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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 1:55:53
I know I haven't been posting as much as I should but right now my life is EXTREMELY stressful and I'm having a terrible time coping with it.
I'm now dealing with daily, constant panic attacks, something that I haven't dealt with for a VERY long time. I'm looking for some advice on how to deal with them. I can't stand these chest pains any longer. I'm up to taking 1.5 mg at a time of Xanax and I'm still in pain. My stress to finding some kind of relief is just compounding the pain.
I NEED IMMEDIATE HELP PLEASE!!!! Any and all advice anybody can give would be greatly appreciated. I've tried doing deep breathing but every time I breathe in it HURTS LIKE HELL!!! I've also tried music and that doesn't help. I've also tried not to think about the problem but it keeps creeping back in my mind and won't go away.
I feel awful coming here and asking for help and barely being here for much else. It makes me feel so selfish and guilty and of course, that just adds to my stress level but I don't know what else to do at this point. I go to my pdoc this Friday but that is several days away.
It just seems that the root to all my stress is escalating on a daily basis and there is nothing I can do about it, it is not in my control to change.
I'm at my witt's end with all of this and hope that SOMEBODY here can help me relieve some of this pain or maybe suggest something stronger than Xanax that would help.
All I know is that I can't handle another minute of this.
Mega thanks in advance to anyone who offers any assistance to me. If you know of some site online that can help me, I would be very grateful.
Somebody, anybody PLEASE HELP ME!!! Of course, your prayers are also very appreciated in you are so inclined to do so.
THANKS, Angel Girl
Posted by saw on October 12, 2004, at 2:31:17
In reply to Need IMMEDIATE help for PAINFUL panic attacks!, posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 1:55:53
I have missed your posts and was just about to post on your welfare. Well, I guess now I know.
I am so sorry that it is not going well for you. Panic attacks are just horrible and terrifying and I think everyone's panic attacks though similar, are unique.
I am glad that you will be seeing your pdoc this week. Please tell him in detail what you are going through. Perhaps he can change your med, or up the dosage.
I have also tried all the things supposed to ease a panic attack. I am sure you will get lots of useful tips.
Please do not ever feel guilty for not posting often or for not being able to contribute. We are all at different places in our recovery. This is a place of support, love and friendship. You are not selfish, you are in pain and you are reaching out. That is good.
Please keep in touch and let us know how the pdoc app goes.
Sending strength and peace your way.
Sabrina
Posted by partlycloudy on October 12, 2004, at 4:27:27
In reply to Need IMMEDIATE help for PAINFUL panic attacks!, posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 1:55:53
Aw, I am sorry you're hurting! My p-doc wants me to start weaning off xanax, and I just started to. You might need something longer lasting than that since the panic recurs so quickly. Isn't klonopin good for that? At the same time I'm decreasing the xanax - which is a panic in itself, she upped my effexor dosage and do you know my panic attacks aren't as bad? It is such an awful feeling, the tight clutch on your chest. Keep playing music, Angel. Keep breathing, keep meditating. It will get better.
Posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 5:38:32
In reply to Re: Need IMMEDIATE help for PAINFUL panic attacks!, posted by partlycloudy on October 12, 2004, at 4:27:27
pc
I also take Klonopin for Restless Leg Syndrome. It does absolutely NOTHING for me in regards to anxiety. Strange isn't it? My doctor's think that taking the 2 meds is redundant but somehow the Klonopin doesn't work on me as it does with others. I know years ago I used to get the most horrible panic attacks and I kept going back to my GP and telling him he needed to give me something stronger each time and also something that worked faster because the pain was so great. He eventually gave me Lorezapam. Is that the right name? Can't remember now but I had to put it under my tongue and within seconds, no more pain. I will talk to my pdoc about that. Panic attacks have been a thing of my past and I haven't experienced them in YEARS but right now I'm dealing with so much stress it is making me very sick and the biggest problem is that the situation is not in my control to do anything about.
I know I need to let it go because there is nothing I can do to change it but letting go has always been a HUGE problem for me. I don't know how. I need therapy to help me with that and I'm in the process of getting a therapist. In the meantime I've been missing my group therapy because I'm just too sick with these panic attacks and migraines that I can't even barely get out of bed let alone anything else.
The biggest problem is that I don't see the situation that is causing me to react this way changing any time soon so it is ME who needs to change how I react to it but I simply don't know how.
I'm so tired of the migraines, chest pains and tears and upset stomach. I end up taking meds for each of the symptoms and then they knock me out which just suits me fine but I just want to find a way to end all this. It's simply killing me and I'm reliving the worst 2 nightmares of my life all over again. I never wanted to relive those times of my life but I find I'm doing so.
I just can't take this anymore. It's been going on now for more than 2 months and my mental and emotional health is declining at a rapid rate.
I've already had my Effexor Xr increased by my pdoc about a month ago and I didn't even notice the difference.
There has to be some answer out there for me. I can't keep going on like this. I finally broke down yesterday at my mother's and told her everything so she now knows why I'm getting so much worse where as before she was confused on what was having such a bad effect on me. She's glad I told her but on the other hand I felt bad for having a meltdown on our little Thanksgiving (I'm Canadian) get together. It was just the two of us this year.
It just seems that every day I find out something else that makes me worry even more. I wonder when is it ever going to stop. I don't know how much more of this I can take. The physical pain is so great now, I can't stand to have any more.
I have my group therapy this afternoon and I don't know if I'm physically well enough to go. I missed it last week for the same reason and the time before I had a meltdown there.
I'm just at my witt's end. I wish I knew how to let things go that I have no control over but I don't. Letting go is a major problem for me. I'm thinking of calling my pdoc and seeing if I can get in there earlier than Friday. Not sure that is possible but at least it's worth the phone call.
