Daily panic

[mxchaos]

panic attacks and my Ativan isn't working I also do deep breathing and progressive relaxation but can't get over the physical feelings
this sucks

[historyteach]

Eat right. Exercise.
Those are the two best things we can do for ourselves.
But, don't exercise 5 hours or so before bedtime.
You'll lie awake half the night.

Shalom!

[littlebird77]

need more details... are you taking yourself any controlled substance? Has anything happened to trigger these, or are they just surfacing up for no known reason right now?

[mxchaos]

just plain panic nothing I can put my finger on. I'm eating right sleeping good and exercising
everyday. I think my meds need adjusting.

[MCake]

Panic attacks are awful, I'm sorry you're suffering. I used to get them daily a few years ago. Here's what helped:

* I saw a pdoc who adjusted my meds. She upped my dose of benzos and added an SSRI. She knew about my alcoholism, but she insisted on the benzos and monitored me closely. I'm now slowly tapering off the Klonopin with no problems whatsoever.

* A short course -3 months - of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) helped tremendously, even more so than the medication. Among other things, I learned that if I centre on the panic itself, it will only get worse. My therapist had me watch the movie "Sphere" from this context, and it made a lot of sense.

* After CBT, I turned to psychodynamic therapy. I learned that the panic didn't just "happen" to me out of the blue but, in fact, there was a lot of unacknowledges stuff (from my personal history etc) that I had not dealt with.

* Eventually, giving up booze and toning down other addictions (caffeine, nicotine) helped tremendously.

Some people are told that panic disorder is a lifelong condition. From my experience, I disagree with that statement 100% : I've been "panic free" for years and, should it rear its ugly head in the future, I'm confident that I'll be able to handle it. As usual, recovery takes some effort, but it's worth it. Most docs will feed you meds and leave it at that, but I think that it's vital to learn cognitive strategies to handle the attacks and, if at all possible, root out any other causes. I think the basic outline is to nip the anxiety as soon as possible with medication (ask a doc) and, as soon as you're stable, start addressing it it via therapy. That's what worked for me.

Good luck!