What is going on??

[kat7dd]

I have been diagnosed with panic disorder and have frequent panic attacks.  However, sometimes they are different than the way most panic attacks have been described.  Sometimes after being very stressed or even for no reason I will all of a sudden get this intense feeling of anxiety.  Usually the feeling starts in my legs and stomach as an anxious feeling and then travels to my entire body within a matter of a few minutes or just a few seconds.  I have difficulty breathing and usually end up on the floor.  I scream and cry in pain.  Often times my body feels like it has so much anxiety and pain in it all over and I kick and convulse.  I am incredibly hot and usually sweat profusely. Usually convulsing, screaming, crying, difficulty breathing, etc lasts for any where between 10-30 minutes.  After that period my body is so exhausted that i am unable to really move.  I also am completely unable to communicate in any way possible no matter how hard i try.  It takes about 40 minutes until i am even able to speak again.
This is the worst feeling in the world i feel like, and would rather do anything else than have one of these episodes.  I am not sure what is going on, except that i hate it. can anybody help?

[Jaquta]

Many people with anxiety issues, especially early on in the illness, will transfer and experience emotional stress as physical stress.  It is sometimes referred to as psychosomatic or somatization.

I'm wondering if maybe you're dissociating during some of these episodes.  Depersonalization is another symptom that comes to mind.

Sometimes anxiety is related back to early childhood experiences (object relations, etc) and the material is preverbal.  That means it is hard to put thoughts and feelings, etc into words.

I would suggest discussing this with a psychiatrist and would also strongly encourage you to access psychotherapy.  Therapy is what will make the biggest difference long-term.

[ct3LG]

I know exactly how you feel because for almost two years I had many of the exact same symptoms. I rarely left the comfort zone of my home because I was afraid to go to a public place for fear of having a panic attack in front of everyone. My fear intensified when or if I ran into someone I knew.  I would be so affraid of having a panic attack and, in my head, looking foolish to everyone that it would actually trigger an attack. During my attacks my anxiety level would sky rocket. My head, face and chest would feel like they were in a sauna, they would get so hot, which in turn caused me to sweat badly.  This would last for 5 to 20 minutes and once it stopped I would almost always be soaking wet with sweat which in turn then caused me to become cold. I would be so embarrassed and my anxiety level so high that not only did I want to run out of the store, or any public place, but I would feel light headed like I was about to pass out.   There were also several times when for no reason at all that I could remember I would become claustrophobic and with this the most horrible feeling of not being able to breath. No matter what I would do, like go into a larger room or go outside into a wide open space, I would be unable to get rid of that terrifying feeling that I thought I was going to die because I thought I could not breath.
At that time in my life I was on several pain meds like oxy, fentanyl etc...Along with several other meds for severe back pain and MS. After a lot of trial and error with different tests and medications this is what I found that actually works extremely well for me.  First of all, check your hormone levels because these medications can cause them to fall almost to zero.  And don't let your doctor talk you out of this test because I know two more people who are on stronger medications and both of them had hormone levels just above zero like myself. If your hormone levels are low this will give you the same effect as a woman going through menapause. Hot flashes and sweats, etc... Then I went to one pain med only, which is the fentanyl patches, instead of jumping around from one to another.  Then I was prescribed Effexor XR for the anxiety and panic attacks. I ended up needing 225mg per day but you will need to start out as your doctor tells you to. Finally I was prescribed Lyrica 150mg, mainly to help control some of the MS symptoms, and this also helped control my panic attacks.
I suggest you check your testosterone/estrogen levels and make sure they are in the middle of the normal range and not at the bottom. Get your pain meds under control and try and take them at the same time each day. That's why the fentanyl patches work so well for me. Then I would recommend trying the Efferor XR which worked the best for all of my symptoms. Then if all of these things used together don't quite fix your problem completely you may want to add the Lyrica to the batch and see if that doesn't take care of it for you. This combination of medications has really turned my life around as far as my panic attacks and anxiety problems go. I hope if you have not solved your problem yet that maybe some of these medications will help you also.

Good Luck & Take Care of Yourself  

[Anifacted]

Oh I can see that the site url has been blocked out. That's understandable. Of course it might be considered to some as advertisement. Search Google for "thelindenmethod" and it's the first hit that will come up.

[Anifacted]

I am sorry to hear about this. First off, although you maybe feel different from what you have otherwise heard about this condition when you have these attacks, know that every person experience anxiety differently. And being obsessed with the fact that your case is different or in any way more harmful than the one of most others, is just another symptom of your condition. (in fact, anxiety is not physically harmful at all, no matter how intense)
I am not saying this to minimize the seriousness of what you experience. - But rather to calm you down and try to explain, that everything is most likely quite normal with you. Your attacks definitely don't sound like peanuts and you should of course take care of them. So, to answer your question about if anybody can help: yes. You can! :-) I myself have been lived though very severe periods with anxiety and panic attacks and here's what brought me back to normal:
http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxx.com/

This guy knows what he is talking about and I can almost promise you that his program can help you out of your misery. Or in any case reduce your 'illness' dramatically.

This is serious. You can help your self out of this without drugs. Please give this a shot. If you don't feel quite sure about it, them spend some time on the site to read it through, and you'll get a really good idea of what it's all about.

Good luck to you