:smokin

Quiet,
after reading some of your posts, it seems you have had some tuff changes in life. That alone can bring on a panic attack. It dont mean you are a nut! Chemical changes happen for simple reasons, for example, eating hot peppers will increase endorphins. (the natural "feel good" drug in your brain) Being sad, mad, whatever, well, that can change chemicals also. Check with your doctor. IMO, Mental Health facilities may be a better way to go. Due to the fact they specialize in these kinds of things. The family dr, gets drug reps in and uses whatever the latest drug they want pushed. There is alot of research articles on the web, do a search and get a feel of what is out there. The thing that is bothersome about this is, the holidays are here. With the things you have talked about, this can be a major stresser for you. Good luck babe, take care of yourself!

fiddy 1

dammit

someone fuked me up

fiddy 2

I had one about 15 years ago and never had one since.

I thought I was having a heart attack and my roomate insisted on taking me to the emergency room. They gave me an EKG which checked out just fine.

If it only happens once I wouldn't worry about it. If it happens again then get a checkup.

I started having them in college and just lived with them for years thinking I was being a pussy. Finally I saw a counselor, quit drinking, got on prozac which helps but has it's own set of problems.

it's been said before and it sounds too easy, but exercise is really the best solution. VIGOROUS exercise. I train in BJJ now and the attacks are non-existent except when I smoke weed hehe

I can't seem to give that up totally although I know it's a trigger. I just try to take tiny little tokes and smoke right up to the point I think I can handle without having a brain seizure :1orglaugh

why did you quit drinking

Panic attack, I can relate to that. I had some unexplainable health problems earlier this year and finally discovered that I have MS. Obviously that type of slap in the face can trigger stress related physical symptoms, not know if I'll be able to walk next month or not...

Shit, this thread is depressing me, some homemade Chianti should help.

:glugglug

because I was getting stinking, rotten drunk every single night and hating myself because of it. Alcohol was my method of dealing with the attacks, if you drink enough Cuervo you are IMMUNE to anxiety of any kind.

my attacks and anxiety increased siginificantly when I stopped drinking daily as well.

:smokin

seriously kids.

i've had real anxiety attacks. i know the experience of being the duck in the firing row, with no where to turn and no way out. I've had the shortness of breath and feeling of impending doom.

Re-Fucking-Lax

You HAVE to learn how to differentiate idle fantasy from real reality. you have to learn that the power lies WITHIN YOU. how what you encounter affects you is entirely up TO YOU.

these threads don't depress me. I spent a long time thinking I was weird and alone on this. I was scared of going over bridges and flying in airplanes (very common symptoms apparently), scared of trucks on the highway, scared of all kinds of crazy little shit. Every time I suddenly felt these waves of mortal terror wash over me while I was watching TV or eating or some other ordinary thing I would fear for my sanity and future well being.

for me it's good to know that other people suffer from this, and I think it makes you a better, more sympathetic person if you've been afflicted with it and you're still standing.

I can go over any bridge now but I still can't get on an airplane lol..

I'm not kidding man. things only affect you only if you allow them to affect you.

we will all work out this rapid onset of world-wide familiarity and technological, social engineering.

look...at least we are all taking to each other, all over the world...

i had one about six months ago. felt like someone reached inside my chest and squeezed the fuck out of my heart. after a few minutes on the floor and a bowl i was better and havnt had one since. mine was stress related...family problems and such :helpme

Your are right its all in your head, the mind is very powerfull

it's probably the hi grade canabis mixed with all the other stresses that life throws at you.

Yes. I have panic/anxiety disorder, and for a while there, I was having at least one panic attack a day, if not more.

I'm dissociative, so I can't really tell you what they're like for me -- I check out mentally when they start. I've "come back" from attacks to find myself wedged into closets, under tables, sitting on the floor of the shower...it was so bad there for a while that I literally did not leave my room. I had a "safe" path to and from the kitchen to eat, and my bathroom attached to my bedroom was "safe" to me, but other than that, I stayed in hiding.

If you're having panic attacks, the best thing you can do is talk to your doctor. Doesn't necessarily have to be shrink -- your GP can decide what course you want to take. Meds like Xanax can help in the short term, by helping you get through the attack itself, and so can learning how to identify what triggers your attack and make a plan for dealing with it. I'm also on Effexor, which is an antidepressant, and it helps with the attacks in the long term. I took Paxil for a while, but it killed my sex drive.

