How do I know it's anxiety and not something that will kill me??

You are not alone. Thats a definite and you are adjusting ti medication so give yourself a break here. I dont use meds, except for an emergency Xanax but many people do use them and it seems they have to build up in your blood and whilst that occurs its not always pleasant. Thats the medicine part. Its hard to wrap your head around all this isnt it?  It really is. One day you seem ok then BOOM all these intense weird symptom come flooding in and dont leave. "Feelings" you have never probably thiughtneven existed. Thiughts that have become so negative and ciunter oroductive yiu believe them. Fear has a way of bossing you around.  Then the next thing you know you become scared alot. Its self preservation to do the search, to turn to every doctor you can think of and sometimes go for a second round. Not all anxiety are health anxiety, some realize early on and accept it so they do not have health anxiety but theres all different kinds. How  does this crap really exist? It does.the brains an organ too. You would wuatiin a dr if they told you you had a kidney stine right? So you have an anxiety diorder and yes thoughts come from your brain and the brain is an organ. Unsure why people think the brain cant mal function. It is not insanity, its your own animal instinct fight or flight response thats off kilter. Its in in over survivor mode,So many different beginings for so many different people but once that adrenaline rushes and the fear flows thru you its all the same result. Terror. It is a anxiety disorder. Filled with symptoms. The disorder is what you need to understand. Knowledge is power at least to peel away some of the fear and to hopefully stop it from progressing or becoming complicated with other disorders. Utube can explain they have videos of the science if a panic attack there are tons and tons of books, cbt workbooks and info out there. Its your choice to search them and go with what resonates with  you. A very useful search. Its very sabatoging to use dr. Google it wont do a thing of good for you. With an anxiety comes desperacy  and sensitivity and a lot of vulnerability. You search, you read you absorb symptoms then get them  u are in overdrive and scared and lack the knowledge to deal properly with all this. Mind you it sucks on every level. Anyway  take in steps. You already are on a well known medicine give that time and hopefully it will work for you, still go into therapy though you must fix you and how you rationalize out issues and life because there is a defunct there that got you from point a to here. Now you dont know if its really anxiety. I Get that, it isnt talked about much and mocked all over the media so how could this be a real option. Always get a full physical and probably  the needed endocrinologist to check hormones. Doctors are not in a conspiracy to lie to you haha some seem to think so, but after exams and looking at your noted symptoms it scream an anxiety disorder. Read thru the forum.  Many doctors are well aware of the symptoms, they don't understand them, cant feel them but are aware of them then they have the option of picking medicine for you ..remember a doctors job is to access and treat. They use medicine. They are nit scientists of Gods. There are alternative or integrated doctors who use both or natural remedies. These are you choices to make. Then again your choice to see a therapist and start your research into the world of anxiety disorders. you  will find  theres no cure its all about using your hierachy of thinking, a ton of self disipline, self calming tool and still you get  to only manage it. Quite scary, but manageable and you dont have any other option. I want to tell you there are no trade off because you have an anxiety disorder doesnt mean you get perfect health either. And one day you might have an ailment, but the panic disorder is seprate it can co exist with an ailment but it isnt a symptom of one. Almost all people with brain tumors have no clue they have one. Same with most ailments. A panic disorder isnt a sign from God you have some other ailment. You arent having preminitions here. That would be awesome if it was.Don't confuse that. It is a dysfunctional fight or flight response.how and why it happens and does not reset science hasnt figured out. I saved you a tiny bit of research by laying it all for you but theres a ton to research in this. I think there is basically a denial process and a grieving process that kind of occurs, as it does for any chronic ailment so be patient with yourself. You took a step you chose medications and i hope you are in theraoy as well. Do yourself a huge favor and research anxiety disorders. Its only fair ..you put more time in disease choice searches ...now put it where it will enlighten you and help you. Its a personal battle and a journey. many wont be able to relate to your anxiety as they have no clue the terror that accompanies it. Accept that. feel better and good luck. That was a very long answer but at least it has something formyou tipomunderstand to helo I hope.

You are definitely not alone Marissa. I go thru everything that you do. I started suffering from anxiety about 4-5 mo the ago. It all started with a bad panic attack. I was brought to the hospital in an ambulance. I thought I was dieing. It was the scariest thing ive ever been thru. Since that day I have anxiety literally everyday. When I ay everyday, I mean all day everyday. It is so annoying. The constant feeling of not being able to breathe or like there's a lump in my throat. My anxiety wakes me up out of a dead sleep. The most annoying part of it all is thinking that I'm gonna die or that sumthing serious is wrong with me. I always think I'm gonna have a heart attack or a stroke. I've gone to the hospital about 12x just for those specific reasons. They all keep saying its my anxiety. And I'm starting to believe it is. I always think that I'm inna stop breathing in my sleep and not wake up in the morning. At one point I swore I had a brain tumor. I still question it sometimes. Then I thought I had pneumonia bc it's hard to take a deep breathe at times or hard to yawn. But ive been told thats a symptom of anxiety also. I always used to Google things myself and just about everytime I did that I wld end up in the hospital with a panic attack bc i wld freak myself out. I no longer try to Google anything bad. Googling is the worst thing to do lol. But anyways I just want to tell you that you are by far not alone in this struggle. I get alot of support and comfort on this website. There are alot of caring people out there like us. ??????

Your not alone. I too thought I was having a heart attack. It was my first panic attack. I also have anxiety attacks and depression and Chronic Fatigue syndrome. Medication and therapy are helping. What I don't have is my families support. They say it's all in my head.....get over it.I know I have these diseases and with meds & therapy I'm hanging in there. My friends are my real champions. Try meditating. I've been doing that for the past 2 years. Its helping. I'm at an even level now......it's a work in progress. Hang in there.