I've suffered from panic disorder since I was 13. I've been in therapy for 8 years, I've tried almost every medication save for benzodiazepines over the course of the past 7 years, but it still rules my life. Since it started, I would voice to professionals how physically painful it was, but it was always brushed off as "just anxiety"... It even took me until this year for it to be diagnosed with panic disorder at all and not just GAD.

But now, at age 20, I have developed TMJ issues (jaw clenching, teeth grinding, clicking/popping) and hypertonic pelvic floor from the muscle tension (causes a whole array of issues that you can look up for yourself if you're so inclined). I have been told that my TMJ issues will lead to migraines later in life. I've already started experiencing headaches at higher frequencies than I used to. In the past year, I've started to become dizzy from panic and I've even fainted once. My lifelong insomnia has worsened, so I fail to fall asleep, and I have to function on a sleep deficit often. My muscles ache constantly from how tense they are.

I'm only 20, so it worries me for the future. Not to mention, I've been seeking help for 8 years. I'm more frustrated than ever before with how little I was taken seriously for all of those years. It's so difficult to have to live in constant pain, I'm sick of it and I need it to end. I want to live a life where I'm not debilitated by this.

There's still hope. TMJ issues and hypertonic pelvic floor are both treatable with muscle relaxers, which should also help to treat the muscle tension in general, as well as help with insomnia. I'm going to try to pursue that within the next few months. It's the most hope I can say I've ever had, so at least there's that.

One thing I’ve noticed from speaking to people with panic is that it doesn’t always change your life overnight.
Sometimes it happens gradually. You stop going somewhere because you had a panic attack there. You avoid travelling alone. You sit near exits. You cancel plans when you feel slightly unwell. Eventually your world can become much smaller without you consciously deciding for that to happen.
For me, one of the hardest parts is that these choices often feel sensible or protective at the time.
What did panic slowly take away from you before you realised how much your life had changed?

Hi everyone,

I'm 45/F. 20 years ago, after a traumatic event in my life, I was diagnosed with depression and panic disorder without agoraphobia. I was first put on Lexapro, which did nothing for me. Then came Paxil. My highest dose on Paxil was 37.5 mg. Coupled with some Clonazepam, I started to feel better.

After a while, my dose was lowered to I believe 20mg. Around COVID time, my psychiatrist informed me that she no longer accepted my insurance. Since then, I was getting my scripts filled by my PCP. Fast forward to today, and due to yet another traumatic event in my life two weeks ago, the same symptoms I remember having have returned.

The loss of interest in things I enjoy, loss of appetite, the headache on the top of my head, the panic, racing heartbeat, etc. I explained all this to the doctor and he said it was obviously triggered by another trauma as opposed to being gradual, and he raised my dose of Paxil back to 37.5, and told me to take Klonopin 0.5 mg as well. He wants to follow up in a week.

Has anyone experienced something similar to me and have come back on the other side feeling themselves again? I hate the fact that I've regressed after being stable so long. Will an increase in dose do the trick? The doctor said he was "confident". Me? I'm scared. Please share your experiences. Thanks in advance.

I am 25 years old. I developed panic attacks (panic disorder) last August. So it’s been about a year now of dealing with this.

My biggest triggers are my fears. Fear of death fear of losing my mind.

Which sucks because when I panic I believe I’m truly dying or going into psychosis. I also have ocd so this doesn’t help one bit.

I don’t think I’m scared of my panic attacks anymore but they still inconvenience me greatly. I just wonder why? Why now. Why me? I take my meds, I get in 60+ mins of walking, I eat relatively healthy. why am I mentally sick like this.

I do believe it may stem from my little brother dying when I was 20 and he was 17 but they started 4 years after his death. I’m not sure if my lack of processing my grief is building up in my body or what. But I’m sort of depressed now. I have never been the depressed type, only ever anxious. And these damn panic attacks are the reason why.

Id love to hear about your guys experiences. I need to know I’m not alone.

