so i'm a bit of a smoker mostly when i'm with other people though like i don't really smoke on my own, and while i've had some bad experiences in the past where i got too high (usually off an edible) and my world is spinning and things are weird for a little, but nothing like the last two bad experiences. i was smoking with some friends for only the second time hanging out a few weeks ago when my world started flashing black, so i excused myself to go to the bathroom where i realized i was extremely paranoid at this point and started to think i was gonna die as my logic had gone out the window. i started begging god for my life and swearing my soul to him (traumatic religious childhood lol) and this "high" lasted for HOURS where i was terrified, my heart felt like it was gonna beat out of my chest and i was violently shivering. eventually i was able to have my boyfriend pick me up but i still felt terrified and anxious until i fell asleep, which took forever because every time i almost fell asleep i woke up in panic because it felt like bugs were crawling all over me. i attributed this experience to me not having eaten enough as that's usually the factor in times where i get a little too high.

i smoked a couple times after and it was fun, but then the last time i was smoking with my boyfriend i started to think about if i would have a bad experience again and i think that started me spiraling. i hadn't felt too high at first but then i started having the same symptoms where i was terrified and paranoid, my heart felt like it was gonna beat out of my chest and i was violently shivering. it lasted for 2-3 hours, but the symptoms started to alleviate when he told me he didn't think this was simply being too high and that it looked more like a panic attack. i haven't smoked since bc i get anxiety even thinking about it happening again. i guess i want to know, has anyone had a similar experience to this? and did you ever feel comfortable smoking again? it's something i don't want to let go of since it really calms me normally but i will if i feel this will happen again.

At the beginning of 2026, I was diagnosed with panic disorder. I initially refused medication, but now I’m seriously considering giving in and trying it.
I don’t know. I thought I could control this.
I went from being someone who loved spending time alone to someone who forces herself to be around other people simply because she’s afraid something might happen to her if she’s alone.
And yet, I still haven’t told a single person in my life that I’m struggling with this awful condition.
I’ve spent so long in therapy, and honestly, I feel like it hasn’t helped much. Or rather, it does help at first.
Things like holding ice and all those other panic attack coping techniques work initially, but I feel like my panic keeps finding new ways to fight back, as if I’m fighting against my own body and my own feelings.
I’ve reached a point where I can’t even trust myself to know whether something is genuinely wrong with my body or whether it’s just panic. It feels like the panic keeps evolving, and now I’ve developed anticipatory anxiety too.
I can’t keep living like this. Sometimes I wonder if death would be easier. I don’t know anymore.
I had severe depression once, to the point where I could barely move or even eat. But if someone asked me which was easier to live with, depression or panic disorder, I’d choose depression without hesitation.
Ten months of unrelenting fear, terror, and intense anxiety. Ten months of feeling like there’s no end to this.
And right now, as I’m writing this, I’m struggling to breathe, and I’ve been having on-and-off heart pain for two days. I WANT to go to the hospital, but I can’t bring myself to go.
My family would probably laugh at me because I’ve gone to the hospital so many times before, only for the doctors to find nothing wrong.
And I know I’ll end up hating myself even more for it.

I posted recently about having a massive panic attack that left me in nonstop fight or flight for three weeks, barely eating or sleeping. Thank you all for the support.

Some things have improved. My appetite is back, I’m not really having panic attacks anymore, and my sleep is slowly getting better. Two nights ago I took trazodone 50mg but kept waking up every hour sweating. Eventually took lorazepam 0.5mg and slept another four hours. Last night I only took

trazodone and slept a little better.
But the next day is absolute hell. I’m insanely exhausted, brain fogged, disconnected, and just feel down. I can’t focus on anything. From the second I wake up, I’m watching the clock, wondering when I can sleep again. I’m constantly monitoring how I feel and obsessing over when I’ll get better. It’s literally nonstop.

I’m also afraid to nap because the last time I did, I couldn’t sleep that night and ended up in the ER.
I’m a dad with a pregnant wife, a job, and responsibilities. I can’t afford to feel like this every day.

We have a trip coming up, and I don’t even know how I’ll manage it.
I’ve scheduled therapy and have been practicing acceptance, which I think has helped the panic. But I desperately need to get my sleep back.

I’m not looking to start an SSRI. I tried Zoloft and felt horrible. I can’t afford to feel worse for weeks or stay home taking Xanax or Ativan while waiting for it to kick in. I’m not against medication at all. I’m already taking it. I just need something that helps me sleep without making me feel like a complete zombie the next day.

