Hello all,
Where to begin. I'm 34 and I'm from North Carolina. My panic attacks started around early 2012, so I've been having them for maybe 3 1/2 years now. I think they are really based in some constant traumatic events that were playing out around that time (I basically lived in a war zone for a few years before it) For a while I didn't really understand what I was feeling was actually panic attacks. One day at work early on, I literally thought I was having a heart attack. I was actually laying out in the bathroom floor at work thinking it was the end. Luckily at work we have a nurse and she checked my pulse and my blood pressure and found nothing wrong and that was the first suggestion anyone had made to me that what I was feeling was panic attacks. I've had good months (few panic attacks) and bad months since then. At first I tried to treat it herbally, using Valerian root and a thing I found at GNC called "Rescue Remedy". The combination together worked fairly good, but eventually either my panic attacks got worse or I got immune to its effectiveness. I first sought medical treatment for my attacks almost exactly a 2 years ago. For the first 6 months I was on Prozac and Visteril, but found the combination to really be about as effective as my herbal treatment had become...not at all...so, I went back to the doctor and they switched me to Paxil and Xanax. This was a very effective treatment and I had very few panic attacks during that time that I was on that regimen. Recently I've switched to Paxil and Ativan because my goal is to come off the benzo's and my doctor thought it would be easier for me to come off Ativan than Xanax and for the most part I whole heartedly agree. However, I've noticed that during this time of switching over, my panic attacks have came back pretty often and I'm feeling more anxiety than normal. I suspect that much of this is simply withdrawal symptoms, but its still VERY uncomfortable to say the least. I've become really agitated under fluorescent lights and around noise of nearly any level. Even two conversations going on at one time makes me feel like I want to crawl out of my skin. So, I found this website online, and I thought that while I go through this step-down, working through this program seems like it may help me. So, hello to all and best wishes to everyone trying to beat this thing like me!!!
