Techniques and hope please

[JazzyLorene]

I lived a crazy life of 15hrs of school a week,12hrs of internship a week,&doubles all weeknd.This past Jan. i had my 1st panic attack. I have never felt this before.Since then my anxiety&panic attacks got worse. It would b me having panic attacks 1 a week to 1every othr day. I made an app with a doctor&she easily perscribed me 50mg of Zoloft. I took the1st dose befre i went to bed. Woke up in a panic attack from the night terror i had.I ddnt sleep the rest of the night.My eyes stay dialated, my anxiety was up the roof, i couldnt eat, i couldnt swallow. I felt so crappy but I took the2nd dose befre i went to bed&woke up in the middle of the night to what was the worst panic attack i ever had. I woke up feeling like i couldnt breathe at all. My heart was pounding so much i thought i was having a heart attack. I couldnt swallow i thought i was gonna choke. I was shaking uncontroably bt worst of all my mind felt foggy and i couldnt think straight. It felt like something dark took over my mind. My roommate held me&i literally was screaming how crazy i felt. I thought i was gonna die&almost felt like tht would be better than goin thru this.I decided then i was NOT taking anymore of the Zoloft cuz i felt it made my panic and anxiety triple worse. I did not sleep tht night.The nxt night i had another panic attack& convinced everyone i was dying and ended up in the ER. The whole week i continued with my pattern of a panic attack once a day. I strted seeing a therapist for this. Its been a few weeks and im still anxious and have panic attacks at night bt they rnt as severe and sometimes not everyday. I still cnt sleep at nights. I have terrible insomnia. I feel like i cnt swallow. Im still struggling to eat. My mind still feels foggy and disconnected from me. My heart always races. I dnt feel the same anymore. Its driven me to slowly be depressed. I cry everyday over this. I dont feel like i will ever be normal again.I feel like i am crazy literally crazy and that no one rele understands. Im literally losing hope. Not suicidal but i sure do feel doomed forevr

[birdie0907]

I am posting this other comment of jazzylorene so it provides some more info on this thread.

From jazzylorene
I feel the foggy feeling in my head too... My therapist says its normal but its kinda comforting to have someone else say they experience this weird feeling too. I hate the fog. It literally feels like i am not myself anymore that the fog has taken over the person i was. My therapist told me to do a technique to get to know that fog better. I haven't succeeded completely in it yet but maybe u can try it out. She told me to imagine a room tht i can look into from the outside and ask my fog to move in there. Once the fog is in there u look at it from outside the room. Observe it. You can evn ask it questions. After observing it appreciate the fog for letting you observe it. It might sound silly but like i said ive almost got it down. It is kind of comforting

[Paxiled]

This is what it feels like when regular anxiety attacks start.  As for the Zoloft, it's a good choice for anxiety but it might have been better to gradually work up the dose.  At any rate, make sure your therapist specializes in anxiety -- most don't really.  And just because one medication doesn't work for you doesn't mean none will.  I'd find a therapist who does CBT; theoretically it's the best and they usually teach relaxation techniques that other therapists might not be expert in.