Anxiety Attacks?

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2008
Anxiety Attacks?
11
Wed, 01-02-2008 - 7:05pm

My 15-year-old daughter has been having "episodes" occasionally for about the last year. Usually these happen when she is trying to go to sleep -- usually at sleepovers but sometimes at home. She becomes nauseous and shakes. She rarely vomits, but does run to the bathroom gagging. Once the episode starts, she is unable to go to sleep. The episodes range from 6-24 hours.

Could these be anxiety attacks? or panic attacks? Does anyone else's teen experience this? What do you do? I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow but expect that they either won't do anything because the most recent episode is over or they'll try to put her on some kind of anti-anxiety medication.

Any advice????

Karen

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2008
In reply to: azkaren1
Fri, 01-04-2008 - 9:36am

Thanks to all of you for your advice and for sharing your experiences. We went to the dr. yesterday. She also thinks these are anxiety attacks. Just in case, we're going to do a blood test for a thyroid problem. She suggested seeing a counselor, not watching television when trying to sleep, and taking an over-the-counter acid reflux medication. If that combination doesn't work, we'll look at prescription meds. That sounds great to me and my daughter. We're also adding the relaxation CD's to help her calm her mind when trying to get to sleep.

Thanks again! I'll let you know how things go.

Karen

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