Panic Attack Right Now

Sorry to post this, but I'm having a really bad spell right now. My panic attacks are centered in my stomach and I'm having a terrible morning. I essentially woke up this way, although it's been getting generally worse as the morning has progressed. I have a bunch of little tricks to talk myself down from these things, and they've all failed. I've tried ignoring it. I got up, took a shower, got dressed, and left for work, miserable the whole time. Once I got in the car and started moving it became evident that I'd have to call in. I miss a LOT of work because of this. I bill hourly and it's cost me thousands and thousands of dollars.

I just don't know how much longer I can take it. Two different doctors refuse to give me meds. They BOTH said that my stomach problems will get better when my anxiety gets better, and that my anxiety would get better when my stomach gets better. How is that for circular reasoning? How am I supposed to get better when I'm being treated for neither? Believe me...I don't WANT the pills. I don't like drugs at all, but I want to get better.

I don't mean to be all "poor me", but why do I have to suffer?

I'm so beaten down by all this I don't have the energy to switch doctors yet again. I've seen ten of them (that's no exaggeration) and I'm definitely not the type of person to see the doctor for every little thing. In fact, in my life I've gone years and years on end without seeing one. I used to be healthy, see. Anyway, the first eight doctors either found different problems and fixed them or couldn't come up with anything at all. The last two were working together and decided it was anxiety. I believe them and have faith in them, but I do not understand why I can't be TREATED. Anyway, those guys are 90 miles away from where I live and I'm done going there.

The frustrating thing is, over the last few months I've gotten quite a bit better in many ways. When I feel good I feel really good. But when I feel bad I feel as bad as ever and that's often enough that I don't consider myself anywhere near cured. It's like I'm being teased. Everytime I start to get nausea off my mind, it comes back. Every time.

And I'm human, right? So even though I'm pretty sure it's all rooted in anxiety, I still have doubts. What if it's cancer or something horrible like that? They've said they'd know by now, but I was in the room when they told my grandfather that and two months later he was dead.

I don't know. It helps to complain. Believe it or not, I feel better than I have all day. Still not good, but it's a step in the right direction.

I hope all of you are well.

Hi, debaser--

As much as it sucks to have to find yet another dr., looks like the ones you have aren't providing what you need. I'm infuriated when doctors-- and civilians-- just don't get this anxiety thing.

I agree that it really helps to post. I'm at work and have spent the last four hours rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, er, the files on my desk and cleaning up, because I'm still too out of it (depression) to do anything else right now. I guess I needed this, though.

Hope your day continues to get better!

They couldn't possibly think I'm a drug addict. I haven't even smoked pot in three or four years, and it's been much longer than that since I did it regularly. I think they can tell I don't want the meds. I have a very, very sensitive stomach...maybe they think they'll bother me and end up making my anxiety worse. I don't have access to valium or anything like that. I'm the type of person who could get hooked on that stuff so I'd rather avoid it.

I was feeling better for a couple hours but another wave has hit. Today has been the worst day I've had in quite some time. I can't tell whether I'm hungry or nauseous. I have a weird taste in my mouth and vision in my left eye is double/blurry. That's probably just sinus pressure or something, but it's still adding to what I'm going through.

What kind of doctor do I go to? I don't even know. Regular PCP? GI? Shrink? I'm at the end of my rope when it comes to doctors. You go and you go and you go and they never help. I'm not going to do that any more. Plus it takes forever to see a new doctor when you're considered a "new patient".

This has wrecked my whole life, and everytime I make a little progress and try to put things back together, it falls apart again.

Yeah, and you know what's weird? I went to bed last night extremely thirsty for some reason. I had a bottle of water at my bedside, which is unusual for me. Then I woke up really thirsty. I've been drinking water pretty steadily all day long.

What's weirder is that I feel good right now. Not just better, but good. And it came on very suddenly..."poof". Symptoms gone except for the vision thing. Weird, huh?

