This article is very, very helpful. If a person is subject to panic attacks, (i.e. everything the author threw at her is too much - grief, illness, fear of dying, etc.) would it be reasonable for her to carry Ativan and use it during an attack? Anxiety isn't my particular mental health issue and I've only had Ativan during the two surgeries when i had to lie awake and listen to the cornea specialist use a medical-grade Dremel on my eye... sorry for that image. Ativan worked, though, got me to stop almost fainting on the table. And my eyeballs responded by reforming themselves without the scar tissue so my vision improved. Similarly, when my character comes out the other side, the panic attacks will subside.
First- yikes, what an experience- I'm very glad it ended up being helpful for you!
Second- This is a great question. While I'm not an expert on the med side/a psychiatrist, I have had multiple patients mention they use ativan to help with panic attacks, so would say it is reasonable to incorporate. A couple of things to think about- how will your character feel about their medication use? I worked with a patient in the past who had an ativan prescription for panic, but did not want to use it frequently due to worry about dependence. So that might be an interesting piece to build in. Additionally, it can take a while to kick in, so it will rely on your character being aware that they're starting to develop a panic attack and taking it early enough for it to work best. If the panic attacks are newer to them, they may not be able to do this yet, so they might take it too late for it to really help head off a panic attack and they might have to sit in the panic attack for a while. It is definitely reasonable for the panic attacks to subside after they've done some healing. One thing to think about- what will your character's relationship be to the panic attacks themselves? If they start to worry about having another one and start avoiding things in daily life, it may be a harder sell to have the panic attacks subside when they come through the traumatic period.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any specifics about med info and I can point you in some helpful directions :)
This article is very, very helpful. If a person is subject to panic attacks, (i.e. everything the author threw at her is too much - grief, illness, fear of dying, etc.) would it be reasonable for her to carry Ativan and use it during an attack? Anxiety isn't my particular mental health issue and I've only had Ativan during the two surgeries when i had to lie awake and listen to the cornea specialist use a medical-grade Dremel on my eye... sorry for that image. Ativan worked, though, got me to stop almost fainting on the table. And my eyeballs responded by reforming themselves without the scar tissue so my vision improved. Similarly, when my character comes out the other side, the panic attacks will subside.
Thanks! I'm so glad you're finding it helpful!
First- yikes, what an experience- I'm very glad it ended up being helpful for you!
Second- This is a great question. While I'm not an expert on the med side/a psychiatrist, I have had multiple patients mention they use ativan to help with panic attacks, so would say it is reasonable to incorporate. A couple of things to think about- how will your character feel about their medication use? I worked with a patient in the past who had an ativan prescription for panic, but did not want to use it frequently due to worry about dependence. So that might be an interesting piece to build in. Additionally, it can take a while to kick in, so it will rely on your character being aware that they're starting to develop a panic attack and taking it early enough for it to work best. If the panic attacks are newer to them, they may not be able to do this yet, so they might take it too late for it to really help head off a panic attack and they might have to sit in the panic attack for a while. It is definitely reasonable for the panic attacks to subside after they've done some healing. One thing to think about- what will your character's relationship be to the panic attacks themselves? If they start to worry about having another one and start avoiding things in daily life, it may be a harder sell to have the panic attacks subside when they come through the traumatic period.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any specifics about med info and I can point you in some helpful directions :)
Thank you for this! Very helpful and have me food for thought about her history. Have a wonderful day!