In article <slworkEqAGpx.2y6 at netcom.com>, Steve Work <slwork at netcom.com> wrote:
>Panic disorder is much worse than GAD. People get perodic "panic
>attacks" where they hyperventilate, experience chest pains and heart
>palpitations, and often feel they are having a heart attack. Yet no
>signs of heart disease are found. GAD is an ongoing thing, but panic
>disorder manifests itself by brief periods of very intense anxiety.
>Xanax is effective in high doses for panic disorder, but these doses
>carry severe risk of addiction. Other treatments for panic are
>preferable, antidpressants are often useful and don't have an addiction
>potential.
I have just learned that the "anxiety attacks" I've been having are panic
attacks. I experience pounding heart, hyperventilation, tremors, a feeling
that I need to leave or hide, and a change in perception called derealization.
Is there something that helps to stop a panic attack once it starts, or
prevent one if you know the signs that one is coming on?
-elizabeth