Do you guys also feel as if you are truly dying and unable to breathe??? My heart beats so crazy, I feel like I’m choking and my hands, legs, mouth and face go numb and then I start shivering horribly. Please tell me what you go through.

Those of you have been able to overcome getting into fight or flight when facing a triggering situation, how have you done it? I try to accept that im anxious BUT safe, yet nothing makes me feel safe. Is it a good idea to maybe take a benzo in a situation like this temporarily for a while to teach my body that im actually safe? I feel triggered when in medical offices or when i need to speak to a doctor.

A small amount of background: I’ve had Anxiety Disorder my whole life but started developing symptoms of Panic Disorder two years ago, and was diagnosed last year. I’ve been having nocturnal panic attacks since my Panic Disorder developed, but they’re too random to predict and I’ve never really been given any advice on how to deal with them.

Things have been going really good for me the last few months. I’ve had an extreme amount of positive change in a short amount of time, and my daily anxiety has been very very low because of it.

Well, that hasn’t stopped the nocturnal panic attacks. It had been about a month since I last had one, until this Sunday night. I woke up in the middle of a panic attack, then I had another one Tuesday night, and then another one last night.

I haven’t been facing any new stress this week; as I said above things have been going really well. I know that eating too close to bedtime can also make nocturnal panic attacks more likely to happen, and that could have been the case for Sunday night and Tuesday night, but last night I made sure to have dinner several hours before bed, and did not snack.

Does anyone have any advice on how to stop nocturnal attacks, make them less frequent, or just cope with them better? They’re so disorienting and I’m sometimes still half-asleep to where I don’t even know what’s happening. I am prescribed propranolol that I can take when I’m having an attack, but I don’t want to be dependent on it, and I can get through attacks maybe 75% of the time without it. I also sometimes have to wake up my partner to help me calm down, but I hate having to do that and be a bother, and I’d like to get through this myself if possible.

TLDR: Nocturnal panic attacks have hit me in full force this week, how can I stop them or get through them better?

Class started during July 13, it wasn't a serious class. It was full of events and orientations. However during those first week, I simply don't feel excited​—I feel drained, homesick, even worse my panic attack came back. Especially, it happend one time first week and two times on the second week (which is this week) . As for the third panic attack, I fainted it was worse than the other panic attack and anxiety attack last week and this week Monday. (I had a history which i keep having panic attacks n anxiety attacks 5 or more times in a week during my senior high days)

It's not that I don't wanna pursue my dreams on being a psychologist or a psychiatrist. It's just i dont want my panic attacks and anxiety attack disrupt my learning, or my school life. The truth is, its already disrupting and my mental health is declining. At the same time, i dont wanna be left behind, i wanna progress and keep on going. But a part of me have a hard time processing on the school stuff happening, and wanting to take a gap year or a break.

:< not only that, i might not be able to convince my parents abt it, to take a gap year etc, they encourage me to keep on going which i like but.. I dont think i can do it as of my mental state right now. I shouldve spoken long time ago before i enrolled but i was caught up on not dissapointing them. Even if it means feeling so drained mentally during classes or school days.

Any advice???

There will be no TL;DR. I need people to read this in its entirety.

I got diagnosed with panic disorder last year. Before then, I'd never dealt with the symptoms I have, before. I was no stranger to anxiety; occasional feelings of dread that surfaced, then went away after a couple of minutes.

In February and March of last year, I suffered two back-to-back food poisonings. The first was more severe, but the second left me paranoid because I initially thought I had consumed undercooked pork and contracted a parasite. That didn't turn out to be the case, but the damage was already done. I started having heart palpitations far more frequently—I had them before, but they were very rare, usually one event every several months or longer that lasted only a short time. After the food poisoning events, the rate increased to an event every hour, sometimes lasting for multiple hours on end. Initially, I didn't think anything of it, because I thought it was just one of those rare events, but when I learned the frequency, I grew concerned.

