and I felt so lousy. I still don’t feel very good. I thought I had my anxiety disorder pretty well under control, and it jumped up and bit me today. I wish I could explain to the people around me how it feels when I’m in a full-blown attack - I can tell them that I don’t feel well, and that I’m shaky and anxious and upset, but I just can’t express that horrible feeling of losing control, and feeling like my mind has been taken over by the anxiety and that I’ll never feel normal again and how terrifying and sickening it is. I don’t want to let this disorder affect my life, but it is. The people who don’t know I have an anxiety disorder don’t have any idea how much it takes for me to act normal around them, and I don’t like to tell people because I don’t want them to think I’m crazy.
Just thought I’d share, since I know there are so many Dopers who do know how it feels.
(Oh yeah, I did a quick depression test, and it turns out I’m pretty depressed right now too. No big surprise there.)
I hear you. I’ve been having them nearly every morning for a few months, since my unemployment ran out and I still can’t find a regular job.
I’ve tried several medications over the years, when I had other problems causing this, but the only thing that ever ended these morning attacks was the resolution of the problem causing me anxiety. Until I get a job, I’m going to continue having my “wake up calls” at 6:00am or so every day.
I also told very few people about my problems with anxiety, it’s not an easy thing to describe.
Good luck, my thoughts and sympathies are with you.
What are “anxiety attacks?” A woman was taken out of our office on a stretcher a few years ago with one, but I’ve never known anyone else I could ask about it. Depression, I know, and anxiety, but what is an anxiety attack? Do you know what causes them? What can be done for them?
Well, in my case, I sit up wide awake, with my heart hammering in my chest, breathing heavy, in an emotional state of panic. Forcing myself to take deep, slower breaths seems to help. It passes after a few minutes.
As an immediate treatment, I suppose taking something like alprazolam (Xanax) would help, but my attacks don’t last enough to warrent taking anything. They pass before the drug would take effect.
Actually, maybe what I experience doesn’t fall under “anxiety attack”, but “panic attack”. I don’t recall what the doctor I used to see about this called it.
The anxiety attack I had to day was caused by being in a car for a prolonged time. (Oh yeah, another thing about anxiety attacks is that they don’t have to have really logical triggers.) I got it in my head that I was getting anxious about getting out of the car, I couldn’t get out of the car, I got more anxious, I started thinking about all the other things that make me anxious in sort of a “hope I don’t think about that” way, which of course made me think about it, and it was just a very rapid downward spiral from there. At one point it felt like a stranger in my head thinking my thoughts for me (and doing a piss-poor job of it) - it didn’t feel like the “me” that normally lives in my head.
The treatment for anxiety attacks is usually a tranquilizer - I use Alprazolam (Xanax), which usually works very well. I can usually dose with a half tab when I feel my stomach starting to clench up, and it allows me to start thinking normally again. Today, two full tablets were needed to get me out of the anxiety spiral. I also let myself get very hungry, which seems to be bad for people prone to anxiety. As for being taken out on a stretcher, I’ve never gotten that bad. The best thing I can do, though, is get away from other people and being the requirements they place on you to act normal and just let myself calm down. Also, I take Wellbutrin (an antidepressant) twice a day to prevent the anxiety from building up in the first place.
I plan to call a local centre for anxiety and depression and see what other methods of treatment they have. I think there are some behaviour modification and relaxation treatments that can work well with people who have that faulty “anxiety shut-off switch” that normal people don’t have.
The “attack” is the physical symptoms. Oh, they can be great fun. IIRC, they are brought on by oxygen deprivation, since someone having the attack is breathing much more shallowly than normal. My first anxiety attack was classic. I was working as a waiter at the time, on a busy Friday night. I had been having problems with anxiety (which I self medicated with massive amounts of alcohol :smack: ), and I recognized that I was starting to get jumpy. But suddenly it went waaaay out of control. My head started to swim and my heart started to triphammer. Worst of all, my hands clenched up into fists, went numb, and I couldn’t unclench them. I thought I was having a heart attack. My boss took me to the hospital, where I spent 5 hours in the waiting room, at which point the attack was long over. Doctor came in, basically said “Anxiety attack. Go home.”, and that was that. While it’s happening, it’s pretty scary. I’m taking Effexor, but if I feel an anxiety attack coming on, I find deep breathing and some mild meditation does wonders.
Oooh, I feel for you. I had to go to the hospital and get all kinds of tests, including an EKG, for my most serious anxiety attack. I was convinced it was a heart attack, it was so long and painful. They overmedicated me until the worst of it passed.
I do hope things gets better. I understand what you’re going through.
Speaking of over-medicated, I made it to the doctor mid-panic attack once, and he gave me three Xanax and sent me home. I made it home, collapsed on the bed, slept for hours, and woke up as blissfully peaceful as I have ever been in literally decades. {sigh} If they weren’t addictive, I would love to be that peaceful every day. Since they are addictive, I try to take them as little as possible, and probably set myself up for anxiety attacks by under-medicating.
I get attacks as well, more like Revtim’s than Dante’s. Except mine always strike in the middle of the night. Usually around 3 or 4 a.m. I’ll wake up in a panic, fast breathing, naseua, cold sweat.
I normally get them when I’ve got a lot of stress. I knew this summer wasn’t going to be fun (I’ve got first year law finals in August, the first one being the day after a huge political fundraiser I’m in charge of putting on, amongst a wheelbarrel of other more minor worries, like paying the rent and tuiton) but suprisingly, I got my first one of the season last week. Earlier than I expected.
Fortunately I was able to talk myself down (bust out my event timeline, realize I’m still somewhat on schedule, tell myself it’s going to be fine…) good thing too, I’ve spent half the night curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor more times than I care to remember.
I get them rarely, thank goodness, but I’ll reinforce what others have said about feeling like you’re having a heart attack. I had one that was initially pretty mild, just general anxiety for a full day, but I couldn’t get to sleep, then I couldn’t catch my breath, then I got scared, which of course escalated everything. I was so sure I was going to die that I packed up a diaper bag for the little one (she was about two at the time), drove her over to Grandma’s, gave her a tearful goodbye and pretty much mentally prepared myself for death on the way to the ER. By the time I got there, I was hyperventilating so badly my lips were blue.
As I said, they’re rare for me, so I don’t medicate, I just try to talk myself down. It mostly works. But the absolute worst thing is when someone tells you to calm down, because you just CAN’T, and you can’t explain why not. Or you tell someone you’re havig an anxiety attack and they tell you there’s nothing to be anxious about. It becomes a vicious circle, because then you start to get embarrassed, which of course makes you more anxious.
Hugs to you, featherlou. Herbal tea, soft music and a warm bath with bubbles may help take the edge off your day. Be good to yourself.
