Question:
This morning about 4:30 AM I woke up having a panic attack. This is only
the 2nd time in my life this has happened to me. The first time was a
couple years ago and worse than this one, but very similar. I woke up,
freaking out, and started doing some deep breathing to calm down, which
helped a little bit. Every time I would close my eyes and start to drift
off back to sleep it would hit me again! I'd have to open my eyes and then
it would ease up enough so that it was bearable. I even got up and took a
Xanax but I don't think it helped much. I guess its possible it would have
gotten worse if I hadn't taken it, but I'll never know. Anyways, this went
on until 7 AM before I was finally able to go to sleep again. Thank God I
didn't have to work today. Any idea what could've caused this?
Answer:
I think apnea ( if you look that word up on the web or dictionary ).
But whatever caused it, you say you took *a* Xanax. I have had to
take 5 ( five X 1 milligram ) at a time to abate the symptoms. And
I've been on 40 mg ( am on 40 mg ) Paxil ( actually paroxetine HCL,
generic ) since I can't remember.
My advice, take more than 1 xanax. Is it a 1 mg pill. You could need
up to 5 of those to stop *breakthrough* anxiety/panic attack. I don't
recommend these hi doses except during an actual attack.
Then, lie down someplace comfortable, this will keep you from getting
dizzy/nauseous. I like to lie down on the cold wooden floor; better
than a bed for me, because I am sweating at that time, and I like to
feel something SOLID on my body. Just lying on the floor takes about
25% of the anxiety away instantly.
Then I set my stopwatch and time how long it take the alprazolam to
work. It usually starts in 20 minutes, and works up to *good* by 40
minutes, and symptoms *gone* by 1 hour.
For most of us this would be an outrageous high dose, even for a
breakthrough attack. For me 1 mg or even .5 mg will stop a PA cold and I
think this is about average. You obviously need a lot more, I don't
doubt that, but you can't generalize your personal experience. YMMV.
Yes I think it is also. I keep *forgetting* that it is different for
each individual. I fall into the group with the most severe case of
the problem, so I was told by doctor that it was appropriate dose for
me after my complaining I wasn't getting results with less.
True enough. Panic Attack means different things to different people.
When I hear that someone has the problem, I relate it to my own
experiences of course, not having any way to know just how
uncomfortable other people are with it.
That is a great idea: under the tongue. I wonder if I could use less
and get faster results if I used somehow crushed the tablets, a couple
or so, and took the powder with water. I may experiment with that
idea to get faster dissolving when *next time* happens.
How are your stress levels? Battling daytime anxiety and panic as well? When I
am struggling with anxiety and panic during my waking hours, I am more prone to
having nocturnal panic attacks. If I`m going to have a nocturnal panic attack,
it is always 1-2 hours after I have fallen asleep. I think the nocturnal panic
attacks are even worse than the daytime ones. Next time this happens, get out of
bed, wake up completely...... and find some quiet activity, like watching tv or
reading, to help you get sleepy again. Once you feel sleepy, then you can go
back to sleep. If you don`t wake yourself completely up, you`ll just battle for
hours like you did. Wishing your peaceful-panic-free nights and sweet dreams :)