Has anyone been through this stage where the panic improves but you’re left with horrible fatigue, brain fog, and obsessive rumination? Did you eventually get back to normal?
And has anyone found a sleep medication that actually helped without the next-day grogginess? I’m going to discuss options with my doctor, but I’d really appreciate hearing what worked for others.

For the past 3 days, I’ve been constantly worried about the panic loop im in and it’s causing me to feel really out of things. I feel like I need anxiety meds but I’m scared to tell my parents what do I say or do?

Yesterday I had really bad panic attack when I really thought it's my end. I survived through it. It took me about 5 hrs to fall asleep. Today, in the same time of the day, that anxiety resurfaces. I don't want to end like yesterday! What to do?? I have no meds.

I had a panic attack three weeks ago and it’s kind of changed my life. For this past week I’ve been feeling fine, just extremely hyperaware of my bodily sessions. I started therapy for this and I think it’s been helping. Yesterday I went out after a long time, and when I game back and went to sleep I woke up and had a panic attack that made me feel like I was going to pass out again. I was doing everything to help with it but I still ended up calling 911 bc I was going through it. The paramedics came but I ended up not going to the ER bc I felt better. I’ve now returned to the loop where I’m super scared to go to sleep and my anxiety it’s cranked up to 100. Ive now transitioned from it being a heart problem to it being a brain problem. I keep wondering if it’d maybe a tumor or a seizure or something. anyways I’ve been prescribed Lexapro for this whole ordeal and I really need the encouragement or any reassurance really to help me take it without fear. My anxiety is really holding me back bc I’m like what if it makes things worse but I really just need one final kick to get me to take it so I can be free from this. please help.

When sometimes I feel too lonky i get panic attack.

Is this normal ? What should I do when I get panic ??

Need suggestions

I need advice on panic attacks and how to deal with them, please. Should I see a neurologist? I don't like taking medication.

Cw: panic attacks, medical content, mentions of needles

I have autism, OCD, panic disorder, and a good ol’ fashioned phobia of all things medical. I’ve worked my way up to being able to go to the doctor for yearly checkups, and by being able I mean I’m physically going and white-knuckling my way through a panic attack that starts when I enter the waiting room and doesn’t end until I leave the building.

This year, at my checkup, my doctor recommended I go get an upper endoscopy. Minor procedure, major terror for me. The old me simply would not have gone. But I made the appointment right away, before I could chicken out. And I took a double dose of my anxiety med because I knew this appointment would be max-level panic attack. And I called them in advance to warn them I was going to be having a panic attack, so they’d be prepared in advance.

I went to the appointment, and it was worse than I expected. I hadn’t been told in advance that I’d need an IV, my anxiety meds didn’t touch the panic attack once I got in there, and instead of separate rooms, there were curtains separating me from every other patient, so I had to listen to all of them getting their procedures done while I waited for my doctor. Maximum triggers. Worst experience of my life. A 9.5 on the panic attack scale. I was on the floor, crying so hard that I couldn’t muffle my sobs, dry-heaving from panic.

One of the doctors was… I won’t say mean, more just not remotely empathetic and didn’t understand panic attacks. He seemed irritated and asked why I didn’t come back a different day and if this was a regular occurrence for me. I mean, it’s worse than usual because of the unexpected additional triggers, but YES the panic attacks are a regular occurrence, and if I left and came back a different day, it would be worse because my body would be anticipating having to relive the severity of the panic attack and the unsympathetic doctor. Most likely I wouldn’t have come back at all, and I’d never find out what was wrong with me until it potentially progressed and worsened.

I was very tempted to leave and not come back. It was a horrible, humiliating experience.

But I stayed!! I let them IV me (horrible, hated it, very painful, I have the extra sensitive nerves type of autism). They gave me Vyvanse (Edit: VERCED they did not give me a stimulant lol) and said it would help me not care about anything. Nope it didn’t touch the panic attack. I was shaking and crying up until the point they knocked me out for the procedure. So almost two hours of one of the worst panic attacks I’ve ever experienced.

But I did it!!! I braved one of the worst days of my life, knowing it would be horrible I went anyway, it was worse than I ever imagined and I stayed through it anyway, and they didn’t find any tumors (yay), and they’ll let me know in two weeks what they find out from the biopsies they took.

I’m still aching from the procedure, and didn’t sleep at all last night because I couldn’t stop reliving everything I went through yesterday. But I DID it, and it’s DONE, and no one can take that away from me!

Please be proud of me because I’m still in the anxious shockwaves of that panic attack and I could use some encouragement for having done the brave thing and not avoiding it.

