Hi. I’m 56 years old and have suffered from panic attack episodes my whole life. A dozen years ago, I cleaned up my life, ate much better, stopped drinking completely (I consider myself an alcoholic) and went on Lexapro. Gradually over a period of months the anxiety attacks largely went away. Not sure how much the Lexapro helped other than killing my libido but a couple years after starting, I took myself off with no real ill effects.
So for the past 10 years, I have anxiety cycles which I have treated by sparingly using Klonopin but the panic disorder has largely been kept at bay. Until now.
The doctor put me on a round of prednisone to help with ongoing chest congestion/cold like issues. First day was 40mg and when I complained it gave me the jitters, I went down to 30 meg the second day, 30mg the third day and 20mg the fourth day. By then I started having panic attacks, especially at night and I stopped treatment even though I was only scheduled to take one more 10mg dose.
That last 20mg dose was 48 hours ago and the panic disorder seems no sign of relenting. I may have an hour or two of relief hear and there but nothing prolonged. I’ve read that a dose of prednisone should be out of your body in roughly 24 hours but the after effects seem to linger much longer. Any ideas at what point my body / mood issue should return to normal? Dr. suggested I get back on Lexapro but I recall getting on the drug was difficult, with it actually causing more anxiety even when starting off in very small dosages. I was relatively “OK” before this started. Things are not helped by this whole pandemic and I have been stuck at home as they don’t want me to come into work with “cold like” symptoms. My word is reduced to walks around the neighborhood.
Any thoughts and insight is greatly appreciated. I don’t think I have the mental capacity to sustained a prolonged event of panic attacks.
Thank you,
Gary
I have heard that Prednisone is a powerful drug and has withdrawal symptoms that can cause panic even when only using it once. My daughter had a hypersensitivity reaction to it in the emergency room and we were told to continue to administer it to her over several days to taper it down slowly over a week. We didn’t as she had broken out in hives after it was administered to her.
A few days later she had a panic episode at night and felt she couldn’t get enough air. These episodes came and went over the course of a month, usually at night. I googled other people’s experiences with this drug and it seems like we are not alone. She had never had a panic attack or anxiety episodes prior to this.
I noticed you also mentioned Klonopin (Clonazepam). Just wanted to mention that is a powerful sedative in case you were not aware. .5 mg Klonopin is equivalent to 10 mg of Valium and is much shorter acting than Valium. I became dependent on Klonopin very quickly. It was initially prescribed as needed for panic atracks. Initially it made me sleepy but it wasn’t long (perhaps a few months) before my anxiety was increased dramatically as my body constantly craved it. I had terrible anxiety and breathing issues on it. It took me two years to slowly withdraw from it. I will not touch the stuff or any other sedative ever again. Hopefully this is a one off drug for you and you are not using it regularly.
Just my experience, please take care.
For now I am trying meditation, I am not able to tolerate antidepressants. They increase my anxiety in the initial stage to such a strong degree.
Thank you kindly for your thoughts. What you said makes sense but I sure hope I don’t have nightly panic attacks for a whole month! I (up until this point) have used the klonopin sparingly. 30, 0.5mg tabs would go me 9-12 months. I generally try a half tablet first to see if that will do the trick. But having a panic attack three nights in a row has been rough. I’ve been traumatized and fearful to go to sleep now where generally I can’t wait.
I empathize. Panic attacks really are the worst. I have to deep breathe through them. She didn’t have them nightly. They came and went, but she is not prone to panic attacks. It looks like you are, as am I.
Right now I am reading a lot about magnesium and how it calms the mind and body. However I found the supplements a bit “too much” for me, so I have been eating a lot of magnesium rich foods like wheat bran muffins and pumpkin seeds. I think its helping.
Also I am hoping the meditation helps. I have only just started and apparently it takes time for it to work. After I was told by my doctor about the science of meditation and how it actually physically alters the brain I am really interested. I figure it can’t hurt.
If you are interested, google Jon Kabat Zin. His meditations are on youtube for free. He is a professor at the University of Massachusetts and founded their stress reduction clinic. I used to poo poo meditation until I read several articles on it and how it has helped so many.
I am really fed up with panic attacks and the medication is not an option for me so I am ready to try just about anything!
How did you sleep last night? Hopefully your panic attacks will just be temporary.