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Zephyr,
There are a lot of good replies in this thread so far. Since I can't really add too much to what's already been said, I'll just give you my point of view.
I suffered from Panic Disorder about 12 years ago. It was becoming very debilitating and I eventually sought counseling. I was very anti-medication then and was able to deal with it successfully without them. I lived anxiety free after that for about 9 years.
It came back about 2 years ago with a vengeance. What made it worse the second time around was that I knew it was panic and anxiety but was unable to deal with it. I decided to give in and give medication a try. I first tried Paxil and I became a social zombie with severe paranoia. I gave them up quickly. I next tried Zoloft and it worked perfectly for me.
With Zoloft I've had little to no side effects (there were a few that lasted about a week. They were trouble sleeping and dreams that were very, very vivid.) Aside from that, the anxiety nearly disappeared. It's been 6 months and I'm still doing well.
Whatever you decide to do, the most important thing I learned about anxiety and other things was to learn how to relax. I thought I was, but I never truly deeply relaxed. Meditation works very well to keep anxiety at bay for a lot of people, so it might be worth looking into. The best thing about meditation is that it's free, aside from the cost of a book or two and a CD.
Good luck. I wish you the best in dealing with this.
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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses
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