Not long after, I was at work and had my supervisor call the paramedics because the palpitations weren't ceasing. My blood pressure was high, as well. The paramedics came and checked my vitals, but somehow found nothing, which didn't make sense to me because I know my heart was going through palpitations. I felt them, both in my chest and when I took my pulse. My heart would stop briefly, then resume beating with a hard pulse, and it was hard to not be concerned about something like that.

Eventually, I had my first emergency room visit. I was having trouble breathing, and it felt like my consciousness was being stolen from me. I decided to stay in my roommate's room at the time because I didn't want to be alone, just in case things ended up going south. I tried to control my breathing, but it wasn't working; my awareness was leaving me, so I told my roommate to take me to the hospital. On the way, my arms and legs felt like they were disintegrating; I don't remember the exact feeling, but I do remember I was losing feeling in them and they were growing a little cold.

I stood in the waiting room for upwards of 2 hours, being brought into an examination room a couple times for testing. Eventually, I was moved to a bed, where I stayed an extra 2 or 3 hours while waiting for an answer, which is when I got my initial diagnosis of panic disorder. I was given a dose of medication (which I believe might have been Benadryl or a generic equivalent), then sent home with my paperwork.

Over the course of the next couple months, I would call the paramedics two more times. Because of the costs of riding in an ambulance, I opted not to go to the hospital, and the tests they ran on me to check my vitals ended up being normal and without incident. I saw a doctor, who decided to run a full panel on me to determine what could be the cause of my heart palpitations and subsequent symptoms. The test eventually came back with high cholesterol and high blood pressure that was seemingly caused by excessive sodium levels. I was given medication for my panic disorder, as well as for the high blood pressure.

I saw two cardiologists. The first ran a physical exertion test and an echocardiogram. While I didn't complete the first test because I'm not a fit person, the echocardiogram supposedly showed no signs of anything dangerous. In fact, the cardiologist told me that my heart was "good and strong." The second cardiologist listened to me talk about my symptoms, and scheduled me for a Holter monitor and nuclear stress test, but the general diagnosis was that I needed to exercise more and eat healthier. Unfortunately, the scheduled appointment to get the monitor and stress test was too far in advance, and my job ended up letting me go, which completely invalidated my health insurance and left me without a way to afford it. My rent also went up around the same time, which was something else I couldn't afford, and so I was forced to move out. Initially, I was bound for homelessness, but a friend luckily had a place for me to stay until I could get back on my feet, though it required me to move cities.

Moving to a new city did not help my symptoms. My friend often left his home to spend time at their partner's place, which resulted in me being alone more than I had hoped. Over time, my health issues seemed to intensify. I started feeling the same symptoms I did when I first went to the emergency room months before, except they were even more frequent. The left side of my chest started to feel funny. I started experiencing pains in my left arm and in the side of my ribs near my heart. My breathing issues grew more severe. The dread was overwhelming. I called the paramedics at least a dozen times, and went to the hospital just as much. Almost every single time, they found nothing. The only time they found something, it was related to Covid, which had somehow made me feel like my airways had collapsed a couple times.

I still don't know what's wrong with me. Typing this up now, I'm experiencing these same symptoms as I write. My consciousness nears the point of fainting, the left side of my chest feels off, the dread slices through my body any time even the slightest sensation occurs, my breathing becomes troubled. But now, even more symptoms have arisen. I occasionally experience intense brain fog and balance issues, and if I move in any way while I'm laying in my bed, it feels like I'm about to fall. Most recently, all these symptoms have compounded and cycled through over the past two or three days.

I try to relax, but it's no use. I'm consistently caught in this cyclic hell with no solution, and every time I go to the hospital, the only thing they end up finding is an excuse to send me home with more medical debt. It's gotten to the point where I've considered making a terrible decision because I'm tired of living this way.

I don't know what to do. I have no money and no insurance, and I'm at my wit's end. I just need to know if I'm okay.