I'm feeling sorry for you...Really my anxiety is always concentrate on my stomach , the worst things with my anxiety is stomach pain, gasses , nausea , some time diarrhea even though I had all of other panic symptoms. I'm on Zoloft 50 mg since a year and got better, its helped me too much . even passing gasses and defication helper also . Do regular training , meditation , listen to relaxing music and use medication .... hope you getting better soon .........

Hope today was better....

I have had those horrible stomach feelings it was ,it felt like there was something kicking in there ,i finally went to the drs .it was an irritable colon [ibs] due to stress .it is a horrible feeling stress causes that also some foods ,

My anxiety is also centered in my stomach. I had a bad case of food poisoning 7 years ago and ended up in the hospital for 3 days. I was sick for 6 months and lost 100 lbs. I did not eat much during that time because everything I ate caused severe nausea and dizzyness. I went to at least 10 doctors. One said I had Crohns's disease and put me on a bunch of meds. That did not help so I went to another doctor who did a whole lot of tests such as an ENT (camera into the stomach) and a colonoscopy. All the ulcering and nodules they saw when I had the food poisoning were gone and left no scarring which Crohn's would have left. Sooooooo, the one thing that at least helped with my stomach at the time was taking a pro-biotic called Culturell. You can get it in any Pharmacy over the counter. On top of all that I was in a really bad marriage. I was much better anxiety wise after the dicorce with occasional minor flare ups. 3 years later I ended up in court with my ex-wife over custody related issues of our daughter. To make a long story shorter, after 2 years in court, my anxiety got the best of me and I am now on Lexapro. The trick to it not afffecting your stomach is to take it with food, solid food, not just a snack or something. I am looking into things like yoga and meditation to try and relax myself in general, me being a type A+++++ personality. I did cognitive behavioral therapy for a while and it was a big help.

Unfortunately Anxiety is a complicated problem. They key is to know your triggers. They are very individual and cannot be generalized for all people. I would try cognitive behavioral therapy if I were you. If that does not work, try the meds. One you are stabilized, try some relaxation methods like Yoga and meditation to make your self more relaxed in general then try coming off the meds. Good luck.

debaser said...
Thanks. I have some stomach calming meds, but they make me so tired I can't take them. In retrospect, I do think the doctors have taken me seriously; they just can't find a physical cause for my troubles. The last two doctors who worked on me were at a teaching hospital and I had a pretty thorough workup there. The GI called them "modified panic attacks". They're not exactly like typical panic attacks, but they're not completely dissimilar, either. Food doesn't usually affect how I feel. Blood sugars have been tested numerous times.

Angest, thanks for your comments, too. I may try Zoloft again. I was on it a number of years ago for depression, but only for a couple months. Recently I tried another SSRI for the anxiety and it made me puke. Zoloft didn't bother your stomach at all? I'm pretty sensitive, but it sounds like you may have been, too. I've found that exercise helps to manage anxiety, but sometimes it's hard to exercise everyday. I haven't meditated since my college Zen phase but maybe I'll give that a shot again.

Howlyncat,

I'm not sure that I'm falling through the cracks exactly. My problem has just been difficult to diagnose. In my better moments I try to remind myself that the human body isn't mechanical, that the practice of medicine is both an art and a science, blah, blah, blah.

Last week I visited my PCP for the first time in a while. I hadn't seen him since before going to the teaching hospital and all that. He was sort of hurried, but it's flu season and his office was busy. I could tell that he'd read my chart. Before I even came in he knew everything about what I'd been going through and what was found out at the hospital. He talked to me a little and listened closely. It was a short visit, but not in a bad way.

When all of this was beginning I had one bad doctor and several others who failed to see all of the angles. I assume it just takes time to weed things out. Anxiety was probably very difficult for them to diagnose because I so rarely had the typical symptoms, and when I did I never reported them. One time I went to a GI and was sort of in between a panic attack and just being nervous. While there. He saw it and identified it. Otherwise I'd probably still be wondering what's going on.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. Good luck to you.