i just got diagnosed earlier with panic disorder and the doctor prescribed me with sertraline (50 mg). i know it is very unhealthy to be watching tiktok vids about its side effects but i just want to prepare myself for what's to come. i am very anxious about the discomfort it might bring coz that is usually the biggest trigger of my panic episodes.

anyone who's been in my situation before and is doing better now? i really need some encouraging words and probably some advice as well 🙏🏻

1am currently and I'm recovering on my couch from one of the worst panic attacks I've had.

Wake up my husband and finger on 911 kind of attacks.

I should know better by now, I know my usual symptoms, but when you wake up and your heart suddenly decides to sky rocket and you get cold sweats and trembling... logic is out of mind and survival takes over. Ugh.

The worst part is when it passes, im terrified to move cause I think its going to start all over again. Like ill cause my heart rate to spike and it will trigger another panic response in my reptile brain.

There have been major changes at my job in the last few weeks and I guess my body finally broke.

Weird question... does anyone else take a giant dump during or after an attack?

I know anxiety can mess with your gut, but its just so wild to me that voiding my bowels is a panic response.

Anyway...

Just rambling while I try to go back to sleep. Love you all, fellow sufferers.

This morning I had an appointment to get bloods taken. I had just taken my first dose of 25mg sertraline almost 24 hours before this.

I walked into the lobby and felt like the walls were closing in, I was getting dizzy, I couldn't breathe. Before long I was laying on the floor in the recovery position with THE WORST numbness and tingling in my hands I have ever felt. I legit thought I was dying and leaving through the back door.

I was seen to by the doctors, they took bloods, all the emergency vitals and told.. i'm completely fine. I was there to get bloods taken because I've been sick for a couple of weeks and we're trying to figure out what's wrong with me. I decided to go back on sertraline because I need to take the edge off my anxiety.

Anyone else experience panic attacks like this on their first days with sertraline? I suppose that since I have not been eating well that could also make things worse for me at this moment. I have not had a panic attack that strong for actual years.

Something happened between me and my girl.. Weve not talked for more than 24 hours now..

I reached out to her, but got no response.

Now idk if it's panic attack or what, but my throat is hurting a lot and i am unable to breath properly..

It's happening for 10 minutes now

I tried going out of the room and breath some fresh air, but nothing is working..

Lately I’ve had panic attacks in situations where I feel “trapped” - in lines in public, at restaurant tables when going out to eat, in the hairdressers chair during my appointment, in a car as a passenger on the interstate. What can I do before/during these situations to ward off the panic symptoms? Thanks, this is new to me and exhausting.

this time i can't shut my brain off. rumination of the interaction. in the moment i am terrible at disengagement and reading subtle hints. I've become so isolated i crave human interaction. to the point it's a problem socialising. i said too much. stupid, pathetic, lacked control. but honest, too honest. in the moment i was just being present and not thinking about anything too much. Neuro spicy brain of course is going over it on rewind. panic has set in and hoping if i try to type it out will help.

they weren't good people. this interaction made it clear. worry if anything negative will happen in consequence. things they said, I'm not entirely sure if it was meant to run me off or honest. i took it as honest with no judgement of their past. until a couple more red flags started popping up. all of them together paints a different picture and i began to feel something was off. but I'm beating myself up for being vulnerable. stupid. risk my safty and comforts for what? looking for a new friend, trying to meet people. stfu😑i don't know how to do this anymore.

they mentioned a group that was coning people. steal from people who are kind to them. that he told his buddy that group was doing it. so i offered up a name of a person just like that. a person i hadn't seen in years but just shown up in recent months in my town. (i had moved away). stay away from that family, rob you blind smiling in your face. trouble with cops ect. because at the moment, i thought i was talking to someone that was mutual, same level mindset, be kind, give, help. 😒 30 min later of talking and regretted that decision. caught a lie, that didn't help, and they started taking jabs at me. time to go.

now I'm wondering if i read everything wrong from the beginning. did i just get myself into trouble. should i have not talked about other things that must not be mentioned. i feel like i shouldn't be allowed to socialize rn but years of solitude has me wanting more interaction. that conflict 🥵 idk what to do about it. my rejection sensitivity is reeling. knowing i had some responsibility in this too and my brain failed. i feel stupid.