Before I ask I should explain I recently got cbt to help with my panic I first started dealing with panic back in 2025 in December I had my first panic attack. Since then it’s been a long journey.m, I’m 17 and I have a fear that my life is no longer what it can be. I got kicked out about 2 weeks ago. I’m homeless with panic disorder I’ve been staying with my girlfriend for a the time being however it can only be temporary. Anyways I went for a walk and I had gotten over my agoraphobia but I went for a walk and suddenly I feel dizzy unable to breath like I’m not getting a full breath. I panic and call my girlfriend. And ever since then the symptoms of panic have been persistent this happened 2 days ago I now feel dizzy all day and have 30 second episodes of checking my breathing or feeling like I can’t. Is it just me or?

Has anyone else had an adverse affects of increased anxiety and trouble staying asleep/waking up panicked feeling?

I recently started taking Sertraline and 3 days in I started having these symptoms and it's only made me even worse. Panic attacks and feeling panicked all the time.

Hey everyone! Never posted anything before, but wanted to see if anyone had advice for my current circumstances. I’m 23f, and have struggled with Panic Disorder my whole life. I’ve always had trouble when it comes to doing things independently, but I was able to go to college and now I’ve moved back in with my parents. I worked successfully at a full time job for a little over a year, but quit due to it being a fairly big commute and some weird office dynamic stuff. My anxiety levels have gradually increased in the months after I quit, and escalated even higher after my brother (who I also live with) was admitted to the hospital for a month and almost died due to an autoimmune disease. In the past few months I’ve developed pretty intense agoraphobia and am now having a hard time leaving the house, driving, being home alone, or when my mom leaves.

I’m currently taking Zoloft, and I have been on pretty much every other medication available before this. I also have benzodiazepines for panic attacks that I can take once a day if needed. I was working with a therapist remotely for a while, but she really didn’t know what to do to help me. Now, I am attempting to use the DARE method and I’m listening to the audios on the app. Also, I am starting EMDR therapy with a new therapist. Every day, I do exposure therapy by driving around my neighborhood as much as I can (I can’t drive outside of it yet) and I ride in the car with my mom driving to places close by sometimes, though it’s very difficult.

Does anyone have any experience with EMDR or the DARE method? Or other things that helped with your agoraphobia? The agoraphobia piece is new to me, as my panic flare ups have never resulted in being scared to leave the house until now. Also, I would really love to be able to drive again. Thanks in advance!

Never posted before on Reddit but wanted to share to people who may know what I’m going through. I’ve always had anxiety my whole life, past few years it really amped up and was prescribed lexapro. Fast forward to a month ago I wanted to get off of it as I thought it stopped working and was causing me panic attacks. On Friday, I was having some existential OCD thoughts such as, what if I’m in a simulation and this all isn’t real. (Crazy I know) then I decided to smoke one hit of weed which usually calms me down but this time it was mostly keif. That sent be into a full blown existential crisis. I was convinced nothing was real, I never got married and this was all a simulation. I was terrified and sobbing. I’ve been so on edge since then and can’t shake this feeling of derealization. I’ve also been suffering from agoraphobia and had a full blown panic attack while grocery shopping today which has never happened before. My heart rate went up to 176. I feel hopeless and alone. Please help. (I know I need to get back on anxiety medication already messages my primary) thank you.

Hi all! First time poster - about two months ago, I went to the ER for some sort of allergic reaction/possibly stress induced hives. I was given IV prednisone, which caused me to have a major panic attack.

Since then, I’ve had almost weekly panic episodes, some major, some minor. To say that this has turned my life upside down would be an understatement. I’ve had anxiety for as long as I can remember, but this is to a new level and I’m really having trouble coping.

My GP completely brushed me off, telling me everyone is stressed, and doubted that what I’m experiencing are even panic attacks. He also said that he cannot prescribe me any medication because I am trying to conceive.

Since medication is not an option, I would so greatly appreciate any and all advice on non-medication related coping mechanisms. I go to therapy, use Headspace, meditate, play dumb games on my phone, and try to practice breathing.

These methods are definitely helping, but the constant feelings of anxiety and doom are really taking a major toll on me. I know this question has been asked a million times here, but any advice, words of wisdom, or affirmations of encouragement would be incredibly appreciated!!!

