Extreme, Sudden Anxiety(?) Attack

[Mrhankymk]

It's 3:00 in the morning and I have not been able to have a good nights sleep for days now. I think I'm just having a really bad anxiety attack but I'm not completely sure what's going on or what to do so I guess I should explain everything...
Around 2-3 weeks ago I stopped abusing Marijuana and DXM. I'd been having slight sleep problems ever since and some small anxiety problems but nothing too serious. I've been dealing with this sort of thing my entire life so I'm fairly good at coping with it but I've had a few social things going on and really screwed my life up. My friends ditched out on my ever since I stopped doing drugs and I've had women problems. Now I'm awake 24/7 and have had some thoughts of killing myself.. The pain of always having the think of negative things and never being able to rest is just killing me. I know if I smoked a little I'd be able to sleep but I just really don't want to go back to that. Some other things I forgot to mention.. My families had a long history of drug abuse and depression, I've been having really bad memory problems, lost a few pounds over a few days, having really bad hot flashes all day, and I'm flat out tired and just want to sleep.. Now..
This is just anxiety right? It will go away right? What can I do just to get some rest? I've taken sleeping pills but I always just wake up later and am drained the next day because I'm still extremely tired all day.
Please.. What should I do?

[Jade59]

Trust me when I say I know exactly how you feel.  I went back and reread your post and I am almost positive you are still withdrawing from the pot and DXM.  I know nothing about the cough syrup, but the pot, for sure.  I stopped smoking cigs back then at the same time and just reread my own post on the Smoking forum and I STILL wasn't sleeping after 2mos, but please, there is HOPE.  I am normally an insomniac, however, I can't remember the last YEAR I was sleeping as well as I am now.  Just don't give in, no matter what.  

Seeing a therapist is a very good idea.  And they can prescribe something for the anxiety that manifests itself so severely after quitting drugs.  I bet you started doing drugs to control the anxiety in the first place?  Me too.  But as you know now, the drugs only make a bad situation worse.  I would imagine you have had chronic anxiety your whole life, in which case, you would NOT want a short acting benzo like Xanax or Ativan.  These will make your situation worse as well.  Instead, ask for the longer acting ones like Klonopin or Valium.  Klonopin would be best.  

And remember to be open and honest with the therapist.  Tell them EVERYTHING!  Keep in mind that this is their JOB and they won't be able to assess you correctly if you leave out details that may embarrass you.  Rest assured, they have heard it all before.  

Make an appt with a therapist tomorrow so you can stop suffering and start to get your life back.  

Btw....have you checked out the Addiction Forum?  Not Addiction Social, but the other one.  That community of people there are wonderful and supportive also.  Of course, if you want to be here, then we are all here for you too.  

Ok?

Stay strong!!!

[Mrhankymk]

Thanks,
I've decided to go see a therapist then see what the therapist thinks about going on some meds for the anxiety. Hopefully I can stand being sober if I don't get any meds because this is horrible.

[Jade59]

Hi there......I quit smoking pot last July and I only WISH it took 3wks for the anxiety and insomnia to even out.  You've probably been smoking for a long time?  Not only does pot make the anxiety worse, when you stop you can count on several months before sleep comes easy.  There is a reason why we smoke pot.  To escape.  I would like to encourage you to see a therapist to get to the bottom of why you were smoking in the first place.  

And, if you've already been off the DXM for three weeks, starting even a small dose could put you back right where you started.  Please try to tough it out.  I know it's miserable, but you've come so far already.

Hang in there...

