Shwmae Matthew, I am on half dose. Seems to have stabilised and have not had any panic explosions, but I have a lot of other stuff going on around me right now which has tempted me to go back on a full dose, however, before I consider that track, I about to start seeing a psychotherapist who specialises in Mindfulness.
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Iāve lived with panic attacks most of life, so I sympathise with you.
Let us know how you get on.
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yeh me too unfortunately and I had one for an entire day when having to fly on two different planes once so I really sympathise. Glad it had stabilised
K 
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Ditto, I had a horrendous panic while about to board a plane in Berlin, and it hit its peak in the air. Fortunately, there was a GP on the flight, and she gave me a fast acting medication and took me up to the front end of the plane. To catch my next flight, the airline took me through the airport in a wheelchair!
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I was on the second flight when mine reached itās peak and they sat me at the front with oxygen and were very nice to be fair!
Before the first flight I had to call @j.p.mac and ask him to just keep talking and tell me a story so I could get on the effing plane!
I am partially sighted so I always use airport assistance anyway but they were warned and were also very nice.
K
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Oh wellā¦thatās life! Itās nice that someone cared enough to help you. No one ever helped me when I had panic attacks in social situations. We all have our problems, etc.
My panic attacks were mostly induced by social situations, but I had out-of-the-blue attacks for a few years. So, I do relate all too well.
I have very odd triggers for panic attacks (socially-induced, however), even though I rarely have them these days.
You cannot fight a panic attack - that just makes them a zillion times worse. All you can do accept it as itās happening (not sure how you do that, because you feel like youāre dying, butā¦).
Qigong has helped me a lot.
Take good care.
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Iām watching football but just noted that celebrity ārace across the worldā is on bbc1 for the final leg.
So this is from africa to the Arctic?
Tromso is where I clanged planes for my second flight when I was having the panic attacks.
Tromso is about 69 north? The arctic circle starts at 66ish so that is not the arctic.
Try getting to greenland or svalbard from south africaā¦
Now thatās a race across the world.
What do you think @j.p.mac ?
Or would you prefer Patagonia to Ladakh to see snow leopards?
K
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I always wanted to go to both Patagonia and to the far north of India.
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Been to some India but not north and been to Argentina but not that far south!
Penguins?!?! Who cares 
Iām an arctic guy. Iām not an ant.
Maybe we can go together someday. We can bring JP.
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Just thought Iād update on this topic. Iāve been a bit of a lurker lately on the forum. A recent family drama has been consuming all my mental energy and mood, as a result I have upped my Citalopram dosage, back to the 20mg I had started with. I decided so as a means of bolstering my anti-anxiety shield, it wasnāt something I had wanted to do but thought it best to batten down the hatches as best I could. Upping my dosage again has come with its own set of problems, of course, increased anxiety for a while and my brain settling back into it all. I have to admit though, I did successfully taper off 20mg, and once my brain had adjusted, I felt very well, but life circumstances will sometimes throw curve balls.
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@Rups well done on tapering off the meds. Thats a big achievement. As you say though life sometimes throws curve balls & different strategies are required for those moments. I hope the family issues settle for you. Take care x
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Take care of yourself. Sometimes we just have to do what we have to do.
Iām sincerely wishing you more serenity in your life. Things will get better somehow.
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Hi All
Iām really lucky, ever having experienced a panic attack, but from the descriptions, it sounds really, really hairy. I took a drug some time ago called aripiprazole which is a mood stabiliser, but can cause anxiety as a side effect. Ye gods it did. I was scared to drive,answer the door or phone and was anxious all day and all night so couldnāt sleep. The only thing I could do is lie stiff like a board on the sofa. Been off it for some time now, so all recovered, apart from one small thing:
As I spent so long being anxious about not sleeping (self reinforcing or what?), at bedtime Iām still off like a shot. Loo, teeth, bed quick as you can. This is just in case I canāt sleep lol. My wife and I laugh about it now, although she gets a bit irritated when Iām muscling in past her in a rush.
On the medication front, I was given Diazepam which didnāt even touch it. They also donāt like to dish it out as itās very addictive.
On to titrating down your meds. I have no medical qualifications, but have been up and down that road many times and the theme is softly softly. It doesnāt matter even if it takes a few months. Also if you have a partner, tell them what youāre doing so they can be aware of any changes. Even better, your doctor and they can monitor you.