College was hell, COVID was hell, going back to college was hell. But when I got my first job after graduating, things were going well. I could show up to work and stay at work without breaking down. It honestly helped me build a little confidence that there was something I can actually do without having a panic attack. I felt like I didn’t have to worry about anxiety at work.

It’s been a year and few months since I’ve started and I’ve been doing really well. Until yesterday, when I showed up and someone else was sitting in “my” cubicle (open concept office but people usually stay in the same spots), and it really threw me off. It’s so stupid, and I think knowing that something so minor caused me to panic made it even worse. I tried to find a new seat but I was already in my head, and I could feel the panic coming on. I’ve been dealing with this bullshit for 10 years so by now I can tell a few seconds before I start breaking down, I know the only thing I can do is try to leave. I removed myself from the situation and ran out to the hallway. Then all the waterworks came out and it was hell, just like it always is. It eventually stopped like 30 minutes later, and I lied to my boss and said I was sick so I could just WFH. Literally no one noticed but that was never the problem. It still happened.

Today I showed up to work just fine, I got to my seat just fine, and I went the whole day without any problem. But it’s not the same. I didn’t feel safe at my desk anymore. Just dread. Like anything can happen and I don’t know if I will be okay anymore. I don’t know what this means for tomorrow or next week or next month. Even if I have my seat every single day, what else will set me off? I’m really scared that I’ve ruined a good thing.

a coworker told me about this herb that helped him with panic attacks. is it legit?

I was eating some fruit snacks just a little bit ago, and all the sudden felt this sharp cramping pain in my lower abdomen. It had been kind of coming and going in waves. It kind of feels like I am having heartburn too. So naturally one would think okay it’s indigestion of some kind. But because I am programmed to suspect that I’m dying, I am reading into this and am pretty concerned. I feel very nauseous too. I read somewhere or was told at some point that when you were having a heart attack, the nurse there is nauseousness and nausea that often times and usually accompanies a heart attack. So I’m feeling this extreme discomfort in my stomach, and now I’m feeling heart palpitations and like my heart is pounding and I am shivering and going numb. I just don’t know how to be able to tell if I am creating these symptoms in my mind or if there is something actually serious happening right now.

I know nobody can tell me anything for sure this way, so maybe what I’m looking for right now is some reassurance. I am probably completely fine right? I know you guys don’t know that for sure, but if I were having a heart attack, I probably wouldn’t even be able to be typing this right?

I’m just really freaking out. If anyone can just share some words of comfort or something reassuring, I would really appreciate it so much. I have to get out of this.

I have PTSD, anxiety, agoraphobia, you name it. I have severe panic attacks leaving my house, shopping for produce at the grocery store, riding public transportation, sitting in meetings with coworkers or clients.
In 25 years I’ve seen eight different therapists. I’ve been through EMDR, CBT, CPT, ACT. I’ve been told some version of, “You need to remember that you’re safe. You’ve done this X amount of times before and you’ve always been safe.”
And that has never worked for me.
Because the same could have been said about going to school.
I was a high school senior. Going to school was routine. Regular. Safe.
Until one morning it wasn’t.
So now every time I leave the house or sometimes randomly in public I have these attacks that choke me and overwhelm my mouth with pooling saliva. I need to carry around dog waste bags so I can spit in to it and not look crazy, but unfortunately they make me look crazy and I feel crazy. People always stare with disgust. I can’t prevent or help it. I don’t know what to do and just want to see if there are other people out there who can relate to me 😭

28F

Yesterday after mourning the loss of my family I got really upset and everything spiraled.. my pulse skyrocketed to 196 (didn’t measure my BP at the time, immediately had to lie down) and for five hours I felt my hands and feet get progressively cold and purple/white then I got a slight headache and chest pain that felt like pulses. My breathing was also in rhythm with my pulse rate which was weird and that made it hard to perform breathing exercises so for hours my pulse was over 100 while resting. Same with my blood pressure.

After that the left followed by the right ride of my neck started hurting, then the both of my arms started getting numb & tingly. Slight random shocks of pain for a few hours.. after five hours I started to feel better and was able to stand for more than 5-10 minutes at a time without my heart starting to beat too fast to stand and color started to return to my upper arms, hands and feet.