Unfortunately, some of the best antidepressants for anxiety are also hellish to get off of if you ever want to stop them, so be very sure that you want to stick to a course of meds like Effexor or Paxil, etc, before you get started on them. If I miss more than a single day of my Effexor, I get dizzy and hear/feel these fucked-up zapping sounds in my head. Paxil was like that too.

If you really are having panic attacks, feel free to ICQ me sometime if you need help or advice.

there is a lot of mental stuff that goes with 'anxiety disorder' but it is far from being 'all in your head'.

Not many people know more about this stuff than me, i haven't kept up to date in the last ....hmmm.....about 7 years. But once i found out that this was a real thing i researched the hell out of it.

There is a ton of medical research proving that while there are personality types who are susceptible to it, and there are stresses in life that can bring about the onset of panic attacks there is a real physical biochemical difference in people who get them. It's very confusing because the same symptoms of 'anxiety disorder' affect EVERYBODY from time to time in life during moments of extreme sense, plus there are many other illnesses that anxiety disorders mimic. Your doctor will work you up to cross off things like heart arthythmias, MS, brain and other tumors, etc. But the hallmark of true anxiety disorder is getting hit with them right out of the blue when you are not feeling any special amount of stress. Stress can bring them on as well but it's the right out of left field ones which really fuck you up because they can make you phobic of so many things.

dig you are in LA, one of the guys i talked to on the phone, has to be 15 years ago was one of the doctors who was on the vanguard of this, 'anxiety disorder' only became an official medical condition in the early 1980's. His name is Dr Dennis Munjack, he was at UCLA. I talked to him for about an hour, i just found his name is a research paper and called him cold.
Maybe he's still there, so if you ever have the need you should look him up.

My problem is that I went undiagnosed for so fucking long and then started on the medical merrygoround looking for what was wrong. I tried anything, man there are some quacks out there.
The food allergy guys are the worst. You could show up in their office with an axe blade in your head and say 'I'm having this really bad pain in my head, help me' and these quacks will put you
through some really ridiculous testing and of course come to the conclusion that the pain in your head stems from an allergy to wheat and dairy products.

My symptoms were a bit atypical. My balance was totally fucked, i felt like the world was tilted, like i was on a ship bouncing up and down on the sea, very strange.

Weed is a definite trigger for people with anxiety attacks.

see to me, panick attacks are a form of "You Are Here" disorder. you CAN train yourself to control panick attacks.

Only whenever someone says "Just confirmed by Ibill.."

If I get really stressed I will get into the big bottle of Librium. Don't let them give you any of those sissy new pills. Get Xanax or Librium.

Yep. If this happens it helps to do something like wash your car or organize your workbench, etc etc....any task to take your mind off of it, then sometimes in as little as 15 minutes your feeling great.

titmowse, schitzophrenia is also 'all in your head'. Do you think you can control that with mental discipline??

my favorite sympton was suddenly losing depth perception while driving lol

it's like you're about to drive into a painting of the highway, like on a Roadrunner cartoon :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

ROFL :1orglaugh

An ex-girlfriend of mine went through exactly that. The guy told her she had a corn syrup allergy, and it turned out after more testing that she had a undiagnosed thyroid disorder

thanks for all the info. now i'm definitely freaked out :)

sure, i have a very high level of stress in my life. but this came completely out of no where. i was having a snack, drinking some pop - totally chilled. then wham.

spending too much time infront of a computer screen causes them

that's an anxiety attack quiet.

my first one came sitting in a college class not thinking about anything. i stumbled home i was so dizzy and scared.

but ya know man. my sister about 5 years after i started getting them called my parents in the middle of the night crying that she was dying and having a heart attack.

she had a few more over the next month or so, went to the doctor to make sure nothing was wrong, settled down and really hasn't had another one in 10 years.

so you might have had a once in a lifetime event, the body/mind is a weird thing.

maybe we have done you a diservice at this point by telling you so many stories because you might start thinking 'when is the next one going to come?'. DON'T. Try to forget it and hopefully
you won't have to deal with one again.

but at least you know that if u do there are a whole lot of people who know what you're talking about. :winkwink:

I don't know about train yourself to CONTROL them, but I eventually learned new ways to deal with them. Instead of falling completely into the moment and thinking, "Oh God, this is never going to end, I'm going to fucking die" and then dissociating myself into the goddamned linen closet, I learned to think, "Okay: I'm having a panic attack. It's happened before, and I have survived it. I will survive it this time. I can ride out the next twenty minutes, and I will survive it."

