Get a second opinion
The thing that’s been helping me the most is seeing my therapist. I started to have episodes where I would feel tightness in my chest and I’d feel light-headed and like I was totally losing control. It just kept getting worse, and my doctor just said that it would go away. Because it was getting worse, this made me worry a lot because I felt like I had a strange problem that nobody could help me with and I started to feel like I never wanted to leave home or go anywhere. Finally I saw another doctor who told me that I should go see a therapist. I went and saw the therapist and he helped me understand that I was having panic attacks. He also helped me because I learned that there were lots of people who were like me too. He taught me some techniques that really help me to know what is going on and how to control my panic attacks. I still get them sometimes, but its lots less and it doesn’t make me stay at home anymore. Now that I know what’s happening to me and I know what to do about them, I feel like I have control of my own life…
Pat G., New Jersey