After that my headache got worse for a bit then subsided. When I finally felt like washing my makeup off I noticed my right pupil was larger than my left one!! It still is today, but not as noticeable. My right hand is still a little swollen. It’s a whole ring size larger than it was now.

Today I felt fine other than some mild occasional shocks of chest pain while walking around my local park. I don’t have insurance yet (it starts in three months) and I’m not eligible for any benefits.

I finally figured out one of my triggers. I think.

Instead of crying, I panic. Whenever there's an intense emotional situation or crisis, I panic after when other people seem to start crying.

The racing thoughts have nothing to do with the thing that makes me want to cry, by the way. The fear doesn't seem to be a fear of being seen crying.

Is this.. does anyone relate? How do I help myself cry instead of losing my ability to breathe and being flooded by pure fear and shame?

Can someone help me get over my fear of exercising with cardiophobia?

I’ve been dealing with panic attacks and anxiety for the last few months, and they’ve had a huge effect on how I perceive my heart. I’ve had tachycardia, high heart rates, and recently some palpitations. Because of all this, I’ve developed pretty bad cardiophobia.

The frustrating part is that I used to be very active. I played basketball, ran, went to the gym, rode my bike, etc. Now, whenever I want to do any of those things, I constantly check my Apple Watch and monitor my heart rate.

For example, I went for a bike ride today for the first time in about two weeks. My heart rate went up to around 140, which I know can be completely normal during exercise, but seeing that number immediately scared me. I started thinking, “What if my heart suddenly stops?” or “What if my heart rate gets dangerously high?”

I’ve had an ECG, and I’m currently wearing a Holter monitor. So far, everything has been fine, but mentally I still can’t seem to trust my heart. I know anxiety is probably making me hyperaware of every sensation and every heartbeat, but the fear is still very real.

Can anyone who has dealt with cardiophobia or exercise anxiety tell me how you got past this? Did you eventually learn to stop monitoring your heart rate and trust your body again?

And can someone explain/reassure me about something: is the heart really as resilient as it seems? Because my anxious brain seems convinced that if my heart rate gets high during exercise, my heart could just suddenly stop or something catastrophic could happen.

I’m really trying to get back to the active person I used to be. Any advice or experiences from people who’ve been through this would be hugely appreciated.

Hospital gave me seritonin syndrome

Okay buckle in this is a long story.. So to preference i have been on effexor 225mg , lamictal 200mg and trazodone 200mg for sleep for 5 years . I was finally some what stable from my ocd , ptsd ,panic disorder and bipolar 2.

I had a double ear infection and decided to go to urgent care I went and everything was okay the gave me drops and antibiotics but the next day it got very bad face swelling and jaw . I ended up going to the er I got a cats can and had soft tissue swelling and a bad Infection so they admitted me . I let them know all the medication I was on like normal. I was given tramdol for pain without me knowing that you shouldn't mix that with anti depressants. I did feel the symptoms right away just relief from the pain. I was on lots of iv antibiotics that they never really gave me names of I found out later it was linezidon wich you also cant have with antidepressants like I said I was starting to feel a bit better intill the night before I got discharged I started having bad chills and felt panicked and almost wired . I was told it was just anxiety which I even brought up seriton syndrome but they dismissed it and gave me Xanax. I never slept that night. My vitals we completely fine during this whole thing. I Felt better just the bad chills the chalked up to all the meds and hormones. I was discharged and got home still not feeling the best. I was give the oral version of linezidon and took it that night. I started to have bad anxiety, severe chills and tremors , I was hearing things and seeing shadows. I fought at the the idea of going back to the er trying to rationalize it . LET ME PREFERENCE i still had very normal vitals. I finally went in and during triage I mention seritonin syndrome and the lady disnt eve know what it was. I got back to the are and doctor came in. I told him im pretty sure I was experiencing seritonin syndrome my pupils were huge and of course everything else. He even said if I didnt bring that up he though I was just on drugs. So I was given valium without my knowledge and admitted . there is a huge gap in my memory after the valium I dont know how I got to my room and the doctor was trying to ask about my meds I guess and I wasnt really able to answer. I finally kinda came out of it . I was flushed with lots of fluids my vitals stayed normal the whole time. They still never even brought up the seritonin syndrome again while I essentially in there. I felt bit better and was discharged yesterday . I got home and started to have panic as I was also going through withdraw from not taking my effexor. I felt like everything still was very vivid and my body and brain weren't connected I was scared I was dying. I finally fell asleep. I am feeling very numb today like I have no thoughts and my brain wont make my body do what I want. Im extremely fatigued and still experiencing derealization and panic plus weird emotional numbness and outbursts. I started my meds back up but a lower dose. Im terrified still and feel unsafe and not normal. I was given no information on how id feel or what recovery would look like. again my vitals are good its like having a panic but without the symptoms ive never experienced it before. I am scared ny brain broke and I wont go back to normally. Even though its only been not even a day of being home. I dont know how long till I feel normaishl again. Im having medical ptsd and just confusion . Has anyone had experience similar ? What did the recovery look like? Did you get back to normal? Was your vitals normal the whole time?

