new and scary panic situation!

hello everyone.

i am new here, so please be gentle. i'm not really sure how this whole forum thing works yet. i found this site while searching for information on why i've been having the symptoms i've been having lately.

here's my situation....i am a 31 year old female and i have recently started having panic attacks. i'm outgoing, have a great group of friends and a healthy relationship with my boyfriend. about a month ago i just started feeling really anxious all the time and i started having these weird feelings of fear about (what i consider to be) silly things. i have a pinched nerve in my neck which causes me to have shooting pain down my left arm at times. last month, i called my doctor to make an appointment to have this looked at. within an hour of making the appointment i started feeling nauseous and really uncomfortable. it got to the point where i went to my doctor's office proclaiming that i was having a heart attack and i needed someone to do tests and see what was going on. yes...i walked into my dr's office without an appointment and demanded that someone look at me because i couldn't go on without knowing that i was going to be ok. now i know that i was having a panic attack. they did an ekg and told me that everything was fine. this sort of situation has been happening every day..sometimes every other day...since then. last week i had a massive attack at work in front of everyone. nothing seemed to trigger it, it just happened. i had to leave work and it was really embarrassing and a horrible experience all around. the next day, i woke up in a freezing cold sweat and i felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. it was a saturday and my dr.'s office wasn't open, so i went to urgent care. they did another ekg and again everything was fine. i was sent home with a klonopin prescription and told to take it as needed. soon after, i saw my general practitioner again and she put me on celexa and a nerve pain medication.

so...that's where i'm at right now. almost every day i having what i'm calling a "moment" or an "episode" of intense panic. it seems to come from out of nowhere and happens in totally random situations. for example, my boyfriend and i were eating lunch at a deli today and i suddenly had this feeling that i needed to leave the situation immediately. one minute we were joking around, having coffee and sandwiches, the next i was sobbing uncontrollably in the parking lot.

i have been taking a half of the klonopin when an "episode" arises and it seems to kick in pretty quickly and stop the panic. i haven't started taking the celexa yet. i have to admit that i don't want to take a pill everyday. i don't do drugs and i've never been on any other kind of medication like this. i don't like putting anything into my body if i don't know how it's going to make me feel. i'm scared that taking a pill like that is going to make me a zombie.

does anyone out there have any advice? this seriously just came up out of the blue. otherwise, life is good. i have a good job. i travel and vacation often. i have nothing to be stressed about, at least to my knowledge.

when i start to have an attack, i have this overwhelming feeling of fear and that i'm having a heart attack. my mother had a heart attack about a year ago and she told me all about how it felt before she went into the hospital. i think my brain just starts spinning and thinking..."that's what i'm feeling right now, i'm having a heart attack".

does this just happen randomly, out of the blue, sometimes? this thing is starting to rule my life. i wake up everyday and wonder when it's going to happen. i think about it constantly, to the point that i almost can't think about anything else. i'm scared because this is something that i've never dealt with before.
any advice or help would be so greatly appreciated.

thanks so much.

Hello jd,

Welcome to HealingWell and know you have come to the right place to find support and caring from others who live with anxiety in their lives.

Awesome response by Jessie and I agree with her comments.

Many people fight taking meds and I was one of those years ago but I found without taking the meds I was unable to function.  I also am a firm believer in practicing "Positive Affirmations" as Jess mentioned in her post.

I think the best way is to relax your body and mind before taking the medications and remember that the medications will do more good to your body when taken. Relax by doing something that you enjoy most whether listening to music or reading a good book. If the the tablets are too big, you can try breaking them into smaller pieces which will help you swallow them more comfortably.

Be sure to advocate for yourself and know the side effects of your med and accept that it take 4-6 weeks before you reach the full potential of the antidepressants.  Many people stop the med because of the side effects when first taking the meds.........................I have been on many of the meds and finally I am on a med that is helping me. 

