Panic attacks becoming more frequent and intense. Not sure what to do.

[Pako]

I am a 40 year old man in reasonably good health. I’m having these panic attacks.

I was born with a semi-rare blood clotting disorder that nearly killed me when I was a teenager. Around that time, I had a bunch of panic attacks. But once I saw a hematologist and got my illness under control, they went away when I was 21 or so.

Fast forward two decades. I just turned 40 on Friday. And they’re back, and worse than when I was a kid. They come out of nowhere. My heart pounds, I have trouble breathing, and I get dizzy and suddenly scared I’m going to die. When I was a teenager, these came once a month at most. Now, it’s weekly at least, and seems to be increasing in frequency. Since my birthday 5 days ago, I’ve had three attacks. I don’t know what to do because I do not have health insurance to see a professional, and nobody in my personal life has ever had this problem.

I suspect that I’m afraid of dying (even though I’m on blood thinners for life, it’s no guarantee I won’t throw a serious blood clot and check out), feeling weird about turning 40 (I’ve never felt “old” in my life until now). And maybe it’s some subconscious stress (Covid, the election, social unrest, my fragile financial situation, my upcoming second wedding in April). Most of the time, I feel fine. In fact, my life over the past 2 years is the best it’s ever been. I’ve fallen in love and gotten engaged, I have the highest paying job of my life to this point (that’s not saying much, since I started as a restaurant worker making $8/hr in college, but it’s still good for me), so I have some security (although less since Covid).

I don’t want to get into too much detail, but how do I know if I’m stressed? I don’t feel stressed. And what can I do to get rid of these panic attacks? Am I having a mid-life crisis? Is that even a thing? There must be a self-sufficient way to do this without going to a doctor who, in all likelihood, will just hand me a script for Xanax and warn me not to abuse it I’m a recovering heroin addict so that’s not a good idea, regardless of its effectiveness! Any advice about how you overcame this problem of panic attacks would be appreciated.

 

[Fairy Lucretia]

i just wanted to send love and welcome you to the forum x i hope you find tis place useful
love Lu x

 

[Pako]

I wonder if maybe my post was too long, so nobody besides you responded. I’m having another one right now. This is getting crazy...it’s like every other day now.

 

[GhostOfLenin]

I am a 40 year old man in reasonably good health. I’m having these panic attacks.

I was born with a semi-rare blood clotting disorder that nearly killed me when I was a teenager. Around that time, I had a bunch of panic attacks. But once I saw a hematologist and got my illness under control, they went away when I was 21 or so.

Fast forward two decades. I just turned 40 on Friday. And they’re back, and worse than when I was a kid. They come out of nowhere. My heart pounds, I have trouble breathing, and I get dizzy and suddenly scared I’m going to die. When I was a teenager, these came once a month at most. Now, it’s weekly at least, and seems to be increasing in frequency. Since my birthday 5 days ago, I’ve had three attacks. I don’t know what to do because I do not have health insurance to see a professional, and nobody in my personal life has ever had this problem.

I suspect that I’m afraid of dying (even though I’m on blood thinners for life, it’s no guarantee I won’t throw a serious blood clot and check out), feeling weird about turning 40 (I’ve never felt “old” in my life until now). And maybe it’s some subconscious stress (Covid, the election, social unrest, my fragile financial situation, my upcoming second wedding in April). Most of the time, I feel fine. In fact, my life over the past 2 years is the best it’s ever been. I’ve fallen in love and gotten engaged, I have the highest paying job of my life to this point (that’s not saying much, since I started as a restaurant worker making $8/hr in college, but it’s still good for me), so I have some security (although less since Covid).

I don’t want to get into too much detail, but how do I know if I’m stressed? I don’t feel stressed. And what can I do to get rid of these panic attacks? Am I having a mid-life crisis? Is that even a thing? There must be a self-sufficient way to do this without going to a doctor who, in all likelihood, will just hand me a script for Xanax and warn me not to abuse it I’m a recovering heroin addict so that’s not a good idea, regardless of its effectiveness! Any advice about how you overcame this problem of panic attacks would be appreciated.

Ive been plagued with panic attacks since i was ten, almost 40 now and still have them. There is always something to start them off. Even if you feel great no stress etc then you have an attack its not random. Try sit down and think about your last few attacks. There will be a common thread to them all. Once you isolate the cause then you can start working on a solution. Thats the hard part. Im on meds and i know why they start but im just no good a the control part. Hopefully you will find some balance

 

[RTLP]

If you have addiction problems would recommend you taking SSRI

 

[TheHeartHasAVoice]

I wonder if maybe my post was too long, so nobody besides you responded. I’m having another one right now. This is getting crazy...it’s like every other day now.

Hey there, are you still having panic attacks?