Ok now side effects. Iāve been told many times not to use Dr. Google, but always do. I think itās fine to research things on the Internet, so long as you are looking at what I call a āproper authorityā. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, it aint. NHS site is good, but very general and vague for my liking.
My goto for side effects for meds is the BNF. This is the British National Formularyā and is here:
This is the authority the medical staff use. You can search for any drug on there and read the possible side effects and how common they are.
As an example, last year I had a condition called gynecomastia which is a hormone imbalance. The consultant said I could take Tamoxifen which is very effective. On to the BNF and it told me that blood clots are ācommon or very commonā. What? Post stroke? Are you joking? I searched for the drug using Google and came across a breast cancer web site which discussed it. The general advice was to keep an eye on swelling in your legs as it could be a blood clot. So as a stroke survivor would I take it? Iām off like a rat out of a tunnel!
Sorry, banging on, but Iāve found that medical staff donāt always know the side effects of every drug (of course) so you have to check yourself. If you tell your doc youāve read it on the BNF, they will accept that and in any case, can look it up themselves.
My 2 pennorthā¦
Cheers
Steve
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Shwmae Steve,
Yes, I agree. To a great extent, I am attentive, with other comestibles, to what I put into my system, so it should be reasonable that, with medications, it is no different. I have advised my GP on drug interactions when he has suggested prescribing me certain meds. I use the NICE site myself. We should be aware of what we are taking, what the side-effects are, and what the contraindications are. Panic attacks are harmless physically but cause great mental distress. I am going to try and taper off citalopram again, and see if mine have gone, or if I can manage them again without medication. At the moment, I pop three pills a day. I would like to get down to popping just the one. Diolch for your reply.
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I havenāt read your post (but I will tomorrow) - I just need to say " nice to see you here"
Hope things are stabilising for you
Warm regards m8
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Shwmae @Rups OO welsh eh? Iāve got relations in Aberystwyth and my brother went to uni there. 
I completely agree with you comparing food/meds as they are both things you put in your body. I was pretty shocked when I found about Tamoxifen having blood clots as a common side effect and the consultant knew Iād had a stroke, but to be fair, Iām guessing very professional doesnāt know every side effect of every drug. Thatās why I always check myself.
Best of luck reduce your dosage, but remember, it doesnāt matter if it takes a long time, softly softly 
mae croeso i chi (ok, used Google Translate 
)
Steve
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Be care anti depressant donāt mix well will clopedogrel ( blood thinner). They stop it working and raise bp. Iād not risk the side effects
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Aye, I am now at 5mg and next month will be embarking on the one day on, one day off for at least six weeks. I was aware of the potential risks with SRRI and anti-platelet meds when I first consulted my GP, but I suffer from severe panic attacks which combined with the early years of post-stroke symptoms would have made life unbearable, so I opted for citalopram which is one of the āsaferā SRRIs to take with anti-platelet and blood thinner medication. I am looking forward but also a bit daunted by the upcoming challenges that await me in managing panic attacks again, but I feel a lot more resilient and braver in mental constitution to deal with this invasive nightmarish delirium of the brain.
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Iām very interested in your post about SSRIās. Iāve had a very long relationship with Escitalopram, which I started taking around 2007. Iāve tried to come off it 4 times, each time has been unsuccessful and ending with worse symptoms than I had to begin with. The last time I tried was a few years ago when I had been taking the minimum dose of 5mg for a few years and tapered off very slowly over 2 years until I was down to taking 5mg once a week which continued for 2 months or so. I didnāt envisage having any problems this time yet within a month of taking the last dose, again I found myself ācrashingā. Anxiety was off the charts and I was very tearful for no reason at all. But this time, there was the added problem of not being able to sleep, no matter what I did to tire myself out. The doc said I was relapsing (I knew I wasnāt) and although I really didnāt want to take those drugs anymore, I was feeling so desperate and exhausted that I was almost begging to go back on them. So I started back on 5mg again. Within a year, I cut them back to 5mg every other day and then I found this:
Although the article is mostly addressing what can happen if SSRIās are stopped abruptly, there are plenty of accounts online where people have had the same experience as Iāve had even if theyāve not been medicated long term.
With hindsight, if Iād stuck it out for another month or 2 after taking that last dose, Iād probably be free of them now. But I donāt want to ever go through that again, much less since having a stroke.
The last thing I want to do is to worry you - Iām sharing my experience just in case you or anyone else comes up against the same thing. Forewarned is forearmed. And if it happens, be more courageous than I was by sticking it out till the end.
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