Posted by vanessa33 on November 19, 2003, at 11:45:06
In reply to panic attacks, posted by pekostar on November 18, 2003, at 22:06:45
I think panic attacks and anxiety attacks are two different things. I'm no expert on the terminology! But I THINK it's different.
I've had both. Anxiety attacks for me, were like getting obsessed with a worry and not being able to shake it. Like, "I can't believe I said this stupid thing the other day, and now I just know something awful is going to come of it." - waking up in the middle of the night with a jerk - a month after the dumb thing I said - still replaying my stupid words in my mind, still terrified that something just awful is going to happen because of it.
Panic attacks, on the other hand, seem to be entirely different. They're the sudden feeling that you're having a heart attack or a seizure or are becoming physically paralyzed. Your heart races and you shake and you think 'oh my god, I'm losing the use of my arms' or 'my heart's going too fast and I can't stop it. Help!'
Very different! Though probably related.
I found for myself, that zoloft, over time, cured both.
In my case, when I finally found a good doctor, he told me, "It's all depression. It's not lots of different things - sadness, anxiety, panic. It's all one basic chemical imbalance causing many different symptoms. If we really cure the depression - then we'll cure it all." And he turned out to be right.
If you're having ANXIETY attacks on your meds, then if I were you, after telling my doctor about it, I might just wait and see if it subsides when the depression does.
But if you're having PANIC attacks - I wouldn't put up with that, personally! I found that a couple drugs can cause them and for me, that's a big fat, "No". As in, "Try a different drug, doc."
That's just my amateur opinion, though!
poster:vanessa33
thread:281039
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031116/msgs/281242.html