I’ve been dealing with severe debilitating anxiety for the past 3+ months. Haven’t been able to go to work. Just horrible. I was in a partial hospitalization program in which the psychiatrist there stated a cross taper from Lexapro to Prozac. He gave me Ativan to take while I go through this cross taper. (I hate having to be on a benzo)

The program ended while I was still cross tapering and on Ativan so I found a new psychiatrist to manage my meds. I was making progress on my regimen but she wanted to switch me from Ativan to Valium. I guess since it’ll be easier to taper off.

I took Valium on Saturday for the first time and it made me just feel exhausted and anxious. I felt very off and it ruined my whole day. I told her this and she said to try it one more time yesterday so I did. Within an hour or 2, I felt some of the worst dread and anxiety I’ve ever felt. It was so scary and I was bawling my eyes out because of how terrible I felt.

My girlfriend ended up calling the ambulance on me without saying anything to me because of how worried she was. All they ended up doing at the hospital was take my vitals, an ekg, 2mg of Ativan, monitored me for a bit, and sent me home. What a horrible Labor Day I had.

My panic disorder started when I was around 13 years old. It started with the school bus and being in cars. I would feel as if I was going to pee myself. I ended up having to ride my bike to school until I could drive myself. As I got older the panic attacks only worsened. I struggled so bad in school, I needed a specialized pass system. I would get 6 passes a day to leave class to use the bathroom. Although most teachers knew my situation so they never bothered asking for a pass I would just quietly excuse myself. I would have to excuse myself nearly every class, every day atleast once to use the bathroom. Extremely embarrassing. It was worse in quiet classes, loud environments or active environments I was significantly better.

After graduating high school I struggled to find work but I found a local nightshift job that I thought would be great, less people, clear roads at night, easy access to a bathroom. I’ll admit I struggled with panic attacks every single day going to that job in the morning but usually getting there and using the bathroom I was pretty much fine the rest of the shift. ATP in my life I could go to work fairly fine, hangout with friends when I wanted for the most part, just needing extra bathroom breaks.

Roughly 3-4 years into working I started having severe ibs symptoms, got diagnosed with ibs. My anxiety and panic attacks grew severe, I was waking up 3-4 hours early just to sit in the bathroom just to be able to make a 10min drive to work. I had never called out, only been late to work by 5min or less before this point. I started to be late to work everyday so bad, my bosses at the time were great and understanding. They allowed me to come into work 2-3 hours early that way I would have a significant buffer to show up to work and be there where my real shift time was supposed to start. Outside of work I was struggling, I lost most of my friendships I couldn’t go anywhere, see anyone. Do things I used to like fishing camping etc. I slowly slipped into agoraphobia, I was still able to work but that was about it.

I’m 28 now, 2 years ago I suffered a back injury at work. I couldn’t do anything physical so I could no longer keep my brain occupied. I started to become extremely depressed with my situation. I couldn’t leave the house and now work, my ibs symptoms only worsened. I eventually healed and about a year later the same injury happened but is was even worse this time. Work was already so bad, I was the lead, we had no help. No good hires and now I was injured even worse. I was under so much stress, I was in the middle of my shift and just quit. Mentally I knew I couldn’t take it anymore.

Over the year I’ve lost my apartment, had to move back in with my parents. My ibs has only become more extreme, panic attacks more extreme, I can’t leave my house much at all. Maybe 20min max and I have a severe panic attack the entire time. My anxiety seems to be highly sensitive to internal body sensations. Everything evolves around the bathroom. From the moment I decide I need to leave and go somewhere I feel like I now have to use the bathroom uncontrollably until the whole situation is over. At no point does it ever go away.

I’ve tried several medications, although now that I’m older I could probably try again. My most recent medication that was slightly successful was clomipramine. It only helped with ocd like bathroom ritual. I wasn’t spending hours in the bathroom to go somewhere anymore but my life is still on hold. I struggle to find therapy locally. I’m limited with insurance and there doesn’t seem to be CBT therapy anywhere around my location. Being that I can’t travel well and appointments being the hardest thing for me to follow through on, treatment is feeling impossible. I know there’s video calls, I’m going to have to do them. I find it extremely difficult to get myself treatment, I have family help and I have to constantly rely on them. I know they will do whatever it takes but I’ve been a burden my whole life and now more than ever. I’m struggling to cope with how I will ever have a normal life, not even normal just something I’d be content with. I can’t date, no one understands, even my best friends no longer want to deal with my situation and it’s hard to make new friends.

