New to forum

Hello, I'm new to this as well. I stumbled across this site, by pure luck. I've been having anxiety/panic attacks for just the past month. I've been to the ER two times. First time cause I did not know why I felt so strange all over. The second time, because the sensations were bad. I believe this was my first full blown panic attack. I really do understand that I can come to no harm from the sensations, but it is still scary and I catch myself second guessing myself all the time, which only increases the anxiety. I do have the fear of leaving the house, but I do it all the time because I don't want my husband to know how bad I feel. I don't like the feelings I experience when I know I have to go somewhere and I don't like the feeling that i'm going to pass out when I'm there, but the truth is I survived each time. As soon as I pull back in my driveway, alot of the worst sensations are gone, but I'm exhausted. I hate waking each morning because the sensations are instant. I get very panicky in the mornings. This seems to be my worst time. There has not been a day that went by for the last month that I have felt normal. I'm a stay at home mommy to a 17 month old boy. I have a girl who is 9 that is in school. When my baby is taking a nap and hear him waking I get a sense of panic. When I know it's time for my daughter to come home from school i get a sense of panic. I cry alot. It seems to help to just cry it off. I'm in counseling and have only had 3 sessions to date and I wonder how can this help me? I saw the psych. for the first time and I left feeling hopeful. He prescribed me Luvox. I'm only on my 4th dose so it's too soon to tell if its working. I almost feel worse since I started taking it but I read somewhere that it is common to feel worse at first, but the outcome is well worth it. I take alprazolam which is the smallest dose available and i noticed it is not working effectively anymore. I have a bad fear of taking the meds as I do not want to take anything that can harm me. Maybe I should have never found the drugs website. I know I should trust the doctor, but I still get nervous about the meds. Anybody else feel this way?

New to forum

Thanks so much for your support. I think this so what need right now. I gave writing a shot one morning and I was so full of anxiety, I couldn't even read it when I read it later on. I need to practice this. I read this alot that is one thing that does help. I think my biggest problem is waking up knowing what I have to rush around to do. I have to get my moody 9 year old up for school in the morning, get her clothes picked out for her. Make sure her teeth and hair are brushed, get her breakfast. You parents know this routine all too well. Then I have my son whose only 17 months old. I dread hearing him waking up. Don't get me wrong, I love both my kids and love to see their smiling faces, but I know my day has officially started and my quiet time is over. I always try to use my quiet time, to calm myself down, but I don't get much of it. I'm so glad I found this site. It's like no other. Other sites, are full of alot of criticism. NOT THIS ONE!

Noob here...greetings!

Your case is so common from what I have read so far. My first episode came on 12/25/09. I sat down to eat Christmas dinner at my dads house feeling fine as could be. As I started eating which I love to do on holidays, my appetite went away and I felt as I could not eat another bite, or i'd vomit. I can't hardly remember christmas day at all. It was such a blur that whole day. I had my aunt take my blood pressure which was fine as usual. I was so restless. I could not set still, but I did not want to move either. I actually went to bed that night prepared not to wake up the next morning. I did however woke up and called my doctor. He was on vacation, so I drove to the ER. My heart rate was up a bit the doctor said. He gave me a Xanax and it calmed me down within 20 minutes. So much so, I don't even remember a thing he said when he came in to give me my blood work results. He told me I had an anxiety attack. I'm like what?? Where did that come from? Can this happen out of the blue??? Well since that day, I have not had a day that has felt right. I had a full blown panic attack which landed me in the ER again. Well this time, they treated me like I was just plain nuts saying "are you seeking treatment." Well I am seeking treatment. I see a counsler once a week. I have seen a pshychirtrist that prescribed me Luvox CR 100 mg. I have my doubts about this medicine though. It makes me feels a constant state of panic. Now keep in mind i've only taken 5 doses to date and take alprazolam for when the times are really bad. I've noticed my .25 mg is no longer working so I take 1-1/2 which helps a little more, but still not as well as when I first took it. I'm so physically drained. I can't hold my head up half the time which can lead to anxiety as I've been told. I had taken Paxil in the past for depression and trouble sleeping. I had to stop though when I got pregant with my son 17 months ago. Just kind of curious if anyone else has tried different medications before finding something that really worked. Do I need to give this one more time? I love reading all the posts on this forum. They give me so much comfort that I'm not the only one suffering. I actually don't even feel dizzy when i'm on this site. I wish I could stay here all day.

Question about lexapro

I'm looking for the same answer about Luvox CR for panic disorder. I started it 5 days ago. It seems my anxious feelings were more like panic attacks that would not go away after about the 2nd day. The Xanax barely touched the sensations. This is a medicine to take before bed and last night I fell asleep and forgot to take it. Today, was the best day I had in a month with minor panic upon awakening. Now maybe I'm building up to it and my serotonin levels are doing whatever the meds are suppose to make them do? Or am I having a fear of taking the medicine due to bad side affects, or is the meds making me worse. I'm going to take it tonight for sure and see what tommorrow brings. If I feel really bad again I will be calling the doctor. I just want something to work. I hate taking pills, but I will if it makes me normal again. MAYBE, THIS FORUM IS REALLY HELPING ME!!!!!! Wish me luck tonight and tommorrow folks and i'll keep you posted on what comes from this medicine.

