I saw put me on Seroquel, a powerful antipsychotic. But it only made me really tired so I quit after a few days. That said, I'm curious to know how you came across the info that SSRIs would cause your dick not to work?

I've been on antipsychotics and antidepressants for nearly 20 years and the only medication that gave me sexual side effects was Risperdal, another antipsychotic. Even then it made it to where I could still reach orgasm, just couldn't ejaculate. I never wanted kids anyways so it didn't bother me that my orgasms were dry, so to speak.

Anyways, I've personally found antidepressants to be much more benign than any of the antipsychotics I have tried. And I am still taking antipsychotics but only recently switched my antidepressant for a mood stabilizer.

My big point is, before you give ECT even a second thought, I would try a fucking antidepressant. You have nothing to lose, especially not your memory. The worst that could happen is that you could have a minor side effect (most likely NOT penis related) and you tell your psychiatrist you want off and you quit taking it or try something different. ECT is a much more permanent solution for what amounts to being a temporary problem. I promise I'm not trying to minimalize your anxiety, I've struggled with it too. Like Perforated said, ECT should be seen as a last resort and since you haven't tried antidepressants I don't think you've reached the "last resort" part yet.

Best of luck to you and please keep us updated if you want to let us know how it goes when you meet your psychiatrist.

EDIT: I just saw your post about the Buspar. That sounds great that you are at least open to trying something. Peace!

 

[OpiateKiller]

Hey man, I've been following your threads and posts and I'm sorry you are having trouble with anxiety/panic attacks.

My entire mental health journey started with panic attacks. The psychiatrist I saw put me on Seroquel, a powerful antipsychotic. But it only made me really tired so I quit after a few days. That said, I'm curious to know how you came across the info that SSRIs would cause your dick not to work?

I've been on antipsychotics and antidepressants for nearly 20 years and the only medication that gave me sexual side effects was Risperdal, another antipsychotic. Even then it made it to where I could still reach orgasm, just couldn't ejaculate. I never wanted kids anyways so it didn't bother me that my orgasms were dry, so to speak.

Anyways, I've personally found antidepressants to be much more benign than any of the antipsychotics I have tried. And I am still taking antipsychotics but only recently switched my antidepressant for a mood stabilizer.

My big point is, before you give ECT even a second thought, I would try a fucking antidepressant. You have nothing to lose, especially not your memory. The worst that could happen is that you could have a minor side effect (most likely NOT penis related) and you tell your psychiatrist you want off and you quit taking it or try something different. ECT is a much more permanent solution for what amounts to being a temporary problem. I promise I'm not trying to minimalize your anxiety, I've struggled with it too. Like Perforated said, ECT should be seen as a last resort and since you haven't tried antidepressants I don't think you've reached the "last resort" part yet.

Best of luck to you and please keep us updated if you want to let us know how it goes when you meet your psychiatrist.

EDIT: I just saw your post about the Buspar. That sounds great that you are at least open to trying something. Peace!

Thank you some great advice in here. Man I get some of the best help on blue light this website really has positively driven my life and my knowledge of many things medical and drug related.

I’m gonna have an open mind and do what I need to do right now to fix this and if that’s a SSRI im ok trying it. Honestly you’re right worst case 3 days in I just stop

Hopefully my doctor is receptive tomorrow. She was really cool about all my drug addiction issues so we’ll see what she says. She’s clearly a wicked good doctor I got an ultrasound on my gallbladder and the hospital and tech and ER doc totally wrote me off I said my gallbladder was gonna explode and she laughed. Then my doc took 10 seconds reviewed my ultrasound same hospital system and saw a 5 mm tare. She’s great so hopefully it works out

I took a few Gabapentin and a beta blocker today and I feel so much better. But I don’t think Gabapentin is my long term answer and I don’t think she’d prescribe it to be honest

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Thank you some great advice in here. Man I get some of the best help on blue light this website really has positively driven my life and my knowledge of many things medical and drug related.