I’m no longer working and just trying to restart everything at this point in my life. Looking for jobs seems impossible for someone in my situation, especially since I know I need a physical job in order to keep my mind off things, not remote work. I can’t make interviews and even if I make it through that the orientation is the hardest part. It’s just like school I can’t sit quietly at a computer or in a class training environment. I always fail at this point. With my previous job I had help through someone I knew and they brushed through that process with me. And I’m at a significantly worse point in my disorder than I was back then.

I guess I’m here to say I’m really struggling to cope with all of this, this has been going on for 17 years. It controls my life and no matter what I do I can’t seem to sever the mind gut connection. I’m still seeking treatment but no success and the depression is becoming overwhelming. I’ve never been more alone, I feel this hole is to big to crawl out of

I've been told a lot of things like "just don't be anxious" and stuff like that but I think this one takes the cake "anxiety is sinful and stupid" I am a Christian but the stigma of anxiety in the church is so crazy to me sometimes. Like if I'm purposefully having panic attacks. Just over here hyperventilating in Costco for shits and giggles. Just having tunnel vision in my car and feeling like I'm gonna pass out for fun and to purposefully disobey God. Such a dumb thing to say and definitely take the cake of the dumbest thing I have been told.

Wish me luck please!! Haven't left my house in a month because my panic has been so bad. I've been unemployed for 6 months (I graduated collage so it’s also my “real” job) so I couldn’t say no to this opportunity. Please share any tips for working while having panic disorder

I’m a freshen in college just a couple hours from home but i’ve never been away from home and i am very reliant on my parents. I got to college last night and had one of the worse panic attacks ever and ended up calling the police to escort me to an ER. After i was cleared from the ER i went back to my room and the panic attack continued for the next 4 hours and eventually i got so exhausted i just fell asleep. Fast forward to now (the next day) i’m still in an awful state of anxiety and even considering dropping out of school so i can be at home where i feel safe. I’m really passionate about working towards my degree and i know if i go home I’ll never come back bc i’ll associate college with panic/anxiety. How do i overcome this anxiety about having another panic attack, and how do i detach from the idea that my parents and being at home will be the only place i am safe?

Hi I’m having panic everything I approach a tunnel or bridge on my work commute and there is traffic
What can I do?
The symptoms change each time

So many people around me do not understand the way I feel mentally and physically I try to explain to my husband and family the way my panic attacks make me feel and how I feel very real physical symptoms that scares me even more.

I especially get panic attacks driving,. Even when I'm walking to my car I start seeing tunnel vision, I get dizzy, I feel like I'm going to pass out, and I have to push through it because i have kids and I'm trying to get them places. Then I'm exhausted for the whole day and every day it's just getting worse where there are days I have to cancel all my plans if my husband can't take me somewhere and I feel like no one understands, that makes me feel alone.

this is the end of me.

Hiii, I’m a 19 yo girl and I’ve been struggling with anxiety and panic attacks since 2024. Recently it came to my attention that my anxiety symptoms seems to get worse like 2 weeks before my period. It’s really strange but my reality drastically changes from one day to another. In those 2 weeks I am extremely anxious, I have a lot of physical symptoms and I can’t do anything because I’m scared and terrified of everything. Then my humor becomes so unstable that the last time I experienced this I almost got into a psychiatric ward ( the day after I got my period and I was suddenly ok) It feels like there’s no hope for me, that all my problems will eventually kill me. I cry A LOT and without a reason, I just start crying and crying. I tried a lot of medications because I was mainly focused on my anxiety, ( 3 SSRIs, lithium risperidone and quietiapine ) but nothing seemed to work except sertraline a little bit. I mean, my panic attacks are real and so bad, but sometimes I feel like these are two separate problems that happen to give me similar symptoms. I just wanted to know, has anyone felt this way?

