Q: Hi I have a quick question about panic disorder. i have suffered from anxiety my whole life. Recently however it has gotten much worse because I'm a long time pot smoker and this has always controll
Hi there
How long ago did you quit smoking pot? Do you think you are experiencing some withdrawals? Do you feel that addiction could be a problem for you? Have you said anything to your doctor yet?
I am wondering if you might get some help from a therapist to start. There you can have the confidentiality to discuss your past history without so much worry.
What are your main concerns about an anti-depressant?
There are several things you can consider...one is to seek out therapy and address your anxiety that way....with a therapist who can suggest some cognitive techniques for controlling your anxiety and panic attacks. The second avenue is to research the available prescription medications for anxiety and panic attacks. Thirdly...you can also look into "natural" methods...yoga...deep breathing exercises...as well as supplements.
So much depends upon the degree of suffering you are enduring from your anxiety...medication might help but it has to be something you won't be in danger of becoming addicted to.
Let us know what happens. I am sorry you are going through this.
Hi there
Well for what it is worth I think a lot of people might agree with you about the benefits of medicinal marijuana. But this is a very controversial topic and the reality is...pot is still an illegal drug. I would be extremely careful about using methadone and especially someone else's prescription. You don't want to magnify your problems with something new to deal with.
Do you know what triggers your panic attacks? Have you always had them?
The thing about antidepressants is that they are going to work differently for different people. You have heard some bad stories but it doesn't mean that you will necessarily experience such adverse effects.
I think you should tell your doctor that you need help for your panic attacks...and that you are willing to listen about your choices including medication but that you don't want to take any type of medication which can be addictive and this may include benzos.
Be careful. I think you are right on that brink of trying anything in order to stop these panic attacks...and you may be vulnerable right now. You don't want to add another problem onto what you have to deal with right now.
Let us know what happens. I hope the doc gives you some good suggestions.
Well thanks alot for the input and the quick response its been helpful. and to answer your question i have had anxiety/panic atacks since I was a teenager probly 13 and im 24 now. I have even already been diagnosed with it by my pediatrition who prescribed me zoloft for it. I never took the zoloft tho its probly still in the medicine cabinet at my parents home. But it has gotten alot worse the last couple of years since i stopped smoking and added the stress of court and probation to the mix. but if I can wait ten years i can wait 3 weeks for the appt. If you or anyone else knows of any of the herbel remedies that you mentioned i would greatly appreciate a responce letting me know of what you know of or what might have worked for someone else. also and theraputic exercises you might now of. If I could relieve some of my symptoms without prescriptions that would be great because a clean body is a clean mind and I think its always better to solve things without man made chemical if possable. Anyways thanks so much for your help and i'll let you know what the doctor say's and if it helps get rid of my panic attacks. Thanks again.
First I am not a doctor, nurse, mental health practitioner. My answer is based on my personal experience. Be honest with your doctor about your self medicating. People everywhere self medicate. You run into problems when you don't share this information with your doctor. Drug interactions can be fatal cause a prescribed medication to not work or work to well. There is a reason he asks you what medications are you taking, do you use street drugs, do you use pot, what over the counter drugs are you taking? You should tell your doctor that you were a pot smoker and have stopped and are having problems with panic attacks. If you don't feel comfortable telling him the truth you need to find a doctor you are comfortable talking to. While you may not want to take anti-depressants/anxiety medications they are legal and won't get you fired if they show up on a drug test. Finding Marijuana in you system will get you fired even if you have a prescription for it! We may not agree with this decision but the courts have upheld a companies right to fire an employee who is using pot under a doctors care.
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Well I quit smoking about 2 years ago because i get regular drug tests for probation. FYI the probation is for DWI. As far as addiction being a problem for me i do have a history of experimenting with drugs but it has never really been a problem. what i mean by that is i have tried different things throughout my life but always just socially, and not very often, but have never been addicted to anything. I did take ritalin/adderal for many years but only ever as prescribed and only for school or on days i had class or needed it to study in collage. I also didnt have any withdrawl or even cravings when not taking it or when i stoped taking, this may be because i really never enjoyed it, it deffinatly got me "high" but not in a way that i liked and if my adhd wasnt so bad i would have prefered to not take it at all. However i have always loved smoking pot and i know many people wont agree with this and i admit im no expert but it seems like weed is a better alternative to anxiety then antidepresints or potentialy addictive bensodiazipines(I'm sure i butchered the spelling there). But i guess some would say my habitual pot smoking for many years makes me "vulnerable to addiction". I also know people frown on self medicating but marijauna always worked great for me and i lived a functional and productive life while smoking everyday. As far as talking to the doctor goes i have made a appointment with my primary physican but it isnt for a few weeks. However i want to do things right and not make the mistake of being my own docter like some people out there have tried just to end of with addiction which might be worse then the problem that they're trying to fix. I did take methadone for three days because a friend of the famly knew my panic attacks are so bad and thought it could help for a couple days and she suffers from degenerative disk, gout, and the early stages of MS so has alot of opiates. The methadone worked great but she only gave it to me for until i can get to a docter and warned me its addictive so i still have a couple and if i have a really bad panic attack before i see the docter maybe ill take it but the last thing i want is to get addicted to it and have to face withdrawls on top of my panic disorder. I have also been honest about everything with my famely and they are being very supportive. Im also not opposed to seeing a therapist but I must say im very spectacle about how talking to someone is gunna help me but I'll try anything if it means never having anouther panic attack. As far as the anti-depresants go anxiety and panic disorder runs in my famely and my grandmother tried paxil hated it and when she stoped taking it ended up in the hospital phyc ward. I also had a friend in school who ended up worse then he started after stopping the same drug and he said he would never take anything like it again{even though he did because he was bi-poler and severly depresed]. I also dont understand why its prescribed for panic disorder because im far from deprested as a matter a fact i love life but sometime i get SEVERE panic attacks probly at least 4 or 5 times a week. At this point I'll try anything even herbal suppement of yoga/breathing exercises but im just specticle of all the treatment options i read about but i guess thats what doctors are for.