I’m gonna have an open mind and do what I need to do right now to fix this and if that’s a SSRI im ok trying it. Honestly you’re right worst case 3 days in I just stop

Hopefully my doctor is receptive tomorrow. She was really cool about all my drug addiction issues so we’ll see what she says. She’s clearly a wicked good doctor I got an ultrasound on my gallbladder and the hospital and tech and ER doc totally wrote me off I said my gallbladder was gonna explode and she laughed. Then my doc took 10 seconds reviewed my ultrasound same hospital system and saw a 5 mm tare. She’s great so hopefully it works out

I took a few Gabapentin and a beta blocker today and I feel so much better. But I don’t think Gabapentin is my long term answer and I don’t think she’d prescribe it to be honest

Sounds like your doc is a keeper, fo sho!

 

[Illyria99]

For me it I just clean a lot. It calms me ànd really calms me & takes my mind off all the crap I'm dealing with.

 

[sedgewick1]

Hey I just wanna thank you I’ve been looking into this drug and honestly I think I’m gonna try to get on it. It sounds perfect honestly for my current situation so thank you I’d never heard of it

hope it works for you m8. I was on buspar for several months. TBH I didn't feel much from iit. But I told my Dr. I had bad anxiety in an attempt to fish for some Benzos. She would have none of that and I didn't have any preexisting anxiety. I only take Benzos every now and then for sleep. They really don't have any recreational value for me because of my lack of chronic anxiety.

 

[Foreigner]

I've been trapped for years in an ongoing trauma that causes occasional panic attacks. I live with low level anxiety almost all the time that I medicate with low dose ketamine plus a slew of other supplements; but for huge anxiety attacks I just do heavy sedation. I take zopiclone or xanax, sometimes together. I may add a glass of wine with it. I don't even bother trying to work through it anymore because what I need to change my life is money and I don't have it and I'm too disabled to get it. So when I start freaking out I just knock myself out. Fortunately it only happens every couple of months or so. I know all the psychological roots but without life change it won't go away. I don't let that kind of traumatic anxiety have a voice anymore. Terror with no solution is soul damaging. The animal body gets shut up ASAP, no negotiating.

I don't recommend SSRIs or most mainstream anti-depressants/anti-anxiety meds since they all have shit side effects. The one exception might be mirtazapine. It helps with sleep and is one of only a small number of meds in the huge meta study done in 2018 that showed had any real lasting effect on anxiety/depression. The other was citalopram and its relatives. The other was an old tricyclic antidepressant whose name I'm not remembering.

These meds don't work on me because somehow, over the long term, my consciousness finds a way around them, and the problem resurfaces. So that's why I do heavy sedation now.

People might slam me for this but for the occasional panic attack I think red wine is awesome. I wouldn't use it for every day anxiety, just the big moments. Like any alcohol it releases GABA which calms you down but red wine is also replete with resveratrol that calms neuro-inflammation (one source of anxiety) and has melatonin so you can actually get to sleep.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Had them almost every day (sometimes more than once a day) in high school. My dad didn't believe in mental health and the one time the school nurse called my mum she was furious with me (for "worrying her") so I couldn't tell anyone or do anything. I'd usually run. Like I'd have a panic attack in class and that extreme need to get out of there
(get-out-of-there-now-now-NOW)
would be strong enough I'd literally march out.
If I could I'd go home sick. I'd say I was ill with like shaking, nausea, dizziness (all of which was completely true; I just omitted the cause).
Sometimes I'd just burst out crying at school, too. Like, I wasn't sad or upset. I'd just not be able to hold in tears as hard as I tried. I wasn't sad, I just couldn't stop crying.
I dealt with it but harming myself (cutting, sometimes punching myself in the face to the point I'd have a black eye etc) and not eating.

I was 19 by the time I worked up the balls to see a doctor. I was put on Sertraline (which helped eventually) and Propranolol (which didn't work).
Benzo's were a miracle cure for me, but too addictive.

It's the reason I ended up an alcoholic, too. I went from social anxiety and panic attacks to sociable and confident when drinking.