Numbness

Absolutely, weakness, tingling, light headedness, difficulty breathing and heart palpitations are how my panic attacks come on. If I feel these coming on strong and I can't get through 10-15 minutes of deep breathing and focus exercises, I take a Xanax. Otherwise I am on Lexpro (similar to Zoloft in that its an anti-depressant) and I have a sleeping med too. Once your Zoloft kicks in fully you should feel some relief, I did with the Lexapro. It sounds like you are learning a lot about GAD and identifying triggers which is great & will help you manage the attacks. There are people on tis forum that are of enormous help and have actually managed their panic attacks for years. That's where I'd like to be - no reason you can't be either. Good Luck.

When I am having a panic attack I always feel dizzy, heart racing, numbness/weakness in my extremities and chest pain. You are not crazy! I think a lot of it stems from hyperventilating. You get too much oxygen in your body and all these symptoms appear. Try to concentrate on deep and slow breathing. I usually breathe in through my nose, count to 4 and then breath out through my mouth or nose to the count of 4. Sometimes I can get my mind off the panic attack by focussing my concentration on breathing. Knowing that it's just a panic attack is half the battle. Welcome to the forum!

Lizl

I do not have a panic disorder but, my significant other suffers from this debilitating disorder. When she has an attack I try to help her breath and get her through this. I always ask the question? What were you thinking about? What are you worried about? to see if we can identify the cause of the attacks. I am very worried, they just came out of the blue. I have encouraged her to seek therepy for support. Can you tell me what other type of support I can offer during these episodes?

I apologize for the confusion. I am Tiamaries roommate. I thought I posted under my sign on. I posted the concerned significant other. Thanks