Fighting Panic Disorder

[KrisGreen]

Maybe there are other people who go through what I face daily. I’m currently seeing a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Apparently CBT can cure this disorder over time. For those who don’t know me, I am “on the spectrum.”

For the last 10 years I’ve had a condition that’s getting worse. When I was younger I was down a dark path in my life. I met the wrong people and started doing club drugs (clean 9 years now.) I was even STUPID enough to post here on JUB back in 2010 that I was high yet concerned how dangerous it was. Well one day on Mdma, I felt some explosion in my chest that felt like a bomb. Most painful thing I ever went through. Anyway since that day I have panic attacks for no reason.

I get symptoms of a heart attack, pain in left arm, chest feels like it’s being crushed, can’t breathe, BP goes to something insane like 175/115 160 BPM. Anyway I’m medicated on so much clonazepam from the Dr that it’s a problem of it’s own. Keeps me out of the hospital which is the main point. I go nuts when I see people actually enjoy benzos for fun, they’re horrible. I have to drink coffee to stay awake during the day and that even causes issues.

I know some people learn to meditate after hearing “success stories.” To me it feels Dehabilitating. I can have one in Walmart and feel absolutely humiliated sitting down with people staring. They happen for no reason and I literally feel like I am going to die. They are absolutely terrifying. As I get older, they’re getting worse. I was forced to cut back on them when I was on temporarily on hydrocodone for my back which I no longer need. They got worse, and they are worse now despite being off those nasty pain pills. I’m now at a higher dose of clonazepam then I was before I had to cut back Due to interaction of the pain relief.

I just want to see light at the end of the tunnel I am in. I have 2 minimum a day. It feels so embarrassing when it happens around others. Does anyone else have panic disorder or had it and overcame it? Next step for me is seeing a neuropsychologist.

 

[KaraBulut]

For the last 10 years I’ve had a condition that’s getting worse. When I was younger I was down a dark path in my life. I met the wrong people and started doing club drugs (clean 9 years now.) I was even STUPID enough to post here on JUB back in 2010 that I was high yet concerned how dangerous it was. Well one day on Mdma, I felt some explosion in my chest that felt like a bomb. Most painful thing I ever went through. Anyway since that day I have panic attacks for no reason.

I remember your posts and I remember that incident.

I was actually thinking about your a couple of days ago since you haven't been on JUB in a whlie. I'm glad to hear that you've found resources to help you.

I can have one in Walmart and feel absolutely humiliated sitting down with people staring. They happen for no reason and I literally feel like I am going to die. They are absolutely terrifying.

One thing that your therapist should have told you is that one of the paralyzing things about panic disorders is the fear of how people will respond when you have a panic attack. The best thing to do is to be honest. Panic attacks are quite common and people will be understanding and sympathetic if you tell them that you're having a panic attack.

That said, having panic attacks multiple times a day is more frequent than the typical panic disorder patient.

Just to make sure...

Before they started treating you for panic disorder, did they do medical screening to ensure that there wasn't another cause? Panic disorder is supposed to be what is referred to as a "diagnosis of exclusion" which means that once the most common causes are tested for and eliminated, the cause is considered to be panic disorder. There are some conditions that cause imbalances in the "fight or flight system" of the body that have the same symptoms as a panic attack. Did they do tests to eliminate those physical conditions that might be the cause?

Once you were diagnosed with panic disorder, your therapist should have helped you work on modifying aspects of your life that trigger the disorder. Panic disorders are very common in people who have "alpha" personalities and who seek out high-stress situations. You're already mentioned one of the other common traits of people who develop panic disorders- use of drugs, particular stimulants including caffeine.

There are also other medications that may be helpful as first line treatment when you feel a panic attack coming on. For example, some patients with panic attacks find that using magnesium oil or cannabidiol (CBD) oil may work better if taken early in the panic attack. They are much shorter acting than benzodiazepines and they don't have the overly sedating effects. You might do some reading on these and see if they help to break the panic attack cycle before it gets to the point where you need to take clonazepam.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is effective for panic disorder, as is mindfulness (aka meditation). What happened to you sounds like it may be associated with a form of PTSD and it will take some re-learning for your body to break the cycle of panic that you associate with re-living the bad experiences that you had when taking the MDMA. Think of it this way: your body has been learning these abnormal patterns of dealing with stress for 10 years. It will take some time to "unlearn" those patterns and replace them with healthier patterns of coping with stress.

Are you getting any benefit at all from your current therapy? How long have you been on your current treatment with the psychiatrist and therapist?

 

[KrisGreen]

I remember your posts and I remember that incident.

I was actually thinking about your a couple of days ago since you haven't been on JUB in a whlie. I'm glad to hear that you've found resources to help you.



One thing that your therapist should have told you is that one of the paralyzing things about panic disorders is the fear of how people will respond when you have a panic attack. The best thing to do is to be honest. Panic attacks are quite common and people will be understanding and sympathetic if you tell them that you're having a panic attack.

