Panic Disorder and scared of medication

[Madrilean77]

Hi all. I have been suffering from Panic Disorder for a year now and, at the beginning, I was using a quarter or half of a 1mg Lorazepam tablet to ease the feelings after the attacks or try to prevent them when feeling like one was about to strike. For a while now, I have developed an intense fear of medications and I'm always thinking they are going to trigger an anaphylactic shock, my breathing muscles are going to stop, my throat and tongue are going to swallow and I'm going to suffocate! This feeling is so intense and terrifying that I now avoid taking the tablets and, therefore, my panic attacks are becoming more frequent.

I feel helpless! Is anybody experiencing a similar fear?

Thanks in advance and good luck to all.

[Hidden]

Hello

I have a fear of medication I think some of that fear stems from my past which I cannot move on from but then I have to ask myself what do I fear , I know you explain your fears but that is what they are fear and not reality because you also said you were taking a small amount and none of your fears you have now became reality but they were helping you

I think this is another way anxiety keeps a hold of us , if it see's a small amount of medication is helping to keep it out the way it goes up a gear telling us all these negatives to stop us feeling better as it would loose control then

I would start back on a very small dose again , get your confidence back once you see that will not harm you and with your Doctors support who I would tell all these fears I have to so they could give me some reassurance slowly increase it till you are taking just enough for you to help keep the anxiety at bay and then start to work on your anxiety because eventually once you have you maybe able to forget needing meds

Take Care x

[Jeff1943]

Madrilean, Lorazepam is quite safe in the amounts you mention, the maximum recommended daily amount is 2mg so you're well below that. Lorazepam is derived from the benzodiazepam group of meds: these are based on the rawalwulfa plant used in India for centuries. Mahatma Ghandi, the saintly figure who led India to independence, always started his day with a porridge made from the root of the rawalwulfa plant. So if it was good enough for him I suggest it is good enough for you☺

Like so many of us at different points in our lives you have developed anxiety disorder, this usually comes about when we have gone through a period of stress and worry and finally the pressure on our nervous system is too much and our nerves become over sensitised. In this state they start sending out all sorts of false messages which can include obsessive worry about our health: minor aches and pains of no significance are viewed by our tired minds as serious illness and even after medical tests give us the all clear there is a tendency to continue with the obsession.

An over sensitised nervous system magnifies every little fear ad problem ten fold, in your case I think the natural suspicion we all have about meds has been blown up out of all proportion into an obsessive fear of meds and I have to tell you this is an over reaction.

I can assure you that you most definitely are not going to experience anaphylactic shock, your breathing muscles are not going to stop, you're not going to swallow your tongue and you are not going to suffocate. Neither are you going to have a heart attack or stroke - none of these things are going to happen to you, Madrilian. Neither anxiety disorder nor Lorezepam have the power to do that.

I suggest you take the Lorezepam at the dosage your doctor prescribed but I also suggest you take control of your recovery from anxiety with a view to ending the over sensitised state of your nervous system. To do this you must stop fighting your fears and simply accept them for the time being. Fighting, testing yourself and too much introspection only create more stress and tension that maintains the over sensitivity of your nerves. If you accept the strange feelings, strange thoughts and and even the panic attacks without adding extra fear to them you start to give your frazzled nerves a break - and eventually they will cease to be over sensitised and will stop giving you panic attacks and exaggerated fears and you will regain you peace of mind.

I will repeat - all you have to do to recover is to ACCEPT the bad feelings including panic attack with the minimum of fear you can muster. Not for ever, just until your nerves return to normality. Practicing Acceptance while you are still feeling over anxious is not easy as we all know but with practice and persistance you can achieve it and return to normality.

Whether you practice Acceptance whilst taking meds or not taking meds it must be utter Acceptance not just 'putting up with it'. You CAN recover and you WILL recover, Madrilian, if you simply stop fighting your fears and start practicing Acceptance as so many on this forum have done with success.