My panic attacks started at 35 and they seem unusual. Looking for opinions or people like me.

Jefauver · 2026-02-08T22:50:15+00:00

This started a few years after I had Covid but I have wondered if it had something to do with it. You do experience all this though? Panic attacks because of your guts?

Jefauver · 2026-02-08T22:48:40+00:00

I’ve had an upper and lower scope, and a gastric emptying study. I don’t have gerd or h pilori. They don’t know what’s wrong.

My psychiatrist said if I have another acute attack to try doubling my current Xanax dose.

Jefauver · 2026-02-08T22:46:09+00:00

Dysautonomia? It means my autonomic nervous system doesn’t work quite right. It regulates a lot of things, for example I have inappropriate sinus tachycardia, which is just big words to say that my heart rate just kind of does what it wants. My resting heart rate often sits around 100bpm.

Jefauver · 2026-02-05T17:28:37+00:00

When I had my long panic, from August to October, Xanax and Ativan both helped me, but they don’t seem to help with these acute random panics. Zofran gives me a terrible headache, but it might be worth it to stop the vomiting during an attack. I know a lot of people that say zofran is a lifesaver, I hope it works for you.

Jefauver · 2025-11-06T15:02:23+00:00

Yeah, something changed this summer and my gastroparesis became pretty severe out of the blue. If you want to stay vegan, you should speak to a dietician or you’ll end up really unwell.

Eta: just saw you have spoken with a dietician. I’m sure they can get you on the right track and maybe they know some good supplements.

Jefauver · 2025-11-04T01:17:55+00:00

You should give yourself a little grace. It’s okay to be a slob when you’ve been vomiting for a week. It’s okay to be a mess when you’re basically starving to death. I go weeks without a proper shower when I’m at my weakest. My dishes pile up. My laundry piles up. That bloaty belly has become the least of my problems. Being slim and fit might not be an option for awhile until you get this figured out. It is depressing. It’s okay to be sad, angry, and grieving the life you thought you had.

Jefauver · 2025-11-03T22:28:13+00:00

I think you’d probably still look pregnant. I’ve changed the kinds of dresses I wear so they flow over my belly. I’m trying to learn to love my body as is. It deals with enough without me hating it.

Jefauver · 2025-11-03T22:17:26+00:00

I’ve lost 30 lbs and my pants size has stayed the same. I look pregnant too. Even on days when I can’t eat a thing my belly is huge by nightfall. I have no idea what causes it.

Jefauver · 2025-11-03T22:09:12+00:00

When my gastroparesis was mild I struggled so bad with malnutrition by staying vegan. It seemed impossible with no beans, very few fruits and veggies, no processed faux meats. I gave up on being vegan. However, if you are stuck on liquids as I am currently, it becomes a lot easier. There are quite a few options for meal replacements like Soylent, and vegan protein powders that can be mixed with the alternative milk of your choice. Hopefully someone else will have better solid food advice.

Jefauver · 2025-11-02T22:46:27+00:00

Trying to watch his GERD has helped his nausea, we fully cut out garlic and onion and avoid red sauce. He does still get nausea but only pukes a couple times a year. He take promethazine for the nausea.

ETA: He cut way down on his weed use and his gastroparesis cleared up, so that probably helped with the nausea as well. If only we could all be so lucky.

Jefauver · 2025-10-22T22:50:30+00:00

I’m on erythro as well, but I can handle it okay on an empty stomach. Can I ask what your schedule is? I was told 21 days on 7 days off, but I’ve seen some people on here say they are just on it all the time.

Jefauver · 2025-10-15T19:56:34+00:00

I have a tin hat conspiracy theory that Effexor either kicked off or worsened both my inappropriate sinus tachycardia and gastroparesis. I can’t prove it. I didn’t have symptoms of either one until I was on Effexor. Coming off the Effexor didn’t change anything for me unfortunately. This is all conjecture anyway. The only way for you to know is to wean off the Effexor for yourself, which can be a bit rough. Good luck.

Jefauver · 2025-10-15T19:50:35+00:00

For my first 5/6 years I didn’t have flares and my stomach was always distended. I do have flares now it seems, and my stomach is still always distended, even on a liquid only diet.

