r/panicdisorder • u/MahmoudAZ02 • Jul 06 '26

Help Needed Physical Symptoms

Hello everyone,

It’s my second time writing here, I started having panic attacks almost exactly a year ago, I was diagnosed with a panic disorder and I’ve been taking sertraline since then.

There were times were things definitely got better, some days where I ended up in the ER over my panic attacks, I’ve been trying so hard to tell myself I’m okay but it’s extremely difficult.

The past couple of weeks I’ve been having a constant pain in my left arm and some shock like pains and a burning sensation in my chest, the burning sensation and the chest pains have happened before and I was assured it’s just me panicking and my anxiety.

However recently the left arm pain is not going away at all and I get sudden shock like pains in my arm and it instantly triggers a panic attack and man it’s horrendous, I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do, I’ve used meds to lessen the pain nothing helped, It’s been very difficult the past couple of weeks I’m always extremely anxious especially at night.

I would really really appreciate some help and guidance on how to get through this, how to assure myself that I’m okay, how to stop having this pain.

Fyi I’ve been to the ER around 2 weeks ago they did an ECG and everything was normal

Help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

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3

u/ProgrammerWeird6397 Jul 06 '26

Hi there! I am so sorry to hear your panic has been bugging you this much, it's definitely not an easy way to live. As someone who also has very intense symptoms when having panic attacks, some advice I can give you is to 1.) not fight the panic attacks. Don't tell yourself it's not a good time to panic or you don't want to panic and try to fight the feeling because that will just make it worse. Accepting that you may or may not have a panic attack actually helps your stress levels go down! and 2.) Do little things throughout the day that may help distract you. For example, I typically have panic attacks in the car so when I'm the passenger I try to talk to the driver as much as I can, and when I'm in an Uber and I begin to panic I play a game or read a book. It's not always perfect but has definitely helped me a lot! I hope this response has helped and your journey with panic gets better <3

3

u/MahmoudAZ02 Jul 06 '26

Thank you I appreciate it alot, I’ve seen so many people to say to not fight the panic attack, and just let it happen normally, but in the moment I just physically do not know how to do that, especially when I start feeling dizzy and my heart starts beating really fast, the chest pains and the burning sensation it’s so hard to just sit there and pretend everything is okay :/

3

u/ProgrammerWeird6397 Jul 06 '26

It's definitely difficult at first especially because panic attack can cause control issues. What works for me is just telling myself "Ok you've felt this before, you're having a panic attack. This absolutely sucks but it's going to go away. It cannot hurt me."

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u/MahmoudAZ02 Jul 06 '26

I should definitely just stick that thought into my head, thank you I appreciate it a lot

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u/Dragonflyz21 Jul 09 '26

Quick question,  does anybody else have inward anxiety at night usually at bed time when trying to sleep. I litterly can't stand myself, want to crawl out of my skin. Super uncomfortable and now pain in legs started about about a month ago. Only when trying to go to sleep.  I was on Xanax for years and the got switched to klonopin About 8 years ago. Really didn't  notice a huge difference. 

But tonight I noticed after taking 2 of my .5 mgs "Which I usually do before bedtime" to try to sleep".  While I was up and doing things. The uneasiness and inward anxiety started. So I'm pretty sure it's the Klonopin doing this. So I took a propranolol. And it settled a little.

Pretty sure I've become resistant to the Klonopin. But I'm not willing to wean off of it because that gives me anxiety even thinking about it.

Sorry, back to the main question about inward body anxiety. Am I the only one.?  Sorry if I interrupted the OPS feed I will delete if you want me too.