Psychologists generally arent trained in diagnosing physical causes for anxiety related symptoms. They may be aware they can occur but its a doctors job to test and sign off on that aspect, at least in Australia anyhow.
Yes there are bad psychiatrists, but their role cant really be replaced by a psychologist from a diagnostic perspective.
Otara
First of all a panic attack is distressing but it’s not dangerous. The WORST thing that is gonna happen is you might embarrass yourself. But you know what? So what? You’ll get over it and that’ll be that.
Here’s some tips to cope with anxiety attacks. First of all, say to yourself, “This is distressing but not dangerous.” Keep repeating that. Visualize the word, “Calm.” If you’re not too stressed MOVE ABOUT. Go for a walk, this helps work off energy.
Use thought stoppage. If you feel “I’m doomed” or “I’m gonna die” say “STOP,” the take a deep breath. You can emphasize this by saying, “STOP,” then stamping your foot on the ground. Another technique is to say, “STOP” then snap a rubber band on your wrist. In other words wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it when you say, “STOP.”
This technique didn’t even work for me, what I wound up doing was saying “STOP,” then I took a safety pin and jabbed it in my thigh. THAT WORKED. OK maybe I was risking infection but it stopped.
If your heart is beating too fast, you can reduce the rate using these methods.
The first is to bear down like your having a hard bowel movement, while holding your breath. This will slow heart rate. Another method is to massage your carotid artery. Press on the artery on the side of your neck as hard as you comfortably can and massage your neck for 30 seconds to a minute. You may even feel a tickle in your throat. Keep doing this, and your pulse will lower.
WARNING: DO NOT do this on BOTH sides of your neck at once. Only do it on one side of your neck only. You could actually cause yourself to pass out if you did both sides of your neck at once. It isn’t going to make you pass out to do one side only.
A third method to slow pulse is to take a bowl of very cold ice water and plunk your face right into it. This will shock your system. This is why, in the days before child abuse, they used to throw cold water on children who were throwing hysterical fits. This is also why in the movies they slap hysterical people. It shocks the system.
There are meds that you can take. Antidepressants are first line and work very well. Paxil is good and cheap. An older antidepressant Imipramine also works great, but has a few bothersome side effects like dry mouth and constipation. Both take a few weeks to work.
Note you may have to try several things to find something that works. I was given Prozac once and it didn’t do anything for me. I found Paxil and Imipramine both worked within a day for me. Now I am very unusual, that it worked that fast.
I want the OP to get two books. The first is called Stop Running Scared. It’s out of print but you can find it on Amazon. It is the best book I’ve read and teaches you how to use behaviour therapy to end panic.
The second is called, How To Stop Worrying And Start Living by Dale Carnegie. It’s an oldie but goodie so you probably can get it at your library. It is well written and interesting. I’m not one for self-help books but these two are great
As for treatment of behaviour therapy versus meds, its up to you. I beat anxiety with behaviour therapy and I’ve beaten it also using meds.
I look at it like this, if you have a headache, you can go into a dark room with an ice pack and lie down for an hour or so and your headache will probably go away. OR you can take a couple of aspirin and your headache will be gone in 15 minutes.
The results are the same basically just a matter of time and technique.
Lastly, remember panic is scary but it’s not dangerous.
That sounds like my GP. By appointment or on walk-in…:rolleyes:
I agree. My previous post was a bit shorter than it could have been, but I was watching The Wire and was a bit distracted. What I intended to say was that psychiatrists are the medically trained mental health professionals. They should be well versed in medical causes of psychiatric illness (hyper/hypothyroidism, drug addiction/withdrawal, vitamin deficiency, etc.). If OpalCat’s doc hasn’t considered some of these as possibilities it might be worth searching out a new doc.
In the US Psychiatrists are graduates of medical school who do a residency in Psychiatry.
And as far as I have seen spend almost all their time doing med checks and giving out meds. It’s a great job if you want to spend the time doing all the school work, because when you get out you can just phone in a six or seven figure salary for the next 40 years.
I’m sure they aren’t all like that, but everyone I’ve met so far is.
I had to learn from the Internet that the depersonalization, derealization, and even the depression that almost took my life could all be side effects of benzodiazepine dependence. I have been telling my Psychiatrist about this problem for a year now, and he never mentioned - just upped my benzo dosage. I’ve been on them for five years now.
I know you can’t believe everything you read on the net, but this information has multiple sources and you’d think my Psychiatrist would have at least mentioned it as a possibility.
sources:
http://doublecheckmd.com/EffectsDetail.do?dname=diazepam&sid=12083&eid=2325
http://www.treatment4addiction.com/addiction/benzodiazepine/withdrawal/
etc…
I’m not “still” on it, but I’m back on it. During the several months I was off of it I still had the attacks, so I don’t think they’re related.
Paxil completely removed my libido when I was on it for a number of years. I’m not willing to go through that again. Thanks for all the other good information, though.
Thanks everyone for your posts, and please, anyone else with insight, feel free to add to the comments.
The Social Phobia pdf is spot on with me, I’m reading it now.
Dumping syndrome?
I don’t get that with my surgery.