Is this a panic attack, or should I get help?

[sputnikmoon]

Hi everyone,

Over the years I've been for all the tests due to weird turns I sometimes have and I've been discharged from the care of a Cardiologist with the summary - Sinus Tachycardia due to anxiety.

These strange turns seem to come in seasons, where I'll be fine for a few months with only the odd PVC/ectopic beat and then have a really bad few months of palpitations and a high degree of anxiety surrounding my heart.

Today I had my lunch and within 10min was needing to climb 4 flights of stairs to get somewhere, at the top of the flight I had around 5 seconds of continuous flip flops in my chest, which I put down to ectopic beats due to the full stomach and the apparent link of ectopics, the vagus nerve and the stomach... It freaked me out a little, but I was rational about it :)

Anyway, since that happened, I'd been getting little chest flutters throughout the day and my heart rate was generally a little high - totally put that down to anxiety, again, being rational about it and it wasn't concerning me too much.

A few hours later I met up with a friend, at this point my heart was actually racing a little and had gotten itself onto my radar as being a little off. It was around 120-130bpm walking around town, with lots of little flutters that I kept feeling in my chest as well as uncomfortable little wave like sensations, not painful, but not exactly comfortable, they were roller coaster tickle like sensations deep in my chest. My legs felt weak and I really wanted to just find somewhere to sit and collect my thoughts.

I was having a glass of water in a bar with my friend and noticing whenever I talked for a prolonged period or took a sip of drink my heart rate would go notably slow and heavy and then ramp back up to the 120bpm rate. At this point, in the period of 5min, I kept snapping in and out of feeling chatty and amenable and not quite right. I'd be getting a slight cramp in my chest that would be eased by a flutter.

Then the really scary moment hit me when I suddenly felt distant and odd, disengaged from the conversation and got an intense rush in my head that felt like the roller coaster stomach feeling, but in my brain - it grew and grew, lasting about 15-20sec and I was convinced this was me passing out.

However I didn't get any darkened vision, spots in vision, nor did I feel particularly unsteady or start veering to any sides, my breathing felt okay - anyone who watched me would have just seen my keeping very wide eyed and still. It was just a very intense whooshing/fizzing sensation inside my head and a fizzing in my body, almost like all the blood was draining from it... but without actually fainting.

As it eased, my heart rated started to pick right up and gallop away with itself in a very unnatural way... didn't feel like the racing heart from exercise, this felt ticklish and raspy, but evenly paced... at which point Ive shot out my seat, marching up stairs and out into the street preparing to call an ambulance.

I had a quick walk round the block trying to find a street name and it eased, not totally but enough to tolerate, so drove home hoping it was just anxiety... but now I feel whacked, my muscles and head are killing me and I keep having strange episodes that feel like mini versions of what happened at the bar.

Does this sound normal for anxiety/panic attacks, or should I maybe pop into the doctors tomorrow?

I want to just chalk it up to anxiety... but that head rush sensation was seriously prolonged and intense that I'm having trouble believing it wasn't cardiac in nature :(

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Carnation]

Sounds like a Panic Attack to me. The fact that you walked quickly round the block and drove home, suggests that it was not Life threatening. If you want to put your mind at rest, make an appointment for the Doctors. But, it is very similar to what I experienced today. And you will feel quite exhausted after a Panic Attack.
Get a good nights sleep and see how you feel tomorrow. :)

[spennock]

If I were you I'd go ahead and have it checked out. However, this describes my panic attacks. I used to think I was dying or going crazy before I realized what it was. Sorry you have to go through this.

[AlexandriaUK]

Time and time again I have tried to describe the sensation I get when I have what I can only describe as a sort of panic attack and not once in all the years of being prone to them have I been able to.
Your description has just completely done it for me,, thank you, print it off and show it your Dr I am sure he will tell you Its caused by anxiety.
Thank you again for taking the time to type it all out and and with such clarity xx

[sputnikmoon]

Thanks for your thoughts guys :)

Went to the GP, he didn't look over my notes, didn't check my blood pressure or heart rate and categorically stated it wasn't anxiety or a panic and that I've probably got a electrical problem in my heart and referred me to the cardiologist again.

I told him that I was with a cardiologist 7yrs ago with the exact same symptoms and that it was diagnosed initially by A&E as an SVT which was later deduced by the cardiologist to have been normal Sinus Tachycardia...

...he replied that panic attacks revolve more around breathing and because I don't tend to dramatically hyperventilate then this isn't an issue and its not panic.

He also stated I don't seem irrational and I don't seem an anxious person... But I'm a classic ovethinker and have been anxious about little things since a small child!

Needless to say, I'm very freaked out now :(

Do you guys with panic attacks get waves in your chest that kickstarts your heart to ramp up and the feeling your passing out, without dramatically hyperventilating?

I say dramatically hyperventilating because my breathing does become more pronounced but I don't get dramatic paper bag style breathing...