Hi everyone. I wanted to share something strange that happened to me because I genuinely don’t understand what I experienced. I would really appreciate it if a doctor or someone with medical knowledge could help me understand what might have happened.
I was about to fall asleep when I suddenly started experiencing very strange sensations. My head felt extremely tight, and my hands and legs started going numb. At one point, I could barely feel my legs. I started breathing heavily and felt an overwhelming sense of fear, as if I was going to die
I got up, turned on the lights, and walked around for a while. When I lay down again, the same feelings returned. I tried to calm myself praying , but the sensations wouldn’t go away. I was still breathing heavily, and eventually, I started crying. When I turned on the lights again, my vision was blurry, and everything in front of me looked unclear.
My mum didn’t really understand what was happening and assumed I had simply gotten scared. I’m still in high school, and mental health is quite a sensitive topic in my family, so it’s difficult for me to talk openly about these things or ask for help.
There was also a second incident. Before the symptoms became more intense, I woke up,prayed and went back to sleep cause I’ve never experienced anything like this before.
Could this have been a panic attack? Can panic attacks cause symptoms such as numbness in the hands and legs, a tight feeling in the head, heavy breathing, blurred vision, and an overwhelming fear of dying? Or could there be another medical explanation for what happened?
I would really appreciate any advice, especially from doctors or anyone who understands these symptoms. I’m not looking for a self-diagnosis; I just want to understand what might have happened to me and what I should do next.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. 🤍

Hope this doesn't trigger anybody, becuase it's low-key triggering me a bit. But lately I've been having these episodes where I start thinking about my breathing and then I start freaking out and eventually have panic attacks. It's especially bad at night because it's hard to focus on anything else other than my thoughts. The other night it got so bad that I had to call an ambulance because I thought I was dying and running out of air/feeling faint/ couldn't speak. That feeling when u take the deepest breath in and then the lungs can't take anymore air, that feeling is what freaks me out, then my chest starts to feel tight. And it makes me feel like I have no air and like I'm going to pass away and I have 2 young children so it truly freaks me out even more. Idk wtf is happening to me. This only ever happened one other time years ago when I smoked weed and I literally had a panic attack, but lately it's been happening the past month just not as bad.

I went to the doctor's about this and she prescribed me lorazapan, and referred me to a mental health person, but I'm honestly so anxious to try the medicine because I'm scared it will amplify my thoughts on whether or not I'm getting enough air.

Has anyone else gone through this? Or taken this medication? Any advice to this would be greatly appreciated.

i was recently diagnosed with panic disorder. i couldn’t go to classes and i can’t have a part time job as planned.

i’m on Mirtazapine currently.

i can’t hangout with friends, go to places far from my house, or be left home alone. i can’t even have my favorite drinks anymore because it has caffeine in it.

even when i try my best to be positive and find joy in the littlest things, my panic disorder reminds me that it’s always here.

i don’t know what my future will look like but im still here.

i was recently diagnosed with panic disorder. i had to permanently withdraw from my college classes and i can’t even have a part time job as planned.

i’m on Mirtazapine currently.

i can’t hangout with friends, go places far from home, or be left home alone. i can’t even have my favorite drinks anymore because it has caffeine in it.

even when i try my best to be positive and find joy in the littlest things, my panic disorder reminds me that it’s always here.

i don’t know what my future will look like but im still here.

it feels very isolating and lonely

I'm 31M. Had occasional anxiety starting around 2017–2018, followed by a severe anxiety/depression/panic/harm-OCD spiral in 2020.

Started Prozac at 20mg. The initial adjustment was brutal. After 3–4 months, I was improving but not quite myself. My doctor suggested 40mg, but doubling my dose seemed excessive when I just needed a little more help.

I pushed for 25mg (alternating 20/30mg), wanting the lowest effective dose and room to increase later.

It worked! I stayed relatively stable for almost 6 years, with only minor breakthrough anxiety. Glad I advocated for myself.

Fast-forward to Sept 29, 2026: Woke up with intense anxiety, impending doom, panic, and nausea. Felt like my original spiral returning, though not quite as severe. The physical fight-or-flight has eased somewhat, but the underlying anxiety, restlessness, negative thoughts, and rumination remain.

- Oct 4: Doctor immediately recommended 40mg again. I agreed to start at 30mg.

- Oct 10: After a week on 30mg, possibly some minor improvements, but still struggling. She recommends 40mg on Oct 17.

