Ok.. where do I start. Please try to read the whole thing.
So back in Sept, I experienced a bout with vertigo. Never had it before so it was all new to me. In the next couple of months, im playing detective to see how I got this vertigo. I stop going to the gym because im afraid of getting dizzy. From ENTs to getting MRIs, nothing was concrete as to why or how I got it. That is something hard for me to handle. Especially how scary it was. In the middle of this, I believe I developed anxiety and it was very minor. Just times of thinking of my breathing.
Fast forward to last week, I finally make the plunge and I go to a psychologist/psychiatrist . They believe it is anxiety and everything is coming to me because of it. Since all my vitals look fine and everything. I went to another neurologist and this time they wanted me to start a 6 day pill regimen . Now I start it and day 1 begins with 6 pills and going all they down to 1 pill on the last day. ON the third day, I start feeling all the side effects from it. Saturday, I don’t take the pills but my heart is racing and im feeling very anxious. Sunday, the effects go down finally and according to my primary doc(who is my cousin) he said each pill I took was equivalent to 10 red bulls. I had taken 14 pills. Mind you the pills were for headaches. So the Monday of the blizzard starting, im feeling fine… Tuesday, my whole family gets some stomach bug that’s making some vomit and do diaheria. Tuesday I was feeling great. I was shoveling the little snow I had and everything. I was afraid that I was next to get it next. So then Tuesday night, I go to the bathroom and I have it now. Doing number 3. Then I go back to bed. I wake up again and go again. My heart is racing and I have no idea whats wrong with me. My body wants me to go back to the bathroom and do it again. I get up and bammm. I feel like my body muscles are about to drop and I was going to faint. I tell my wife to call 911. Im laying on my bed and my body feels the shakes and I feel like im having a heart attack(mind you I have no clue how a heart attack feels) my body feels like its shaking but to my wife im not. MY hands and arms are locked. The EMTs show up and say im going through an anxiety or panic attack. I have to breath and that I was taking in so much CO2. So they calm me alittle but take me to the hospital. They were Giant fans and they relaxed me by saying that stuff like “dude, you cant die.. we need you for…. Let me see.. can you play center? Right guard? MLB? We just need you!”
At the hospital, I go to the bathroom again. All my vitals are fine and the doc said I went through a panic attack. He doesn’t want me to go on meds because meds just aren’t good long term. He said, “go back to the gym”. But he wants to check my heart and all… I go get a chest xray and I faint in the room. Come to find out that I was extremely dehydrated from the sickness. My heart looks fine and there is no other issues happening. After two IVs, they send me home.
While im relieved that there is nothing wrong with my heart and stuff, im actually happy someone finally told me officially that I suffer from anxiety. But now comes the task of , how do I get rid of it? It appears to be a bitch to get rid of because your mind is so powerful. Im going to start a yoga routine to help me with breathing and start off at the gym with some cardio. Im still going to the psycho to get some things in my life cleared up.
IS there anyone else suffering from this stuff that can provide me with some tips. I would extremely appreciate it.
Well said. I'm better at that some days more than others.
I have suffered from panic disorder off and on for many years, going from downright debilitating to annoying.
The most important step is to acknowledge it is real, not just in your head and something to be addressed and solved.
Educating yourself on the cause and solutions is really helpful for me in that it helps know I'm not losing my mind and that there is a way to make it stop in the moment.
This is one of the best and most concise explanations I've.
http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-panic-attacks-work/ - ( New Window )
I have quite a bit of experience with this stuff as it's something I battled for most of my early 20's. I can't give as well-thought out a response as I'd like right now because I'm at work and have a billion things going on but when I get home and have a minute I'll share whatever advice I can.
For now, just hang in there buddy. I know it feels like your whole world has been rocked and you've been blindsided and are just trying to sort things out and figure out how the hell this started or where it came from or why you and you're probably doing whatever you can to avoid ever feeling that way again because it's a miserable experience but it will get better.
The downside is I always have to use the bathroom and people think it's weird at work. Oh well. Well worth it.
Mine started after i got engaged, i started getting palpitations that really freaked me out and it was weird because it wasnt that i was nervous about getting married i was more nervous about making it to the wedding, very weird i know...
I started taking a xanax pill every morning before work..that would usually get me through the day...