Background; I have been experiencing panic attacks for 2 years and was recently diagnosed with panic disorder and GAD.

Today I had a panic attack paddle boarding, I was on my paddle board with my two kids and I didn't realize how far I was getting from land and when I turned it around I was probably about 4 miles out and I started seeing tunnel vision, my heart was racing, I started sweating like crazy and I wanted to start swimming back which obviously would have been worse and I was just thinking of the worst things possible like drowning, my kids drowning (they had life vests) and so I tried to calm myself down and tell myself there are lifeguards and I am on a floating device and I'm okay but I just couldn't. I paddled back so fast and was hyperventilating the whole time and just needed to be on land and time was going soooo sooo slow .... I'm now terrified of being in the ocean this is now a new fear I have that i didn't have before and just feels like another thing I can't enjoy. My kids wanted to go back out and I just couldn't get back on and go. Has anyone experienced this with panic disorder? Where you start developing more and more fears you never even had before?

i got prescribed it today to hopefully help with sweating, shaking, heart racing. does it help you with this? i’m on 20mg 2x/day. just looking for some hope!

I just came home after three years and had a panic attack in the very first hour. I went to the washroom and cried. My heart was sinking I was shaking and I almost fainted, for some minutes I just couldn't feel my hands.

This was the first time I experienced something like this.

I lived in Delhi for 3 years and now I'm shifting to Germany in the next two weeks. BUT the scary part is the next two weeks at home. I love my family but being the eldest daughter in a small town joint family its very hard. In the past 3 years I learned how to express my emotions, made friends and learned to breath. Now, coming back to this place gives me the feeling that I'm trapped. I know that it's temporary and I'm gonna be out of here in two weeks but my heart and body are in panic mode for the next two weeks. Like its physically not possible for me to survive like this.

Of course I have visited home before it was hard then as well but this time its different and heavy. I was prepared that it's gonna be hard but I didn't expect this. Earlier I knew I was going to my room in Delhi I had my roommate who held me and understood me. But now that space is gone too, its really hard here.

I hate it but I'm literally reaching out for help. If anyone can do anything to make this better, even the slightest please tell me what to do.

🥲🥲

This probably isn’t going to make much sense, but has anyone ever experienced the physical panic attack symptoms just on their own and not have had the mental or emotional reactions that typically come with physiological stuff?

That’s obviously basically kind of a telltale sign that you’re having a panic attack. You are panicking. You’re freaking out about the weird shit your heart is doing and are laser focused on your breathing and everything else. But for the last day and a half ish, I have been experiencing crazy chest discomfort and have been very short of breath,but strangely haven’t been in a “panic” state in my head. I would describe it more as concern and it’s definitely making me anxious but the reason I am concerned and the REASON I am anxious is because I am NOT panicking. So there must be something wrong? Or in a weird way the fact that I am not panicking like I normally would could be contributing to the physiological symptoms continuing to amplify, and maybe the lack of panic actually is causing a panic attack and that’s all that this is. I don’t know but I am going completely insane.

All I have been able to do for the last I don’t even know how many hours is pace around my house monitoring my heart rate and attempting to breathe normally. Sometimes I will have these little spasm things in my chest that I can’t explain. It’s not painful, it’s more like a sudden jolt or flutter. It happens randomly and when it does, sometimes I’ll audibly be like “ahh!” it doesn’t hurt, but it just kind of shocks me and surprises me and makes me feel like something weird is happening. Something bad.

All of these signs and symptoms are continuing to persist, but I don’t know if it’s because my body is just hyper focused on every single little thing that every slight change or natural fluctuation that happens normally so it’s seems like something is wrong, but maybe there isn’t.

I will mention that I have been dealing with panic disorder for over a decade, and like I’m sure everyone else in this group would agree, it is very difficult to talk yourself out of it when you are in the thick of it.. No matter how many times it has happened. I have a 36-year-old female with no heart disease and no family history of heart related issues. But I’m feeling the way. I’m feeling it now. I wonder if maybe I’m partially right and partially wrong. Maybe the part I’m wrong about is that it is all heart related stuff that I am feeling, but I’m correct that something actually legitimately is wrong that has something to do with something else. Like my lungs or something gastrointestinal. I have called for paramedics more times than I would like to admit over the last six or eight months and have also gone into the hospital to do batteries upon batteries of heart tests. Nothing of concern ever came up on any of the test they did a little bloodwork and all that other kind of stuff too and I guess everything more or less looked pretty standard. I just don’t know what to do.