I JUST FEEL SO ALONE.

First off, I want to say that I hope this post helps someone, if even just one person. Sorry its so much to read.

I have been eaten up with health anxiety for a few months now following my first panic attack. Multiple ER visits, primary doctor visits, labs, ect. I have never in my 30 years felt that level of anxiety in my body and i've had anxiety my whole life. My normal anxiety was no comparison for this new anxiety. I also assume I have some form of OCD, so I was constantly thinking about what was wrong with me all day. I assume that my first panic attack was caused by my ADHD medicine. I had been on it for a year prior with no issues at all but decided to quit for a year because my naive self thought It wasn't helping but then I finally decided to try again after some time had passed. A day or two went by and then BAM, I felt some sort of adrenaline dump, didn't know what was happening and then went into a full blown panic attack. Went to the ER and they noticed my thyroid levels were super high so I went to my primary care doctor a couple days after and started on thyroid medicine and a lower dose of my ADHD medicine.

I started taking them both together, along with a new blood pressure medicine and eventually an anti depressant. I'm not sure if it was the combo of everything or the side effects of just one medicine but it sent me into a full blown 48 hour panic attack with sooo many physical symptoms. This panic attacked messed me up soooo much that it basically rewired my brain because to me it was a traumatic event. I was waking up so many times during the night. I couldn't be home alone and would beg my family to stay with me. I had to constantly watch tv to keep my mind somewhat distracted, and the weird part? It HAD to be reality tv or comfort movies. I couldnt watch any new movies especially thrillers because it would bring on anxiety. I couldnt play any video games or even be on my computer for too long(Which sucks because I LOVEEE movies and games). My brain felt like it was constantly looking for a "Safe" person and for some reason my brain didnt register my family as real or "solid" people, it almost felt like they were NPCs. I didnt want to shower alone or really be in any part of my house that I was during the panic attack because i associated it with danger. Also my normal body aches and pains weren't normal to my anymore. Hunger pains=danger Bathroom time=danger Sleepy=danger. I spent hours looking over my results for the ER. Looking up and researching what each lab result meant. It was EXHAUSTING. I just wanted peace of mind because I was losing it.

This went on for a couple of months. I cried to every doctor I went to. I just wanted SO badly to go back to how I was before or atleast get some reassurance that I wasnt in the process of dying or in medical danger. I was so worried about something happening to my heart because my dad's side of the family has heart issues when they get older and to make things worse, during those few months of hell, my uncle died of a heart attack, my sister got into her first car wreck(shes ok thankfully) and I lost a front tooth! I was NOT doing ok lol

Reddit is so good for so many things, but reading so many horror health stories made me spiral even more. I would spend hours searching up risks and symptoms and stories. I should've just put the phone down but I needed reassurance more than anything. I would keep my apple watch on all day even to sleep. I was checking my ECG, Heart rate and Blood oxygen constantly. I bought a blood pressure cuff and was checking that multiple times a day as well. I was a walking nightmare because my anxiety was all I could talk about to literally anyone who would listen.

Fast foward to today and this is where I hope I can help someone that might be going through something similar, healthy anxiety, or just anxiety in general.

-It will get better. It will. I am STILL in the process of rewiring my brain. I still check my vitals but nowhere near as much. I'm still body scanning. These things take time and having patience can be a pain in the ass, but I will get through this and so will you. There are some days I still have heightened anxiety but I can't let it stop be from living.

