Question:
Panic Anxiety Attacks??
I was just hospitalized for 3 days after suffering a horrible anxiety attack while driving on the LA freeway. Thought I was going to die with several palpitations, chest pressure, shaking and sweating. All the cardiac tests came back normal and it's presumed I had a panic attack. My primary care physician wants to medicate me but I want to get the general consensus here first as to what works best for this condition that doesn't cause WLS patients to gain weight. All suggestions welcome. — Vicki S. (posted on August 18, 2004)
August 18, 2004
Hi! I used to have HORRIBLE panic/anxiety attacks. The only thing that
worked for me EVER was just controlled breathing(hard as it was to try) and
a prayer to take it away. Meds never did me any good because than I had a
panic attack over what type of a reaction I may or may not have to it. Go
figure. Best of luck to you.
— Angie-H
August 18, 2004
i suffer from panic attacks also. i take xanax .5mg three times a day as
needed. most days i only need it once,3 is the maxium does.All the Best!
Tracey
— traceybubbles
August 18, 2004
I had years of panic attacks -- now I take paxil, 10 mg at bedtime and I am
doing well.
— debmi
August 18, 2004
Paxil cured me of panic attacks. I stared taking it before WLS and was
able to reduce dosage after.
— Tom Barton
August 18, 2004
I've had them off and on for years. They are very nasty.
Currently I use Welbutrin 100 mg (not SRS Welbutrin), Prozac, and Celexa. A
friend of mine who has NOT had WLS just had a Panic/Axiety Attack a few
months ago. He did a intenet search and feels that it is because of
"breathing" that we go into them. Personally I don't know.
However he is into "controlled Breathing". So I put a link below
that you can go to and see if you can find any useful info.
http://web.ask.com/web?q=Panic+Disorder&o=0&qsrc=0
— Danmark
August 19, 2004
I too suffer from anxiety attacks. Right now I take .25mg of Xanax as
needed. In the past when my attacks were very severe I was prescribed
Klonopin. It is longer acting than Xanax and often prevented me from
having full blown panic attacks. Good luck to you, panic attacks are a
hard thing to deal with. Also, I would recommend that you purchase a book
called The Panic and Anxiety Workbook. Sometimes educating yourself about
the disorder can make things less scary.
— C. Burns
August 19, 2004
I have had panic attacks for over 15 years. They suck large. I take
Wellbutrin 150mg 2 times a day. I also took Serzone - 30mg 2x a day. When I
had my surgery 5 weeks ago, they did NOT give me any of my meds. So when I
came home 5 days later, I was starting to feel that old crappy way - dread
all the time. I have wanted to come off of Serzone for a while, and I
thought, well, since I have not had it for 5 days, let me just stop it. It
was something that I had discussed with my doc, and she said since it was
such a low dose, I could just stop taking it. Well... no, I should not
have. Last week, I had old time panic. I started taking my Serzone again,
and normalicy is slowly starting to return. DON'T suffer if you don't have
to. One warning though, I was on a few others at first... and one of the
warnings is "sexual side effects." My sex drive went down to
nothing, nadda, zip. I went back to my doc and said, I may be 45, but I am
NOT sexually dead. That's when she put me on Wellbutrin, and cut my Serzone
back from 250mg down to 30 mg. It took about 2 months, but all sexual
function has returned! :-) Also, Wellbutrin is the same compound as the
drug ZYBAN --- the stop smoking pill. And I am proud to say that after 25+
years of smoking, Wellbutrin stopped me from smoking. On January 1, 2003, I
just put them down. I was wired for the first week, but quickly got over it
and I am smoke free!
Spyder
— SpyderS
August 19, 2004
Perhaps the anti depressents are why I have "Sunday School
Thoughts". LOL! Here I thought I was a Saint. ;) <snicker>
— Danmark
August 19, 2004
I have been on Buspar and Celexa for 5 years for panic attacks and they
have really helped. I had my first one while driving. I still get anxious
and a little panicky around the "time of the month" but
otherwise this medication has helped tremedously. good luck
— taterbug898
August 19, 2004
Vicki,
I have been on Celxa,Lexapro, and Effexor. They all caused some kind of
side effect for me. Effexor I couldnt hardley move out of bed and I didn't
eat for days. Celexa decreased my sex drive and Lexapro slow my brain down
to nearly none functioning. I must have yawned 100 times a day while I was
on it. However I am currently on Wellbutrin XL and it is wonderful. I
havent gained any weight from it and have minimal side effects. I have been
on it since last August. Although your doctor can try you on different
things to see what works best for you. Everyones body reacts differently to
meds. Good Luck Jen:)
— imgabbie
August 20, 2004
Vicky, like so many others I too suffer from panic attacks. I take zoloft,
buspar, and valium every day to control them. I have not gained any
weight, nor has it hindered my weight loss. I managed to shed 198# in 18
months while on these meds and have been maintaining my current weight for
4+ months. I've even had panic attacks about having future panic attacks,
so I stick to my meds & do just fine.
— klinzey
August 20, 2004
I have panic attacks still, every now and then. I've suffered from them for
most of my life, from about the time I was 13 or 14. They go in phases for
me (sometimes a year or two "off", then a year or two
"on"). They seem to be fading those as I age. One thing that HAS
helped (more than any of the multiple medications I've tried) is just
accepting that I have anxiety and panic episodes - that actually empowers
me, and takes some of the power away from the anxiety. So I still have
them, but because I know they're there, they just don't matter as much.
Sort of funny, but that's the only way I can think of to explain it.
I WOULD say that the anxiety in general has lessened after my surgery.
Maybe just because I feel so much healthier in general...
— johanniter
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