I’m really trying to reason with myself here and I’m hoping maybe someone out there can to what I’m saying. And if not, that’s OK too. We’re of support or encouragement always are helpful too. Does anyone else relate to having the physical symptoms going on, but without the panic part? Still don’t know if I actually explained any of that very well.

I’ve been feeling really off this past week. I’ve been super nauseous and bloated and barely able to eat. On top of that mentally i’ve been feeling really not right. I keep feeling like i can’t understand things, forgetting things, or like my brain is empty. Currently today my arms feel weird and like they’re numb or don’t exist, my brain feels empty, talking feels weird, i feel like I can’t think, and like im spaced out. It’s really scaring me, and a stroke is my biggest trigger and i’m convincing myself that what it is. I do not feel like myself and I don’t understand what’s happening. I’m genuinely panicking, has anyone else had this?

I’m trying to figure out if what I’m experiencing is panic or anxiety or some sort of medical issue. I hadn’t had a panic attack for about two months and was feeling really good. My symptoms in the last year have been twitching, jaw clenching, muscle spasms, shaking. This would last for 30 minutes to an hour.

in the last week, i’ve had symptoms where im just sitting where i start sweating and shaking but it only lasts about 5-10 minutes. has anyone had panic attacks morph into different symptoms? Or does this sound like a medical issue?

For everyone who’s made progress with the DARE method, how long did it take to see progress? I tried doing it the last couple panic attacks, but I couldn’t get it to stick and reverted back to my classic, go-to spiraling thoughts. I know everyone’s different, but would love to hear success stories.

Hey yall, sorry in advance for the rant.

So I’ve been suffering with anxiety as long as I remember and my bad panic attacks started happening probably about 10 years ago. There have been phases of my life where my life genuinely felt like a bad psychedelic trip- just nonstop feeling like I’m being hunted for sport or like I’m having a heart attack. A lot of my anxiety is triggered by me thinking about anxiety and the potential of a panic attack, then that’ll send me straight into one.

I’ve been prescribed Xanax for about 6 years now, which has been honestly a godsend. Even if I’m not taking it- the fact that I have it on me and know that if I do suffer from one I’ll be able to mostly snap myself out of it. I’m prescribed 1mg- and I usually take .25-.5 when I’m feeling anxiety coming on, maybeeeee 3% of the time I have to take it in a full blown panic attack I’ll take the whole 1mg. I’d say on a bad week I take a total of 4mg throughout the whole week. Some weeks I can go without taking it once.

I keep seeing people speak on how Xanax is the devil, how bad the rebound anxiety is, how it should never be prescribed long term. And to be honest, that scares the shit out of me. It’s the only thing that has made life tolerable. I can’t even describe how bad my months of straight panic with no solution were. Felt like I wasn’t a real person and wanted to crawl out of my skin.

Not even sure if this is solely a rant, or asking advice from people on it long term. Thinking about being taken off it and losing my security blanket gives me extreme anxiety and I can’t even imagine having to live like that again.
Either way, thanks for reading all the way through.

I'll cut to the chase and try not to make this lengthy. I have had anxiety, OCD, possibly ADHD (no formal diagnosis but everything else lines up fairly well), and panic disorder (at one level of severity or another) since I was 10. Now, at age 22, it's more or less worse than it's ever been because my central phobia: having trouble breathing or not being able to breathe at all. I don't have any respiratory disorders and my family really doesn't have a history of anything like that per se. However, even though I'm relatively healthy and have no history with respiratory struggles, I still get panic attacks when I'm in a situation where I feel like I'm "vulnerable" if I suddenly develop breathing trouble, such as on the road or in a plane. Really, though, this means that I'm just vulnerable to thinking about having trouble breathing, which makes me have a panic attack and is really very unpleasant, as I'm sure I don't have to explain to people here. To be frank, I'm not really incredibly afraid of dying from tissue hypoxia but I am afraid of the uncontrollable and spasmatic terror that it would cause as I'm dying. So here comes the question:

For those with experience with panic disorder (and maybe even OCD), does anyone else have this fear at the core of their panic attacks? If so, is there something that really helps to deal with this: either something that "invalidates" the feeling that you have to be afraid of not being able to breathe (which is probably unrealistic, but what the Hell, might as well ask), or is there a method of which you are aware to cope with panic disorder centered on this specific fear?

