Anxiety problems need help

Hi All,

For the past few days, the pain has been really bad. Last night I had a mild anxiety/panic attack. This morning, I have had two really bad anxiety attacks. This is very unusal for me. I am kind of overwhelmed right now, but I don't know why. All I do know is that the pain id really bad and I think it is contributing to the anxiety problems. (I have only had them when the pain is out of control.)

I have klonopin and it has helped some, but not a whole lot. I put in a call to my psychiatrist to see if there is anything else that can be done about this. I am just so scared and frustrated by the pain and it is just wearing me out.

Does anyone else have this problem? If so, how is it treated?

Pain free days,
sailingm

I am so sorry about your scary new symptoms Sailing.
At times I get a strange weird feelings of doom but manily as part of my predrome symptoms. It can be very frightening, but now when they come I just keep reminding myself that it is part of M pattern and that it will pass - they soon go away, you know - so we need to remember that.

It does not happen often in my case, so sometimes I forget about it, and your post has reminded me about it again.
Try to not to panic when this happens, remember that M plays nasty tricks with our minds becasue brain chemistry/neurology gets all out of balance.
But it is a good idea to have it checked, as you do, just in case.

Hi Sailing,
I'm different to you because its not the pain that makes me anxious but the visual and auditory problems. Sometimes I think that it will never stop, but then remember back to a time when it wasn't there and think that eventually I will get back to that point. That helps for me, just concentrating on the good times.

The klonopin is a good short term help, but I find its a real pain when you take it for more than a couple of weeks. Withdrawal gets pretty nasty (for me).

I hate to admit it (because I'm stuck on it), but Effexor does help with anxiety. However it can (for some people) be even harder to get off than klon.

I have been on a very low dose of Effexor, occassional klon and ritalin (yes really!). The ritalin really helps to cut through the visual problems and allow me to concentrate on something to take my mind off it all. Not sure if it would help you though with you pain probs.

Just remember, you have every right in the world to feel anxious. If you took a random person off the street and dumped their mind into your body, within 24 hours they would be a basket case. You are only coping as well as you are because this has built up over years and because you are mentally tough!

M

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the replies.

I am pretty sure that the attacks are tied in to the migraines-specifically the level of pain. I spoke to my psychiatrist's office and he said that I should increase the klonopin and see if that helps. I think this is reasonable. I am also seeing my psychologist tomorrow. So, I am just hoping this will help.

Pain free days,
sailigm