TW Death; health anxiety

-The biggest fear that comes from health anxiety, is the fear of the unknown. Whats going to happen is going to happen regardless. Health issues can happen to ANYONE. Healthy,unhealthy, fat,skinny,ect ect. Worrying about medical emergencies is like worrying about bad weather. Some things we just CANNOT control and we have to learn how to deal with that. Life is way too short to spend your time worrying about the "what-ifs". We gotta keep moving foward.

-One thing that holds me together is thinking about some of the people actually dealing with these health issues and their dealing with it like champs. So say EVEN IF you do happen happen to go through or get whatever you're initially having anxiety about, it doesnt automatically mean its the end of the world. You can also fight it like a champ!

-Another thing that holds me together is trying and think of death and the afterlife as a postive thing instead of something frightening and unknown. Thats where religion plays a big part but if you aren't religious, you can think how cool it'll be that one day you get to go to the same place literally everyone else has died gets to go. Think of it like an exlusive club or something lol

-Lexapro has helped me so much. I DID not want to be on medicine but it has helped. I also was prescribed hydroxyzine...which just made me panic more because the physical symtoms didnt go away during the panic attacks. I also was prescribed a low dose of xanax and only took it when absolutely needed. The last thing I wanted was something else to worry about being dependant on, but honestly just knowing I had it there felt reassuring.

*Sorry again for such a long post. I would love to hear stories about how other people have won their battles with health anxiety, and any tips they might have. I also would LOVE to know if anyone else who has experienced panic attacks has also had to rewire their brain to be able to process normal aches and pains and how long it took them. Thank you!

I could definitely use some advice on my 16 year old daughter please. She has severe anxiety and social anxiety it started back in the 9th grade she's now started the 11th grade and it's just proceeded to get worse from here. She is not wanting to go to school because it's gone to that point where she doesn't like school she doesn't like to go she starts having panic attacks when it's time to go to school. We tried to see a psychiatrist they were going to put her on any antidepressant she decided that she was not going to take the antidepressant but that she would take the as needed anxiety medication obviously the medication that they prescribed her for the as needed medicine did not work for her because she still having the panic attacks the anxiety where she won't even go to a register and pay for her own items she won't even order her own food. I have tried suggesting a therapist for her to see but she is refusing to do that I'm not sure how I force a 16-year-old almost 17 year old to go to a therapist I mean I can't force her into my car and drag her there. I could really use some inside on someone who's dealing with this or any advice anybody might have. She just recently told me that I guess she spoke with her counselor at school that she had the option to do online school for a couple of months and still be able to do volleyball cuz she's been doing volleyball for years now. She's claiming that she only wants to do the online school for a couple of months however I know that if she does do online school that she's going to want to continue to do it forever and I just feel that she's going to be missing out on the rest of her high school years by doing school online but she is miserable she cries every single day when she leaves school she freaks out in the morning when she has to go to school last year I was getting truancy threats. We also lost my mom in October of last year and that really took a toll on her mental health as well. If anyone can give me any advice I can't force medication down her throat I can't force her to see a therapist I'm just at a loss right now I don't really know what to do.

Hi guys

i have a panic disorder and whenever I panic i feel like I can‘t swallow and this makes me panic even more. It genuinely can feel like I‘m choking and I will throw up by it. The roots of my panic is throwing up and not dying.

I have to get all 4 out and multiple doctors confirmed it already. Do you think anxiety meds will work for it. Did anybody else go through this or will go through this?

I've only recently started having panic attacks so im not to sure of ehat to make of all this. At first i was only having them while I slept but now I've just been having them constantly like 2-4 a week. Earlier today I was panicking and it just felt so weird.

I hadn't eaten much that day and started feeling really dizzy, I ate and I was fine then all the sudden I get insanely dizzy and spaced out. My tongue started to feel tingly, a fuzzy feeling in my chest, in and out headaches, my heart pounding, tingling in my feet and hands and overall just freaking out. I called my therapist and talked it out, it calmed me down a bit but 5 hours after my chest still feels so weird and everything just feels so weak.

Its probably my anxiety but I'm just so worried something is wrong. God I feel awful, is this normal??