Hello everyone, I am going through a really rough patch. The hardest time of my life. I have had anxiety before but never like this.
I have this looming feeling of unease and my heart is beating so fast all day long. My resting hr is like 110. And I keep having a huge panic attack every day for like 30 minutes and feel as if I’m on the brink all day. Is this normal for bad anxiety? I never had a panic attack before. But I went to the hospital Friday and Today! My heart was beating 180 at the hospital. Literally what’s happening to me. They suggested I take a beta blocker but I’m thinking maybe I should get back on my old anxiety medicine from when I was a teen? Effexor. I’m not sure if it will help with this panicking and heart rate. It worked great for me when I took it before but I didn’t have all this (my anxiety was much more mild). Please does this happen to anyone else? I feel like I’m going crazy. I also wake in the night or morning panicking 😭 what is happening
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tmjourney
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I don't know if it is "normal" but I have had many such panic attacks. You are not going crazy. Many people, myself included, have been woken up by panic attacks and a racing heart.
If you do not have a doctor who can prescribe anxiety medications, find one and start working with her/him. It will take some time for the drugs to build up to the correct levels for them to work, and you may have to change drugs a few times to find the right one or combination that will help, so try to be patient (It took a few months the first time I was put on medication to get everything working).
Also, I would highly recommend a therapist along with the medication. For me, I view medication as a tool to control the symptoms enough so you are in a good enough mental and emotional state so that therapy can help. I am not a doctor, so I can only speak from my own experience, but for me the combination of medication and therapy helped tremendously the first time, so well that I has a large number of years when I required neither, and the combination is helping me now.
When selecting a therapist, there are two main types:
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) which will give you a set of coping mechanisms and tools to help you deal with and manage your anxiety.
Psychodynamic which will look deep into the causes of your issues and help you understand where they came from.
CBT is short term and will help you control the symptoms. Psychodynamic is long term and will address the cause of the problems.
Both work, both have been proven be beneficial. I would suggest that you select a therapist based on which of the two seems like it would work with your personality.
I know it is difficult, and seem insurmountable right now, but you can get through this and it will get better.
Number one you are not going crazy, anxiety looks for a way or thought to get control of what you are thinking and reacting about , just remember thoughts are just that thoughts, you can either try to logic through them or just try to ignore them. panic attacks are your body and mind reacting together you know in your mind what is realistic and what is just garbage.
No, you're not crazy! I can relate to your situation. I recently went back on effexor and while I was also on Neurontin before my Psychologist and Psychiatrist are having me try lots of buspar with the effexor. I'm also receiving CBT and I just started trauma therapy because of a new diagnosis of ptsd. I suggest you have a team helping you like I do. It makes all the difference in the world for me. Will effexor help you again as it did before? My opinion is your answer is highly likely a strong "yes" and I ask you to get with medical professionals of your choosing asap. My severe anxiety really pisses me off and I don't want anyone to suffer like you are.
Wow Galletas. I am glad you have finally found something that is working for you. It seems I need to get a more well rounded plan going, besides just medicine. I took my first dose of Effexor tonight I’m praying it doesn’t make things worse getting back on it.
When your symptoms are bad are they similar to what I described? I have been feeling though I want to crawl out of my skin.
"Crawl out of my skin?" Hmmm. Yep. That's a good way of putting it. "Working for me?" Well, the meds help but fall short. I've been ramping up the dosages since December (6 months ago). We've maxed out one and have only one more bump up on the other. In order to save my life, I've had to study up on and begin taking an herbal supplement taken in form of a fine tea powder called Kratom. It continues to save my life.
Medical marijuana is in the works and will supposedly become available to me in several weeks. My ptsd diagnosis allows me to have access. Red tape and limited practitioners in my area are causing unfortunate delays. Take great care if you use the herb Kava Kava because it can damage the liver if you take too much. Passion fruit herb powder helps. Search for terms "stress" and "anxiety" on an online vitamin retailer such as Swansons Vitamins and a few blends that help will come up. Swanson is one of the most affordable and very reputable (a doctor's wife put me on to them).
Have you tried emergency meds? When I start to feel a panic attack coming on, I usually take a couple hydroxazine pills which start to work very quickly. I can usually keep the "edge" off afterwards too. They can make me feel kind of lethargic, but when I'm extremely freaked out, I kinda prefer the lethargy to the level of panic I experience.
Yeah. That's very true. What about Passionflower? It's an OTC holistic treatment that works kind of like Xanax but less addictive. Unfortunately, it's not quite as effective, but it is better than nothing. I've found if I take like 6 of them when I'm really nervous, it helps.
So sorry you are dealing with this. Having s high heart rate can be really bothersome and draining. Along with CBT and potentially meds there are some small steps now u can take to help as well. Tips like staying hydrated, progressive relaxation, and exercise. Self care is such a huge part of healing from this illness. You are not alone and you are not crazy. The brain manifests in so many ways and it can be really scary.
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I feel like a burden. 
Panicking 
New to this 
Always afraid of the worst happening 
Hello
