Agoraphobia and panic attacks - does anyone have any advice?

nicola8989

I'm on Citalopram and have been for a while now. I tried coming off them at Christmas and felt so awful I went back on, and ever since then I have just felt constantly anxious.

I started running in the hope that it would help as exercise has helped in the past but it hasn't really. Is there anything I can do? Should I be thinking about cutting back on sugar, I read that can make anxiety/panic worse? I'm really struggling and it takes so much out of me that I struggle to even think about improving my diet.

I also read Citalopram can cause panic attacks - should I maybe be coming off it? My panic attacks and depression were the reason I went on in the first place - my depression is gone now but my anxiety has flared.

Alassonde

I have anxiety, but I don't do well at all on anxiety medications, the ones I have tried all made the anxiety worse or they had physical side effects that I couldn't deal with. I haven't ever been on Citalopram so I can't speak for that one. I would suggest seeing a doctor rather than just going off it. Sometimes they want you to come off of it slowly instead of just all at once. They might be able to switch you to another one that would work.

fannyfrost

I agree, changing medication like that should be done with your Doctor or Psychiatrist.

Personally my anxiety is generally mild and can be overcome. Exercise, especially Yoga really helps me. Hormonal imbalances make it worse. My daughter has it too, It is really hard to deal with and I am not blowing you off with my suggestions, these are things I do to help me through it:

1- Deep breathing
2- Distract myself with something I really love, a book, a TV show. Something that pulls me away from it (takes time doesn't happen instantly)
3- At worst times find a quiet happy place and hide from the world (short term to get past the worst of it)
4- exercise when possible
5- Yoga, stretching - very calming. When I practiced Yoga daily I rarely had anxiety, truly it does work long term.

Again, go see your Dr. I highly recommend therapy as well. A good therapist, not necessarily a psychiatrist can offer some behavioral options to dealing with it. I went to school for psychology and in all my studies and reading, I still believe behavioral therapy is the best for Anxiety and OCD. The reason I think that is that it gives you options to cope with it and move past it. Drugs are great, but they are patches, drugs combined with therapy can often be the best solution.

dubird

If a side effect of anxiety is becoming troublesome, you need to work it out with your doctor. There's lots of different meds out there, some of which might help better than what you're on. But we're not qualified to give you advice on changing your meds, only you and your doctor together can.

It may be that adding something like yoga will be beneficial, or the doctor might be able to suggest something else. But don't try to go off it on your own, that can make things worse!

nicola8989

thanks everyone I think that therapy is something I might need to look into.