Panic Disorder is one of my six mental illnesses. I can relate. I'm on 200mg Sertraline/Zoloft a day. 3 mg of the Clonazepam too for long term maintenance. Since it's not a fast acting benzo for immediate use like Xanax and Ativan. The crap thing about benzos is that they work like shit after long term use and the withdrawals are ridiculously potent. A lot of doctors say that Xanax is one of the hardest pharmaceuticals to detox from. I've had Xanax withdrawal before and it nearly killed me.
Have you tried anything else for your panic attacks and anxiety? Personally, I'm medication resistant, so a lot of things crap out easily or don't work--but I can suggest talking to your psychiatrist/doctor about Buspar or Vistaril. I had to go off both of those myself, but when they did work? They worked pretty well. Another one I'm still on for Anxiety is Gabapentin/Neurontin. 2400mg a day. (2 in the morning and 2 at night) but it helps with anxiety! I've been on it for ten solid years.
I truly hope you find medication to help you with panic attacks and anxiety. It's not fun to live with. I know the dive response is a great tactic to help combat it too. I use it when I feel the initial warning signs. You just put your face in a bowl of ice cold water for 15-30 seconds or you lay down and put a ziploc bag of cold water or some other cold compress over your face. This helps calm the mind, slow the heart rate and lower the amped up psychological response. It kicks the vagus nerve into gear and that combats your systematic "Flight or fight" response that comes on with a panic attack. My psychiatrist told me all about it when she handed me a packet of coping skills to try in addition to my medications. It's worth a shot🩵
