I was on Paxil for 7 years and I still had panic / anxiety. I stopped taking it in January of this year and have started the Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). All these years I believed this was a chemical imbalance thing and that I was doomed and insane. I truly believed meds were the answer. I can tell you from experience - they are not! Meds do not take this away!! All they do is slow your adrenaline, which helps the physical symptoms of panic subside, which makes you stop noticing the symptoms so often, which helps the panic not happen as much. It still happens, just not as much. If this was a chemical imbalance, the meds would take it away. It does not.
In my own experience of dealing with this for the last 12 years, the only relief I have found came from working on CBT. This is something I only learned about recently and I can tell you that this is the only time in all those years that I have actually found hope and relief from this. The only way to get through this is by working on your thought patterns. CBT teaches you how to do this. The Panic Program offered on this website is a free course on CBT. Use it if you haven't tried it already. Meds are not the answer. It takes a lot of personal determination and work, but I promise it's worth it.