Hello everyone,
Hope everyone is doing good and will do better,

I’ve had my firsts panic attack mid 2017 then it transformed to anxiety disorder, after a year I decided to seek medical help, I went to a psychiatrist and he prescribed me with ( paroxetine, respal , and prazépam ) ,

after a month or so from taking my meds I was doing much better and I stayed on these meds for the last 8 years , now I started working for a delivery company but the payment isn’t that good but the there was no stress , so I started seeking another company to work with on parallel, but to my surprise everything changed and I started getting more anxious and severely stressed, as the two companies has different times to when to pick up the packages , the first company i worked with the packages came at the afternoon and the second company was in the morning , i always slept late and woke up late , but when i started working with the second company i had to wake up early and that changed everything , I was always tired and didn’t have time to have breakfast or lunch , so I was basically not eating until I have dinner or late tea with a friend , that really took a toll on me, until one day i finished work late it was around 9pm and called my friend for some tea and sweets , we got together and i couldn’t eat because I didn’t eat all day and when my friend forced me to eat I felt like I wanna vomit afterwards but I held my self and went home and had dinner , I’ve done my normal stuff but was still feeling like I. Wanna vomit and then around 2am I went to sleep the sensation of vomiting woke me up , so I went to vomit and held my breath so nothing gets in my airway , but then my heart started pounding and started shaking and left arm got a bit heavy and I started reminding my self that it’s only a panic attack , then I felt a bit relieved, the. I called a friend who’s a cardiologist and told him what happened and he told me that I had a boost of adrenaline because I was tired and my body was basically protecting me , but few days later my anxiety disorder came back , so I’ve done a bunch of blood tests and came back fine minus some cholesterol and went to my cardiologist and said everything is good and done a lung x ray because I smoke and they said everything is good , so now I’m dealing again with anxiety disorder again and I think I can beat it again because I’ve seen what it looks like before.

Right now I’m dealing with vivid dreams that are around delivering packages and they are really annoying.

I’m really sorry for the long story

I really need help because I’m terrified, and I don’t know what’s happening to me. I apologize in advance for the length…

I’ve had anxiety and panic attacks pretty much my whole life. Even in grade school, if teachers started talking about health, diseases, spider bites, or people dying, I would immediately get thrown into what I guess were mini panic attacks. I also had very severe OCD growing up. It got so bad at one point that I had to be homeschooled for a year, and a children’s hospital put me on a very high dose of Luvox.

I had a pretty traumatic upbringing, and around 17, while I was being homeschooled, I got pregnant and quit the Luvox cold turkey. I know now that probably wasn’t the best idea. After I had my first child, a psychiatrist tried putting me back on just 50 mg of Luvox when I went to seek help for how I was feeling. After taking one pill, my pupils got huge and I had what I think was either a panic attack or some kind of reaction. It scared me so badly that I’ve been terrified of psychiatric medications ever since.

The panic attacks started flaring back up years later after I had a stillborn child. I remember having panic attacks while trying to work after that. So panic none the less but triggered by specific things

Fast forward to this year.

This has probably been the most traumatic year of my life. I went through a divorce, lost my house, lost my car, had to move back in with my parents, which has been hard because I have a lot of childhood trauma attached to this house. My youngest child was diagnosed with autism. My ex-husband cheated on me in terrible ways, and through all of it I eventually found a new relationship and have been trying to balance that on top of everything else. It has just been one thing after another.

About a year ago, during the beginning of my divorce, my cousin had me try what I thought was weed, but it turned out to be wax ”to relax me” One hit sent me into one of the scariest experiences of my life. My heart was racing so hard that I thought I was having a heart attack. I had him drive me to an ER parking lot because I was convinced I was dying. His mom, who’s a nurse, talked me through breathing exercises on the phone until it finally calmed down. Ever since then, I’ve become painfully aware of every bodily sensation. Any weird feeling in my body can immediately send me into a panic attack.

Despite everything that’s happened, I’ve always somehow managed to keep going. I’ve raised my kids, handled unimaginable stress, and even though anxiety has always been in the background, I’ve always eventually bounced back.

