Severe depression during panic attack

Thanks so much for your reply Kezjane. Although it's a seriously messed up experience it's good to know i'm not alone. No one should have the deal with the severity of those depressive thoughts. Mental illness seriously sucks.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reassure me. And i appreciate the tips too. Ive been using insight timer which helps but ive been using small amounts of xanax to maintain my sanity. Im going to see my doctor today and getting on something longer lasting like valium. I can't handle ssris assuming thats what cipralex is.

Abby I wanna let you know as well, you aren't alone.  I have experienced panic plenty of times, but some of them were absolutely horrible in my mind.  I felt so depressed and so alone, just crying.  

I am currently taking Citalopram which helps a bit, but I am not going with what the doctor wants, which is to up my dosage, because I don't want to be dependent on it.  I take ativan on occastional flare ups maybe three times a month. 

I recommend reading books about panic.  I have gotten in trouble on this forum for recommending a specific book, but I recommend to look up popular books on panic.  It has helped me out more than therapy, meds, and any other breathing advice I see on the internet.  Books on panic bring your mental state into seeing it in a different perspective.

I also recommend taking B-Complex vitamins.  It could be possible that the lack of vitamins in your diet is increasing your anxiety and panic.  Also, 200mg magnesium and 200mg calcium helps relax the muscles for anxiety and panic.  Really, it doesn't hurt to try because if your body is lacking it, then it will help tons.  If not, it will still help a bit and its good for you.

Take care Abby!

Thank you so much for replying, Gerard! I actually have been on citalopram before and had a pretty good experience with and stopped taking it last summer because I felt I didn't need it anymore. I actually have a couple of books on panic and theres a certain one which I definitely need to re-read but I won't name it because I don't want to get in trouble . I actually have an autoimmune disease which is known to cause depression and anxiety and worsen them if you already have them so, lovely. Haha I currently take a b complex and calcium as well as other supplements but I will absolutely look into the magnesium, I definitely need help with sleep too (it's currently 3:11am where I am now). Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to me. Hope you're doing well. Anxiety is a complete b*tch!!!

Yes look into magnesium!  Yeah you seem to be doing the best you can at treating the panic Abby.  The most helpful thing I have EVER learned about helping panic is to ALLOW it.  If it's weighing you down, just find a way to shift your mental state to just be like "you know what, it wont kill me.  I'll just accept it."  That alone gives me more comfort than any other supplement.

For sleep, L-theanine works to calm the mind if thats your problem.  Also, valerian root helps for sleep (so I've researched).  I'm gonna try that out soon.  If you just look up supplements for sleep you can find tons of info.

Also, meditation helps me sleep too.  Just look up tutorials on that.  Helps make me bored out of my mind haha so I just drift off to sleep like I do in my college classes

Thank you! I'm always trying so hard to fight the panic/depressed feelings when they come, and feel guilty for having them and then it just feeds the fire so I definitely have to work on that. I've done meditation before and it was awesome, almost fell asleep haha but I loooove relaxing music so I'll have to turn some on and just zone out. I've heard good things about L-theanine and valerian root as well! Thanks for all your help once again and kind words. Trying to distract myself as best I can, and trying to avoid DRINKING, ugh. Hard to do in a small town, but it makes everything 2737472 times worse the next day. 🙄😂

Hi Abby! Im still here! Im soooo sorry to hear you've been going through something similar. It was awful and an absolutely terrifying time for me. I ended up taking 20mg fluoxetine (prozac). Because I was so sensitive (i could barely leave the my bedroom let alone the house) i gradually built up from 5mg to 20mg over literally like 4-5 months. I have been doing SO much better since being on a stable 20mg dosage as well as meditating daily. I can't even put into words how hopeless and absolutely terrified i felt at the time. It was a nightmare. But im almost a fully functioning human again! You will get there i promise. You can message me any time too ?

Yay!!! I'm so glad to hear you're doing much better. I actually have a full bottle of Prozac 20mg sitting in my kitchen now because my endocrinologist suggested I take it for my anxiety but I've been on honestly almost 10 or so antidepressants and they've all made me feel so foggy and disoriented but I still feel that way so I might give them a try again. It's just such a slippery slope with them because I also am superrr sensitive to meds! Scared to take anything besides ibuprofen haha. Thank you so much for your reply. I will be fine soon enough I'm sure, going to try to meditate, do yoga and eat better and exercise and if that doesn't seem to do a darn thing then Prozac it is! Thanks again, and I hope you continue to feel well!

A lot of people say that drinking makes anxiety worse the next day.  But for me I dont feel that.  Maybe after drinking for a while I've learned to ALWAYS drink water while I drink and eat beforehand so I don't get hangovers.  I used to get hangovers a lot BEFORE I had anxiety, but now can prevent them.

Is it because of your hangovers that you get anxiety after drinking?  Because of so, try eating beforehand and drinking a bunch of water the whole time you drink.

I'm honestly not sure if the actual hangover itself causes the anxiety. I'm very familiar with hangovers unfortunately haha, and while I usually am a bit more anxious the day after drinking, it's been just recently that I get reeeeally bad anxiety and depressive symptoms after it. I think it's mostly because I'm just insanely stressed at the moment and alcohol really exacerbates it. I definitely drink a bunch of water before bed and normally eat before drinking too . I guess I just need to abstain from drinking a bit until I get my ducks in a row, it's just hard to do when that's mostly what my friends and I do when we get together. Thanks for your response!

Hi there, I jump in and out of this forum.  I have anxiety/panic attacks and have for years.  Worst case scenario for me are traffic jams where I am stuck and not moving in traffic.  All those feelings you are talking about flood me.  Just awful.  But it does not help when your hubs just does not get it.  I sometimes feel I am going to blow a light bulb in my head and go mad - it is that strong.  I have started meditating and with the thumb and first finger touching whilst doing it - I know yoga practices this and used to think why are they doing that, but now know.  The thumb represents fire and the first finger represents air in yoga practice, and gives a message to the brain of a burning desire for calm.  It defo works, makes you feel real relaxed.  I have just had a couple of sessions with a Kinesiologist for tummy issues and it was wonderful and did sort out my issues; her practice was a warm and gorgeous smelling quiet room with very soft relaxing music - it was pure bliss and lasted 2 hours; I tell u I could live in that room.  She is very very serene and calm.  She is also a Reiki Master and Yoga Master Teacher, but what surprised me was that she was very very outgoing and chatty and laughs easily (like me) and when I told her I have always exercised she said that she would much rather meditate (1 hour daily at least) before her clients come than exercise and I asked her why and she said that she could not possibly function on a day to day basis without meditation!  Well that  makes you think - we soo need to calm out minds - I have books too and  in one of them it says that it is biologically impossible to panic when you are relaxed.  So we need to chill guys and meditate and walk our way though our muddled minds.

Hugs to all - we will crack it.

G.