Then i started getting them whenever we were going out for dinner, didnt matter where i would get one then once i got there it would start to go away and i could relax...
It was like i couldnt be in front of people for to long or out of the house for to long...
they never really went away i would go a week without one then i would go a week and have one twice a day..
Its hard to trun off your mind because that is what is causing them,
what helped me was saying to myself whatever happens, happens, you cant control life, you jus thave to live and nt think about the bad...
What you have to do is focus on what your thinking about the moments before your panic attack and try to focus on why you are getting them...if you cant figure out what is making your mind go into this panic your not going to be able to over come them...
I was able to control them and the funny thing is mine went away the moment my daughter was born, since she was born i have not taken a single xanax and that has been 3 months..
It is hard to get rid of them and it is hard to control them but you have to figure out what is the reason your mind is doing this, once you do yu can start to overcome them...then you start to think about what are the important things in life and concentrate on them...
first step when they come just say to yourself i know what it is i can deal with it this is nothing, they last 10 minutes at the longest, just breathe and talk yourself down
She's at her wit's end and so am I. She has an appt. with an ENT on Monday. She's worried -- terrified -- she has a tumor or something in her head. I have to calm her down daily. I've taken up most of the household chores because looking up or down, bending over or whatnot causes more vertigo.
This is the strangest thing I've ever seen.
Also I did not mean to denigrate the importance of healthy sleep, diet and exercise. Those are of course cornerstones of any healthy healing lifestyle.
Lastly, you are not alone. There are SO MANY people who suffer from anxiety and depression related symptoms that dont talk about it due to shame stigma and fear of being labelled or even ostracized to a degree. Your affliction is no different than diabetes or acid reflux or even cancer. Its what you HAVE - its NOT who you ARE.
Apologies for going on so long about this but its become a very important part of my life and Im actually looking into starting a meetup group to provide support, validation and to share ideas with other parents etc.
Huge amounts of stress in my life (even good stress is stress). Life isn't necessarily easier, but I learned to handle things more gracefully.
With the help of programs like Al-Anon & AA, I've learned how to make much healthier choices for myself. I'm prescribed Xanax and Zoloft. Xanax is a tranquilizer, it may help for the moment. I found daily Zoloft to be excellent for me. Body chemistries differ, so talk with your Dr.
but now at work, im kid of off. i mean im kidn of shaky and nervous.
this really blows
It was the biggest mistake I made when I first started having issues. I just started avoiding all the things that triggered me and it shrunk my world to almost nothing and I got to a point where just going anywhere at all got difficult.
nyg16 is right in the sense that you just have to kind of "accept" that it is what it is when it happens and understand you are going to be alright and that nothing bad is happening to you. It's just a response that is not harmful and the sooner you understand and believe it, the sooner it retreats.
You fuel panic attacks by being afraid of them and by reacting fearfully. If you sit up straight, take a deep breath and find the courage to face it head on and make the conscious decision that you're willing to let the worst happen to you, you'll realize quickly that the worst never actually happens. The opposite does. It vanishes.
There is no monster on the other side of the door. There's nothing. Just freedom. :)
You should see a psychiatrist as well. They can help determine if meds are needed.
From everything I have heard and read, this stuff works in a large proportion of patients with anxiety-based symptoms that do not have a deep-seated physiological/neurological component. It apparently helps with a lot of other problems, such as chronic pain, but it seems right on point for your issues.
Link - ( New Window )
As for the vertigo, I have BNP which is benign positional vertigo. When I first had it, I was convinced I had a brain tumor (of course!). But after I learned how to deal with it, it's been fine. I realize it's scary, but you just have to learn when it effects you and what you can do about it.
Good Luck, start taking care of yourself. Clean diet is the key.
Separately, while meds alone are not likely to solve your issues, they are an essential component in getting better. Again, if you have acid reflux you take a Prilosec (etc.) This is NO different.
It's a very simple breathing exercise when the symptons of panic come on. I can't recommend this enough. If I feel anxiety coming on and the situation allows it, i've perfected this breathing where I can instantly "physically" calm myself. It's actually helped in alot of high stress life situations as well.
Other than that, I wish you the best.
Link - ( New Window )
You may merely need a prescribed pill to lower your heart rate plus some dietary advice and instructions on how to keep your mind calm and your body hydrated at all times.
