Are there any natural medication for panic attacks?

[SeekingAfrica]

I wish I had a magic wand for us both. I started taking the med and I feel divided. I am hoping it calms me down but we will see. The circle of anxiety and then sadness seems never ending. The fear I understand as well. I know it is hard but my new plan is one thing a day. I worked until burnout to try and keep myself away from this horrible cycle. It didn’t work and now I am pulling myself out. I am sending you my understanding.

I know people tend to be very divided on medication. I tend to be optimistic. I think of it as a tool you use to function better while you work on improving. The first one I took didn't do enough, but it did enough to get me to be calm enough to actually make improvements in my life. Later on, I got to a different place and they asked better questions, and I ended up with one SNRI, something for sleep, and something of benzo type until it all worked. At the time more bad things had happened and I had slid backwards in worse way. Getting to normal sleep was a huge change, and the medication was slowly working and at the 2 week mark I started getting calmer with less intrusive thoughts and more energy. It gave me back my life. Now, I know that seems not true by where I am now, but it really was huge for that time. For whatever reason at one point I was travelling./moving and got prescribed something else, and it was not helpful at all, but I no longer had continuity of care. So every doctor wanted to first put me on the same and then decide, and that really didn't work. But I still believe that if I have opportunity to get on the right thing again- it will change my life. NOT resolve my issues, but help me be calm enough to work on things.

That being said, things are 1% better. There was a deadline on Thursday, and since I've been anxious without help fora year, I got to a new level of anxious. I actually got paranoid in a scary way. My mind put together few facts around this deadline that COULD equal to a bad outcome. It was the kind of outcome that made me feel physically threatened and afraid to a point I couldn't function. I got valerian root and I'm trying it out, but also after the deadline, my mind calmed a bit. I think it's mostly exhaustion response and it will ramp up again in few days, but I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm trying to find things to hold onto until I get to actual change and actual ability to get help. In the mean time I'm trying to slow down because I've never gotten myself so paranoid I wasn't aware I could be wrong, and that scared me. It was the kind of fear that will break your whole life apart, and I did not function well at all. I don't want to get to that back. It was scary.
I hope your medication works for you and I hope one day I get the help I need. In the meantime hopefully I can get some help.

 

[Survivor3]

Is there anything that worked for you with panic attacks specifically? I've tried Xanax before but I don't have recipe currently. So I was wondering if there is anything natural that could help enough (compared to 0.5mg Xanax for example).

I use antihistamines for anxiety/panic attacks. Promethazine Hydrochloride 25mg x2. They take a couple of hours to work but they do work.

 

[Susan Jane]

I know people tend to be very divided on medication. I tend to be optimistic. I think of it as a tool you use to function better while you work on improving. The first one I took didn't do enough, but it did enough to get me to be calm enough to actually make improvements in my life. Later on, I got to a different place and they asked better questions, and I ended up with one SNRI, something for sleep, and something of benzo type until it all worked. At the time more bad things had happened and I had slid backwards in worse way. Getting to normal sleep was a huge change, and the medication was slowly working and at the 2 week mark I started getting calmer with less intrusive thoughts and more energy. It gave me back my life. Now, I know that seems not true by where I am now, but it really was huge for that time. For whatever reason at one point I was travelling./moving and got prescribed something else, and it was not helpful at all, but I no longer had continuity of care. So every doctor wanted to first put me on the same and then decide, and that really didn't work. But I still believe that if I have opportunity to get on the right thing again- it will change my life. NOT resolve my issues, but help me be calm enough to work on things.