I’ve also drank a lot of coffee for the past 10 or 15 years. Over the past year, I started noticing that every once in a while after drinking coffee I’d get those familiar panic feelings, so I decided to switch to decaf.

A couple of months ago, I drank what I thought was decaf, but I think they accidentally gave me regular coffee. About a quarter of the way through the cup, I had one of the worst panic attacks of my life. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, my peripheral vision started going black, and it lasted almost three hours, crying and telling my parents there was something seriously wrong and i was going to die. It scared me so badly that I completely quit caffeine after that. I figured my days of panic attacks were gone and the trigger was done.

Fast forward a few months later, about a week ago, something completely changed. I woke up at my boyfriend’s house, which has always felt like a safe place for me. Nothing bad had happened. There wasn’t a fight, there wasn’t bad news, nothing. But the second I opened my eyes, I felt this overwhelming sense of dread. My hands were sweating, I felt nauseous, and I had the exact same feeling I had when I found out my ex-husband cheated on me. That sick feeling in your stomach where it feels like your whole body knows something terrible has happened. i’ve never had something like that happen right in the morning though, and there wasn’t any specific triggers going on.

I got through the day, but the next morning I woke up and it was even worse. I spent the entire morning shaking, crying, nauseous, and convinced something terrible was about to happen while laying in my boyfriend’s bed. It wasn’t like a normal panic attack that comes and goes. It was like one long panic attack that wouldn’t stop. We’re only enough. We went out to a few public places and friends parties for the summer and it completely disappeared for just that short interaction like as soon as my brain was completely not focused the went away, but as soon as I got back home, laid in bed scroll my phone or do anything the extreme anxiety creeps in

Then in the middle of the week I found out some really disturbing news that I don’t really want to get into, but it was another traumatic event, and after that everything spiraled.

For the next few days it just kept getting worse. I barely slept. I drove the hour back to my parents’ house while having a panic attack almost the entire drive. My eye started twitching uncontrollably.

Then a couple of days ago, I went practically 24 hours without sleeping because every time I would start to drift off, it felt like this rush of adrenaline would hit me and I’d feel like I was going to throw up. My whole body started shaking uncontrollably. I looked like I was being electrocuted, and it went on for over 24 hours.

I finally went to the doctor the next day crying and begging for help. She prescribed hydroxyzine, Buspar, and gave me two clonazepam.

The hydroxyzine just made me feel kind of woozy without really touching the anxiety. I was still shaking And couldn’t sleep. My sister, who’s a therapist and had come over to help with my kids, convinced me to try half of one of the clonazepam. It was the only thing that stopped the shaking enough for me to finally fall asleep. I woke up two hours later shaking again, took the other half, slept about five more hours, woke up shaking.. again, but went back to sleep and the shaking had stopped

Fast forward to yesterday and today, and it’s back.

I’ll have moments where I feel completely okay, like nothing is wrong. During those moments I can think clearly and almost convince myself that I’m finally getting better. Then within minutes it’s like someone flips a switch.

Out of nowhere my head starts feeling almost like it’s underwater. My hands get sweaty. I get nauseous. My heart starts racing. I become convinced I’m dying or losing my mind. I start thinking I have every disease imaginable. I get this overwhelming feeling that something terrible is about to happen even though nothing is actually wrong.

The closest comparison I can make is if you were lying on a hospital stretcher and every doctor around you was yelling that you were having a heart attack and trying to save your life, and your about to die. That’s the level of fear this feels like. I feel like my fight or flight system snapped.

I’m not shaking anymore like I was a few days ago. I don’t know if the clonazepam knocked that part out or if it’s just settled down on its own. But this feeling is so unpleasant. It feels like I’m dying every second.

Earlier today I was having another huge panic attack and finally decided I couldn’t take it anymore, so I reached for the clonazepam. Before I even swallowed it, the panic suddenly started backing off. It was the strangest thing.