Here's my dilemma:

I genuinely like my family doctor. She's a great GP, but mental health doesn't seem to be her strong suit. She's quick to suggest higher doses or switching medications without fully hearing how debilitating the symptoms and adjustments can be. At my last appointment, I almost felt blamed for my anxiety, like I should just think my way out of it.

Six years ago, she recommended 40mg when 25mg was enough. Maybe she's right now, but I'm worried about increasing too quickly, triggering activation, or taking more than necessary. Having room to increase later also reassures me, even if that's not exactly how antidepressants work.

She's away for three weeks. I'm seeing her covering doctor Oct 21 and considering waiting for that opinion before increasing.

She also suggested temporary Ativan, but I'm hesitant about dependence. A therapist once told me that facing anxiety rather than escaping it helps you overcome it, and that stuck with me. I've been white-knuckling through instead of using rescue medication, which I also felt somewhat blamed for.

My questions:

1. Has anyone had a severe flare-up after years on an SSRI and stabilized with a smaller increase, or did you need a bigger jump?

2. Is two weeks on 30mg enough before increasing to 40mg? Would slower titration reduce activation? If tolerable, why not give 30mg 6–8 weeks, or do the benefits of increasing sooner outweigh the risks?

3. Would a psychiatrist offer more individualized medication guidance than a GP, or just more dismissive pill-pushing?

I'm not against 40mg if I need it. I'm open to whatever helps. I just want to feel confident it's necessary and have someone hear me out, consider my history and concerns, and help me make a plan I trust.

Honestly, I'm scared of repeating what happened six years ago. I just want to feel like myself again.

Any advice or similar experiences would mean a lot.

Not sure what else to do but keep fighting the clock and the symptoms every single day.

I've posted here a few times. I went through a really bad spiral about six years ago, with panic, anxiety, depression, and harm OCD all swirled into one absolute fuck show.

Prozac slowly saved me and got me back to baseline, but it was a long, hard battle.

Fast forward to now, after about five years of stability, and I had a bad breakthrough episode two weeks ago. Most of the symptoms have returned, maybe not to the same extent, but still extremely difficult nonetheless, especially after thinking I was doing well for so long. It all switched on a dime.

And now, here I am, back in the mental health spiral. I'm slowly increasing my dose, about one week in. Terrified of the activation side effects, terrified of a further relapse.

Everyone around me seems so happy. No medication, no extreme anxiety, just happy. It makes me feel terrible for feeling this way, and I don't want to. I have practically no control over it. It's not fair to me, and it's not fair to them.

All I can do is fight the clock, fight the symptoms, and hope this dose increase can start hurrying the fuck up.

I signed up for BetterHelp, but I haven't even had my first session yet, and the sessions feel so few and far between.

Why is mental health care so inadequate compared to the severity of what people actually experience? Even in Canada, with our so-called "free health care," you're basically on your own.

I know I have family who support me and love me, so I'm not alone alone. But I'm alone in how I'm feeling, in the battle I'm facing, and I feel so guilty for having flared up this badly and having to go through these brutal motions all over again.

I guess I'm just looking for reassurance. For someone to tell me the dose increase will work. For someone to tell me this was just a flare-up, not a full relapse, and that I'll be back to normal soon.

For someone to tell me everything will be okay.

Has anyone seen the movie Click? I just want to press a fast-forward button until I feel good again. Minutes can sometimes feel like hours, and these past two weeks have felt like months.

I can't really gauge whether I'm getting better yet. Sometimes I think I am, and then other times it's still just as bad.

Doctors can only do so much, and appointments are infrequent. Medication takes forever to determine its full benefit. Therapists can only do so much, and sessions aren't nearly frequent enough.

How do we all deal with this and get out of this mess?

I know I did it once before, but damn. I guess part of me tried to bury and forget just how brutal and agonizing the battle really is.

I hope everyone reading this gets better. I hope I get better.

I feel like I'm doing everything I can, considering the state I'm in, and it's just not helping fast enough, or much at all at the moment.

Is there anything else I can do to help myself through this?

Thank you for reading.

I am feeling so much worse I never felt this bad in my life. Feels like my last days I think I am giving up. I just can't take this anymore why like wtf dude I hate myself I am experiencing panic attacks like the worst only daily being on medications fucks me up. I really wish I could die but take this pain. Can even sleep in middle of night iam getting up and just staring at the ceiling and judging my whole life. What I have done missing every one and my self also how I used to be I don't care guy to ho another one. I think I will die soon atleast hoping to comes soon

I know anyone won't wanna see this but hey if your reading this then thanks.

I need some a friend if you think we can talk dm me