Was this a panic attack?

[ervj]

Hi,

Had an incident at work the other day, and I'm not sure if it was a panic attack, an anxiety attack (if there's any difference) or what, so was hoping there might be some helpful people here to give me some advice.

For some background:

I have never had anything like this happen before, in spite of having dealt with periods of great stress at points in my life.

My dad passed away very unexpectedly when I was 16. After that I had battles with several substance addictions and a savage gambling addiction which effectively put me in 5-figure debt by the age of 20. Also had huge weight issues (5"7 and weighed nearly 17 stone at one point)

I started on my journey to sorting myself out by age 24, was out of debt by 26, got down to 11 stone, and am now in a job that, although stressful, is one I am interested in, and one I don't feel is over-burdensome. This is also helped by having directors that are hugely in favour of taking time off for the sake of personal health if that is needed.

I'm now 30, and compared to the majority of the last 50% of my life, I'm peachy - I don't have any debt other than a credit card, I stay way from previous vices where possible, and when I survey my life, my general feeling is one of as close to contentment as I feel I can be right now.

_______________

Now that you have the background: a few weeks ago I started noticing an abnormal heart rhythm/palpitations - every 5-20 beats I'd get a skipped beat followed by a noticeably heavy beat right after.

I kept an eye on this and a few days later at work (at a relatively peaceful time) I felt a bit lightheaded and my heart rate skyrocketed so asked one of my colleagues to take me to the emergency room to check.

They ran an ECG, chest x-ray and took about 6 vials of blood, all of which came back normal apart from what they called an 'ectopic heart rhythm'. They said it was nothing to be concerned about, and that I should stop taking my pulse at the first sign of discomfort as this would exacerbate it.

Another few weeks went by with minor palpitations every now and then, not seemingly triggered by anything (have altered diet, stopped taking antihistamines, to no avail).

Then on Tuesday I started feeling very uneasy at work (very hot and constricted, tight chested, slight numbness in the extremities) so I asked to be taken to the ER again.

About 100m from the hospital my chest tightened so much to the point it felt someone was sitting on my chest, my arms and legs both went numb and I got pins and needles all over, I couldn't close my fists as my fingers went almost stiff and fully extended and I couldn't speak properly (slurring and cutting off mid-sentence).

Obviously that was terrifying as I thought I was having a stroke or something - I got helped into the ER by my colleague and was seen pretty promptly. The constricted breathing abated after a few minutes, and the slurring and numbness went away after about 10-15 minutes. Shaking in the hands remained for about an hour and I just felt absolutely drained for the rest of the day (followed by a 10 hour uninterrupted sleep which is a rarity for me).

If anyone can shed light on what this most likely was, I'd be awfully grateful. I'm getting put on a 24hr monitor next week to see if there's any pattern the cardiologist can pick out but until then I'm left with the idea of a recurrence hanging over me.

Cheers

EJ

[JohnnyPanic]

Hello EJ,

First of all I want to say that in no way my advice/opinion should be heard like its coming from a professional. You probably already realize that, but I feel that I have to say it.

Now, to the matter at hand. I have gone through the exactly same thing about the ectopic heartbeats and racing heart. In 4 months I had all the tests known to human done to me. I will say that I did discover a couple of interesting things except anxiety. After putting a 30 day event monitor(my episodes were not frequent) they did get a 180 pulse which they called PSVT. It is not a dangerous condition and has to do with some electrical wiring been out of whack in my system. I also have a very light case of MVP, which contributes.

All the symptoms that you mentioned can be due to anxiety and during a panic attack you can experience all that. If they ran all the tests and found nothing, even after the second incidence, I would say that it is mostly anxiety. Even if it is something like what I describe above, all those feelings do get worse by anxiety.

Best Regards,
John

[Spraynard]

Hey ervj,

To quote Johnny, I'm not a doctor either, just a fellow anxiety sufferer.

I had very similar experiences, got multiple tests done in the ER, at different times. I'm the same age as you also. It's all very similar to my situation.

I'm slowly trying to improve my hypochondria, and its getting better. I am trying to trust the doctors in the GP and ER when they clear my health. Or else I'll be back for more within a month. During every event, similar to the ones you described, my health was cleared, nothing came up in tests or ECGs or xrays.

I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder when I was young. Years later, when all this started happening, I went to see my doctor. He prescribed me Effexor. The next day the panic attacks greatly lowered in frequency, length and intensity. I stopped using caffeine and tried to eat better. I have just recently quit smoking as well, which is also a big contributor.

I wish you the best! and remember that the ER is there to help, don't feel like you're a nuisance. The brain is powerful, and if you really think you're dying, you'll really feel like you're dying.

[ervj]

Thanks for your responses guys, it really is a massive help to hear other people are experiencing similar effects.

I saw my doc yesterday morning and, once I've had my heart monitored, she's going to prescribe me a low dose of cardio-selective beta blockers and I'm going to go get some Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to see if that assists.

I'm skeptical about the beta-blockers as I am asthmatic (although very well controlled - I don't really have to take my inhaler with me anywhere), although my doc assures me that as it is well-controlled (has been for 15+ years), is low-dosage and is cardio-selective this shouldn't be an issue. Still would rather do it without but will see how it goes.

Between now and my last post, I've not had any full-on panic attacks but I have had a couple of incidents where I've caught the tight-chest/raised heartbeat/dry mouth early, and removing myself from the situation and going for a walk or exercising seems to hinder any further onset.

[wcs2222]

Hi.
Did you tell your doctor about the other incidents (tight-chest/raised heartbeat/dry mouth)? These events may or may not continue, but I suggest keeping a record of times/places/situations when they occur in case you need to review with your doctor about treatment.

[BeckyL]

Hi EJ,

Like above I am not a professional but just a fellow anxiety sufferer. I have had very similar symptoms, the pins and needles all over and hands going stiff to the point of not being able to close your hands happened to me, and also prompted me to go to A&E as it's a scary experience. They told me it was a panic attack after doing an ECG.

I get palpitations and chest tightness too, sometimes not for weeks or months, and other times daily for a couple of weeks. I think if you start CBT it will help in the long run but yes the fear of a recurrence always looms over - the way I see it is that "if it happens, it happens" and I'll get through it if/when it does. Not sure if this is the correct way to look at it but I think it does help trying to separate what is in your immediate control and what isn't, and a panic attack isn't in your immediate control.

I also try to use distractions, so if I can feel myself going towards a panic/anxiety attack, I either message friends/family to distract myself, or try to play a game on my phone. Sounds a bit daft but averting your focus can sometimes help the symptoms go away.

:-)