How to get help with severe panic disorder?

Question

I am 25 years old with a husband and a 14 month old son, 5 dogs and 2 cats. I have this paralyzing fear at all hours of the day about death. When I wake up in the morning and walk to my sons crib I fear I will find him dead, when I come home from work I fear i will find one of my animals dead. When the phone rings I get nauseating feeling in my stomach that its my hubbys work telling me he was in an accident, when I have like gas pains or back pain I am convinced I am having heart attack, if I hear the fire whistle blow while Im gone I am convinced its my house on fire, or if tis the ambulance I hear its always for a wreck that involved my family members, I cant stand this anymore, I hae been on like 7 different medications: paxil, zoloft, clonazapam, etc... how to fix this

Answer 1

What a horrible feeling you must have constantly. Having sooo much stress like that, and as you had suggested, it truly does sound like a paralyzing disorder. My best advice to you is to seek medical help. And if the doctors you're seeing now can't help, then I recommend new doctors. Search the web, ask for referrals from your current doctors regarding a specialist. Do what it takes to find the help you need. I do hope you get better... Not just for yourself, but for your children and your husband as well. Good luck!

Answer 2

OK. Listen, I've had this disorder since I was 5. I've been going to my familly doctor for quiet some time about this. I've been to the ER SEVERALLL times thinking that I was having a heart attack/brain anurism/allergic reaction.. just anything.. if I ever had a head ache, I just assumed that I had a brain tumor. They've put me on all sorts of medication, and there IS one that works. I take Alprazaolam (AKA Xanax) it is the first medication that I ever took that actually gave me relief from these horrible feelings. Please try it, I do reccomend it. I know how you feel, and you will try anything that will help you. I also take Paxil at night time. Anything that will knock your butt out at night time will help you. Talk about this with your family, or if you choose to go to a shrink, you can do that as well. I don't know if the Xanax will help you, but it has done wonders for me. I wish you the best of luck finding the best treatment for yourself. Don't ever forget that it's all in your head. =] Good luck, I'll pray for you.

PS.
Something that helps. When you have the rush of panic run over you, get a book, coke bottle, anything that you can read, and focus on reading. It helps somewhat.

Answer 3

You need to start seeing a therapist on a regular basis. Medications will not solve your problem even if they are effective - they will only hide it until you stop taking the pills.

There is no easy solution for panic disorders. If your doctor and/or therapist hasn't been able to help you, try finding a new one. Word of mouth is the best way to find someone good who you will be comfortable with, so ask around.

If you have only been going to a physician who has been prescribing these medications, find a specialist. Medication should be an absolute last resort, and/or a temporary measure while you find the root of the problem and fix it for real.

Best of luck!!

Answer 4

There's a good chance you qualify for aid and there are also more and more work from home college courses every year via the internet. You may want to start from home and do some of the preliminary coursework and then try and work into going to actual classes slowly. Maybe one day a week at first and build from there. I would venture to say that as you get older you will be much more capable of handling going to an actual class. I would say that overcoming your mental obstacles is most important at this juncture. If you do not have severe agoraphobia I don't see why you couldn't overcome this as an adult. Just keep trying and don't give up. Don't resign yourself to living this life.

Answer 5

Tell your psychiatrist that the medication isn't working. Perhaps you need a higher dose or a different type of medication. He's the only one who can determine that for you. Also, just because you were on paxil or zoloft and they didn't work doesn't mean they are ineffective. Perhaps you just weren't on an effective dosage... I'm pretty sure 20mg is a normal dosage of paxil, nothing spectacular, so if that's the highest dosage you probably just weren't taking enough.
Talk to your psychiatrist. Tell him/her you are having severe problems with paranoia. Perhaps there's more to it than just anxiety...

Good Luck.

Answer 6

I used to be a hypochondriac and used to suffer from panic attacks. I don't know what to tell you as my fears went away, or at least became more manageable, once I realized truly that it was all in my head. If you can somehow coach yourself in your own mind that its all in your head and you're not dying or going to die, and that pain in your stomach is not cancer, and that all your family members are going to die....if you can tell yourself how irrational these situations are, you'll slowly be able to handle them the next time they come around. Another thing, there's a saying "What we fear, we create." If you are always assuming you're going to be scared of this and that, chances are, you will be. You need to take a deeeeeeeeeep breath and tell yourself "you're OK." Because, the probability of you dying is pretty slim, all things considered so do you really want to live the next 20, 30, 40, 50+ years dreading your death? That's going to SUCK big time.

Answer 7

I take Zoloft 50mg 1x/day and do deep breathing excersises to help me with my severe panic disorder...

Answer 8

First stop the drugs, try herbals at a serious pace, those narcotics mess up your mind worse, and get someone to help with the baby until you get stable......5 dogs get rid of some....it's not the humane society

Answer 9

Try talking to a shrink and your doctor. This sounds pretty serious and I don;t think any of us are really qualified to give you advice unless someone out there is an MD.

Answer 10

YOGA and MEDITATION.

I can tell you from personal experience (some one in my family had anxieties like yours) that meditation helps.
You need to find a profession, legitimate person to teach you meditation. it helps you catch your cool and become calm and composed.

I know this world is bad, i know its easy to have such thoughts in your mind, but its not impossible to get over them
you can get over it.

also please take help from a psychoanalyst or psychologist.
talk to them and theyll help you out