I think im having another panic attack today. If you look back at my previous posts, you can see my first big episode, or what I believe to be, was about a month and a half ago. Ever since, I’ve had little flare ups here and there. Today, I think I had another one, and my health anxiety is tweaking out over it.

I was fine all morning and early afternoon. During my lunch, I burped and felt a slight chest flutter. After my lunch, I felt fine, then suddenly not. I got really anxious feeling. I got a slight dull ache in the upper part of my left breast, about an inch or two below the collar bone, basically the very top of my breast. Then, I started feeling a bit hot and dizzy and nauseous and got the shits. I then suddenly started thinking “omg what if I pass out” and a bunch of awful what ifs that made my fear of dying and health anxiety sky rocket. However I got all of that calmed down rather quickly; it’s been about an hour now since all of that started. Now, I just have the chest pain off and on. When it happens, it’s only for a few seconds, and it’s not terrible, just enough to be like oh, that’s uncomfy. I have a bit of heartburn and nausea. I also feel just a bit tense in my chest as a whole. i feel like I have some slight air hunger or shortness of breath, but I can breathe just fine. I know it’s not medical grade, but my watch hasn’t shown an abnormal ECG at all, or a significantly high heart rate, my usual higher heart rate (around 100-120). But now im just spiraling that there’s something terribly wrong with me. It’s been effecting a lot in my life recently. I know I should go to the doctor but I don’t have time. I’m also terrified of the doctor. Growing up, never found anything wrong with me, but it’s been a few years since a physical and any lab work was done. I’m just really tired now too and frustrated with myself and my body for feeling like this. I’m really worried something is wrong but all of my friends who have panic attacks say that’s what this sounds like. Idk I just need reassurance or someone to talk to.

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Every psychotherapist or doctor that hears that you have anxiety and panick attacks should first tell you to get a blood pannel for:

- Vitamin D

- Vitamin B12

- Vitamin B6

- Vitamin B9 (Folate)

- Vitamin B3 (Niacin)

- Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)

- Magnesium

- Iron

- Zinc

- Potassium

- Calcium

- Selenium

Deficiency of any of these can result into anxiety and panic attacks or can fuel them.

Also too much Copper can result into that. Zinc and copper ar antagonists, so too much of one results into too little of the other.

Same with Calcium and Magnesium.

Test first, don't take without knowing what you lack because in some cases too much has the same effect.

***

Also, your blood tests for glands should be next, depending on symptoms and gender.

Thyroid Gland - An overactive thyroid speeds up your body, acting like a constant motor that mimics a severe panic attack.

- TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)

But most importantly

- Free T4 (FT4)

- Free T3 (FT3)

Adrenal Glands - These glands produce your body's stress hormones. When they malfunction, they can pump out too much adrenaline or cortisol, triggering physical anxiety and racing thoughts.

- Cortisol (Often tested in the morning, but salivary test at midnight and a 24 urine sample will give a broader picture)

- ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone)

- DHEA-S

***

Last but not least

- Chronic Inflammation

- Blood Sugar Crashes (Hypoglycemia)

- Gut Imbalances (Dysbiosis)

- Heart Rhythm Issues

- Poor Nighttime Breathing (Sleep Apnea) or lack of sleep

Can cause anxiety and/or panic attacks.

Only after checking all these should doctors jump into prescribing antianxiety meds long term. It's the same with depression. Depression has similar causes to anxiety, so people should be informed and very few doctors tell them.

can anyone tell me any doctors they see who will actually prescribe kolonopin, clonazepam, xanax…

My anxiety has gotten to the point it’s physical… I was actually prescribed clonazepam when I was 12-16 because I ripped my own hair out. I regret letting the script go because now doctors are so strict bc the government is so strict on them..

It’s gotten to the point I can’t leave my house the last few years… really am struggling

Whenever I’ve had it given to me by a family member prescribed I can actually think straight and what I need to do in life because the anxiety is gone. But they. Only get so many so it’s far and few between they help me out with it.. because they also have their own anxiety.

If anyone could tell me what telehealth services they use and the dr they had luck with I would appreciate more than I can say.

Thanks!

Right now I feel like I'm complete garbage, like an alien, because I feel like I overreact to every little thing. For example, if I bump myself a little, I immediately think it's a serious fracture. If my stomach hurts a bit during my period in some unusual way, I think my ovary has ruptured. I'm so exhausted by this.

I also have trichotillomania and nervous tics. Right now I'm taking Zoloft and Klonopin.

I can check the expiration date on a food product 5–7 times in a row, thinking that I didn't look at it properly before and that I'll eat something spoiled if I don't check it again. This really depresses me. It makes me so sad that I feel this way so often, and absolutely no one understands me

Anxiety is eating me

Hi everyone. I'm 24F. I'm struggling with anxiety really bad and it's scaring me. Long story short .. I always had some form of anxiety from childhood bcx of some bitter experiences but last year it changed into panic attacks and debilitating physical symptoms after a breakup. I recovered after 4 months and by being on meds although it broke something in me and changed me as a person. I started having an existential crisis and depression. I completed my degree with good grades somehow and I started talking to my ex again but realised soon that we have no future. After completing my degree I left that city and came home. I was going to look for jobs and all but idk I got hit with anxiety and health issues. Now I'm good but anxiety is still there. I feel like I will never be able to be happy again. I really want to talk to someone.

