!#$@%!#@%! I had a long post typed out and timed out. I just spent the past several months being treated for panic disorder by a shrink. It was triggered by a savage endodontist about a year ago. I didn't know that if panic disorder isn't treated, it festers and gets worse.
I had gotten to where the panic disorder was beginning to limit my life. Your husband is also at that stage. He has to be able to deal with this kind of a test.
Short-term:
1. Tell the doctor about your husband's panic attack. The amount of Valium prescribed to smooth the edges off anxiety is not the same as the amount needed to block a full-on panic attack. Your doc doesn't want a full-on freak in the machine and they do have medications to stop them. Also, let me just say the obvious: panic is not just a matter of dealing.
2. Once your husband is on the machine, ask the attendant to put a cloth over his eyes. It really helps.
Long-term:
Get a referral to a psychologist or a psychiatrist with experience with panic disorder. The treatment is not psychoanalysis. It is fully internalizing just what a panic attack is, what the triggers may be, how to breathe through one, how the mind cannot think two things at once. It's very practical. It seems like obvious stuff but, believe me, it takes a lot of work. It's learning how to press the reset button on some primitive, pavlovian stuff.
Good luck. Panic disorder is very treatable.
As for me, I finally feel like my old, adventuresome self again.
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