AboutSally Expertise Can answer general questions about symptoms, how to cope with them, getting help, relationships with others, employment concerns, family support, personal experience with drug related treatments vs behavior techniques. How panic attacks increased my awareness of the world around me.
I can`t answer what medications would be best for you, whether you should or should not disclose your illness to others, substitutions for seeing a physician or other medical advice that should come only from a professional.
Experience I have had panic disorder/attacks for 20 years, the first 8 were spent in an agonizing search for a diagnosis and eventually cost me a career of 20 years. I can relate well to any employment or socialization problems caused by PD. Over the years I have developed many ways to cope with PD on a daily basis but also know that nothing will substitue for professional help. I have done a lot of research on the disease including past and future medications, genetic tendancies (I now believe my mother suffered from PD) and personal self-esteem issues. On the "flip" side-learning to cope with panic disorder/ attacks actually increased my awareness and sensitivity to others and the world around me.
Question Hi I suffer from panic attacks and depression because of the panic. I have been on a low dose of amyltriptaline 20mg for quite a few months now. Recently I forgot to take a couple and then incresed from 10mg to 20 mg gradually to get back to my normal dose. Since then I have been getting palpitations. I have been to my doctor who said that I am getting a double beat and then a pause. He said it is nothing to worry about and to try to ignore it. Do you know if this could be an effect of the amyltriptaline of just coincidence ? It is difficult to ignore these pauses as they are making me catch my breath and i do feel quite breathless. Jackie
Answer Hello Jackie and thank you for your inquiry. One thing to consider - did you have the palpatations before your dose changed ? If not, you might discuss with your doctor if lowering the dose might help. DON'T EVER change your dose without checking with your doctor first. Some drugs require a very slow decrease. Your body could still be reacting to the changes already made in your dose. It's easy for the doctors to say ignore, but not so easy to do. You might try some breathing exercises to do on a regular basis, not just when you feel the palpitations. Here is a very good site that explains and helps you to produce calming breaths. Just copy and paste the below url into your browser address field and hit enter:
If your symptoms persist you should ask your doctor to run further tests and/or change your medication. Never be shy about discussing problems with you doctor. You have to be your own health advocate.
Many people have palpations once in awhile but if they become more frequent and annoysome, that only exacerbates the panic that you are taking the medication for in the first place. I hope this helps. Good luck and good health !
