Exercise, seriously.
Your story sounds very similar to mine. I had a parent die at a relatively young age and then was depressed for several years, when all of a sudden I had panic attacks. I didn’t recognize them as panic attacks and thought something was physically wrong with me. I had obsessive thoughts about health and whenever something out of the ordinary happened physically I got panic attacks. I was examined by my physician, a neurologist, and took a trip to the emergency room.
My primary physician recommended anti-anxiety drugs and therapy. The drugs worked some though I have changed drugs a couple of times due to side effects. Don’t worry about them affecting your personality or anything like that. They just made the attacks more manageable. I enjoyed the therapy and it was such a relief to talk about it, and to realize that this is a common problem. After a while I stopped going because of insurance and since most of the help seemed to come in the first part of therapy. My SO bought me tapes from the Midwestern Center for Anxiety and Depression off of a late night informercial. The tapes really helped. They include a workbook, relaxation tapes, and the creator talking about anxiety with a bunch of former sufferers. The material is very good, conventional CBT stuff and it was so great hearing from people who had anxiety and emerged from it. I have since sent the tapes to two relatives who did not have as much success as I did, so YMMV.
I still take the medication but have not had a panic attack in years and consider myself 90% cured. The anxiety disorder only affects my life in the most tangential ways.
Try to cut out caffeine as much as possible, your primary doctor can prescribe an anti-anxiety medication and keep trying therapists or books and programs until you find one you like. This is a very common malady and is very treatable, you can have your life back and better than ever.
I haven’t read the whole study - just the abstract - but this seems like a good place to start.
Thanks!
I’ve been somewhat “anti-meds” my whole life, but recent anxiety issues sort of pushed me over the edge. I’ve been seeing a therapist for about a year now and he recommended Lexapro for anxiety. I feel like I am in a much, much better place now than I was when I started. I’m weaning myself off the pills now and feeling pretty confident that the changes I’ve made will stick…
So while I’m certain pills really are not for everyone, I ultimately think they helped. Too bad they’re (depending on the prescription) so damn expensive.