I just don't know what to do. The more upset I get, the greater the chest pains and the worse the migraines.
Thanks for replying me.
Angel Girl
Posted by partlycloudy on October 12, 2004, at 5:47:48
In reply to Re: Need IMMEDIATE help for PAINFUL panic attacks! » partlycloudy, posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 5:38:32
I know that for me, when it rains it pours (there I go with weather analogies again). If my migraines are bad, then I also get all tensed up in other parts of my body and I get crippling pains in my shoulders, my inner arms, weird places. And the panic joins in just for giggles so I become most thoroughly frightened, certain that I will never feel better, and that I'm doomed to be in pain and in crisis forever.
Don't be afraid to call your p-doc. I bet they can work you in earlier, and this is what I'd call a crisis. And that's what they are there for.
I find that the music and meditation thing helps to distract me from the symptoms - not rise above them or make them go away, but they do recede somewhat.
Tell us how you get on today.
pc
Posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 5:53:04
In reply to (((Angel Girl))) » Angel Girl, posted by saw on October 12, 2004, at 2:31:17
> I have missed your posts and was just about to post on your welfare. Well, I guess now I know.
>
> I am so sorry that it is not going well for you. Panic attacks are just horrible and terrifying and I think everyone's panic attacks though similar, are unique.
>
> I am glad that you will be seeing your pdoc this week. Please tell him in detail what you are going through. Perhaps he can change your med, or up the dosage.
>
> I have also tried all the things supposed to ease a panic attack. I am sure you will get lots of useful tips.
>
> Please do not ever feel guilty for not posting often or for not being able to contribute. We are all at different places in our recovery. This is a place of support, love and friendship. You are not selfish, you are in pain and you are reaching out. That is good.
>
> Please keep in touch and let us know how the pdoc app goes.
>
> Sending strength and peace your way.
> Sabrina
Hi SabrinaYou always have the sweetest posts. As I just told partly cloudy, I'm hoping that my pdoc will give me something stronger for my panic attacks, maybe Lorazapam (is that the right word?). Anyway, I took it MANY years ago when panic attacks were a daily occurance for me but I haven't had them in years and I'm not used to them anymore but now for the last 2 months or so I've been suffering greatly emotionally and mentally over something I have no control. I'm not sure my pdoc will be accomodating but I'm praying she will. All I know is that I can't continue like this much longer or I'll end up in the hospital. She does know already that I'm dealing with issues but in the last 2 weeks they have magnified 100 times. Hopefully, she'll have some answers for me that will work. I've tried relaxation techniques to no avail.
Thank you for thinking of me. That is very sweet of you. I always think that nobody would even know if I'm here or not. That's my "no" self-esteem talking, another issue I need to work on.
I will keep y'all posted on what happens with my pdoc and I'm hoping to move my appt up from Friday so I can get some relief sooner. Friday seems sooooooo far away at this point. I just can't stand this physical pain. It's amazing how much stress can affect us physically.
I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks again for thinking of me. I haven't even been to bed yet because of the pain but I'm going to try now. I'm not sure what I'm doing about my group therapy today. I really need to go but it will depend on how I'm feeling.
Prayers are appreciated for those who are inclined to do so.
Angel Girl
Posted by antigua on October 12, 2004, at 8:26:48
In reply to Re: (((Angel Girl))) » saw, posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 5:53:04
Posted by partlycloudy on October 13, 2004, at 7:38:52
In reply to Need IMMEDIATE help for PAINFUL panic attacks!, posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 1:55:53
AngelGirl, how are you today? Concerned about you.
pc
Posted by mystic on October 13, 2004, at 10:37:59
In reply to Angel Girl...You have my prayers (nm), posted by antigua on October 12, 2004, at 8:26:48
Hey angelgirl...Was just going through some posts and came across yours I'm so sorry that you are feeling so badly I pray that you were able to get a closer appt so that you can get some kind of relief...try to remember to just take it one day at a time and do whatever makes you feel even the least bit better...I know how helpless you can feel and remember all too well not long ago how that feeling just devastates you..Please breathe listen to music maybe take a walk and please take care of yourself...Mystic
Posted by Fi on October 14, 2004, at 15:21:21
In reply to Need IMMEDIATE help for PAINFUL panic attacks!, posted by Angel Girl on October 12, 2004, at 1:55:53
I am sorry that you are having such a dreadful time.
Personally, there are a couple of things that I find helpful. The main one I heard from Claire Weekes' book; dont be too impressed by how you feel; acknowledge it is happening but you are not in real danger; and accept how you feel. That sounds dismissive (and impossible), but it isnt. Trying to ignore how you feel doesnt work well (you cant ignore it). Ideally, you can notice it, recognise it is only anxiety and its emotional and physical aspects, which are not harmful, then just carry on doing things.
If you can do this just a little, it helps. Dont entirely believe the panicky thoughts. Dont always panic at feeling panicky! Allow a little corner of your mind that knows that the attack is an ordinary reaction to adrenaline (linked with running away or fighting- handy for cavemen which is why we have it!)
The other thing is to learn relaxation techniques (dull but worthwhile). It does involve learning and practising. Physical and mental tension are related, so relaxing physically can help mentally. Having a warm bath with some nice music can also be handy.
It can also be useful to do something physical, like swimming or running or something more gentle. Or 'floppy jogging' at home to some music you like (its like dancing along gently to some music, letting your arms and shoulders be relaxed ie'floppy')
You've probably heard this all before. But just in case.
Mainly to say, I know its awful. Hang on in there.
Its also good to be going to the pdoc- hope they help.
Fi
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