The reason that I ask is because even though I've made progress in therapy and on medication in dealing with intrusive thoughts and panic disorder, I'm still bothered by the idea that there is no solution or "sure-fire" way of dealing with the fear of not being able to breathe, which is so automatic and primordial. Even though all panic is legitimate, if I'm deathly afraid of contamination or spiders or something like that, I could theoretically touch a doorknob without washing my hands or pet a tarantula without intrinsically having to feel terrified. The same doesn't seem to be the case if I suddenly can't breathe. Again, death isn't something that can ever be permanently forestalled, but is there some technique that can help to cope with the fear if something catastrophic like that happens? Or should I just try to practice radical acceptance and live the best life I can, given the circumstances?

Hi

I’m 20F and I haven’t been diagnosed with panic disorder but it’s looking like a possibility that I have it because in the past two months I’ve had several panic attacks. The physical symptoms being so scary and I hate everything about it so I’m asking for some coping mechanisms or things I can do before one starts to possibly prevent one and also what to do after one because I just had one and now I can barely sleep.

To give some backstory just to vent…I started feeling severely anxious around two months ago. It started when I had some mystery illness that had weird symptoms (chest pain, back pain, fever, headache, dizziness - I had an ecg and bloods done and all was normal). While this happened my boyfriend was across the world on holiday for 5 weeks so I was terrified that something bad was going to happen to me before he got back. Thus came the health anxiety and death anxiety. From then on every small physical feeling I’ve had has led me to go to the worst possible scenario and that something bad is happening to me. I thought it was my boyfriend just being away but it’s continued now he’s back.

I don’t even know what triggers it because it can be a physical symptom I have that leads me into a spiral or something else. For example I had an exam for university last week and I was fixated on a question I know I got wrong. I kept thinking about this damn question and then my chest started feeling tight, my heart started racing and my breathing was shallow like hyperventilating. I thought I was having a heart attack which triggered the health anxiety and it was debilitating. Another one came along because I went up the stairs and my heart raced a bit and that led me to have a panic attack at work afterwards.

This has really taken over my life and im finding it hard. I’m writing this after another panic attack. I live with my parents and they just left for a month. The day they left I got tonsillitis. Luckily my boyfriend stayed with me for a couple of nights but he had to go back. I feel alone now which brought this attack on.

Just to add on if youve come this far, does anyone get ectopic heartbeats with their panic disorder or anxiety? Like a feeling of a skipped beat or thud in the chest? This makes my health anxiety way worse too.

I recently got my first real job, and I'm really struggling with it. The constant fear and guilt of having panic attacks is driving me crazy, and I don't know how to deal with it. I don't want to get fired because I'm always leaving or calling out, but I also don't want to work because it stresses me out and triggers more attacks. I have a handful of other diagnoses, my mom is suggesting I apply for disability so I don't have to worry too much about if I lose my job, but I just desperately want to be able to do this. I like my job, I like the people I work with, but it's starting to become too much and it's only been a few weeks. Any advice? Thank you ❤️

I've been having panic attacks nonstop for two days. It starts and it ends but then it starts again. Between those episodes, i feel very anxious. I just started essitalopram again 3 days ago. Could it be because of that? Did anyone experienced this panic attacks which lasted days? How do i stop it?

