Panic Attack Therapy for Chronic Sufferers: Questions Your Doctor Will Ask

« « Your Options in Panic Attack Medicine | Stop Panic Attacks Quickly » »

Panic Attack Therapy for Chronic Sufferers: Questions Your Doctor Will Ask

Monday, November 2nd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Have you tried a variety of treatments, tips, and tricks for stopping your panic attacks, with little or no results? Preparing yourself with the knowledge of what to expect when it is time to get help can lessen the anxiety that can be caused by not knowing what will happen when you first seek professional help.

Take any journal or diary that you have kept related to your attacks with you – it will help you a lot when filling out forms. This process is going to start off with you answering a great many questions, so be prepared to provide information as accurately as you can. Some of the questions you can expect to have to answer and information you will need to provide are listed below.

What sorts of surgeries and illnesses have you had in the past? Try to be as accurate as you can on the dates, even if it is hard to remember.

Have you ever experienced a traumatic event that stands out in your mind, and that still makes you uncomfortable to think about? Traumatic events can be anything from a divorce or breakup, a loved one dying, a natural disaster that you either lived through or felt particularly sad about or even things like your children moving out or going away to college.

Be prepared to provide a list of medications and their dosages that you are currently taking, or have taken within the last six months or so.
Your doctor will ask you whether anyone else in your family has, or had in the past, anxiety or panic attacks.

Because alcohol is a known trigger for attacks, you should be prepared to answer honestly any questions your doctor asks about how much you consume on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

No matter how uncomfortable it may be for you to answer questions about recreational drug use, it is going to be particularly important for you to do so, since these, too, can trigger attacks.

There will be questions about how much caffeine you consume daily, whether through coffee, tea, or other beverages, and if you get headaches or suffer from sluggishness if you don’t have that caffeine.

You will need to describe how you know a panic attack is coming and how often you feel stressed or anxious, and this is another set of questions that your journal can help you answer.

Your triggers will be a topic of discussion as well, so be prepared to tell your doctor if you have heart palpitations when you have to drive, or start sweating profusely when an elevator goes past the third floor, for example.

The goal is to be as accurate an honest in your answers, and where you have forgotten things during your first visit, be prepared to let your doctor know when you go back.

Want more information? Visit Ending Panic Attacks and find plenty of informative content ranging from general information about anxiety to very specific “how to” info on panic attacks.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.