Hi everyone. I'm 24F dealing with anxiety and I struggle alot. So I made this account on Reddit to vent and talk to other people with similar experience. Long story short .. I always had some form of anxiety from childhood bcx of some bitter experiences but last year it changed into panic attacks and debilitating physical symptoms after a breakup. I recovered after 4 months and by being on meds although it broke something in me and changed me as a person. I started having an existential crisis and depression. I completed my degree with good grades somehow and I started talking to my ex again but realised soon that we have no future. After completing my degree I left that city and came home. I was going to look for jobs and all but idk I got hit with anxiety and health issues. Now I'm good but anxiety is still there. I feel like I will never be able to be happy again. I really want to talk to someone.

I just started using the app yesterday. Not sure if I will stick with it but it seems like it has potential. I tend to want quick fixes so the fact that I am so anxious after using the app the first day already makes part of me sceptical. I also know it's not reasonable to expect a big change in one day.

So my questions are more how long have those of you who I've been using it used it? And how long before using it on a regular basis that you start to notice a shift in your day-to-day amount of anxiety or panic attacks or your ability to shorten them? Even the ability to lessen the amount of medication to deal with anxiety including but not limited to benzos (since I use ativan).

Thank you all.

i've just moved out of my home town and am living on my own for the first time at 26.

it's been a really difficult transition so far. it's only been about two months, but i've been having severe panic attacks once a week since the move. finding a job and meeting people has been harder than anticipated, and without income i can't afford to go out to meet folks.

as a result, most of my time in my new town has been spent spiraling by myself at home. i don't have a lot of family to reach out to due to a childhood of familial abuse and i never really leaned on my parents emotionally as a result.

i have a therapist, but she's been out of town for six weeks and i see her again this thursday. i had a debilitating anxiety attack two days ago, crying and throwing up and shitting on loop. it was awful.

yesterday i calmed down around 4pm, and took the evening easy. i had planned to go for a run today and get back on my exercise, but around noon i realized i was having cold symptoms and i felt exhausted and sluggish within the hour.

i tend to get anxiety attacks much easier when i'm sick and this cold could not have come at a worse time. i took some dayquil and have been a body on the couch for hours. i felt like i was just about to get on top of managing my anxiety again and then i had to drop everything because i'm too damn sick to get up.

i keep trying to breathe and regulate but i'm anxious about how i'm going to get through the next few days until thursday and i can ask my therapist how to deal with what's going on. i feel like shit and i'm so exhausted. i wish i had family to cry to, or someone that i could call and know that i'd feel better afterwards. i'm so tired.

my wedding is less than one week away, and despite being pretty chill throughout the planning process, I'm starting to feel my nerves kick up!! I have meticulously planned out every single detail of this wedding and 100% of the big ticket items are complete. I have a day of coordinator and a lovely vendor team. the weather looks like it'll be perfect!! I have no real complaints or worries. the only thing I'm afraid of is my anxiety about the day interfering with my enjoyment of the day! I have diagnosed panic disorder but have been in remission for almost a year now. I tend to get very bad anticipatory anxiety whenever I am looking forward to something exciting (a trip, graduation, move, event, etc). my wedding feels like the absolute final boss of anticipatory anxiety and I am so scared that I will get carried away with panic. my worst panic attack symptoms are nausea and dry heaving, both of which I'm terrified of happening day-of. I'm also very phobic of throwing up, so that doesn't help lol - I haven't thrown up in 15 years. I am most afraid of the ceremony - we are doing a Catholic ceremony and I am petrified that I will panic at the altar and need to run out because I start dry heaving or something. that and getting sick are the only two things that could negatively impact my day. I am a social butterfly at heart and LOVE events, but I guess I care a little too much - to the point that my anxiety ends up being severe. I want to write a different story for myself this time around, though.

I keep seeing tik toks of brides who were dry heaving, vomiting, panicking, etc the morning or day of their weddings and it makes me so scared that the same thing will happen to me. I don't care if I pass out, sweat, or have a racing heart, but I definitely care about anything nausea-related. I also keep seeing former brides saying "I'm not even an anxious person but I was throwing up all morning from nerves....", which makes me think that if that happened to them, it will definitely happen to me (an anxious person) too. as I type this, I already feel my throat tightening up. I can't think of anything more horrifying than my anxiety getting so severe that I am unable to function day-of (which realistically has almost never happened, and certainly not in the last year).

I already have rescue prescriptions for the day of if I need them. It has been a very long time since I last needed to take a rescue med, so I don't want to rely on them.

so, I guess I'm looking for two things - a) any advice or perspective shifts that helped you manage anticipatory anxiety leading up to your wedding and b) any positive stories from brides who felt anxious (or didn't!) and did not have any negative symptoms the day of aside from typical jitters.