Sometimes I sit down and make myself write down everything that's going through my head as I panic. Sometimes I grab a basket of laundry and concentrate very hard on folding each piece of clothing exactly. (I have OCD, too, so I know this behavior feeds my OCD, but which would you rather have me do: run around screaming like a lunatic or sit there maniacally folding a sheet in precise quarters, down to the centimeter? :1orglaugh )

Hey, at least my first thought when I panic isn't "hey, where are the razor blades?"any more...

schizophrenia is a completely different circumstance than an anxiety/panick attack. there are many mental disorders and illnesses one can't "talk oneself out of".

i am not degrading the significance of anyone's personal experience. i am speaking from the perspective of one who has experienced anxiety attacks. i lost my marbles when i had to serve five thousand people in a room that was legally intended to hold 1500. i couldn't breathe. i couldn't make decisions. i had completely lost control. it was the first time but not the last time i experienced that horrifying terror.

i just like to speak from the other end of hell and show people there is a way out...:321GFY

Absolutely. You can get through this. I know, because I had a complete and total fucking breakdown 18 months ago, and I stuck with it, worked hard to get better...and ya know what? The light at the end of the tunnel turned out not be a train after all. :)

"The beauty part is I don't give a fuck! That's the up side to having a nervous breakdown..."

- Sigourney Weaver in CopyCat

Quiet - I see you have had heaps of advice here and some of it is pretty good advice.

I suffer from panic attacks but my symptoms are nothing like what you describe however my wife has exactly what you described.

Her racing heart just came out of the blue with no prior warning - they have done tests and they have monitored her and they still can't decide what is causing it. However - she saw a different GP the other day who suggested that she was low in Magnesium.

Marie went down to the health food shop - got some magnesium tablets and her instances of racing heart have dropped from 5 or 6 a day to just two in the last week.

Now I'm not saying that you have a magnesium deficiency but it could be something as simple as that - you need to talk to your GP as soon as you can - just to set your own mind at ease.

I used to have panic attacks so bad it got to the point I would seldom leave my house. That lasted about 2 years. I made changes to my diet, got more exercise, quit smoking, got more sleep. Nothing worked. I ended up at a head shrinker and was put on paxil and for awhile it really helped, but my symptoms kept returning and my daily dose of paxil was raised to 40mgs a day. At that point I was more or less a zombie. All I wanted to do was sleep and lay around. My biz suffered to the point where I ended up losing my house. I stopped taking paxil about a year and a half ago and I am still trying to rebuild my biz to the point where it once was. I guess what I am trying to say is use medication only as a very last resort. The panic attacks where better than being broke.

take asprine

Normaly it's stress causing them but I'd say stop smoking pod since that can be the cause as well.

I've had a few over the years. Only a couple that came "out of the blue". One was severe enough to make me go to the emergency room thinking I was having a heart attack--but the EKG was fine. It's extraordinarily strange how "physical" it can be. Not to mention scary.

There's already a lot of good info here--mainly testimonials. Each person's experience is unique though, so it would behoove you to see a doctor and possibly a therapist--which can be very helpful even if you do not have a disorder. There's a lot of info on the Net and in books.

The only thing I would add is that the connection between anxiety and depressive disorders is close in some ways. Self-medicating with alcohol or other behaviors (including "work-a-holism") is very, very common--almost a rule. Pot happens to be a trigger for some people. Very "successful" people can suffer from either or both conditions, and it can make it harder for them to see the reality of the situation ("I'm not depressed..."). Often there will be a "presenting problem" that drives/scares someone into getting some help, and eventually they usually get a better understanding of some of the other parts of their life that need attention. I would suggest a therapist that specializes in anxiety/depressive disorders.

