Marsupialized wrote:I don't understand why you people with the panic attacks don't just go get some valium or xanax. I mean, you suffer from these panic attacks and it sucks but turns out there's a surefire cure for panic attacks readily available in pill form....why wouldn't you take advantage of it? I mean, that's what those pills are for.

To do this, you would have to be WACKY doped up, 24/7. Have you ever been mugged? You go from zero to shit-your-pants scared in, oh, about as long as it takes for someone to shove a gun in your face. You don't have time to reach for medication. You don't have time to do anything but try and fight the impulse to run like a gazelle. No chance.

Plus, while a case can be made for fun, pills suck. If you are on them all the time, you can count on addiction and psychological side effects.

hellyes!! wrote:Not to mention, the medications you mention are very expensive for anyone not covered by health insurance.

If you don't have insurance, it's like $40 for a bottle of 30 pills. That'll last someone a long time if they're only having them once in a while. I'm not saying a pill is always the answer, though. I wouldn't advocate taking one every day.

rayj wrote:To do this, you would have to be WACKY doped up, 24/7. Have you ever been mugged? You go from zero to shit-your-pants scared in, oh, about as long as it takes for someone to shove a gun in your face. You don't have time to reach for medication. You don't have time to do anything but try and fight the impulse to run like a gazelle. No chance.

Plus, while a case can be made for fun, pills suck. If you are on them all the time, you can count on addiction and psychological side effects.

Taking a little xanax doesn't make you feel wacky doped up. If properly monitored (only take them if you absolutely have to), you don't get addicted. Also, having an attack and being able to stop it in 20 minutes with a pill can be better than not being able to stop it at all.

John W. wrote:

rayj wrote:To do this, you would have to be WACKY doped up, 24/7. Have you ever been mugged? You go from zero to shit-your-pants scared in, oh, about as long as it takes for someone to shove a gun in your face. You don't have time to reach for medication. You don't have time to do anything but try and fight the impulse to run like a gazelle. No chance.

Plus, while a case can be made for fun, pills suck. If you are on them all the time, you can count on addiction and psychological side effects.

Taking a little xanax doesn't make you feel wacky doped up. If properly monitored, you don't get addicted. Also, having an attack and being able to stop it in 20 minutes with a pill can be better than not being able to stop it at all.

True enough, I suppose. I'm no doctor, for sure. However, several good friends of mine who have Xanax prescriptions ended up addicted and goofy...and Xanax always makes ME feel retarded, even in small doses...I kind of hate it as a poster child for legalized drugs that suck.

rayj wrote:Plus, while a case can be made for fun, pills suck. If you are on them all the time, you can count on addiction and psychological side effects.

Um, I totally disagree. Pills saved my life. I take paxil and xanax everyday, and have for about 5 years. I was a COMPLETELY different person before, and I like me now a whole lot better. Granted, I'm probably benzo-addicted but I really don't care. When it comes time to deal with it, I'll deal. Just like everything now that I'm medicated. My panic attacks were a nightmare, but not just the panic attacks, the social anxiety as well. I used to be wound like a rubber band ball - paranoid, scared, sad - and I always felt like I was under a bright stage light naked with shoes on every time I got around more than one person at a time. Holy crap was I a mess. When the top blew and I started having the panic attacks, it was like my body said something's got to give. Physical manifestation of psycological conditions is really scary. I would feel like I was going to pass out, heart racing, shaking, sweat pouring out of my palms, I couldn't speak and the world became so amplified I felt like I had to run away or I was going to collide with everything around me. Seriously it was like someone turned up the volume on everything. Light, sound, the size of things.......everything. So glad that doesn't happen to me anymore. Pills = Not Crap.

rayj wrote:However, several good friends of mine who have Xanax prescriptions ended up addicted and goofy...and Xanax always makes ME feel retarded, even in small doses.

I agree -- drugs can hit people different ways. There are other options like therapy, yoga, meditation and exercise. These should all be tried first. If those options fail, then pills are another route. There's definitely a notable degree of responsibility required when going down the pill route. Look at Winona Ryder! I think she had some trouble with xanax, didn't she?

rachael wrote:Seriously it was like someone turned up the volume on everything. Light, sound, the size of things.......everything. So glad that doesn't happen to me anymore. Pills = Not Crap.