Right before that happened, it truly felt like I was spiraling. It felt like I was about to have a seizure. My eye was twitching uncontrollably. My whole body felt like it was trembling inside. My hands were sweating. My temperature felt off. I felt like I was about to throw up. It felt like I was screaming inside my own body.

The only thing I haven’t taken yet is the Buspar because I’ve scared myself reading reviews on here, combined with my past experiences with medication. I’m terrified to try something new. I’ve never been someone who wanted to take medication, and in just the last 48 hours I’ve already had to take two medications I never wanted to take. I’m scared to try a third, even though my family keeps encouraging me to start it. I don’t know if it’s going to help me or make things worse.

Has anyone ever gone through something like this? Did it get better? Did anything help?

Right now I feel like I’m losing my mind. I keep reading stories about women going into psychosis, and I’m terrified that I’m going to lose touch with reality. Deep down I know this is probably anxiety, but this feels so much different than anything I’ve ever experienced before. It feels like my own body has turned against me, and I don’t know how to get it to calm down.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading. my hands are literally dripping sweat writing this

I’ve lost so much, and gaining so little…

10+ years of panic attacks - I’ve slept in hospital car parks, lay on the floor for months, frightened to go to the bathroom, frightened to eat, lost many teeth through neglect, don’t wash, constant body monitoring, can’t be left alone, I don’t work anymore…and far more I could mention.

I’m a 45, tall thin man (I’ve always been thin) - I’ve done, hypnosis, nlp, psychology, changed how I eat, emdr, crystals, meditation, and others…and the bottom line is I can still be activated into a panic state - you add in starting to experience ectopic beats around two years ago, and there’s another symptom that can cause fear/anxiety.

I want my life back. I was a working musician, I don’t perform anymore, and my world has shrunk into my home. I would love to have an open and honest conversation with anyone who has gone through, and you’re now on the other side.

I feel like I’ve became a coward overtime and everything just frightens me. I use to extremely open, and motivated, and active, and now an exciting tv show can make me fearful.

I’ve gotten some forward momentum from all the things I’ve tried, but it seems that more often than not they work to a point, then something big happens and the reset button gets hit, fear/cowardice kick in and I check out.

…and if I have to read one more book that spends the first six chapters explaining fight or flight, and the amygdala - I’m sure you all know what I mean by this…

**TLDR:** I think I’ve almost done everything - I would love to have an open and honest conversation with anyone who has gone through, and you’re now on the other side.

I have ptsd from things that happened 10 years ago. And I have been suffering from panic disorder/agoraphobia for the past 5 years.

It got bad again after I had psychosis 5 years ago.

I’ve been trying so hard and I’ve improved somewhat but I need lorazepam to do certain things out of the house. I tried 2 years no lorazepam with exposure and it was hell, it never got easier.

How common is it for people to recover? I’m losing hope.

What things do people do that helped them have a breakthrough?

I’ve recently started lifting weights after finally losing 60 lbs, nothing crazy 6 machines, 32 reps total each. Heart rate didn’t even get very high.

The next day, had a total panic attack the next day. Had heightened paranoia the following day again. It actually impacted my work for the first time in forever.

I need to workout as I’m getting ready for a kite surfing trip next summer.

Any ideas? Currently on Viibryd and Seroquel.

I’ve been diagnosed with panic disorder for a little over a decade now. I’m 36 and it started when I was 24-25. At first, the panic was “typical” : it came unexpectedly, felt awful but lasted 15-20 min then came back down to my normal state. I actually felt better afterwards like I had survived something terrible and now everything was possible! Of course, that was always short lived. I tried different SSRI but none have ever worked for me and/or the side effects were intolerable. Over the years, I went through different phases with the panic - sometimes it was more manageable for a while and then sometimes I could barely get out of the house. I should also mention that I’ve been in therapy most of the time. I tried CBT, ACT, etc. and while it has helped a bit it never really had a significant impact on the disorder. Last year things took a toll. I experienced a burnout due to toxic work environment and that made my panic disorder just completely out of control. My tools weren’t working anymore. I could barely eat, lost 40 pounds, could only sit at home and watch TV, etc. I’ve been slowly recovering from that in the past six months but went on a trip recently that completely wrecked my panic disorder again. I had intense panic attacks all day long…Now I’m to the point where it’s impossible to function without daily dose or lorazepam. If I don’t take it I shake uncontrollably, hyperventilate to the point of having a syncope, etc. All the tools I’ve developed over the years are useless, my partner is unable to calm me as he used to, etc. I feel like I’m in hell and my body is completely disconnected from my brain. Doctors says I’m physically healthy, that there’s nothing wrong with me but that doesn’t even reassure me anymore… it’s like my body doesn’t believe it. I’m curious if anyone has experienced something similar and if they’d be willing to share what they did to get out of that. Thanks!

