Struckblind, is this new doctor one that you have to see due to health insurance or to being on the college health plan? What happened to being able to see the doctor that you had grown to trust?
I'm so glad you found Empowher and that Susan was able to help you see that your insomnia is not normal, and that you're right to want some answers and maybe some more appropriate medication.
I'd like to do the same thing for you regarding panic attacks.
I have an anxiety disorder and I've experienced severe panic attacks, and I know how horrible they can be. When you are in the midst of one, you feel certain that it will never stop, and it's worse at night. They are very real, and they affect you both physically and mentally. I imagine it's especially bad when you are fatigued from not being able to sleep.
It certainly would not be overreacting to see a therapist about your panic attacks. Especially since they are bad enough that you ache to self-medicate. You need a therapist who will listen to you and help work through the panic attacks, as well as a doctor who is more interested in both them and in your insomnia and doesn't tell you that it's all completely normal.
Panic attacks and panic disorder are important enough that even the Mayo Clinic has pages about them. They are recognized as a real medical condition:
And here's a great page on anxiety from the American Psychological Association. In fact, in one area it says that "people sometimes see 10 doctors before they are properly diagnosed," and that only one out of 4 get the treatment they need. That's why it's important to learn the symptoms and get some help. Here's this page:
http://www.apa.org/topics/anxietyqanda.html
You're learning something that is a truth in today's society: We have to be our own best advocate when it comes to health care. We have to ask, and push, and sometimes ask and push some more. We have to read, or research, and try to find out more questions to ask about. When we are lucky, we get a good doctor who listens and responds well to our questions, and it's with that doctor that we tend to finally find the answers we're looking for.
I think that to a college student like yourself, especially since you learned early on that it might be better to keep doctors at arms' length, this might be particularly hard. But you are important, and your health is important, and your mental health is important. If you can get some help with either the insomnia or the panic attacks or both, you will be able to take powerful new coping tools out into the world with you when you graduate.
And I'll give you the best response I ever heard to the words "this is normal" -- Just say, "Well, it's not normal for ME."
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Struckblind, is this new doctor one that you have to see due to health insurance or to being on the college health plan? What happened to being able to see the doctor that you had grown to trust?
I'm so glad you found Empowher and that Susan was able to help you see that your insomnia is not normal, and that you're right to want some answers and maybe some more appropriate medication.
I'd like to do the same thing for you regarding panic attacks.
I have an anxiety disorder and I've experienced severe panic attacks, and I know how horrible they can be. When you are in the midst of one, you feel certain that it will never stop, and it's worse at night. They are very real, and they affect you both physically and mentally. I imagine it's especially bad when you are fatigued from not being able to sleep.
It certainly would not be overreacting to see a therapist about your panic attacks. Especially since they are bad enough that you ache to self-medicate. You need a therapist who will listen to you and help work through the panic attacks, as well as a doctor who is more interested in both them and in your insomnia and doesn't tell you that it's all completely normal.
Panic attacks and panic disorder are important enough that even the Mayo Clinic has pages about them. They are recognized as a real medical condition:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/panic-attacks/DS00338
And here's a great page on anxiety from the American Psychological Association. In fact, in one area it says that "people sometimes see 10 doctors before they are properly diagnosed," and that only one out of 4 get the treatment they need. That's why it's important to learn the symptoms and get some help. Here's this page:
http://www.apa.org/topics/anxietyqanda.html
You're learning something that is a truth in today's society: We have to be our own best advocate when it comes to health care. We have to ask, and push, and sometimes ask and push some more. We have to read, or research, and try to find out more questions to ask about. When we are lucky, we get a good doctor who listens and responds well to our questions, and it's with that doctor that we tend to finally find the answers we're looking for.
I think that to a college student like yourself, especially since you learned early on that it might be better to keep doctors at arms' length, this might be particularly hard. But you are important, and your health is important, and your mental health is important. If you can get some help with either the insomnia or the panic attacks or both, you will be able to take powerful new coping tools out into the world with you when you graduate.
And I'll give you the best response I ever heard to the words "this is normal" -- Just say, "Well, it's not normal for ME."
February 1, 2009 - 1:35pmThis Comment
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