hi everyone, has any one started to have panic attacks just out of the blue

[jaqi1]

[Philip]

Do you have any other illness alongside your RA? Could it perhaps be your medication?

[jaqi1 in reply to Philip]

hiya no i don't have any other illness that i know about. the panick attacks just started a couple of weeks ago. i honestly thought i was having a heart attack. scarey

[Hidden]

Jaqui panic attacks often start out of the blue and usually following a period of stress. I know someone who has suffered from them, he has been able to get control of them now without medication but they started completely out of the blue with him as well.

Hopefully it will be a one-off for you. You have went through such a lot over the last while.

[WiseSarah]

Hi!

Yes I suddenly started having panic attacks about 5 months after my diagnosis which continued for about a year. It was awful and very frightening. I live in Dubai, moving home in July actually, but I was diagnosed in the UK and have always travelled back to see my rheumatologist.

I began by developing an obsessive compulsive disorder and then I became reluctant to leave the apartment. My GP in Dubai put me on cipralex and referred me to a therapist who specialises in people with chronic conditions. My panic attacks started very suddenly and I had difficulty breathing and on one occasion thought I might be having a heart attack. I used to get them every time the plane was taking off or landing too.

I spent a year working with the therapist and she gave me lots of exercises to do which helped enormously and actually the attacks and the obsessive compulsive disorder sorted themselves out over three months or so. I am also nearly off cipralex now after 3.5 years.

Dr. Schlatter, the therapist told me that it is very common for people with chronic conditions to develop panic attacks and other thought pattern problems and it is usually down to loss of control, as in, with RA you don't know from one day to the next how you're going to be or what's going to happen long term.

I think it's a lot harder to get access to therapists on the NHS but maybe your rheumatologist could suggest one?

Good luck with it all, it is very scary.

Sarah xxx

[cathie]

Your therapist makes sense, I get very anxious when doing something new and do as much research as I can. Ra means were less able to cope with unexpected x