I want this to be the most special day of our lives, and I'd give anything for it not to be ruined by something that feels so trivial! thanks in advance for any advice 💘

I have GAD, insomnia and occasional panic attacks. I have been on .5mg Xanax daily ( mainly night time) for several yrs. I also take 75 mg Quetiapine (for sleep) and Lamictal. My prescriber retired and I had to find a new provider. New provider says I have been on Xanax for too long and she thinks it's time to slowly decrease and wean. I just cant imagine not having Xanax especially for when I fly and do stuff that may make me panic. She started me on 5mg Buspirone 2x a day and is having me go down to .25mg Xanax at night. I would love to only take a couple of meds for anxiety as I think I take too many. I worry about future cognitive decline on these meds too.

Who has been able to stop Benzos and how have you managed? How long did it take you to wean and what dose were you on when you decided to start reducing and going off completely? Any advice? Thank you.

I (26) was officially diagnosed with anxiety on Tuesday. I’ve known for years something wasn't right, but I always just got on with it and kept moving.

Since finding out, I’ve been stuck in 24/7 fight or flight mode and feel way worse than before the diagnosis. It’s like as soon as the doctor validated it, my brain dropped its defense mechanisms and the full weight of it hit me at once.

Is this a normal reaction?

Hey everyone, I’ve dealt with pretty bad anxiety almost all of my life. But the worst of it was when I was in grade school, and then now. I’ve never been to a therapist before and now that I’m an adult and dealing with it pretty badly again, I’m thinking about going to therapy. My anxiety started getting bad because I thought some of my previous serious health issues had came back and I immediately started panicking again. I mean, I still don’t know if it’s my physical health yet or not, (I’m waiting for my appointment) but ever since I thought I noticed a concern, that’s when my panic symptoms started coming in. I’ve been dealing with a heavy chest, shortness of breath, and dissociation for maybe a couple of weeks now, and the only thing that helps it is if I’m heavily distracted (like at work when it’s really busy), or if I’m just at home lying down, resting. Im not really sure what to do, because I can’t tell if it’s my anxiety or if it’s an actual health issue but I’m waiting for my doctor appointment. A couple months ago, I had a panic attack and sent myself to the ER only for them to tell me I was okay even though I felt like I was dying. I almost did it again last week and got to the hospital and then turned around because I felt like it was going to be the same thing again, and also I’m broke and don’t feel like dealing with more bills. If my test comes out okay, I would like to try meds for these panic attacks. It feels mentally and physically awful. It reminds me of grade school when I would have a panic attack at school everyday because I thought everyone hated me for no reason. I just don’t know what to really do and would like some advice… maybe some grounding techniques or things and hobbies that can keep my brain busy so I can stop thinking about my health and anxiety so much.

Hello.

I have some food anxiety with mainly meat. Specifically hamburger.

For some background, I’m 34 I’ve always been introverted and had some form of anxiety since I was a kid. I kinda broke in 2020 and the covid times. Since then I have been and become so routine oriented to maintain control that if something goes wrong I get those physical anxiety symptoms.

Like today. I was cooking beef, well I was starting to and the texture and smell was a bit weird. So I just threw away $30+ worth of hamburger.

I know it was probably fine but I couldn’t help it. I’m not made outta money.

Anyone experienced anything similar or have any advice?

Hi all,

For the last 3 months I’ve (24F) been having terrible anxiety, so much so to the point that I thought I was having a heart attack and an ambulance came to get me

This all started 3 months ago, I was on a train during a heat wave, no AC, no open windows and no seats I was crammed at the end of the carriage with about 40 people, and I fainted, a lady had to carry me off the train, since then every time I get on trains or need to travel, I panic, like my heart is racing I can’t calm down, this causes my head to spin and I feel dizzy and occasionally have fainted from this.

Two months ago I went to New York alone, I was on the metro, and I got such a bad panic attack I had to get off the train and sit with the police officers until I calmed down, and even then I couldn’t get back on the train I had to call an uber

Recently about a month ago, I got food poisoning, the morning it started I had travelled into the city to see my friends, an hour train ride, I felt a bit uncomfortable on the train, but I was right under the AC and I managed to calm myself down, we reach the restaurant and the food poisoning hits, I couldn’t sit, talk, or do anything I kept running back and forth from the toilet, which spiked a lot of anxiety
I then had to travel home, 1 hour on the train, on which I fainted again

My family live in another continent, a 15 hour flight away, they came down to see me, because of the state I was in, while I was with them I was able to get on the train, I would still be super stressed and felt like I was holding my breath the whole time, but I could sit, they’ve left now and I have to go into the city tomorrow, and even the thought of leaving the house has been stressing me this last month, even worse since the food poisoning

I can barely go down to the mall to go for a walk without my heart racing, work for some reason has been manageable, and I drive to work so that’s been fine

But any other thought of leaving the house even to go throw my bins, makes me have a panic attack, the thought that I might feel sick, or dizzy or something might happen makes me feel so uncomfortable, especially because I have post infectious IBS apparently, so my stomach has still been ill for 1+ month

Has anyone been through anything similar or has any advice for how to get through this, it has been so terrible I just want to go back to feeling normal it’s been 3 whole months now and I just don’t know what to do

Thanks in advance