Seriously, don't jump to the conclusion you need a shrink. You are not crazy and you are far from alone, millions of people suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. It can be conquered quickly. Do not dispair!
2) You probably need a psycho-pharmacologist to start you on the right medication and doses.
3) As it turns out CBT, which Nate suggested, and mindfulness-based stess reduction, which I suggested, overlap a great deal. See new link.
Link - ( New Window )
I started taking it every day as a "preventative" measure which is bad. It's a benzo and has very real withdrawal effects. Getting off it was very difficult and I felt really shitty for a while.
Other daily meds are different and can help but different things work for different people. Everyone's a separate case and you may not need any at all. It really depends.
Also limit alcohol and caffeine....they are like adding gasoline to the fire...alcohol is a quick fix but usually the symptoms are twice as bad the next day.
Do this. In hale and exhale through your diaphram. You want to expand your lungs downward so that your stomach extends. don't expand the chest with you inhale, that increases stress. You inhale for 4 seconds and exhale for 6. Do a google or youtube search, and you'll find a good explanation.
Here's a relevant experience I had. Last year i mixed two medications that don't mix. 10 minutes later, I became very anxious and jittery. I immediately knew what was going on. I took my blood pressure and it was crazy high. I went right to my breathing exercises. Within 20 minutes i had it under control and the blood pressure had dropped a lot. At the half hour mark I was out of immediate danger. Within the hour I was nearly normal.
I can routinely drop my blood pressure quite a lot. For example 135 over 85 down to 112 over 70 in a half hour's time.
When you get good at it, it is a valuable tool. One tip I can give you, don't inhale to the point where you feel tension in the chest, that will work against you. And when you exhale, it has to be "natural" release. A controlled steady release involves a little tension, and will work against you.
Good luck.
One person here said to see a cardiologist. I still want to see one but at Clara Maas(the hospital i was taken to) my heart beats were regular and couldnt find anything wrong with it.
do you think i still need one or is it just to double make sure that its nothing else?
The medication I take doesn't make you 'out of it', it just increases the available serotonin in your system which effects your mood.
The medication I take doesn't make you 'out of it', it just increases the available serotonin in your system which effects your mood.
If you take xanax every day, it will become a depressant.
One person here said to see a cardiologist. I still want to see one but at Clara Maas(the hospital i was taken to) my heart beats were regular and couldnt find anything wrong with it.
do you think i still need one or is it just to double make sure that its nothing else?
I take Clonopin when I fly. Normally just makes me sleepy.
I just had surgery for a broken foot, and as they wheeled me in to the operating room they gave me some valium through IV. Holy crap, if they sold that stuff at CVS I'd get a CVS credit card and be hooked on it. I could take that every night.
Sorry if that isn't helpful.
This was my issue. And I mentioned above how i fixed it. You should give it a try.
Benzos are tricky and addictive as mentioned by some on here. I had a friend go through a benzo withdraw and he was in the hospital for a few days.
As someone mentioned above, drinking alcohol calms you but makes it worse the next day. That's due to dehydration.
Behavioral-cognitive therapy has proven to have good results with anxiety-panic attacks.
Best of luck to you.
on top of that, try reading the bible. sounds trite, but it's good for the mind and the soul and i've found that it's often the piece a lot of men feel they're missing. i'm no god-sqauder, but i thoroughly enjoyed the year and a half it took me to read it cover to cover (just a few pages a day kept me interested).
good luck. wish you all the best.
1. Chlonopin is a sledgehammer, don't use it until and if you have tried many other techniques and even other meds.
2. Make -sure - you are not drinking too much coffee, always start with the simple basics before you start both therapy and meds. too much coffee can cause vertigo like symptoms, which may freak you out.
3. Make -sure- you stay hydrated, its mid winter, heating and a/c is a dry you out killer, ditto above, symptoms like vertigo as well as a flu that is going around, your inner ear, dude, and the freak out about the vertigo sensation- and
4. Get enough SLEEP! (melatonin really helps, is affordable and is not a drug)
5. working out and physical labor always helps as noted by others in this thread.
6. give all this stuff a good try, and keep these practices UP, even if and when you
get professional help.
you can tell the doctor...of course, that you are doing these things.
when i got home, i took a khlonopin. Im ready to fucking fight this thing. Accept it or whatever. I will look into everything you guys told me. I have two kids that need me as healthy as possible and i cant let this beat me. If Eli can beat the Pats in 2007, i can take this shit too!
