Anxiety and Going to the ER

Mental health
1

Hi There,

I have very bad anxiety and depression.

I am on 60 mgs of Paroxatine, 150 mgs of Seroquel XR, and 200 mgs of Seroquel IR at bedtime.

Normally, my anxiety is fairly well controlled by my medication, but lately my anxiety has been way higher and I've been having panic attacks,

I was given Valium which seemed to help in the panicking situations, but, it is no longer working nor is Ativan.

I've spoken to my psychiatrist and she continues to say "use your coping strategies", but I don't feel like right now, the coping strategies are enough. On the anxiety survey she makes you fill out upon each visit, my scores have progressively risen when if medication AND coping are working, are to remain low.

I have some extra stressors in my life right now and I do have an appointment with Mental Health tomorrow (it's an assessment to get paired with a counsellor)

I know with the things coming up this week, it's going to get worse before it gets better. The last doctor I saw at the ER said that during these time, it is okay to rely on the fast acting medications a bit more, but those rescue medications aren't working.

If I go to the ER, is there anything I can ask for/do just to have a rescue plan for this next little bit?

Advice is appreciated!

2

I have been to the ER due to symptoms ive gotten from anxiety & ive told them im anxious and very panicky but they didn’t give me anything for anxiety all they did was to see if there was anything wrong ive gotten blood tests, ekgs, xrays even  a rectal test.. everything normal. The ER told me to follow up with my doctor 

3

Hello wheelie24

I feel your pain as I've been suffering from Clinical Depression and Anxiety for many years since my divorce.While remarried to a wonderful man, there are certain things that trigger my anxiety from my past and off I go into another anxiety attack..

Went to the ER a year ago for a flu shot after being very scared my throat was closing up again. This tends to happen with I get a bad cold/flu. While feeling like I couldn't breathe, they took my blood pressure and it was over the top, so they put me in the ER.

The doctor I had was a complete jerk and asked me all sorts of questions which I answered. I told him it was a mere anxiety attack, as I know my body. They took test after test that came back negative. He'd also asked what I had taken and told me that it was too much and that could affect my heart rate also, so they put me on a saline drip for an hour while I sat there. Ho hum..it was ridiculous.

One test came back a bit abnormal so they put me through an MRI to see if I had a blood clot in my lung. That came back negative also.

By that time they wanted to admit me to do more testing when I told him over and over it was an anxiety attack and my blood pressure/heart rate numbers kept coming down little by little.

The doctor told me again that they'd like to admit me and do a stress test which I told him I'd do as outpatient when I saw my regular MD. That came back normal also.

If you DO end up in the ER again, let them do their jobs. They'll do testing and if everything comes back normal, they may admit you for a stress test. They just play it safe, so there's no need to get frustrated with them.

While I was there, they gave me .1 mg of Lorazepam interveniously and told me that I shouldn't drive home if I planned to leave. Told them I lived three blocks away and could walk. I wasn't going to stay there as they found nothing wrong. I also had responsibilities at home.

I asked them what they gave me and why I couldn't drive. Again they told me that they'd given me .1 mg of Lorazepam and not meaning to be a jerk, I told them that I take 1.0 mg three times daily and what they gave me hardly compared to that.

I'm not a very good patient, am I??  LOL!!  I ended up telling them that I was leaving and would watch my blood pressure/heart rate at home with my pulse oxymeter; call my regular MD on Monday..and do things needed on an outpatient basis, as I wasn't going to sit there all weekend while they fed me jello, waiting until Monday for a stress test.