Summarize the following:
Your doctor may treat you with recommended medications or may refer you to a mental health professional to evaluate and prescribe medications. Both a regular doctor and a mental health physician will likely recommend a cognitive behavioral therapist. Many panic attacks are commonly related to other underlying disorders, including some mental health conditions and some medical problems. Talk to your doctor to rule out an underlying medical condition. Studies show that people that are treated for panic attacks and panic disorder early, have better overall outcomes with fewer complications. Commonly used agents include benzodiazepines, both rapid acting and intermediate acting. Benzodiazepines are considered addictive, so be sure to take them exactly as your doctor advised. Taking more than is recommended is dangerous and can cause serious and potentially fatal withdrawal effects if taken chronically. Rapid acting agents help to manage the symptoms when you feel a panic attack beginning. These are often prescribed to have available if needed, or when you begin to have a panic attack.  Take these agents only when needed to avoid becoming tolerant to the prescribed dose. Examples of medications prescribed to take when an attack begins, on an as needed basis, are lorazepam, alprazolam, and diazepam. The intermediate agents take a little longer to start working, but have longer lasting effects.  These medications are often prescribed for routine dosing, to help you avoid attacks, until further steps, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, can be taken.  Examples of intermediate acting agents include clonazepam, oxazepam, and chlordiazepoxide. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, commonly known as SSRIs, are effective in treating panic attacks and panic disorder. SSRIs that are FDA approved for use in treating panic symptoms include fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, citalopram, escitalopram, paroxetine, and sertraline. Duloxetine is a closely related agent and is also approved for use in the treatment of panic symptoms. This form of therapy is key in training your brain and your body to overcome panic attacks, and help you reach a point where they no longer occur at all.  Know what to expect from cognitive behavioral therapy. Therapists trained in this form of psychotherapy use 5 fundamentals as they work with people that suffer from panic attacks. The 5 areas of focus include the following:  Learning about the illness helps you to better understand what is happening that causes the frightening symptoms experienced when a panic attack occurs.  Monitoring and recording dates and times of events, like keeping a diary or a journal, helps both you and the therapist to identify triggers that cause the attacks to begin.  Breathing and relaxation techniques are a part of the tools used to reduce the severity of symptoms.  Rethinking is used to help alter the perception of an attack from what feels catastrophic to what is realistic.  Providing exposure, safely and in a controlled manner, to places or events that are triggers for your attacks, helps to train your brain and body to react differently. Panic disorder is diagnosed when 4 or more of the above symptoms are present. Early treatment for panic disorder improves overall outcomes and reduces possible complications associated with continued attacks.

summary: Talk to your doctor about your attacks. Seek medical help sooner rather than later. Take medications as prescribed. Take rapid acting agents only when needed. Take longer acting agents routinely, or as prescribed. Take an SSRI. Work with a cognitive behavioral therapist. Consider an evaluation for panic disorder.


Summarize the following:
Staying on a sleeping schedule will help you go to sleep and stay asleep because your body learns to expect sleep at a certain hour. If you have trouble remembering to go to bed at night, set an alarm an hour before you need to be in bed. When you nap during the day, you may have a harder time staying asleep at night. Try to avoid dozing off in the afternoon, so that you fall asleep and stay asleep when you go to bed. If you really need a nap, make it a 20 to 30 minute long nap. This can improve your mood, alertness, and performance. Avoid drinking caffeinated beverages afternoon. Having caffeine after noon can affect your sleep at night, even causing you to wake up in the middle of the night. Similarly, too much alcohol at night can affect your sleep, so stick to a single drink in the evening. Make sure to indulge several hours before you go to sleep. . The nicotine in cigarettes can interfere with your sleep schedule. If you're a smoker and you find your schedule isn't as regular as you'd like it to be, you should consider quitting. If you can't quit, try reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke, particularly near bedtime. Exercise helps tire your body out, making it easier to go to sleep and stay asleep. However, make sure not to exercise in the 30 minutes right before you go to bed, as it gets your blood pumping, making it harder to sleep. Even 10 minutes of light aerobic exercise can improve your sleep quality. Try walking or cycling.
summary: Wake up and go to bed at the same time each day. Skip napping during the day. Avoid caffeinated and alcoholic drinks. Stop smoking Get in 30 minutes of exercise each day.