help 1st panic attack

[kerbearcure32]

hello everyone i need some support i had a major panic attack last nite and i felt like i was having a heart attack and could not breathe i thought for sure that it was the end. does anyone else have this? and what do u suggest. i was just in to my heart doc and muga and echo was just great. just 2 weeks ago i live with anixtey but this was very scary . i do not want this to happen again. i have been on ativan for 2yrs daliy so i can sleep.this cancer card really sucks i hate feel so afraid. thank you all for giving me any feed back what so ever. thanks and hugs and prayers for everyone kerry.

[Joe]

You may wish to register for our teleconference "How to Cope With the Stress of Cancer" : www.her2support.org/tc.htm (http://www.her2support.org/tc.htm)


Warmest Regards
Joe

[Chelee]

Kerry, Yes...full blown panic attacks are very frightening. I have had them. I started having them around age 30. They came on out of the blue. I was terrified of having another one because you really feel like your going to die. Its just as you described...hard to breath, heart starts pounding and your not sure if your going to pass out.

I was put on xanax at that time...it took care of them. But you mentioned being on ativan...it should do as much as xanax I would think. But you do have to remember...your under an awful lot of added stress now. Nothing about dealing with bc is easy. The daily stress of all this takes a toll on a person. Talk about major anxiety once DX with bc. Do you just take the Ativan to sleep? Never during the day time for anxiety? You should talk to your doctor and tell him/her what happened and see if they will give you some meds for this. They have several different medications that are used just for anxiety attacks. They all work well. Please see your doctor because the fear and anxiety of just worrying about it happening again is just too much to deal with on top of everything else. There is help out there for this.

If you have any other questions please feel free to email me or PM me. I will gladly help you any way I can. Hang in there. I know how you feel and its scary.

Sending you warm healing thoughts.

Chelee

[sarah]

I had one while on chemo - after chemo every week for 4 months, when they wheeled in the chemo I panicked! the panic attack passed in about 20 minutes but I was afraid it would happen again. I read somewhere - maybe Mayo clinic that the longest they last is 30 minutes and that made me feel so much better because I knew I could deal with 30 minutes. When I had mine I didn't know if it would last all day!
take deep breaths and just wait patiently for it to pass, it will.
good luck with your treatment
sarah

[MJo]

I had anxiety issues before BC. The first time I had an anxiety attack I didn't know what was happening and ended up in emergency room. Once I was diagnosed with BC, I had continuous, severe anxiety. I started on Lexapro daily and xanax as needed. It's been a year now and I take xanax only occasionally to sleep. I still take lexapro daily. I feel pretty good.

Take the medication you need to get through this. I'm not familiar with ativan, but maybe you need a different med or meds if it's not working. If you tend toward anxiety, a diagnosis of BC won't help (!) I found that out. I was terrified at the beginning of chemo, but as treatment progressed I grew less scared of the chemo and the cancer. Good luck and God bless. MJO

[suzan w]

I also had anxiety issues before cancer...and then cancer really brought them back to the surface. Including panic attacks. Thankfully I can recognize the warning signs and take an ativan which, so far, has worked. I think over the past 18 months it has happened maybe 6 times??? Everything about cancer and treatments are highly anxiety provoking I think!!!

[Bev]

Hi Kerry,

Yes I have panic attacks and somehow I've always believed thay were hormone induced. Had them before Bc and they have only intensified until meds.

Doing Zoloft with Ativan for emergencies. I do have a friend doing both regularly, although Ativan may be addictive. So maybe they need to change the mix of your meds.

I really believe that something has gone bad with our body chemistry to trigger the attacks. It is interesting that it's a recurrent theme for us BC people. So here you are, the only way they know how to treat it is with drugs.

I find myself going way out of the way to avoid the attacks.(ie driving)

Keep in touch and work to find some peace. Life shouldn't be so hard, BB

[Bev]

Me again. I think Becky said Effexor is the best to do with this issue. Hang in there. You'll be OK. Somehow I think panic attacks are related to middle aged hormones. When much younger, I put my petal to the metal to see how fast my car could go.Now I cringe if I go over 25 mph. BB

[sherri]

Just a year before BC, I had several Panic attacks. I did all the tests and it was determined that it's panic attack. In the beginning I couldn't believe it and I said I'm not afraid of anything how can I have panic attack, I climb the highest mountain in high altitude and I don't have a problem than I get a panic attack in the car? They try to give me some medication. I didn't accept and started to do Yoga especially breathing exercise. Then I had several attacks but I was able to control them with breathing. After a year I did not get any. Panic attack is your brain, sending wrong signals to your organs and you feel you can not breath, your heart starts to get crazy, all the muscles in your body get tense, etc..., but if your mind can send wrong signals, you have to train it to not do this to you, of course this is my approach and we are all different, but give a try to yoga, it may work for you as well.

[Barbara2]

My panic attacks started about 20 years before breast cancer. Gradually through the years I learned to cope, but never did take meds or get professional help. My family physician have me Zanix to use when needed and I tried not to use them much because they are addictive.

After breast cancer, the panic and anxieties went on the back burner. They no longer seemed to have much importance because I was dealing with something much larger now. For me, part of the anxiety attack was fear of embarrasment while having the attack. But after cancer, I really didn't care any more what anyone thought. I have bigger fish to fry now.

I have always been a worrier, though, and that will never go away.

Be cautious of the Ativan. I took it for sleeping for about a year and a half (1mg nightly) and became addicted. The fatigue from the addiction was horrible. After gradually weaning myself off the Ativan, I felt much better.