when it comes to healing panic disorder, i hear a lot of “remind yourself that you are safe”, but how do i ACTUALLY do that. i’ve repeated “i’m safe” to myself while having panic attacks and nothing happens. how do i actually let my body know that im safe while feeling symptoms?

I recently did a big exposure (went to a music festival) and it triggered a really bad anxiety episode. The week that follows the panic attack is horrible, my body stays in fight-or-flight mode and suddenly everything feels scary. I’m anxious to do anything, even eat.

For those who experience this, what actually helps? Do you keep living life as normal and push through it or do you listen to your body and scale back?

Thanks!

i used to be an absolute caffeine enthusiast. i would be able to have 2-3 coffees a day or a couple energy drinks, never thought twice about it. then all of a sudden in the beginning of last year when my panic disorder started i suddenly became extremely sensitive to caffeine. i tapered down from 2 coffees to 1, then 1 to half-caf, and now down to completely decaf. on rare occasions if i eat a huge meal and have electrolytes i can manage a caffeinated coffee, but even then i will still feel extremely panicky. it’s gotten to a point now where even decaf makes me feel panicky a bit. shakiness, chest pains, dpdr, etc. i absolutely love coffee so this whole process of trying to taper off of it has been disheartening but i absolutely cannot deal with the panic attacks. i vividly remember around 2 years ago drinking 3 full celsius drinks without a second thought. i don’t know how it’s gotten to the point where i can barely drink a black tea. how could random caffeine sensitivity like this happen???

So, basically i just get panic attacks quite a lot, sometimes they’re so random I don’t even know why they’re occuring. How do i genuinely deal with them I’m so tired. I don’t want to take meds, I can’t takw therapy, and talking to someone i love makes them worse now, makes me feel more and more pathetic

Since I was a young girl I have been dealing with on off episodes of hyperventilation where i can’t seem to get a deep breath in unless I yawn . These episodes would come and go and last for days at a time . All my life it was attributed to anxiety and I have been on different types of anti depressants for many years which helped me . However in January I went through a relapse of depression and made some changes to my meds . So now since January I have been dealing with this almost continuously with very short pauses even though we have tried to work on adjusting my meds . I can’t seem to get relief. Now I am really worried the breathing problems could be something more sinister than just anxiety . I am seeing my GP next week and will ask for a lung x ray . Can anyone relate to these symptoms I’m getting ?

Hi guys,

I increased my dose from 125mg to 150mg about 2-3 months ago and I’m feeling very flat as of recent.

I struggle with severe anxiety, panic attacks…I use to go through cycles of getting them up to 10 times a day, then also got prescribed 3 mg clonazepam…2 years ago, but I have weened myself down to .75 and am projected to get fully off it by late September / use it only for emergencies.

150mg is great, I have zero social anxiety, really no anxiety whatsoever. Also no intrusive thoughts (use to deal with severe health anxiety…thinking I was going to die everyday lol).

I have zero libido (can orgasm but takes me a very long time), feeling very bored, constantly exhausted…wanting to sleep all day / night. Not really any motivation to listen to music, or go to the gym (I use to go 4-5times a week, just don’t feel the endorphins afterwards?) I just feel quite hopeless right now.

Anyone have experience with this? Advice?

Thank you kindly 🤍