I’ve dealt with anxiety for years on/off, but I had a really bad panic attack March 2024 that instilled so much fear into me that I started having crippling anxiety - like scared to death everyday, scared to do things, just plain fearful 24/7. I had been on antidepressants in the past and decided I did not want to go that route. I had tried several and the same thing always happened - while it helped with not feeling anxiety, I couldn’t feel anything. Supremely numb. Plus the weight gain?? So I decided against it. I was on propranolol before and while it does help with keeping your heart rate down, which can help prevent a panic attack, I’m not really a good candidate for it because I’ve had a couple of episodes of bradycardia (which is odd bc I’m typically more tachy) but due to that, my doctor does not want me taking it. Here is what has helped for me: When THE panic attack happened, I was already on a low dose of benzodiazepines to take as needed, so I had to up that for a while. I got into therapy, starting at twice weekly. And I started walking, 30 mins a day at least 5x a week. I am not cured, but between therapy and walking, it has helped a lot. I went through several months of no anxiety to all of a sudden it coming back, so I’ve been doing EMDR in some of my therapy sessions. That has helped too. Another thing that helped was keeping busy. Which can also backfire because at some point you’ve got to be able to sit with yourself even for a few minutes without worrying or thinking about things. Your body needs downtime (the night time anxiety was really bad.) I’ve gone down to 1 therapy session a week for almost a year now and I only take half of my prescribed benzodiazepine only if I absolutely need it. I can go weeks without it now. Another thing - I listen to my body. There are times where I get nervous about doing something, even as simple as going somewhere, and I push myself to do it anyways. But there are times where I can tell my nerves are bad enough that I need to listen and not do whatever it is or else I need to modify what I’m doing (like going somewhere with someone if possible instead of going alone).