yep, cg, i did say my dr. was wary of prescribing stims.
i'm not on any other meds.
i have had/do have lots of depression, and general anxiety. but the attacks are something new.
Dear Seeker, I can totally sympathize. Once you have one panic attack its much easier to work yourself into another one.
But I agree with the others about getting a new doctor and not a regular doctor. a psychiatrist. They are more knowledgeable about the effects and side effects. I have heard of self medicating with the caffeine. My brother in law does it. Come to think of it. I think I do to. I am addicted to Coca-cola.
Anyway it sounds like you are in over your head and right now and need some real help getting straightened out.
Best wishes and lots of luck
Stims our Dr. doesn't like cause of the side effects. My fear is a dependencey for them. I also dislke hearing a appetite issue. I choose caffeine for us 2 instead. It helps us both relax more. I am working on breathing stradegies in us both. We both need it.that's interesting. I don't have anxiety attacks, but I do have a sense of nervousness when my stimulant medication wears off. I can tell you the EXACT hour that it is wearing off because my HR increases and my breathing rate increases breifly. Maybe it is slight anxiety as the med leaves my system.
All this to say, hmm. Maybe your body likes the caffiene and over compensates for the lack of stimulation when it wears off by gearing up your CNS with its own natural chemicals? The only problem is it goes too far which leads to your anxiety attacks. just an idea based on limited experience....
Better idea to talk to your Doctor, get the Panic Attacks treated and maybe even ( shudders) get off the caffiene or at least reduce it... ( oh man, I don't know if I could do that.. I like my coffee too!!) My ADD treatment also helped my anxiety immensely!! It was so bad that it affected my Blood Pressure through the roof. Now its all normal to low.
Sherry
Unfortunately, caffiene does contribute to anxiety. Maybe you just need a new doc? Didn't you say somewhere else that yours doesn't prescribe stims? Are you taking medication? Ritalin helped with my anxiety and depression that are ADD related, but it didn't really help any other symptoms and made me feel like crap so now I just take Cymbalta for depression which leads to alot of my anxiety but I am still as ADD as ever!---At least I'm not anxious or depressed about it!i have a general question about anxiety attacks.
i've been having several lately. there are sound environmental reasons for them that i don't need to really get into here.
many of them occur about the same time as the caffeine(through sodas and coffee) i have ingested would be wearing off. like first thing in the morniing, late in the afternoon, early in the evening.
i don't know if i'm imagining this or not. i hate the attacks. they are crippling me. they are making my stress filled life almost totally unbearable. i am losing days of my life to them, and the lingering hangover they leave me with.
i was having one this evening, and after drinking a cpl. of colas, i started to settle down.
could be placebo effect. dunno.
i'm using the caffeine to self-medicate. i'm hoping it's not contributing to the attacks. besides, i looooooove my coffee.
i used to self-medicate with weed. the problem was that it only provided cover for the adhd symptoms without alleviating them, and sedated me to the effects of short temper, and depression. i still like it, i just don't rely on it to buffer my adhd.
so- that's the question. what is your experience?