Hi SunflowerWannabe

Congratulations on the self-awareness. We have to treat this ourselves if we really want to get better.

The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) response is a natural response. It's our Fight, Flight, or Fright response and it kept us alive for hundreds of thousands of years. It protects us from danger. The problem occurs when we can't get out of it, or activate our Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) response. That's our Rest and Digest response. Being stuck in an SNS response creates hypervigilance, anxiety, panic attacks, and all sorts of other problems that we're familiar with.

So, it's healthy to have a working response that keeps us safe, but it's unhealthy when that response becomes the only response we have.

Xanax didn't help me for my panic attacks, and Citalopram was completely ineffective as well. What does work for my panic attacks is Clonazepam. I take 2mg twice a day which is quite a high dosage but it really settles the SNS response and allows my body and brain to calm down and stay calm.

Stay safe, but try and relax when you are safe. LTLTR