Panic Attacks?

[La Comédie Noire]

I had a bad drug exprience about 2 years back and ever since I've been suffering from panic attacks. I've tried medication but it made me freak out. Does anyone whose been through this have any sound advice to help me over come panic?

[bloody_capitalist_sham]

hey that's weird, i hate basically the same thing a few years ago. Execpt because i was so young, i didnt know what they were.

Man, they are bad, because you think its really serious but in reality its totally nothing at all.

I only got it a few times afterwards though, and stopped when i realised you can control them if you concentrate on other things. like just take your mind off of it some how. i used to thump walls and shit. :)

hope it gets better buddy.

[La Comédie Noire]

Thanks man. Yeah I usually end up using my inhaler to much and get dizzy lol.

[Sentinel]

I did suffer from some very nasty ones under a period two years ago. Sometimes I thought my heart would stop and I'd die, sometimes that I'd lose my mind. I was prescribed SSRI for it.

Initially it made it worse, much like you describe, but then after several weeks the symtoms started fading away. I kept taking the meds for a long time though, until quite recently, to be on the safe side, and then quit. I haven't had an attack since, so they did help and I don't know where I'd be today without them.

You must give the meds time, even if they make it worse to begin with, that's part of the healing process! Try to get the doctor to subscribe you some calming medication for the initial period, if you can't handle them otherwise.

As for overcoming an attack when it occurs, the only thing that really worked for me was to talking to someone. Talk to a close friend or relative, explain your situation and make a deal that you can call them any time -- day or night -- and talk the attack down. They don't have to be a psychologist, just someone who listens.

This is a psychology topic, so I'm moving it to Sciences & Environment where such belong.

[La Comédie Noire]

What exactly did the meds make you feel like? As in negative aspects.

[Sentinel]

They made the attacks more intense, and to occur more often. In the beginning they also made me feel generally more restless and anxious than usual. Towards the end, after they had helped, they made me feel indifferent and cold inside, which was the reason I took the step of quitting them.

See also this (http://www.revleft.com/index.php?showtopic=64900&hl=SSRI) previous thread on SSRI.

[Hit The North]

I used to get them between 17 and 18 years of age. Eventually, they faded away as I learned to control them.

As bloody_capitalist_sham says, the fear and feelings they engender have no basis in fact and once you realize that they're not going to kill you, they become easy to deal with.

I would advise you not to take the meds, but to ride it out. With all due respect, Sentinel has no evidence that he didn't just grow out of the attacks, rather than the drugs having a positive effect. Also refrain for a while from recreational drugs which make you feel out of control.

[Sentinel]

Originally posted by Citizen [email protected] 12, 2007 05:24 pm
I would advise you not to take the meds, but to ride it out. With all due respect, Sentinel has no evidence that he didn't just grow out of the attacks, rather than the drugs having a positive effect. Also refrain for a while from recreational drugs which make you feel out of control.
While you could be right -- it's impossible to know really -- I doubt it. After all, everything went exactly like it was supposed to: first the increase of anxiety and attacks, then relatively soon the gradual fading away of the symtoms. Moreover, I did from very early on know that there was no actual physical danger, or that my doctor had said that and that evidence would suggest so.

It's just that when the attacks occurred that knowledge wasn't worth shit, I just didn't believe in it anymore (especially with the attacks which made me question my sanity). While it's admirable that you could handle it without medication, not everyone is -- I don't think I would have been.

Anyways, these things are individual and I'm merely giving this advice from my own experience. But what Comrade Floyd described -- the meds freaked him out so he quit -- is also something very common, and is warned for when these meds are prescribed. Say what you want about SSRI, he has yet to give them a chance to work.

I would however strongly agree on what you said about recreational drugs in a period when one suffers from panic attacks/anxiety. One really should refrain from them and also be extremely cautious with alcohol.

Also, on a sidenote, when I had just begun to take my SSRI medication, drinking alcohol caused me to become agressive in a way that's totally strange to me otherwise.

[Freigemachten]

Originally posted by Citizen [email protected] 12, 2007 04:24 pm
I used to get them between 17 and 18 years of age. Eventually, they faded away as I learned to control them.

As bloody_capitalist_sham says, the fear and feelings they engender have no basis in fact and once you realize that they're not going to kill you, they become easy to deal with.

I would advise you not to take the meds, but to ride it out. With all due respect, Sentinel has no evidence that he didn't just grow out of the attacks, rather than the drugs having a positive effect. Also refrain for a while from recreational drugs which make you feel out of control.
Who the fuck are you to tell some one not to take medication's they may be prescribed? Are you fucking mental? Are you trained or liscensed in shit? Do you know what can happen to a person with a serious chemical imbalance that stops taking their meds? No one should ever take medical advice from you again. SSRI's are tested and have been shown to work exactly the way Sentinal described them in THOUSANDS of cases, and the people that prescribe them are aware of that.

While I do believe that pharmacutical companies are evil corporations, I do not believe that doctors are by and large, all that bad. These people have years of experience, they've dealt with millions of cases and the know what they are fucking doing for the most part. If you want real viable medical advice, talk to a doctor. County Health clinics, University Hospitals and other such things are good ways to get cheap help.