This is another scary symptom. Lights are too bright -- sounds are too loud. Bad stuff. So glad to hear that you're feeling right these days!

rachael wrote:

rayj wrote:Plus, while a case can be made for fun, pills suck. If you are on them all the time, you can count on addiction and psychological side effects.

Um, I totally disagree. Pills saved my life. I take paxil and xanax everyday, and have for about 5 years. I was a COMPLETELY different person before, and I like me now a whole lot better. Granted, I'm probably benzo-addicted but I really don't care. When it comes time to deal with it, I'll deal. Just like everything now that I'm medicated. My panic attacks were a nightmare, but not just the panic attacks, the social anxiety as well. I used to be wound like a rubber band ball - paranoid, scared, sad - and I always felt like I was under a bright stage light naked with shoes on every time I got around more than one person at a time. Holy crap was I a mess. When the top blew and I started having the panic attacks, it was like my body said something's got to give. Physical manifestation of psycological conditions is really scary. I would feel like I was going to pass out, heart racing, shaking, sweat pouring out of my palms, I couldn't speak and the world became so amplified I felt like I had to run away or I was going to collide with everything around me. Seriously it was like someone turned up the volume on everything. Light, sound, the size of things.......everything. So glad that doesn't happen to me anymore. Pills = Not Crap.

Hey, I hear you. If you NEED it...you need it. It ends up being a choice between sort of off and seriously off...sort of a bad position. My friends who have serious bipolar disorder NEED the medication, even though it slowly kills them...

About a year and a half ago, I went to the ER because my heart rate was twice what it ought to have been- I was convinced I was going to die. They took my vitals in the waiting room and the oddest thing was that my blood pressure was completely normal, depite my 120 heart rate. Certain it was a mechanical error, they tried three machines on me before accepting my stats and admitting me immediately. Their confusion only made me more confident that I wouldn't make it through the day. After my labs came back normal and being filled with enough drugs to stabalize me, I was released with a perscription and a referral to an endocronologist. There was probably something wrong with my adrenaline gland.

A week after this event, my heart rate started speeding up again, so I drove myself to the hospital in case it became any worse. I sat in the parking lot for over an hour before going in. Because my symptoms weren't as bad as they had been, I wasn't admitted right away. I sat down. I got up. I sat down. I got up and explained to the receptionist that they needed to admit me because I was here last week with the same symptoms. I was going to die in the waiting room if they didn't admit me. After muuch ado, I finally saw a doctor who told me I was having panic attacks. The stupid bitch didn't know anything. There was no way my head could make my body act this way, but she said that men are admitted with psychosomatic symptoms seemingly indicative of heart attack all the time and gave me some anti-anxiety medication to see if it would have any affect. Even though the shot she gave me helped, I didn't believe her and decided to see the specialist anyway.

It turns out I'm as healthy as can be, but completely fucking nuts. Xanax curbs it on an as-needed basis, but I'm still blown away that I could have such an intense physical reaction to my insanity. Everyone I've talked to who's had panic attack focuses on the psychological symptoms, but what about situations like this? Has anybody else had crazy physical anxiety?

xanax relax

Shotgun-Charlie wrote:I've been having them regularly for the past two months since my girlfriend and I broke up. We've been with each other for 2 1/2 years. I live in Minnesota, far, far from home. I have no friends to confide in yet apart from her, and I can't really just breakdown in front of her for the upteenth-billionth time. I've been miserable, fighting the urge to spill my guts here on the thread about it.

I'm in a similar situation. It's been over two months since my ex moved out and I am still totally fucking miserable. Our break-up was so harrowing that I absolutely can't stop thinking about it all day and all night. There are days when I almost feel alright and then there are nights like last night. I did not sleep a wink. At all. I was in a great mood when I hit the bed, but I somehow managed to work myself into a frenzy over this stupid bullshit and I have yet to fully recover (watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown didn't even help my mood! It actually made me sadder...). I know it's my own fault for dwelling on something that I have absolutely no control over, but I cannot help myself.

I've tried exercise. I've been seeing a psychologist for three weeks. I am trying to make new friends and actually leave my house once in a while. It's not helping much. I have been debating the possibility of getting medicated for weeks now and, after last night, the debate is over. I'm going for it. Fuck it. I'd rather be a zombie than spend my nights fantasizing about how great it would be to kill myself just to spite some girl who cheated on me and doesn't even care if I live or die.

So...yeah. Good luck, big guy. Just remember that it could always be worse...

I feel like this image now deserves a place in this thread.