That said, having panic attacks multiple times a day is more frequent than the typical panic disorder patient.

Just to make sure...

Before they started treating you for panic disorder, did they do medical screening to ensure that there wasn't another cause? Panic disorder is supposed to be what is referred to as a "diagnosis of exclusion" which means that once the most common causes are tested for and eliminated, the cause is considered to be panic disorder. There are some conditions that cause imbalances in the "fight or flight system" of the body that have the same symptoms as a panic attack. Did they do tests to eliminate those physical conditions that might be the cause?

Once you were diagnosed with panic disorder, your therapist should have helped you work on modifying aspects of your life that trigger the disorder. Panic disorders are very common in people who have "alpha" personalities and who seek out high-stress situations. You're already mentioned one of the other common traits of people who develop panic disorders- use of drugs, particular stimulants including caffeine.

There are also other medications that may be helpful as first line treatment when you feel a panic attack coming on. For example, some patients with panic attacks find that using magnesium oil or cannabidiol (CBD) oil may work better if taken early in the panic attack. They are much shorter acting than benzodiazepines and they don't have the overly sedating effects. You might do some reading on these and see if they help to break the panic attack cycle before it gets to the point where you need to take clonazepam.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is effective for panic disorder, as is mindfulness (aka meditation). What happened to you sounds like it may be associated with a form of PTSD and it will take some re-learning for your body to break the cycle of panic that you associate with re-living the bad experiences that you had when taking the MDMA. Think of it this way: your body has been learning these abnormal patterns of dealing with stress for 10 years. It will take some time to "unlearn" those patterns and replace them with healthier patterns of coping with stress.

Are you getting any benefit at all from your current therapy? How long have you been on your current treatment with the psychiatrist and therapist?

You know I actually have wondered if it’s a form of PTSD. That bomb Going off in my chest made my legs wobbly, was exhausted for weeks. I have ruled everything out such as any other medical condition. I tried acupuncture, aroma therapy, taking a shower and sitting under the water, going for a swim. Taking a shower and going for a swim worked sometimes years ago, but now they’re ineffective. Swimming makes it worse because I am moving around.

A gust of wind can blow at me and cause a panic attack. I’ve tried CBD oil, I originally tried it for my sciatica. It had no effect on me for either of those things. I recently tried CBD yet another time and felt a bit of sleepiness, I ended up needing the medicine anyway.

The fight or flight mode is exactly what goes on with me. As to my CBT, I find it helpful with just about everything. In terms of being honest like you said, I’m very direct with people that I am having one. I ask some to tell me about their day to put my mind in another state of mind. Once in a while that does work if I do it VERY early. I tried telling my attacks I hate them and they can’t control me. Then he tells me giving it power or acknowledgement will make it worse.

In all honesty in terms of controlling my attacks, it’s not helping. I’m desperate to try something else. If I wait too late to take the medication, I’m usually calling 911 because I waited too late. They feel life threatening when they become the most extreme. It doesn’t help that my psychotherapist told me a friend in the navy had his lungs collapse because he couldn’t come down from his panic attack. Now I think of that as a possibility or having a heart attack.

 

[KaraBulut]

You know I actually have wondered if it’s a form of PTSD.

In healthcare, we see patients who have cardiac problems will often have panic attacks even after their cardiac problem has been fixed. It takes a while to convince them that just because it used to happen doesn't mean that it's still going to happen again.

The fight or flight mode is exactly what goes on with me. As to my CBT, I find it helpful with just about everything. In terms of being honest like you said, I’m very direct with people that I am having one. I ask some to tell me about their day to put my mind in another state of mind. Once in a while that does work if I do it VERY early. I tried telling my attacks I hate them and they can’t control me. Then he tells me giving it power or acknowledgement will make it worse.

That's the key- a panic attack is like a snowball rolling down a hill getting bigger and faster the longer it rolls. What all of these therapies are trying to do is give you the power back to stop the snowball before it gets bigger. And that's why admitting that it's a panic attack and intervening early is important.

...I’ve tried CBD oil, I originally tried it for my sciatica. It had no effect on me for either of those things. I recently tried CBD yet another time and felt a bit of sleepiness, I ended up needing the medicine anyway.

There is research going on about CBD as a calming agent for panic attacks. I doesn't work on everyone but for some people it does seem to stop the panic before it overtakes you.

...In all honesty in terms of controlling my attacks, it’s not helping. I’m desperate to try something else. If I wait too late to take the medication, I’m usually calling 911 because I waited too late. They feel life threatening when they become the most extreme. It doesn’t help that my psychotherapist told me a friend in the navy had his lungs collapse because he couldn’t come down from his panic attack. Now I think of that as a possibility or having a heart attack.

The terrible irony of panic attacks is that the best advice is to be patient and find the things that work for you. That's not easy because, as you know, the nature of panic attacks is that you can't be patient because you just want it to stop now. You have to find what works for you.

There are probably others here who have more personal experience with panic attacks who can tell you what has worked for them.

 

[guyfromNY]

Paxil helped me greatly..