I forget where I read it but I saw somewhere that "what you resist persists" and it just always made so much sense to me. In this situation especially.
When you get those feelings, you don't have to view them as a threat. Just view them as a part of you that isn't harmful and just accept that they're there. Anxiety is like that friend who is just dying to be noticed and the more you ignore them, the harder they try. You'll be amazed at how fast it starts to dissipate when you fully acknowledge it's there and basically just say "is that it?"
As you go along, you'll get more and more brave. One day you'll have the courage to actually ask the panic attack to get as bad as possible. Dare it to do the worst it can possibly do. The day you do that is the day it is vanquished. When you're 100% no longer intimidated or concerned and are willing to find out what the absolute worst it can do to you is, you find out the answer is nothing.
My anxiety symptoms have always been the same. Muscle tightness in the chest, a little short of breath, tightness in my throat... I know myself enough to know now when it's anxiety and it takes a little bit of time to get through. I am still not 100% over it but I am getting there. I refuse to take medications for it even though my doctor wanted me to. I use the breathing techniques and they get me back on track.
Anxiety is a scary thing but it's something you learn to manage and deal with. I wish you the best of luck.
I wish you all the best.
You got this!!!
FROM
anxiety ABOUT (the factors above)...which is not necessary at all, nor helpful.
take steps, then immediately settle into knowing the difference, as soon as you do have a good idea that is.
Yes, exactly. What happens is your mind falsely triggers your body to respond as if it is in danger (fight or flight) and since rationally, you know you're not actually in danger, you begin to become fearful and confounded and the fear of fear makes it exponentially worse.
It's basically just a faulty signal. The actual feelings are nothing more than just that. Feelings. And they're actually vital and a sign that you ARE healthy.
If you're at the zoo one day and a Lion breaks out of its cage and starts heading straight for you, you aren't going to start thinking "oh boy, my heart is racing and I'm shaking and full of adrenaline, something must be wrong with my body! I must be on the verge of a heart attack!" You're not fearful of those feelings because they're appropriate to the situation and you understand why you're having them.
When panic attacks strike, your brain is sending the same signal to your body that you're in "danger".. but you're not. And the feelings become frightening as a result. It is vitally important to understand that it's simply a response and that the feelings are not dangerous.
when i got home, i took a khlonopin. Im ready to fucking fight this thing. Accept it or whatever. I will look into everything you guys told me. I have two kids that need me as healthy as possible and i cant let this beat me. If Eli can beat the Pats in 2007, i can take this shit too!
I would say before you start pounding meds, keep hydrating and try some magnesium citrate. You can buy CALM from the Vitamin Shoppe, it is powdered magnesium in an acid base for easy absorption. Just mix with hot water. I would give that a shot before I went the pharma route, but that's just me. In my early 20's I stood up from a squat while in a mall (of all places) shopping. It happened a lot after that, and I had a few trips to the ER with anxiety because of it. It ended up to be a really silly thing I was not drinking enough water and was extremely low on magnesium and potassium. One ER doctor put me on the right path by recommending I drink water and take magnesium. Not saying it's the case with you but it's worth a shot. I do everything in my power to avoid medication. Meds for me will always be a last resort. I'm just always afraid of side effects.
We however, have our cerebral cortex, and when we hear a noise the reptilian brain alerts us that there may be danger, but our cerebral cortex says "no, that sounds like the furnace, no problem, I'll check it out. Everything is calm.
In anxiety attacks, the reptilian brain takes off unchecked by the cerebral cortex. If it can be recognized, the cortex can be willfully recruited to apply logic to the feelings from the primitive brain. Not as easy as it sounds of course.
Needless to say there is much, much more to it, but that's a simple macro overview.
addressed
Eric, that is true too. My anxiety and physical issues really went haywire when I had hormone changes. It's like 10 years of metamorphosis. You just hope you are alive when you get through it. Most of my female friends are on some kind of med for anxiety/hot flashes.
The magnesium is interesting. It was one of the nutrients I was very low on and one I still take as a supplement. I take Magnesium Glycinate 800 mg daily. You have to be careful with Magnesium because it can have a laxative effect. The glycinate form is less likely to cause that. Also, epsom salt baths rock! Great for sore muscles and will calm you down. You can absorb the magnesium through your skin.