 

[KittyMay]

If you have had panic attacks and there doesn’t seem to be a clear trigger then you might have panic disorder. I have had panic attacks my whole life and sometimes they are triggered but sometimes they seemingly happen out of nowhere and when just before hand I feel fine. There is usually a deep rooted issue as to why your body and mind resort to this panic and it’s worth if you can having therapy to figure all this out. I know my panic disorder was deep rooted from childhood trauma and emotional neglect. It’s helped me massively to understand it all. I wish you all the luck in the world - I know how horrible it is to live with panic attacks.

 

[Pako]

Thanks Kitty. In the 4 months since I posted this, the attacks have persisted. I have 4-6 per week, mostly at night at bedtime. I’ve visited a licensed hypnotherapist (hogwash...she was reading off a script I’ve heard many times on YouTube guided meditations). I’ve also seen a cardiologist which was super expensive. She says my heart sounds fine and the heart pounding/racing is probably mental and/or stress related. She prescribed a beta blocker called Metoprolol. Not effective thus far. I’m running out of ideas (and money) to throw at this problem. I had to take one of my fiancée’s Valium again last night. Not ideal.

 

[KittyMay]

Thanks Kitty. In the 4 months since I posted this, the attacks have persisted. I have 4-6 per week, mostly at night at bedtime. I’ve visited a licensed hypnotherapist (hogwash...she was reading off a script I’ve heard many times on YouTube guided meditations). I’ve also seen a cardiologist which was super expensive. She says my heart sounds fine and the heart pounding/racing is probably mental and/or stress related. She prescribed a beta blocker called Metoprolol. Not effective thus far. I’m running out of ideas (and money) to throw at this problem. I had to take one of my fiancée’s Valium again last night. Not ideal.

I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s really hard to get help in the first place so I’m sorry it wasn’t what you’d hoped. For me beta blockers just weren’t effective at all for my panic attacks, I take an SSRI at a fairly high dose for my anxiety which I think helps some of the time. I’ve read countless things about how to help with panic attacks and really the only thing I’ve found is to just let go and not fight it. Just ride through the sensations knowing that they will peak and then come down again. I think if you can find a good therapist it would be extremely healing, I luckily found an amazing one who has been transformative for me. If you find they come about at night which I have experienced too I sometimes try to refocus my mind by doing something relaxing but mindless like knitting, colouring or a game on my phone. That sometimes helps me calm down before I get into the panic cycle.

 

[Inie]

I am a 40 year old man in reasonably good health. I’m having these panic attacks.

I was born with a semi-rare blood clotting disorder that nearly killed me when I was a teenager. Around that time, I had a bunch of panic attacks. But once I saw a hematologist and got my illness under control, they went away when I was 21 or so.

Fast forward two decades. I just turned 40 on Friday. And they’re back, and worse than when I was a kid. They come out of nowhere. My heart pounds, I have trouble breathing, and I get dizzy and suddenly scared I’m going to die. When I was a teenager, these came once a month at most. Now, it’s weekly at least, and seems to be increasing in frequency. Since my birthday 5 days ago, I’ve had three attacks. I don’t know what to do because I do not have health insurance to see a professional, and nobody in my personal life has ever had this problem.

I suspect that I’m afraid of dying (even though I’m on blood thinners for life, it’s no guarantee I won’t throw a serious blood clot and check out), feeling weird about turning 40 (I’ve never felt “old” in my life until now). And maybe it’s some subconscious stress (Covid, the election, social unrest, my fragile financial situation, my upcoming second wedding in April). Most of the time, I feel fine. In fact, my life over the past 2 years is the best it’s ever been. I’ve fallen in love and gotten engaged, I have the highest paying job of my life to this point (that’s not saying much, since I started as a restaurant worker making $8/hr in college, but it’s still good for me), so I have some security (although less since Covid).

I don’t want to get into too much detail, but how do I know if I’m stressed? I don’t feel stressed. And what can I do to get rid of these panic attacks? Am I having a mid-life crisis? Is that even a thing? There must be a self-sufficient way to do this without going to a doctor who, in all likelihood, will just hand me a script for Xanax and warn me not to abuse it I’m a recovering heroin addict so that’s not a good idea, regardless of its effectiveness! Any advice about how you overcame this problem of panic attacks would be appreciated.

Any type of Benzo is not a good idea to even start. I got hooked after only 2 weeks of taking and took me half a year to wean off. Toughest thing I ever did. Have you tried Propranolol? It has been working for me and really helps with the panic symptoms.

 

[siliconom]

There is a way to wean yourself off panic attacks

Go online and find David Carbonel. Try You Tube also.

It will take practice. You will be knocking about 1% off the intensity of a panic attack each time but soon adds up.

Forget about searching for root cause of panic. Irrelevant