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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
posssible panic disorder, but need to confirm
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
posssible panic disorder, but need to confirm
by tuzik2001, Jul 26, 2003 12:00AM
I had two panic attacks, once when I was 18 and once when I was 22 (I am currently twenty five)- both times when I smoked pot. Outside of these two panic attacks, I never had other major mental problems, except for maybe a minor depression. When I was 23, my physician advised me to start taking paxil to improve my mood. For the next year, I took 20mg per day, but after noticing sexual side effects I drooped to 10 mg per day about a year ago.
Everything was fine untill untill this spring. Early in the yar, i occasionally began feeling a little bit drugged/"high" and lightheaded - for no apparent reason. The, all of a sudden one day in May, these feelings increased exponentially. I began feeling REALLY drugged, out of touch with reality and fearful of losing my mind. I have never been the same ever since that day. Basically, the feelings I have described are present for most of the day. Sometimes I am much better, sometimes I am much worse, - but at no point in the day do I actually feel completely normal. Thus, it is not quite your regular panic attack, which last 30 minutes and then gets better. Around end of May, I also attempted to get of Paxil, possibly fearing that these deprovements in my mental health had something to do with my mind becoming excessively addicting to that medication and now craving more than 10 mg. However, given my already present mental problems, I have only been able to come down to 7 mg per day, since every time i tried to lower the dosage i felt even worse and more fearful for the next few weeks. I have seen three doctors about these. The two of them told me that I am suffering from depression and I should simply increase the paxil dosage. However, that did not make sense to me, given that i do not feel depressed, as much as drugged and fearful of going insane. When the latter feelings occasionaly subside - i do not feel depressed. The third doctor told me I have a panic disorder, which got triggered by me having panic attacks many years ago. He also said that I can no longer go back to the normal way i was before this spring, but some treatment (that does not involve any medications) can make me cope better with the feelings i have already described. He also told me that my whole problem has very little to do with paxil and i should gradually further taper off the dosage. However, I am not sure why my "disorder" would only come about many years later after the panic attacks, seemmingly out of nowhere. Also, panic attacks are supposed to be brief - not lasting all day long. Thus, as we speak right now I am very scared about what is going on with me and would like someone to confirm one of the theories mentioned above so at least I would know how to proceed.
Thank You
Everything was fine untill untill this spring. Early in the yar, i occasionally began feeling a little bit drugged/"high" and lightheaded - for no apparent reason. The, all of a sudden one day in May, these feelings increased exponentially. I began feeling REALLY drugged, out of touch with reality and fearful of losing my mind. I have never been the same ever since that day. Basically, the feelings I have described are present for most of the day. Sometimes I am much better, sometimes I am much worse, - but at no point in the day do I actually feel completely normal. Thus, it is not quite your regular panic attack, which last 30 minutes and then gets better. Around end of May, I also attempted to get of Paxil, possibly fearing that these deprovements in my mental health had something to do with my mind becoming excessively addicting to that medication and now craving more than 10 mg. However, given my already present mental problems, I have only been able to come down to 7 mg per day, since every time i tried to lower the dosage i felt even worse and more fearful for the next few weeks. I have seen three doctors about these. The two of them told me that I am suffering from depression and I should simply increase the paxil dosage. However, that did not make sense to me, given that i do not feel depressed, as much as drugged and fearful of going insane. When the latter feelings occasionaly subside - i do not feel depressed. The third doctor told me I have a panic disorder, which got triggered by me having panic attacks many years ago. He also said that I can no longer go back to the normal way i was before this spring, but some treatment (that does not involve any medications) can make me cope better with the feelings i have already described. He also told me that my whole problem has very little to do with paxil and i should gradually further taper off the dosage. However, I am not sure why my "disorder" would only come about many years later after the panic attacks, seemmingly out of nowhere. Also, panic attacks are supposed to be brief - not lasting all day long. Thus, as we speak right now I am very scared about what is going on with me and would like someone to confirm one of the theories mentioned above so at least I would know how to proceed.
Thank You
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Aug 06, 2003 12:00AM
, Aug 06, 2003 12:00AM
Its not proper to make a diagnosis without further contact, but if I were you I would think of what you described as more of a generalized anxiety reaction, than either panic or depression. As such, you should ask your doctor about klonopin or Buspar if you want medications, or seek a counselor to help you deal with the issues underlying your anxiety. You can start that process online at www.masteringstress.com. There you can explore what is troubling you, and get professional help only if you can't do it yourself with the tools that are available there.
Good luck!
Thanks
Anyway, family doctors are great for certain things and can prescribe medications for minor conditions, but when it comes to something like this I think it is important to seek therapy.
What your one doctor said is true -- you cannot go back to the "normal" you were before this came on (that "normal" was probably part of the reason it is happening), but you can have a NEW normal, a better way of living and thinking. Your body is trying to tell you something...you just have to find out what it is.
Take care,
Ken
I have been off of Effexor for a month and am still having withdrawal effects. Brain zaps, diziness, headache and flulike symptoms. My panic attacks and anxiety have reached a boiling point and I consider them pretty severe at this point. I dont know if this is related to coming off the drug. I can remember having anxiety and panic like feelings while on the Effexor but not nearly as often and severe. I feel like I cant do anything and enjoy life due to this.
I am not sure what the original intent of my post was (effexor withdrawal.....yeah =[ ) other than to let you know that you are def. not alone. You and I are going through the exact same thing it sounds like.
if you wanna contact me here is my email address
***@****
thanks lots, hope you all get better soon
The panic attacks will continue to happen unexpectedly until you get to the root of your anxiety/panic. Like you, if I made it a week without any attacks I would start to think that this "illness" had left and I was fine. But it doesn't just go away, you need to tackle it.
On a side note, one thing I was told is that smoking pot gives us access to things in our mind that we don't normally allow ourselves to have access to. I too started getting high anxiety after smoking weed. What it means is that the anxiety was always there, even when I wasn't high, but I was suppressing it. Eventually it made itself known with a full blown panic attack.