Horrible Anxiety Attacks

Hello, I am so sorry that you are not finding relief, did the doc not offer you any anti-anxiety meds, such as Xanax or Klonopin? Xanax is supposed to work very quickly, the Klonopin I have for my attacks and I chew them and they take about 30 min to kick in and calm me back down.....

I will pray for you hon, that you will be freed from the attacks ASAP, I would call the doc back and talk to the nurse if they did not offer you any anti-anxiety quick acting meds because I think that is something that would really help you right now....then if you are not on a long term anti-anxiety med (usually an anti-depressant or such), then you may talk to the doc about that soon too..

God Bless and keep posting, there have to be many in your shoes that can offer lots of encouragment for you!

Hey Serenitee, sorry I had to edit your post as per rule #1.

If you are feeling bad to that level of anxiety and pain, then please call your psychiatrist back asap and request a follow up appointment. She should know that you are having these thoughts and feelings, and adjust your meds accordingly.

Is there someone that you can take with you to help you say the things that you want to convey to her? Or could you write the things that you want to express down on a list? That way, you won't get swept away in the moment. I know I do that sometimes, and it helps me stay focused on my communication.

I hope that you can get this all sorted out soon. Practice your breathing and relaxation exercises as much as possible. You have had a lot to contend with lately! Surgery is a big deal, and I'm not suprised that you have some anxiety fallout...I know I would. Give yourself some time to heal physically and mentally...it will happen.

Take care, and let us know how you're doing soon,
Scaredy Cat

Serenitee

I am sorry for your pain and I know how you feel - you just can not take another step forward - you are just stuck in anxiety.  When I get this bad I will call and talk with my P-doc's nurse and tell her what is going on and I am usually in tears when I get to that point.  She is kind and always talks to the Dr. calling me back ASAP.  Sometimes an opening due to a cancellation will pop up and I will get a call to come in.

I have taken my husband with once and she was nice about it however reminded me that if I want to bring a family member to an appointment  I need to make an appointment for 40 minutes as we went over my 20 minute appointment.  She does not feel this is fair to the next patient waiting.  Why do I always feel like I have been scolded ?  Guess it is part of being anxious.  I take things to personal. Of course that is my P-doc and she is the only one in town

I would often take my hubby with me to my PC physician when he was handling my problems which I felt helped my hubby understand more of what was going on.  It helped me having him along .

When your fears have the best of you, it is easy to feel that things will not get any better. Never give up as there are better days in your future.  Keep on talking with us as we are always here to support you.

Gentle Hugs,

Kitt

StKitt,

I agree with you whole heartedly. I take everything so personally, and when things are said that are not in favor of me I feel scolded as well. Always feeling I'm not good enough. I think thats why I love this site so much...meeting you and the other members truly are so helpful. I now know that I take things so personally since finding out I'm BPD, its nice to find I'm not in the alone and that others do have some of the similar symptoms.

Out of the 9-symptoms ( and you need at least 5) I have all 9. When I read on it, it as if tho I wrote it myself. It made me finally feel validated. My therapist from outpatient treatment last year was sure that I was Bipolar and Borderline...After studying on it and talking to my psych doctor she agreed. I finally felt that I wasn't just totally crazy since there was a name to put with everything that I feel. Its helped my husband so much understand me better.

Thank you for your support.
Your Healingwell Friend,
Serenitee

Serenitee, I used to have the nocturnal attacks pretty frequently, and they were horrible! It's really not fair, here you are half asleep, disoriented and unable to fight it off with your tools! A dirty trick if you ask me:(

There are different ways to handle these, but my favorite way to calm myself down is to use mantras. If for example I wake up from a nightmare with a racing heart, I will repeat "I'm okay, it's only fear from the bad dream, it will pass"

Or, if I wake up for no reason, I struggle not to panic because of an association I have to getting sick in the middle of the night. It seems that everytime I, or one of my kids has come down with the stomach flu, it has been in the middle of the night. You wake up, and the next thing to happen is...:O So when this occurs, I repeat "Everyone wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night, and you are perfectly well" (this just happened last night matter of fact)

Unfortunately sleep disturbances seem to go hand-in-hand with A/P, but as you get further along in your treatment they should improve...they did for me.

I hope that you will feel better, and get some panic-free nights really soon:)

Take care,
S.C.

I have found a secret to stopping panic in the long run.....I was on a low dose of Depakote and it actually would STOP the panic attacks from happening!! If I felt one coming on it would go away really quick and I did not have to take any Klonopin or Xanax or anything!!! I took 375mg of Depakote for a long time, its a mood stabilizer that is also going to help with my major mood swings from bipolar II. Maybe ask your doc about it; if it might be a good fit?

I hope all this pain you are suffering goes away. I wake up every night and i just have this tendency to worry so much about everything. But reading your post i just pray you can one day find relief. Its not easy at all and painful and many people take sleep for granted and don't know how blessed they are. Just be strong and many years ago i thought this will not get better but it did. I am now much much better than i was before (don't even want to talk about that lol). I will not advise you of what to do and its really important to do as the professionals tell you to do but will just share a little thing that helped me out. In the past i used to wake up to this really quite dark atmosphere where all my family is asleep and the silence just gets me. One weekend we spent at grandma's house i woke up and went to the bathroom and her kitchen is beside her bathroom. The door was not shut fully and i could see the lights on in the kitchen. I go in and what do you know, grandma was there had the radio on on low volume and a little heater beside her and she was eating lol. For the first time in my life i felt that midnight is not such a bad time. She told me to come in and we ate and talked while the whole family was asleep. I felt warm that night.
So since then when i wake up at night and feel bad i go to the kitchen and turn radio on but low volume and make my self a snack. Before i sleep i always turn on some sort of machinery that will make (white noise) which help in sleeping. Lately i downloaded the sound of an old Air Conditioner from the internet and let it play all night as i like to sleep on Old Air conditioner sound. If you cant defeat the night for the time being use it and don't let it get to you and eventually you will feel better i pray and have a great night sleep.