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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Thrud on June 25, 2001, at 1:57:14
Hi all.
I can't find many case histories of people with panic disorder, and I would like to know how I compare with others.
Untreated, my attacks occur between 3 and 6 times a day, mostly in the evening. The attacks themselves last between less than a second and a few seconds, but they are INTENSELY painful. I feel extremely ill (bedridden) for the whole day with *extreme* fatigue, headaches and neck stiffness, and cannot eat.
Is this familiar to you guys? How did you cope? I'm trying to find fellow sufferers and learn from your experiences (eg find an effective long term treatment). It has flared up again lately and I'm looking for hope!
Thrud
Posted by dana on June 25, 2001, at 3:36:18
In reply to Fellow panic disorder sufferers...., posted by Thrud on June 25, 2001, at 1:57:14
Hi THRUD !
I have cut/pasted my posting below that I did in response to KRISTINA .....you can check other responses to her question that were posted on 20th June SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY...... in addition to my posting below, can I add that my first 'REAL' and noticeable Panic attack occured about three years ago and it had me BED-RIDDEN for three weeks ......really believing that I must be dying........ then it took nearly two years of therapy.....and medication...... before I could really deal with them..... they are still occurring but I have such an understanding of what is going on, that they can last two seconds, or two hours !! depending on how strong my mental will is on that day ....... I don't have a specific time of day.......I used to wake up in the middle of a panic attack....these ones were the scariest !.....I have been off 25mgs of ZOLOFT for eight weeks now, and after seeing my doctor, will decide if I will go back on to them if the attacks become too exhausting....I can have up 20 attacks a day...... brief but exhausting.......fatigue so great that all I could do was sleep........ the shaking was so violent that my muscles would feel like I had just run a marathon..........my appetite plummeted and after the first attack I very rapidly lost 20 kgs in weight (that's about 45lbs)...
Re: Symptoms of anxiety?
Posted by dana on June 20, 2001, at 8:25:41
In reply to Symptoms of anxiety?, posted by KristinaN on June 20, 2001, at 3:38:10
Hello Kristina, welcome to Panic and Anxiety!...you described your symptoms perfectly.
Please know that not everyone's symptoms are the same............ there are just so many.....Once you experience the symptoms, you become constantly aware of ANY sign of them recurring... and become hyper-vigilant with regard to your body. While running upstairs may have seemed a normal thing to do before in your life, now you notice that your heart beats faster, and then you think ...oh god, I am dying !! and so may only walk up slowly to AVOID allowing your heart to pound...... you may feel dizzy or lightheaded and think ....it's got to be a brain tumour......!! but's it's because you are over-breathing and it makes your Oxygen levels out of balance....... it just can go on and on............normal everyday things become a nightmare......and so you try to juggle your life and behaviour desperately trying to not let anything create the sypmptoms.......
What happens Kristina is that you associate normal body functions......e.g. heart racing, exhaustion.... pains and aches.... with something being seriously wrong. It is sort of hypochondria.....but it's only because you have become OVER-sensitive to NORMAL occurrances and you start OBSESSING over them.
Can I promise you something........THIS WILL PASS..........IT DOES PASS if you get COUNSELLING.......here in Australia, we have CLINICAL PYSCHOLOGISTS who specialise in COGNITIVE THERAPY which trains you to THINK and behave differently........ they teach the MOST IMPORTANT thing......and that is HOW TO BREATHE PROPERLY.
I have been a sufferer for a few years now and have just come of medication which was difficult, and I have been having some PANIC episodes, but I can promise you this, that I AM COPING without drugs, only because of the year of therapy I have had.
They teach you how to RETRAIN your brain, with SELF-TALK.........THIS WILL PASS I am not having a heart attack I haven't had one yet !! NOTHING DANGEROUS IS GOING ON HERE......even though it FEELS LIKE ABSOLUTE HELL !!...and unless someone else has experienced it..... it is impossible to explain just how awful it feels....
Please take comfort in knowing that there is help. Medication is wonderful when prescribed sensibly and sensitively.....but most important is COUNSELLING. I was taking ZOLOFT which was wonderful. But I decided I had enough of medication and wanted to try it on my own with my retraining of my way of thinking.......and I believe I have done it ......
Posted by Jocor on June 27, 2001, at 12:00:35
In reply to Fellow panic disorder sufferers...., posted by Thrud on June 25, 2001, at 1:57:14
> Hi all.
>
> I can't find many case histories of people with panic disorder, and I would like to know how I compare with others.
>
> Untreated, my attacks occur between 3 and 6 times a day, mostly in the evening. The attacks themselves last between less than a second and a few seconds, but they are INTENSELY painful. I feel extremely ill (bedridden) for the whole day with *extreme* fatigue, headaches and neck stiffness, and cannot eat.
>
> Is this familiar to you guys? How did you cope? I'm trying to find fellow sufferers and learn from your experiences (eg find an effective long term treatment). It has flared up again lately and I'm looking for hope!
>
> Thrud
>I started having panic attacks in 1983! They would occur out of the blues and could occur once or twice during the day. Then, they went away???
In 1987, they started again so I saw a psychiatrist who put me on Immipramine - in three days my panic attacks went away.
I have been on different drugs since then (Prozac and Effexor) and they all took away my panic attacks.
It is also said that panic attacks and depression go hand in hand.
My latest relapse was with panic, obsessive thoughts and depression all mixed in one.Good luck,
Jocor
Posted by Anna Laura on June 28, 2001, at 14:03:53
In reply to Fellow panic disorder sufferers...., posted by Thrud on June 25, 2001, at 1:57:14
> Hi all.
>
> I can't find many case histories of people with panic disorder, and I would like to know how I compare with others.
>
> Untreated, my attacks occur between 3 and 6 times a day, mostly in the evening. The attacks themselves last between less than a second and a few seconds, but they are INTENSELY painful. I feel extremely ill (bedridden) for the whole day with *extreme* fatigue, headaches and neck stiffness, and cannot eat.
>
> Is this familiar to you guys? How did you cope? I'm trying to find fellow sufferers and learn from your experiences (eg find an effective long term treatment). It has flared up again lately and I'm looking for hope!
>
> Thrud
>
Hi Thrud: i've been suffering from panic attacks also. The first time was back in 1993 : i also suffered from major depression and the panic was constant (24 hours a day). Couldn't eat, i slept only three or four hours per night.
The panic was so intense that actually drove me insane; i felt like i was about to die: i began thinking that the panic was due to my body sending alert messages to my mind.I thought i had a terrible illness, which i believed to be a sort of punishment.
I took imipramine (Tofranil) and the panic eventually subsided: it was a very slow improvment though. In 1995 i was finally panic-free.
The second time i got sick again because of severe prolonged stress.The panic was constant and i could barely stand on my own feet because the panic was bringing my blood pressure down: i ended up laying on bed, couldn't move: it was terrible.
I took Zoloft and felt better: panic slowly improved. I took a couple of years to feel good again.
This is the end of the thread.
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