That being said, things are 1% better. There was a deadline on Thursday, and since I've been anxious without help fora year, I got to a new level of anxious. I actually got paranoid in a scary way. My mind put together few facts around this deadline that COULD equal to a bad outcome. It was the kind of outcome that made me feel physically threatened and afraid to a point I couldn't function. I got valerian root and I'm trying it out, but also after the deadline, my mind calmed a bit. I think it's mostly exhaustion response and it will ramp up again in few days, but I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm trying to find things to hold onto until I get to actual change and actual ability to get help. In the mean time I'm trying to slow down because I've never gotten myself so paranoid I wasn't aware I could be wrong, and that scared me. It was the kind of fear that will break your whole life apart, and I did not function well at all. I don't want to get to that back. It was scary.
I hope your medication works for you and I hope one day I get the help I need. In the meantime hopefully I can get some help.

I understand, it is amazing how much a deadline, a form, or tax returns spin me out to such a level, when I am in a episode. I think of the worst case scenario, being alone on the streets with nothing and start swirling in panic and not functioning. Opening my post box used to stress me as well. This happens even when I know someone would help me, because being a burden is one of my go to feelings. It seems my system just cannot handle anymore. At the moment my tasks are reduced and then I stop eating and slip into sadness and fear of the future. I feel as if all of my sense of security was attached to working and earning. I have done this my whole life. I hope the new meds help as well. I am up and down and the drop is steep. I send my hope that you will find some relief and just remember you are not alone

 

[SeekingAfrica]

I use antihistamines for anxiety/panic attacks. Promethazine Hydrochloride 25mg x2. They take a couple of hours to work but they do work.

Thank you! That is super useful. I read something about antihistamines on google but had no idea if it actually works. It's also not expensive (since it's meant for allergies). I'm not saying it's ideal, but in a pinch would be useful to have a tool until I have an alternative. I found the exact combination you mentioned in my country to make sure we have it and it's not too bad price. How often have you taken it? Didn't find information on that and since it's not meant for this purpose I don't want to accidentally overdo it.

 

[Survivor3]

@SeekingAfrica I take 2 tablets as and when needed. I don't take them every day or when I don't have anxiety because I don't want to build up a tolerance to them. (If that's possible). I think they work because they make you drowsy. They're very good.

 

[Susan Jane]

I was just prescribed Promethazine Hydrochloride as well at 10mg for helping me get to sleep. I didn’t feel it helped much, but made me feel a bit foggy. I can’t be sure that it was the tablet, because I have high anxiety about any new medication. I guess my need to be awake and ready for threats is what makes it hard.

@Survivor3 seems to have a better idea about these tablets and a good dosage. I hope it helps

 

[Freddyt]

Depends where you are but in Canada, cannabis is legal, and I have been using CBG (CBG/CBD actually) for a couple years.

I find it damps down the "background noise" of PTSD for me.

 

[EveHarrington]

An excess of histamine in the body can cause anxiety so this may be why antihistamines work for some. I am currently seeking treatment for histamine intolerance with an allergist as well as a gastroenterologist. I currently rotate through a few different antihistamines that are over the counter (in the USA), including Pepcid AC (famotidine). Sadly, Benadryl is what helps me the most, but its use is linked to developing dementia so I try to use it as little as possible. I am also taking a number of supplements that are known to help reduce histamine load in the body, but they do not work fast and thus I use them more for long term healing. One that I’m experimenting with right now is vitamin C as it’s known to help with histamine levels, although the jury is still out on if it helps anxiety (which is the case with many supplements as there is little research money for something that cannot be patented). I know that for me, personally, histamine is definitely linked with my anxiety, so that’s why I’m focusing on this route to help manage my anxiety.

 

[Friday]

I can give you a list of a few hundred natural things that will kill you… in moments, minutes, hours, days, weeks. In excruciating pain, blinding pain, pitiable pain, & painless.

Natural? Does NOT mean safe.

Naturual, meaning unregulated & easily accessible? Pfft. No. (Natural anti anxiety meds) are all EXTREMELY regulated, and difficult to procure. As humans aren’t new. And what plants do what? Has a few thousand years history, and there’s a black market for anything that actually works, wellest. Marijuana & opiates being only 2 of something like 60 things that people bleed & die over. And they’re not even effective for everyone, just a majority. The minority? Are made worse by them.