Medical Advice: Anxiety

[downquark1]

Exam months approaching and for me it usually means longs periods of anxiety, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, loss of appetite and lying awake all night in a cold sweat.

Does this constitute a panic attack? Is it bad enough to warrant medication?

I had hoped to grow out of it, but while my other neurosis have improved this seems worse each year.

[peanut]

Sounds like a panic attack. I take 2-4mg of Diazepam to alleviate my anxiety / panic attacks. It works for me. (Taken on an as and when basis).

[Ramrod]

I took valerian (or something like 'Kalms' with valerian in it) which helped me....

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

I took valerian (or something like 'Kalms' with valerian in it) which helped me....

I've tried kalms and a few over the counter sleeping aids last year, they weren't too effective.

[demented]

This might sound silly but I found rooibos tea relaxing and I say that as someone with a geeky worrying disposition which medication doesn't usually work. Or maybe it was the reduced levels of caffeine, who knows.

[pedantic]

Originally Posted by downquark1

I've tried kalms and a few over the counter sleeping aids last year, they weren't too effective.

I've used a few sleeping aids too, Valerian is much better than Kalms, Nytol etc etc, as Rammy suggests. Only been using Valerian for a couple of weeks, but so far, can recommend them highly.

http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stor...atalogId=11051

[Halcyon]

When I was doing my exams and for my driving test I took some Bach's Rescue Remedy. It seemed to work.

http://www.bachflower.com/

[budwieser]

Originally Posted by downquark1

Exam months approaching and for me it usually means longs periods of anxiety, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, loss of appetite and lying awake all night in a cold sweat.

Does this constitute a panic attack? Is it bad enough to warrant medication?

I had hoped to grow out of it, but while my other neurosis have improved this seems worse each year.

Pop and see your doctor mate, i had these a while ago and learned to deal with them but not before i had to take some Diazepam to start with.
You can snap yourself out of them but not before you realise that no harm will come to you.
The worse that can happen is you`ll faint and then your breathing will become normal again, it`s just hyperventilation, which is you get a build up of carbon dioxide crystals in the blood and you feel that you`re not getting enough air, so you overbreathe.
They`re bloody awful though and they can come and go without warning.
I found that i could get out of one by getting someone to talk about any old rubbish to me just as a distraction.!
I even went around where i work reading car number plates it worked though. Hope you get through this ok.