Look. There?s a VAST DIFFERNECE between being over stressed and having Panic attacks. The two things people confuse when discussing this subject is that some series of EVENTS caused the attacks,that peoples pension for having them is a symptom of not being able to handle environmental events, WHEN INFACT and in truth panic attacks occur because your body is MISSING chemicals that usually help most people not have them. Its not that your weak or a sissy or take to much alcohol or smoke too much pot. Your body is unable to produce a chemical that prevents them from happening. Its NO different then when someone takes meds for diabetes or high blood pressure or another physical aliment that?s linked to the bodies inability to produce the right chemicals for itself. That?s why ANYONE with the issue shouldn?t feel BAD about asking for help, they shouldn?t feel like the?re weak or a pussy, all your actually doing is asking for the chemicals that your body CANT produce.

Well I've had them but I've learned to live with them. No medications for me, just sleep, putting aside all things that stress me, taking time to recollect my thoughts, this usually helps me prevent them. They are definitely scary and most give symptoms of a stroke coming on.

My right-hand woman, 22 years old, whom I depend on enormously started getting them 2 weeks ago and hers had all of us scared shitless. She was actually numb all over. No sensation on her face or tongue. She went to the emergency and they told her it was an anxiety attack, most likely stress related.

My niece gets nasty ones since someone had a heartattack and she was the one to call 911 trying to resuscitate him and then he passed away. She's on medication.

If I were you, I'd see a doctor to rule out any other physical problems then if all is well, take it easy or cut your work time if possible. A few days away from what could be stressing you, some time to yourself, a time to recollect your thoughts should be allow you to grab hold of what causes you to become anxious and perhaps work towards preventing them.

Ummm did you not hear what I just wrote..YOU CANT PUT THEM ASIDE..if they are real and cronic they a CHEMICAL IMBALANCE that sleep NOR exorcise will fix...sheesh

Fucking Visa.

quiet, I have a great idea. The PERFECT solution for your problems. You and me, incredible beach in the Caribbean, beautiful women, a never ending supply of Corona, and all the weed and fine cigars you'll ever need. We can discuss philosophy and fine literature, world history and macro economics, jazz and it's impact on society, etc.

Yes, I think that will solve all our problems...

I still say.

Get the book.

People argue anything.

Fuck its a fact most Human ills are psychosomatic.

I havent had a common cold or any sickness is 6 + years.

Anxiety has nothing to do with Psychomatic Ills.

I rather read a book about something by a doctor, then read people on a board say its all in your head.

Yeah... okay.

THis book clears common colds and other sickness, i havent been sick since.

http://www.dianetics.com

hahaha

:1orglaugh

Fletch, it's all in your head!

Not a very good shot, the cover has a glare, but heres my copy.

<img src=http://www.69khz.com/images/dontpanic.jpg border="1">

:thumbsup right on! never heard my great grandma talking about anxiety attacks

:1orglaugh I love that movie! My favorite thing to do when I watch it is play Name That Serial Killer's MO.

Fletch, is your cam hung from the ceiling or what? That's pretty cool.

As for the book, I haven't read that one, I'll try to find it.

That's right. The reason that drugs like Paxil etc work for panic attacks is because they supply the chemical (serotonin) or otherwise alter your body's way of handling serotonin so that you aren't as liable to have the chemical imbalance that causes panic attacks.

It's no different than a diabetic taking insulin, and it doesn't mean you're weak or crazy or anything. It just means your body is lacking that specific chemical.

(Oh, and the misspelling up there cracked me up! "Exorcise" -- I actually had a Holy Roller relative of mine suggest that I was possessed and just needed an exorcism to fix me and make me stop being so crazy...)

Lack of sleep, drinking too much and taking one too many coffeine pills the next day used to bring on some weird (scary) shit.. Dumbass that I am, it took a long time to figure it out.. threw away the pills and stopped drinking, that helped..

The Overhead cam rocks.

:smokin

I have a cure.

I used to get them years ago when I was really hungover and used to drink and party a lot more than I do now. I called my mom one day and she said she used to get them too from stress.

She said to get into the shower and if you have one with your bathtub even better.

Lie down in the bathtub and let the water from the shower just cascade down all over you. Imagine that it's taking all your tension and stress down the drain.

She explained that all the water droplets hitting all the nerve endings distracts your mind from what really is just an adreniline rush.

Drink lots of Juices and relax.

Take as many showers as needed but it really works. :)