When we start feeling the symptoms of anxiety coming on we starting thinking thoughts like " whats wrong with me" what if I faint " etc. this causes us to release adrenaline because although there isn't a real danger we perceive it as such and start the fight or flight response. The symptoms you're feeling are the same as you would if there was a real danger
The trick is to dispute the thoughts that start the attack so you can stop releasing adrenaline.
When I played football in high school I used to hyperventilate before the game. As soon as the game started I stopped. I didn't worry about hyperventilating then because I knew why it was happening. If you feel similar symptoms when there s no real danger you get scared because it's not supposed to happen then. Then the cycle starts
The best thing to remember is that it can and will get better.
I just want to say that it's great that we can discuss this. Just knowing that others experience this makes me feel better. I just urge people to do something about it don't just ignore it. It can rally screw up your life. I wish I had done something sooner, but I was in denial and just thought that's the way things were.
I got loss of balance/vertigo from a loss of hearing!
OK, panic attacks: So see your cousin again and ask him/her if a small dosage of alprazolam may help if you take it as soon as you feel a little shaky.
If the med works, just knowing you have it available may help you get over it. If not, go back to the psychiatrist and try Ziprasidone in a small dosage.
I ate too many potato pancakes, and having IBS, my stomach could not handle.
I felt nasauea, and even that relief didn't help.
10 hours later, I couldn't breathe, I thought I was going to go to the hospital, I have never felt that sick.
Saw the Dr., said basically a severe IBS flare-up unsettles the nerves, makes it feel like I lost control, and I hypervenitale/panic.
It felt like I was suffocating.
I now have a prescription for levsin. If I do get a flare, I take it and it calms it down.
BTW, you were right about psyllium husks!
Hi Nate,
Excellent questions that actually touch on some complicated issues. First, the answers from the research literature will vary depending on the exact diagnosis, the type of psychotherapy (e.g., ACT versus DBT versus Beck's CBT, etc.), and the medication(s). The best quick and easy place to find this info is through the Cochrane Review. However, as you will see if you hunt around there, for many of these questions we need a lot more research (I've linked panic disorder plus antidepressants below).
Next (and very importantly!), the literature doesn't always translate directly to real-world situations. Often, the clinical trials will use one medication, a specific diagnosis, etc. In the real world, people often have multiple diagnoses (i.e., comorbid diagnoses), they will often be on some combination of psych meds that has never been studied in a clinical trial in that particular combination, and so forth. The therapist may or may not be providing psychotherapy that is consistent with the specifics of how the therapy was implemented in clinical trials, and so forth.
Finally, it's always important to bear in mind that any findings at the group level may or may not apply to any one specific individual (e.g., CBT certainly won't work if the person doesn't do any of the homework assignments, individual responses to medication may vary, etc.).
For anxiety disorders specifically, I'll usually explain to them what the research literature says about doing therapy alone versus combining it with medication and then let them decide (regardless of the research literature some people only want medication and no therapy, other people are the exact opposite, and others want both). If they choose to do CBT only, I'll usually tell them that if we haven't made any progress after 3-4 months, then we should revisit the issue. BTW, DBT is great stuff (especially if you keep up with the exercises for the long haul).
link - ( New Window )
Hey Moon, I haven't been posting as much recently. It's been a rough early start to the semester, but you know how that works sometimes!
You can also use a MSW/MA/MS...but depending on the age...if you are under 40, I'd go with somebody in that same range (under 40).
There is a big difference in training and technique that I think is better.
-I meant BBI, not the business of the new semester!
I did go for a few therapy sessions when I first started taking the meds. The Dr. said I had bad OCD and symptoms of PTSD. I chose not to pursue long term therapy. Of course a trip home to see my family made me think I should rethink that. Definitely many triggers there. But they all live hundreds of miles away, so I'm good for now.
-I meant BBI, not the business of the new semester!
LOL.
Diagnostic unreliability can be a problem in the field (less so in research trials). The DSM is very far from perfect, but part of the problem in the field, imo, is that most clinicians don't pull it out to document specific criteria during a session. I have seen many, many cases over the years of people given some diagnosis that was obviously wrong when I tried to document specific criteria. Of course, since this is almost all based on self-report, the diagnosis is only going to be as good as the self-report. That's another factor.