RE your panic attacks,  the first and most important thing to know about panic attacks is that they are not dangerous. Panic attacks feel dangerous because they engage our brain's emergency system which tells us we are in imminent danger. But like a fire alarm placed to close to a toaster, the emergency systems in the brains of people with panic attacks are issuing false alarms.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that has been shown to be very effective for the treatment of panic attacks and anxiety disorders in general. Unlike some other types of psychotherapy, CBT involves being taught specific techniques and can be done on your own with the help of a book. That being said, working with a CBT-trained therapist may provide better or more rapid results, particularly for those with more severe anxiety disorders.

If you do not have access to a therapist please check out the free online version that you may work from home on your computer in your own time frame.

Here is the link to the free online version:

Free on-line CBT programs

http://www.moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome

We also have lots of good info in our resource thread at the top of this page so please do check out what is avaialble that may help you.

Gentle Hugs,

Kitt

Hi! I'm kinda new here too. But don't worry about the folks here. They are super nice and helpful! Like u I had the same out of the blue experience with the anxiety/ panic attacks. I thought I was having a heart attack too! I went to the er exclaiming I'm Dyin I'm Dying! Sobbing ,gasping and shaking like a set of them chattery teeth.ya know? The kind ya wind up and off they go?I was terrified. Its been over two years now.I have to take medicine. I didn't like the idea at first either. But like kitt said it really is better to take it if the doc tells u to.I'm only 33 but my health having an incurable disease and new marriage sent me into flip out mode.its a day by day thing now. I really don't have anything to add much as the people here are supremely equipped amazingly with great advice.but believe me I take my medicine and when I get upset I read. It just seems to take me to another world. When I look up it's been hours and I've been completely absorbed. That's much better to me than letting my stinkin obsessive thinkin do me in.I still have real bad days but this forum and the fantastic people here are really helping me cope. I wish u much hope and love in life. Believe me everyday can't stay the same.icgirl

Hello and welcome!

You have had some great resoponses already, so I will just say that we are glad that you have joined us, and encourage you to post anytime!

You will find great support here as you go along this journey of recovering from the panic attacks, and learning to manage the anxiety.;)

We care and understand!

Talk to you soon,

Scaredy Cat

Thanks for the link you provided Jess! I had health anxiety since January and experienced my first panic attack just this February. But I thought I was having a stroke than a heart attack. At first it didn't come out of nowhere, before it happened, I was walking home with my wife and suddenly it felt like I was losing my legs then a feeling like I was going to pass out then CAME AFTER the panic attack. 6 seconds of tightness in my chest, feeling cold and numbness on my torso, heart pounding hard with fast pulse rate, shortness of breath and then finally after the feeling of like being squeezed to death by a giant, it eventually subsided and felt normal again but was sweating too much. After that I felt weak for 5 days. Several panic attacks soon came out of nowhere, mostly sudden onsets of rapid pulse rate and tightness in the chest. I was so afraid to go out. I also remember there was a time when I really felt good at home but when my wife asked me to accompany her to the grocery, when I was at the door on my way out, fear kicked in and suddenly I felt so weak again and can't even move or take a step further to the street. But still I tried, I dragged my weak body to the grocery and while walking I felt dizzy and like a panic attack was stalking me from behind, I said I can't continue and she understood and walked me home. Once at home I felt comfortable and normal again, also the feeling of weakness lessened, I could walk around the house and like panic attack was left outside the house. At that time I became aware that most of this weird stuff going on were just happening in my mind. Weeks passed by, I searched for what triggers them, most of them were absurd thoughts about my health and mortality and the fear of going outside and having a PA. I tried so hard to lessen or eliminate them. I also managed to stop a panic attack from happening by breathing deep and not until just when I joined here at healingwell I learned some breathing exercises made available by scaredy cat that helps to lessen anxiety, panic attacks or even prevent them from happening to you. This is truly a great community for sufferers of anxiety!