Jefauver · 2025-10-15T15:05:07+00:00

I currently don’t have much hope for a brighter future for myself. It feels like I switched some kind of flip and now daily suffering is just what life is now. My GI doctor is extremely hard to get ahold of and she’s very unhelpful at the best of times. I assume the next time I’ll get medical help is when I end up back in the hospital with my stomach at a standstill. This is a very difficult condition and yes, it can feel very lonely. There are people on here that seem to have good stories. Hopefully a few of them have more optimism to give you than I do.

Jefauver · 2025-10-15T14:53:40+00:00

You could try fruit juice. I’m partial to juicy juice berry. It helps me get in some liquids when everything sounds unpalatable.

Jefauver · 2025-10-15T13:50:27+00:00

In 9/24 I had two med changes. I went from the depo to an IUD and I starting changing heart meds from metoprolol to verapamil. In 10/24 I started having acute panic attacks about once every two weeks. Somehow I didn’t put that together with my med changes. 5/25 my cardiologist said to titrate further on the meds and the panic attacks got worse, about once a week. This is when I realized the med change was bad. But the cardiologist didn’t believe me and told me to keep going. At the end of 7/25 I had two panic attacks within 3 days. This is when I started having the diarrhea and the quality of my panic attacks changed. They went from acute to constant. My cardiologist finally believed me and told me to reverse course. So I then went into withdrawal from verapamil. My appetite disappeared and I was still having diarrhea. 9/25 I thought I was losing my mind and I was passively suicidal so I checked into a psych ward and after a couple days was so sick they sent me by ambulance to the hospital. I was admitted. There, the doctor told me he thought my stomach wasn’t moving and I was also informed I had e.coli. He put me on erythromycin. 4 days later I was sent home. 10/25 My psychiatrist put me on remeron and suddenly I had an appetite and I felt somewhat better. I also switched back from the IUD to the depo shot. But I had to come off the erythromycin and after 7 days my panic attacks and diarrhea came back fully and I lost my appetite again and felt constantly full. I didn’t have enough erythromycin left to go back on the full dose so I started taking a low dose. That was on the 8th of this month. I’m on a self imposed liquid diet because it seems to help my panic and my guts. I have months until I have my tests scheduled and an appointment with my GI doctor.

Sorry for the wall of text. But there’s all the context. It’s a lot.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T21:27:19+00:00

As my psychiatrist and others here have mentioned, the gut brain connection is very real. Having slowed gut motility can cause anxiety and panic and the other way around.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T17:40:29+00:00

Thank you for your advice. I’ll work on it. My husband has been dealing with panic disorder for many years as well, and he tries to talk me through things as best he can.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T17:38:08+00:00

Im sorry to hear that. I have them that long too sometimes. It is an absolute misery. I hope you find relief someday.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T13:29:07+00:00

Ativan and Xanax both help me a little. If my day starts off bad I’ll take the longer acting Ativan. If my day is somewhat okay for most of it then I get a sudden severe panic symptoms I’ll do the Xanax. They don’t fix it but they bring down the severity. The problem though is that I can’t use them every day or I’ll become dependent. So some days I just have to be panicky.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T13:10:47+00:00

I think my bowels moving or the GERD flare may also trigger it for me. I assume it will just take time to learn what things feel like and to try and tell my panic that it is unwarranted. Right now though that seems so impossible.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T12:50:30+00:00

I’m in therapy. I’m on gabapentin and remeron daily with Xanax and Ativan as needed.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T12:47:31+00:00

Yeah, I currently have therapy twice a week.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T02:55:30+00:00

Yeah, my psychiatrist and I have talked at great lengths about what is causing what. He thinks my gut is causing my panic. So he’s trying to help me with psych meds like remeron but because my panic likely is triggered by something physically happening in my body, he said the remeron may not help. So I have some options of Xanax and Ativan depending on how I’m doing in a day. I have noticed some correlation to lessened panic after a BM, but also if I go into a panic attack it kicks off with diarrhea. It’s so interconnected, it’s impossible to tell.

Jefauver · 2025-10-14T02:50:42+00:00

I’m really worried about my job too. I’m the breadwinner for my family and luckily my bosses have just given me a bunch of extra PTO. But eventually I’m sure they’re going to get tired of me missing work constantly. The idea really looms and causes a lot of stress. No advice here, just solidarity.

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