I've always been an anxious person and never took medication for it, but a year and a half ago I had a full blown panic attack and it was horrible! It lasted for two weeks. I couldn't leave my house, I cried every minute of every day. I wore the carpet out from pacing the house. It started with pain in my right rib cage which I knew in my mind was not a heart attack, but apparently my body didn't understand. Next thing you know I'm in the ER with skyrocketing blood pressure and heart rate on a heart monitor.
My panick attack lasted two horrible weeks. I went to my regular doctor who belittled my symptoms and treated me like the loon I already thought I was. I am hypersensitive to medications and everything was giving me stomach upset. I finally found a wonderful nurse practitioner who completely understood what I was going through, said her daughter had panic attacks, and she prescribed me Effexor. I am now titrated up to 150 mg a day and it is wonderful. I feel calm. My teenaged son calls it my "chill pill" and that about sums it up.
Wow, I'm not sure why I felt like sharing my whole story, but I guess it just feels good to talk about it with other people who've had similar experiences. No one can every really understand a panic attack unless they've been through one themselves. |
I agree 100% about Effexor. I take it for anxiety and panic attacks. SM - QALady
