[butthurt]

I had an injury from work that caused chronic pain and the inability to sit down.

The pain along with not being able to sit with family for dinner, sit to rock my newborn, go out with my wife, etc. I had a trigger at work where I was told, basically, that I was having heart issues. It ended up being a panic attacj induced by the persons comments about why I had a headache and my jaw hurt (I have tmj) and then went from there including that I needed help asap and I was hypertensive. That got my heart beat to 180bpm.

Since that day I have had frequesnt panic attacks as well as daily anxiety attacks and a non stop anxiety feeling.

What are some meds that you are taking for panic and GAD. I can't tak much more of this. I can't convince myself that it isn't an embolism or blocked artery while I am in thr throws of an attack.

I have xanax .5 mg taken as needed and buspirone 7.5 taken at night and morning. The xanax worked at first to relieve the panic, but now even 1 doesnt help for very long. The buspirone doesn't seem to do anything except I get a little dizzy right after I take it.

I took one of my wife's 1mg kolonopin and it seemed to stop a pretty bad attack and kept it gone for several hours.

This morning I woke up at 5 am in the middle of an attack and I was getting ready to call an ambulance. I try deep belly breathing and tried to stay in the present which was hard. After a xanax I was able to fall asleep after a little while again.

I also have mild add, depression, mild ocd and personality issues.

My GP placed me on a small amount of citrprolam (celexa?) once a day as well as the xanax 5mg as needed. After 2 weeks I told him I was still having attacks so he took me off of the celexa and put me on buspirone.

I was taking 1800mg daily of gabapentin, which I just read can cause panic attacks and anxiety as severe side effects, so I went back down to the 900mg dose where I didn't have any sides.

I am at my wits end. I went to the duck game yesterday and the first three hours of tailgating I was disassociated and focusing on feeling any issues with my body and not enjoying life. I took the klonopin and then started feeling good which lasted for hours.

I just dont know what to do. My main concern is that I have a heart issue or blockages. I am only 31 with high cholesterol, normal blood glucose, no family histiry of heart disease, etc. But lately I have been getting exercise induced panic, or breathlessness and weak feeling with minimal efforts. If I go up a flight or two of stairs somewhat quickly, I feel short of breath. It is scaring me badly because I read up on pulminary embolisms. All my triggers relate to thing that can kill me like cardiac arrest or pulminary embolisms.

I am trying to make it the 9 days to my therapist appointment, but have to fight the urge to go in for a CT scan of my chest, a cardiac stress test or ultrasound to find out if my sudden shortness of breath is actually panic related. I used to be fit years ago and it isn't the "winded" feeling, it is more of a weak feeling like my body doesnt have enough oxygen so I have to take extra breaths.

If I need to go to after hours clinic, is there a relatively standard med protocol I should ask for?

It seem klonopin works well, but should I try a higher dose of celexa (the quick talk with PT mentioned it should be higher dose) along with wellbutrin?

The xanax and busbar arent cutting it for daily use.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. I have chronic pain, I have gone through great suffering, yet nothing compares to panic disorder/GAD.

Best way I can describe my feelings is being told your mom died (tight throat with lump), being very dehydrated, forced to face your greatest phobia (mine is buried alive) with the shaked and utter sense of doom, then feeling like your in a stuper. But with my GAD the panic doesn't reach a peak as high but all other symptoms persist for a majority of the day and escalate at time just dont reach the actul "panic" level where I am about to call 911.

I find it hard to believe at this point that with therapy and the correct meds it will go away. In the back of my mind that I push away to not think about, I can picture the "what if" images. What if this is the one time it really is heart trouble or a clot. If I could exercise it would give me a sense of relief that I am making it better and not worse, but I cant even do that now.

Thanks for listening to the ramblings. Are there any general protocols I can ask for. Last time he gave me xanax/celexa, should I ask for klonopin/valium/? I have never taken drugs before this started.

[arcangel]

I think you answered most of your questions. You obviously have an anxiety/stress problem. IMHO you possibly have some issues w/ hypochondria as well. You said you are in therapy. Surely some of these issues/possibilities have come up in therapy sessions?
Stop reading the med books. You're only going to scare yourself. I'm neither a doctor nor a therapist but it seems obvious that clonazepam works better for you than xanax. Clonazepam was the only anxiolytic that helped me. Buspar and Xanax did absolutely nothing for me.
If it gives you any comfort, I went for weeks/months w/ a bpm of over 200 during a bout w/ anxiety. That was about 20 years ago. My heart is still ticking just fine
For your peace of mind have a thorough checkup....better safe than sorry. Then concentrate on the real problems.
Good luck.

[kaliope]

it does sound like you are doing a lot to scare yourself. Anxiety sucks. Buspar worked great for me. I was on klonopin but didnt want to get addicted so changed to the buspar instead. Perhaps a higher dose? I heard it works best at 45mg a day. My newest psychiatrist put me on clonodine for my anxiety and it has worked to take the edge off.

Looking for med protocols to treat what you think may be wrong with you to suggest to your GP isnt really the best way to go here. Anxiety is a pretty serious thing and coming up with the best med protocol is best left in the hands of those who specialize in it = psychiatrists. They know what meds best interact with the others for optimal results

as for your panic. you need to practice relaxing. get a relaxation cd that takes you thru the steps of getting your body relaxed so you can learn whaat that feeling feels like, program yourself to call on that feeling. then whenever you feel yourself panicking you can tell your body to relax. you cannot panic and relax at the same time. it is physically impossible. knowing this has done wonders for me. sometimes i have to say relax over and over and over, but it keeps the panic from escalating.

If you havent already, get a full physical to insure that you are healthy. that way when your panicking mind tells you that you are going to die from one thing or another you will be able to say, ' no, i have been checked out and i am healthy, this is just a panic attack, nobody has ever died of a panic attack, in a few minutes i will be fine."

your exercised induced panic is because when you exercise your heart rate goes up, just as it does in a panic attack which triggers the panic attack. again, you tell yourself this is happening because your heart rate reached a certain point that it triggered a panic attack, nothing more.

you have to keep yourself focused on the simple fact that you have panic attacks and GAD. you may not be able to control this but you do have the power to redirect your thoughts. "i am experiencing anxiety. i breathe into my anxiety. i release my anxiety" repeat it over and over and over as you take deep breathes remembering to relax and that nobody has ever died of a panic attack. you cant get lost in the idea of embolisms and heart attacks, keep redirecting those thoughts to anxiety and GAD being the cause.

it takes practice, but with continual redirection it soon becomes habit and you can tackle this. good luck

[butthurt]

Thanks for the replies. Since my first panic attack, I have been somewhat HYPO because a heart attack is one of my biggest fears, hence the trigger. I never had chest pains during that attack, just light headedness, tingles, hot flashes, etc. She was an emt and had me convinced I was in trouble. They did an ekg and blood check and all was fine. Then my primary gave me a chest x ray and thyroid test when I told him i was still have shortness of breath after he gave me the celexa script.

I was wanting to suggest meds that might work for me to help me get through until me appointment with the therapist. I went with my wife to hers and talked to her for a second. She though the celexa amount I had been on was way to low and that the buspirone amount I was on would not work for my severity.

I made an appointment then, which is in 9 days. I was also laid off and my symptoms have gotten worse since then because it is harder to keep my mind free without worry. I do have several other issues I believe, possible PTSD, Tric. But the only ones I want to fully reign in are the worry/panic/anxiety.

I dont overreact about 99% of illnesses or injuries, but ones that mimic a heart attack definitely bring out my inner hypochondriac.

The part of the "exercise induced anxiety" is that I get it as soon as I began a task; just start climbing a flight of stairs, carry a heavy bag from the car, etc. I could understand after something strenuous having anxiety or an attack, but I have one at the beginning. I didn't think that was common as part of the anxiety.

I think I might need to go in for an exercise stress test just to be free of the worry once and for all, so I can focus right on the stress/panic/anxiety instead of potential health issues.

Also, I dont know if it makes a difference but I am 266 pounds, maybe I need higher amounts of meds to get the desired effect?

9 days to go..