meds stopped working

[anxietyhh]

I've been suffering from anxiety attacks since September.  Usually I try to deal with them on my own but about a week ago I started taking my lorazepam again.  It worked for the first 2 days but now it doesn't seem to work as good as it was.  Now I'm feeling shortness of breath and am constantly afraid something bad is going to happen to me.  Even when I take my meds I still feel this way and I still feel panicked. Does this sound like anxiety still or do you think maybe I have something wrong with me.  I was just in the ER a week ago and they did X-ray's on my chest and said things look fine.  Could there maybe be something wrong with my lungs or maybe a brain tumor or something im just scare of dying.  Someone please help me figure it out.

[anxiety860]

If something were wrong with your lungs a x-ray would have shown it.  That is how the doctors realized I had something wrong with my lungs, and after more testing found out I had sarcoidosis.  You're lungs are fine... Listen you have anxiety, you need to get help.  I completely agree with nursegirl, and once you get the help, and take the steps to get better you will enjoy life so much more.

[nursegirl6572]

When was the last time you saw your doctor about your anxiety?  Did your doctor tell you to start taking the Ativan again?  The problem with depending on Ativan to manage your anxiety is that one, it isn't enough and it doesn't make the long term changes in your thinking and reactions, and two, if you take it with any kind of regularity, you will build up a tolerance to the medication, which means you will need more and more to achieve the same level of effectiveness you initially experienced.

You say frequently that you try to handle anxiety on your own, but to be honest, you've not managed to do that, at all.  At some point you're going to have to accept that you need help with this, and more help than just being prescribed an anti-anxiety medication, which will only give you very short lived relief.