The length of a panic attack

This is an old forum, but for anyone reading it. I had pretty bad panic that lasted about 5 hours. I think what may have been actually happening is that I was having one right after another, due to the fear of another. I'm almost to the point i can't tell the difference between high anxiety and panic. My first one was problably only 20 minutes, but felt like an all day affair. Left me shaken, depressed, and physically drained, dizzy, you name it. 

drinking

I wondered about drinking. I'm only a social drinker. We keep beer in the fridge for company and I look at them every day, wondering...............would drinking a beer help my anxious behavior. I hear that it makes it worse, so I don't. Also, the meds. labels say to avoid alchol since it can intensify the effect. I guess make you drunk quicker. I have this terrible fear of overdosing. I don't want to end up like a couple of the famous people that died recently due to many drug combinations. I only take 2 meds and am nervous about that.

Am I the only one?

Hello! I did not realize it until very recently.  17 months ago, I had a baby. I had alot of what I know now were anxious thoughts. I had some gallbladder trouble throughout my pregnancy and it continued afterwards. I constantly worried about it. I thought for sure I had cancer or something else wrong. I constantly worried if I die who will take care of my son. (I do have family, so this should have not been a concern) I wondered how he could live without me. I would have very vivid imaginations of tragic accidents among family members. Who knew these thoughts would lead me to where I am today. I'm a nervous wreck. I feel as if i'm living in a constant state of panic. If I had only known what these negative thoughts were leading to, i would have sought help much sooner. Now with all the anxious/panic I have the gallbladder issue has resolved itself. STRANGE I know! I'm trying to use this program to the best of my ability. I have a very difficult time writing down my anxious thoughts because half the time I don't know what they are, except that I feel miserable. I don't have the imaginations anymore but i still do get very scared at times second guessing myself. Almost wishing there was something else wrong besides anxiety. I've been to the ER twice & to my Family doctor once and they always say "anxiety".  Keep reading this forum and try to work through the program.. The forum alone helps me tremendously. I just started the program so i can't tell about it yet, but i'm not giving up yet.

Question about lexapro

Just wanted to update on the Luvox CR from my post below. I took it that night and had a horrific nightmare that left me shouting out in my sleep and crying. The next day I was so shaken and in a state of panic the whole day. I really think that I was able to contribute, my higher anxiety levels/panic sensations to the medicine. It made me a maniac in many ways. Screaming, about choked my cat, crying. I just know that it made it too bad to handle. So I called the doctors office and spoke to the nurse. He suggested I don't take anymore until I hear back. I haven't hear back but I have an appointment on Feb 2. I'm curious as to what he has to say. I could handle a little bit of anxiousness but the panic I cannot and will not tolerate if medicine is what is going to do it to me. Since I stopped taken it completely I have felt alot better. I'm still not sleeping well at night but really haven't since my first bout with anxiety, but at least I haven't had the nightmares. I wake up very anxious and just want to get my hubby off to work and daughter off to school, so I can cope it out. Waking up is the worst time for me for some reason????? I just don't understand why. Anyways, I have decided to join the gym. My counsler thinks my anxiety is coming from stresss and i think he's right. Today I cried all morning thinking how much I hate my daily routine. I need a change for the better. I think an exercise program would help with my self confidence and if I feel better about myself and my body, I will feel better mentally. I'm just physically drained all the time. Ok, enough with the complaining, but I wanted to update on the medicine.

Anxiety and Exercise

I have GAD and have had a panic attack. My counsler suggested joining the gym so, I did so today.  When I first started working out, I felt a good bit more anxious. Of course anyone with GAD knows that you worry alot about yourself healthwise. So, I'm there working out on an excercise bike and watching my heart rate. It stayed around 120-125 but there I am worrying about it. My hands got real sweaty, you all know the anxious routine. So I kept at anyway. The anxious feeling really did subside, but afterward I just felt a little dizzy and a very small headache. I know this is common with anxiety and I do suffer from lightheadness from time to time with my GAD. Now, i am just about 30 pounds overweight, a smoker, (which i intend to kick as soon as I get a little bit of a grip on the GAD) and haven't really had an exercise program for 15 years. Back to the smoking, I know I shouldn't use my anxiety as a reason for not quitting, but sometimes a smoke helps to calm my nerves. I actually had planned on joining a quit program that uses the patch right before my intial attack a month ago because my mom and one of my friends had done it.  Anybody have any thoughts on anxiety and exercise. I'd appreciate hearing anything that anyone has experienced or knows what to experience.

Smoking

Congratulations to all you guys and gals that have quit smoking and have found the courage to do so with anxious minds. I'm so jealous. No really, I want to quit smoking and had planned to just before my intial anxiety attack a month ago because my mom and my friend were in a program and were having great success. I have a book about anxiety and it says that now is problably not the best time to go cold turkey, but make it a goal, and try to only smoke in moderation. Space them out. The book also says, that an anxious person will light up and actually have a calming effect, because you are breathing like you are suppose to. Doesn't this make so much sense? This is not really what is happening, but because you are breathing correctly (minus the smoke of course) your calming yourself and think it's from the cigerette. When I first became anxious I went from about a pack a day to a pack and half. I'm back down to my usual pack now that I know what my problem is. Of course there are days where I feel I need to smoke more and some days, I smoke less. So to you and me, let's make it a long term goal if nothing else and try to kick the habit as soon as we feel strong enough, but only if you want to quit. I know I do, for my kids sake. I don't smoke in the house, but still it is not a good impression for them.