Dr. Parth Nagda
Psychiatry
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Patient's Query
Hello doctor,
I have been getting panic attacks very frequently. It comes with shortness of breath, my chest feels tight and painful, and an emotional breakdown. I often feel dizzy, light head and like I have no control over my body. This has been happening for four days now and yesterday I had three panic attacks. Today, I had three again. My chest feels tight all the time and I have a hard time breathing for hours. The panic attacks come in very randomly and are unexpected.
I always overthink about the smallest things and I cannot put my mind to rest. It is all hard to manage. Every day I feel lethargic, restless, and exhausted. My sleep schedule is horrible and I cannot sleep at night. Lately, I have been staying up until 5 AM. I have talked to my mother and found out she had also been experiencing panic attacks around my age.
Hello,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
Many times, anxiety and depression coexist and it leads to the symptoms you have been experiencing. Moreover, the body heals in sleep and that is also disturbed for you, so that is not allowing you to recover. This basically happens due to a deficiency of a neurotransmitter in the brain called serotonin which reduced the stress handling capacity of the brain. Apart from stress, there are genetic factors also, and that is another reason you are having this problem.
Please consult a local psychiatrist who can examine you and start you on SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) type of medicines which are the first line of treatment and are highly effective. It is normally given for two to four months and then tapered off slowly. The medicines take about a week or 10 days to start taking effect and until then usually, low dose Benzodiazepines are given for immediate effect.
In addition to the medicines, please do deep breathing exercises daily, yoga, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, etc., which will help calm your nervous system.
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Psychiatry
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