controlling panic attacks in pregnancy

[Annie456]

Hi guys,
I'm 13+2 and it's my first pg.

I suffered with anxiety and panic attacks in my early 20s and had a bit of counselling and managed to control them. For a couple of years afterwards I would carry around some "Australian Bush Flower" (a bit like rescue remedy but stronger). I've been panic free for about 5 years but in the past 2 weeks i've felt it all start up again.

I don't know why i'm panicking. It usually happens in the middle of the night when I wake up drenched in sweat or when i'm on the train going to work in the morning (I just want to get off!) I can't rationalise it but they are starting to feel like they are beyond my control. (I've not reached hysterical panic yet but I feel like I'm really having to talk myself through the process of holding it all back.)

Not sure if anyone else has experienced this in pregnancy? I'm almost certain that there's nothing I can take (I managed without drugs last time but I can't have the bush flower because it contains alcohol)

Just wanted to hear other experiences so I can work out how to deal with it from here!

I experienced panic attacks during the first few weeks of pregnancy. I remember before i knew i was pregnant i started having really bad attacks. It was awful. I thought i was going to pass out a couple of times.

From what i remember they calmed down after about 5 months and stopped completely when i went on mat leave at about 25 weeks.

There awful arnt they. Not really helpful reply but just wanted you to know, i know what its like!

I hope they improve.

My panic attacks peaked at about 15 weeks, and then got better, although I was still fairly anxious throughout the whole pregnancy.

Like you OP I had been panic free for years, so it was a real shock when it started up again. I believe it's really common for anxiety symptoms to start/return during pregnancy - there must be some evolutionary reason I'm sure, but that's not much help as it's horrid.

I was prescribed 5mg diazapam, which I understand is ok to take during the second trimester. I am not a medic though! I also started to take sertraline too. This was a tough decision, but for me, the potential risks of taking medication during pregnancy outweighed the more established risks of exposing my baby to huge doses of stress hormone. Again, I'd like to stress I'm in no way qualified about this, although I have done my own research.

Hope you feel better soon.

I suffered from panic attacks/anxiety during pregnancy. Also had lots of problems with physical mobility during pregnancy, so was stuck at home with a series of problems - high blood pressure, spd and other stuff. This is going to sound really random, but playing online games helped me calm down/cope. I found a lovely one that was about planting flowers www.gamegarage.co.uk/strategy-games/plantasia/, as I don't like the violent ones. It was fantastic - totally took my mind off things. Even helped with the later stages of pregnancy - esp when fake labour pains plagued me for the last 2 weeks. I would even recommend computer games as a pain-management tool in other circumstances. And no, I am not normally a computer junkie.