Hi, crazyhyppnotoad, you have come to the right place.
I have had panick attacks, and I know how you feel. But mine lasted no more than 10-30 min. Yours are 45 min ? 8O Anyway, I know that they feel like they are never gonna end and last more than the clock shows.
U should see a specialist, a psychiatrist maybe, or increase the dosage if u feel like Zoloft isn't working, or u should switch to another med.
I had panick attacks that waked me up in the middle of the night, with suddently fast heart beat and shortness of breath, just like u said, but the most devastating part is not the pshysical symptoms, but the fear and extreme terror u experience during it.
I didn't knew they were called panick attacks when I had them so I didn't took medicine, but I tried to find the cause for them. The cause was lonelyness, my panick attacks were accompanied by extreme fear and dispair that I will be alone all my life with no friends. I had them for like a month and then the became rare and finnaly disappeared. Luckly vacation started and I went to see my friends from childhood and didn't felt so alone and by working on the cause of the attacks I managed to get rid of them.
But if I tell you there is a mentale state more diabolic than a panick attack ? I don't know how it's named, but it's true hell, I prefer a severe panick attack instead of that. It is like a continuous nightmare, I dunno how to explain to you, it's like you're possesed by the devil, catastrophic horror thoughts and nightmare like experience, I'm still trying to find a name for it. If I were to go through that again, I'll shoot myself.
Btw, sorry for deviating, think of it this way: your panick attacks will soon disappear, they can't last forever. It's a chemichal imbalance in the brain that the meds work on. U should look for the cause of these panick attacks, there must be a reason they happen, I know they come out of the blue but there must be some thing that is the cause of all this.
Hope u get better. Having people around when experiencing a panick attack helps a lot. Good luck :wink: