[TheBlueQueen]

Panic attacks have been a part of my life for a very long time and it has taken me about twenty years to figure out what techniques work the best for me to quell or prevent them. Normally, when I experience a panic attack, I am filled with a sense of extreme fear accompanied by sweating, shaking, elevated pulse, and a slight feeling of needing to catch my breath. Most of the time there is an indentifiable trigger, but there have been rare instances where there seemed to be no trigger known. I have almost always been able to get them under control using meditation within a couple of minutes and for the few times I could not, the attack would on average be of short duration (ten minutes, if that). Those lasting a bit longer than that would respond very well to half of a 1mg Klonopin tablet.

However, this past weekend has brought with it some very unpleasant surprises in the form of what I like to refer to as "monster panic attacks" and are unlike anything I have personally experienced before. Thus far, these have occurred on Friday (June 22) and today (June 24) with severe symptoms of hyperventilation, extreme vertigo with spotted vision, loudly thudding/painful heartrate, and a very pronounced detatched/agitated state that would last for several hours to an entire day despite meditation techniques (breathing, visualization) and a goodly amount of Klonopin.

At this point, I am quite fed up with these sudden onsets of debilitating attacks and being the analyzing type, I began to think logically about some possible contributing factors to these recent "monster panic attacks" in the hopes to either lessen their intensity or prevent them altogether.

Time Of Day: I couldn't help but notice that these attacks have both happened in the morning, which marks the same time of day in which my recent medication reaction scare incident occurred that landed me in the ER. As a result, I have been taking my morning medications around lunchtime instead as a precautionary measure not to further upset this possible trigger.

Caffeine Intake: I will be reducing my soda and coffee intake to no more than one cup of coffee OR can of soda a day. Formerly, I would have at least one cup of coffee upon waking and a couple cans of soda throughout the day. I've taken to reduction instead of quitting outright to avoid the withdrawl which I believe would potentially trigger more attacks.

Artificial Sweetners: My husband and I recently made the switch to drinking soda containing Nutrasweet or Splenda, both of which I understand can trigger panic attacks. I will be omitting these entirely from my diet.

Medication: Although I do not believe this to be a prime factor, it is one I cannot completely rule out as I know certain medications can trigger panic attacks as a side effect. No, I am not planning on ceasing my daily array and instead will be speaking with my pdoc about the issues regarding these "monster panic attacks" to seek his input in this regard.

Frankly speaking, these last two monsters have also lead to a serious degree of anticipatory anxiety. I'm doing my best to keep focus and to stay as logical as I can. If I find an answer, great. If I do not find an answer, then I just will keep looking.

[RebbieDoll]

good luck, i hope something works for you. those monster panic attacks sound horrible

[Noncomposmentis8]

Ive had a monster panic attack...from 9pm to 5 am one night ....and I felt disconected and half alive the whole time...The spotted vision feeling faint, lost feeling in limbs...heavy breathing...fast heart beat...felt like throwing up...tingly feeling...Terrified....Then I had the anxiety for days...worrying that , that would happen again...They are the closest to Death you will ever feel...

[TheBlueQueen]

Thank you, SongsInMyHead, for your encouragement and wishes of good luck.

Non, you are absolutely right about these monster panic attacks feeling very much like one is on death's door.

Day Three of my experiment and it seems that the main culprit in the lead was the artificial sweetners (Aspertame and Splenda specifically). Since I have cut them completely out of my diet, I have had no further issues with monster panic attacks in the last three days... and that's saying a lot.

Went to see my therapist today and was told that my pdoc will be adjusting my Wellbutrin from XL (150 mgs) to SR (100 mgs) as he believes this also might be a contributing factor to the monster panic attacks. I begin this new dosage tomorrow, so we shall see how this goes.

That's about it for the moment. Bottom line from what I've learned thus far is folks with anxiety and panic disorders should avoid artificial sweetners, especially Aspertame, or you may find your attacks more frequent and intense than usual.