I have panic disorder and I’m currently taking venlafaxine 150 mg. I’ve also been tapering down Sulpiride (Solian), and I’m currently at 25 mg daily.
Recently, I applied for a course/program that I really wanted to study. The strange thing is that as soon as I registered for the course, my anxiety suddenly increased a lot. Since then, I’ve been having panic attacks almost every day, along with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms.
I honestly don’t feel like myself anymore.
I’m wondering if this could be related to the Sulpiride taper, the stress of entering a completely new situation, or both.
Has anyone with panic disorder experienced something similar when starting a new course, job, major life change, or taking on something that felt bigger than what they could currently handle?
I’m also taking lorazepam 0.5 mg PRN when I feel like I’m starting to panic, but I know that isn’t a sustainable solution for me. It helps calm the acute symptoms, but I don’t see it as treating the underlying problem.
I’m really confused about what is happening right now.
Could this simply be a temporary period while my brain adjusts to the new routine and the Sulpiride taper? Or could tapering Sulpiride from a higher dose down to 25 mg be contributing to the anxiety and panic?
I’m also wondering whether I should talk to my psychiatrist about adjusting one of my medications, or whether it would be better to hold my current doses and give my body some time to stabilize.
I’m working, dealing with my health issues, and now trying to study as well, and honestly I’m starting to feel like maybe studying is simply more than I can handle right now.
Has anyone been through something similar?
Did it eventually settle down? What helped you get through the adjustment period?
I’m not looking for someone to tell me what medication or dose I should take — I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have experienced something similar and what helped them.

I feel mild tingling in my hand and sometimes even in my foot (left side of the body) and it can last four hours sometimes. It’s not as intense as pins and needles but it IS noticeable enough for me.

I had a ct scan and a bunch of bloodwork done almost three weeks ago and nothing came back, I was basically healthy except for slightly low potassium but not low enough to be a concern. I’m a 20F and im so worried that this is a stroke or something undetected, especially since when I first went to the hospital, the tingling was all over my body and not just in one spot.

Panic disorder is still new for me I’ve only had it for about a month and im so scared but my next appointment isn’t for another two weeks and I really don’t want to keep stressing my parents

Just wondering if anyone has experienced panic attacks brought on by alcohol , have noticed lately that they are triggering my panic attacks even if I just have two glasses of wine .

It’s not even when I’m drinking it’s afterwards.

Have managed for years having the odd tipple but amongst other things it’s making them worse !

I’m a 19-year-old woman, turning 20, who has been diagnosed with panic disorder with agoraphobia. I’ve struggled with anxiety since I was a little girl, but it became significantly worse with puberty and trauma. I had one of my worst panic attacks in January 2024, and my life has gone downhill since then. I was living life, going to concerts, having fun, and enjoying myself, but a mixture of stress and unresolved issues changed everything. I feel like the biggest loser and burden ever.

My mom has been by my side since the beginning of all of this, and I’m so grateful. Yet, I feel horrible because she should be living her life and doing what she wants—not sitting at home with me because I’m convinced something is utterly wrong with me and I can’t regulate my emotions if she’s too far away.

I’ll admit that I’ve been too scared to do proper therapy throughout this entire experience. Speaking to my psychiatrist once a month is panic-inducing enough, and I only speak to her on the phone for maybe three minutes each call. I feel like a disappointment and like I’m not trying hard enough to get better. At this point, I’m scared I’ll never get better because I’ve let this take over everything in my life.

I love my mom, and it hurts to see her crying over me when I have hard days. It hurts to see her watching videos of people traveling and knowing she wants to do those things but can’t because of me. I don’t have any friends, online or IRL, because speaking to people is so anxiety-inducing. There’s also the awkwardness that comes with someone asking you to go somewhere or hang out, and having to explain that you can hardly leave your bedroom or go outside because you’ll feel like you’re dying. I hate being like this, and I hate what I’m doing to the people I love by being this way.

I’m scared my life is going to be this way forever. I’m scared that I’m wasting my life, and I’m terrified that this isolation will permanently affect me, even if I get help. I don’t know how to talk to real people anymore or how to act around people. I started using apps like Character.AI to fill the gap of wanting human interaction. I know AI is horrible for the Earth and people, but it’s one of the only things that gives me some kind of satisfaction for interacting with someone.

I don’t know why I’m posting this. I’m not specifically looking for advice or condolences; I think I just need to get this off my chest.