Hi,
I am also 23 years old and I suffer from Panic Disorder as well. They first started when I was 15 years old. I had experiemented with Speed and either it is the thing that started this whole Panic Disorder or it just triggered something that was already there. I suffered with it for a whole year before I told my Doctor about it. They referred me to a psychiatrist and I started the medication. I was on the medication for a little over a year and I finally felt that I was myself again and that I didn't need it. Between the ages of 17 and 23 I was fine! That whole time I broke up with a high school boyfriend, started working, going to school, bought a house. I was fine that whole time......then when I started planning my wedding I started having stomach pain that would not go away. I went to the doctor for the stomach pain but when they took my blood pressure it was higher than usual and that's what triggered a downward spiral into slight anxiety to severe Panic Attacks. I thought, oh my gosh I have high blood pressure I'm going to have a heart attack. Within one week I was a mess! I couldn't sleep or work and the panic would come out of nowhere and be so severe that I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to go to the hospital one time because my heart was beating 160 beats per minute and my blood pressure would be really high. I couldn't stop it. After that incident I got back on medication. I take 100 mg of Zoloft now plus .5 mg of Zanax before bed.
It's such a disgusting disorder and I hate it. I had to drop all my classes; I couldn't concentrate because I was scared that I was going to have a panic attack in front of everyone. I'm ashamed when I have to go to the Doctor or the ER because they know and I know it's all in my head but I'm still there anyways, taking up a bed that someone else with a real injury could be using.
I my Panic Disorder the "Crazy's" ;p and I like to make fun of the them. I also tell people why I missed work or why I dropped my classes. I tell them straight out that I have a Panic Disorder. Of course I don't go around telling everyone about it, but I am not embarrased to tell people if they ask. I feel that this is my way of putting it in it's place.
