My attacks

welcome to our community and thanks for sharing.

If you don’t take any meds and “just deal with it on my own” can you share how? Maybe others will benefit from it.

Thanks,

roy

I never took meds the entire 17 years I suffered either. I'm living proof that you CAN overcome panic without medication (5 years and counting--free from panic)

First of all, I want to say that I don't begrudge people for taking meds. The only reason I didn't take meds was bacause I had a phobia of meds too!

But on hindsight, I'm thankful I never took meds. No side effects, no costs, no hassles.

Also, my journey of healing resulted in me coming to realize WHY and HOW my body responded to panic/stress, etc.

The best advice I can give about overcoming panic is learning WHY your body is acting the way it does. The racing heart, sweaty palms, choking sensation, dizziness, is a result of your body gearing itself up for a possible danger.

For example:

If a gunman busted through your door RIGHT NOW and held a gun to you... What would YOU be feeling right now? Normally you would be feeling a racing heart, sweatiness, shakiness, shallow breathing, etc...

Well, when you are having a panic attack, you are feeling the SAME THING... because your body THINKS you are in danger.

YOU think you are in danger. For example:

Riding an elevator

Riding an airplane

Public speaking...

If you had experienced a panic attack and you find yourself avoiding places, it's not the place that causes your panic (Stores, driving, movie theatres, crowds, etc.)

It's you remembering that LAST panic attack and you are AVOIDING the place where it happened because you ASSOCIATE the place where you had a panic attack as being the culprit. Bad memories. You want to avoid the unpleasantness. This is where we start avoiding places.

Also, many of us experience ANTICAPATORY ANXIETY, where we FEAR having a panic attack, so this obsesses our daily life. This is what causes agoraphobia. You never want to leave your home because you are worried you'll have another panic attack.

Once you realize that your body's reactions are HARMLESS, you can actually calmly endure a racing heart, sweatiness, breathlessness, and realize that your body had a false signal and YOU ARE OKAY. People do not die from panic!! This knowledge will beat your panic.

I go more into this in my blog: http://panicrecovery.blogspot.com/

I hope you the very best in your recovery. You CAN find recovery!!

God bless!

Helen

Once I actually did that. Went off all my medications, ALL of them. I thought my dr was going to have a coronary! LOL

Maybe you can gradualy come off all meds? Maybe start with one prescription and cut it in half, or a fourth. Of course, be easy on yourself. And the fact that you are on meds, needs to give your body adjustment time...

Panic attacks are hard on us all emotionally and quite frankly, I don't begrudge anyone for ANYTHING they do to deal with it. But eventually, we all want to recover, without dependency on meds or anything.

Hang in there. There is hope and recovery is in the horizon!!

When I was in the research team, we had two groups (meds, and non meds)... the meds group was trained the same way I was (to face my fears) and to gradually come off meds. Ultimately, you want to be free from meds - the way God created us.

Hugs!

Helen

With all due respect, some of the meds people take for panic can not just be cut in half or in 1/4. It can be very detrimental to come off of some of these meds too quickly for someone who's been taking them for a long period of time. I've heard a recommendation of them being shaved in some instances, because of their potentcey. I, myself, am not on meds for my panic, but I just wanted to mention this for those who ARE on meds. It could be very tramatic if they would only take 1/2 when they're used to taking a whole pill. Some meds aren't as bad as others, but I'd say check with your doctor before weening yourself off or at least research it on the web so you know what to expect.

Sandy

The goal is not to be medicated for the rest of your life.

Some people choose to use medication WHILE they are learning/educating themselves about panic - EXPOSURE THERAPY.

After they begin to understand what panic is and WHY their bodies react the way it does, then they can start to come down on the meds.

Again, I do not advocate "cold turkey" on meds. Do things gradually and be easy on yourself. You are going through a difficult time, but you can overcome. I've been in research groups where we had both groups (on meds and off) that totally beat this!

Blessings!

Helen

http://panicrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/05/safezone.html

Blessings!

Helen