Hi guys, I'm completely new to this forum and I've never been on here before.
Short introduction: I am a 21 year old male living in Canada, completely healthy aside from this anxiety.
In the past I've seen a therapist and been
prescribed such medications as Ativan as a sort of safety net if I felt
I was about to have a panic attack, and it seems that for the past year
or so I've managed it all very well. I've been able to talk myself out
of almost all panic attacks I would have, and only every now and again
I would have them full-blown.
Recently, I made a clearly poor choice when I decided
to eat 1/4 of a weed brownie for the 1st time in my life. What resulted
was I had a panic attack more severe than ever before which made me
bring myself to the ER of a hospital where I calmed down in the
presence of the doctors.I was having severe chest pain and my whole left arm had pins and needles.
Since this time, if I start to feel anxious, I
blow out into huge panic attacks that consume my entire life and make
me unable to interact with the people around me for moments in time
while I'm coping. What's new is that when I had that weed-induced panic
attack and all the chest pain, I find now that a new feature of my worries or panic is that I will have a heart attack.
My heart races so fast that I start to feel it seize almost and I lost my ability to breathe clearly.
I
think to myself "I'm only 21," how ridiculous would it be if I had a
heart attack? But the fear feels more real than ever now. I'm not
really sure how to approach dealing with this right now.
I should have prefaced this post with the fact
that I've just moved out on my own for the first time in a new city on
the opposite side of the country from most of my friends and family.
I'm trying to set up my new life and feeling very overwhelmed by all of
this.