[Mrhankymk]

Thanks for replying :D.
I ended up getting to bed somewhere around 6 am and slept for around 4 hours. I feel somewhat better but am still completely exhausted. My attacks have finally stopped but this is how it was the day before.. It seems the more tired I am the harder the attacks hit. I'm almost thinking I should take EXTREMELY small amounts of DXM (so small I will not be able to get high off of it but about the recommended dosage for a normal cough) to sort of get rid of the withdrawal symptoms. Is this a bad idea?
I'll join right when I'm done with this comment. :P Thanks for all the forum advice.
You both have really explained the problem quite well but who should I go see? Doctor, therapist, etc?
It's been 3 weeks.. I'd think withdrawal is over. I'm so confused./

[moonflower13]

I would think that if you've had a history of drug abuse, quitting all of a sudden is going to be a kind of earthquake to your body and mind. Your body and mind are used to functioning on marijuana and DXM and, although I'm by no means an expert, it seems reasonable to me to think that insomnia, negative thinking and even suicidal thoughts (if they get so serious that you WANT to do it, call someone immediately! an emergency number or someone you trust) will be a part of the abstinence syndrome that you're going to experiment. All I've ever had as far as drugs go are prescribed antidepressives, and even with those you get severe withdrawal symptoms that may include some of your symptoms.

It seems quite reasonable also that if you've had anxiety problems all your life, maybe those drugs helped you to feel it less intensely, and now you don't have them so anxiety is striking you hard. As to having been ditched by "friends" -I think you must know deep inside that if they ditched you because you quit drugs, they aren't your friends, quite the opposite! You're better off without them, and think of it this way, now you have a chance to meet new friends, people who will genuinely care about you -the real you, not the drug addicted you.

To sum it up, although only a proper doctor can give a diagnose, it sounds like you're having anxiety problems, enhanced by your withdrawal syndrome. Why don't you go to see a doctor, or a therapist, or maybe there's a social service in your community or where you live that is specialized in counseling people who are dealing with drug withdrawal. I'm quite sure that there are many people out there who can help you and advise you as to what to do, or prescribe something that will help you cope at first. It will get better, be sure of that.

God bless!

[JSGeare]

You STOPPED abusing -so does this mean you are now just "using."

Before we go any further, why not actually JOIN us? Sounds to me like you're going to be here for awahile, and your experience will be valuable to us. Instructions appear below.

Meanwhile, let's get a grip on anxietry/panic.

These things are not like the common cold or flu: they don't come to us as "outsiders," and therefore they should not be expected to just sort of "go away" once we're over it. No, these things come from INSIDE us an represent the inevitable conflict that results whenever our emotional and psychological coping mechanisms don't work any more.

Drugs (the prescribed kind, ahem) may help with symptoms, but it takes therapy to dig in and figure out where the "leaky pipes" are. Some of this you can do yourself -and you will get good ideas here on the forum- but a therapist is an excellent option.

OK, so JOIN us: just click the Join Link -enter some profile information about yourself -even a picture if you care to- and anything you think would help us get to know you faster and better, and you can change this material whenever you like. You will also be accessible to receive private messages when other members click the name you've given yourself -sort of a "push to talk" feature. After you've done that, spend some time just using various features of the forum. For example, to see all the posts or responses that someone has made, just click their handle, go to their profile, click Posts, and read to your heart's content. You may also enter search terms -including member names- in the search box at the upper right of your screen and the system will retrun everything matching the term(s) you entered. This INCLUDES a drug database that will give you both user posts about drugs as well as the medical information about the drug. A great way to get quick answers about therapeutic effect, side effects, interactions, etc.

One of the profile categories is your mood, which you may change anytime you like.

Along the right side of your screen is a section of Recent Activity, which not only alerts you to new posts, but new ANYTHING, including journal entries and mood. This is a way to telegraph the community at large without actually creating a separate post. Thus, if you see a friend's mood has changed while you are working on a response or post, it can alert you to send them a private message to learn more or simply let them know you're thinking of them. Likewise, if you are going to be "out," you could enter something like "off line for the night" as your mood, and people would know you're away from the forum for awhile.

If you do this kind of exploring and experimenting right away, you'll be up-to-speed quickly. If you see the message you are reading now as part of a direct response I (or anyone) has made to one of your posts, it was probably copied and pasted from this journal. I hate form letters and auto-responses as much as anyone -but I also hate forgetting to tell people what they need to know, so this is my safety-net. Consider it as part of your "Welcome" kit. So -please join and try things out.

You might also want to read my entries for the "Right Click Trick" and "When in Haste, Use Copy 'n Paste" for some other convenient time-savers.

We're glad you are here!