[Carnation]

Hi, I don't hyperventilate, just a felling of my heart pounding and feels like its going to come out of my chest. I am also not a panicky person, but I do worry about a lot of stuff. In fact I would say that I am normally very calm in a panic situation, it's when I am relaxing, sitting or doing nothing that I get panicky. Over what? I don't know. Maybe it's stored up in our Minds and just has to come out somehow. I also get very hot and fidgety, feel like I am going to pass out and go very pale and my eyes seem to glaze and although I am there , I feel like I am detached. My blood pressure is good, I have been checked out for everything and it has come back ok and my Doctor said it is all Anxiety and Panic. I find if I am doing something all the time, I am less likely to have Anxieties and Panic Attacks, problem is, it is so exhausting.:ohmy:

[Sunflower2]

Panic attacks are not centred round breathing that's rubbish! There is a huuuuuge list of every symptom a panic attack can cause, and everyone is different. For example, my panic attacks cause:
Tight chest, racing heart, feeling hot and uncomfortable, feeling dizzy, feeling sick, churning stomach, and everything shaking. The worst my breathing ever gets is like more shallow breaths, but never have I hyperventilated! Controlled breathing does calm it all down though.
On another note, my heart rate is often resting around 90-100bpm, and can easily be higher when I'm not panicking. One doctor decided it was odd once and tested it, and it all came back normal. I just have a super high metabolism. I suspect that panic attacks come more easily to me because my heart rate is already high, but I don't give it much thought as it's been like this for years now!

[jennywren13]

Panic attacks can have a list of physical symptoms as long as your arm. It's definitely not all about breathing, just like Kimberly said.

Mine can be any or all of these:
Racing heart
Hot and sweaty
Wobbly legs
Chest Pains
Blurred vision
Dizzy
Nausea
Shortness of breath

[sputnikmoon]

Just one more question :p

When your heart is racing due to anxiety/panic does it sometimes go from being a bit quick for a little while whilst your anxious and can feel a panic attack coming on... Then you get the sensation of a wave of uneasiness flowing through your chest, not painful - feels a little ticklish/rollercoaster like and lasts a few seconds, almost makes you brace... And as that subsides your heart then ramps up into a gallop for 10min that doesn't feel the same as a racing heart due to exercise, it feels quite hollow and irratated, but it's totally even paced and doesn't go over 150bpm until it gradually ramps back down.

This is my most concerning symptom, and I'd only recently just started to believe it was anxiety - having been given the all clear from the cardiologist, it literally took 4 years for me to start truely believing him... And now that GP has put the fear back in me my catagorically stating I still shouldn't be having this and anxiety wouldn't do it.

For God's sake, he had no evidence to outright dismiss it like that and have me walking away thinking my heart wiring is all wrong!

[Carnation]

There are variations of what we feel when having a panic attack or anxiety and we are all different people and react differently sometimes, but the heart racing, fluttering, sensations that feel like a warm rush, a feeling like you have missed a beat, a heavy pounding through the chest are all things that I have experienced. I believe that most of this is unnecessary adrenaline rushing through the body due to Anxiety, so some people like to do plenty of exercise to release that adrenaline. :ohmy:
I never realized that I must have been having panic attacks well before I was actually diagnosed with them. I just thought I had a bad heart, which I haven't, but you know what I mean.:unsure:

[sputnikmoon]

Thanks Carnation :)

It's literally those strange waves in my chest, head rushes and tingling scalp that freak me out the most.

I've got hold of the CBT workbooks from the forum sticky and I'm on the therapy waiting list with the NHS until the new cardiologist appointment comes through.

I'm going to choose to ignore that GP as put it down to him not reading my notes properly.

I saw another GP yesterday as the first GP wasn't in. He said "if your symptoms are the same and Broadgreen Cardiothoracic Centre gave you the all clear, then there is nothing to find as they are some of the best cardiologists in the country".

When I think about it, the waves in the chest probably do feel like crawling waves of intense nervousness - so that has to be adrenaline

I've also read Arrythmias generally don't cause chest sensations or the feeling of them coming on... and ones that cause racing hearts tend to start on a beat and go REALLY fast, whereas mine definitely build up.

Fingers crossed :p

[achybreakyheart]

Maybe you can ask your GP to prescribe you some adrenergic drugs such as Atenolol, which works great for me :)

[sputnikmoon]

Just an update, had a 24 Holter Monitor the other week - had every symptom described in my original message the day I was wearing the Holter, as well as every symptom I've ever worried about!

Results came back - Absolutely clean... The only thing that showed up was 4 isolated ectopics spread throughout the day.

My holter diary was filled with light headedness, flutters in chest, short of breath, racing heart, tingling in head, chest pains... Yet absolutely nothing was going wrong with the heart at these points :)

Their only note was that when I reported some symptoms, my heart rate rose slightly. The fastest it went was 128bpm and it was all normal sinus rhythm!

So this totally points to it being a stress response which we all know and love as anxiety/panic!

I was so upset after the Holter monitor as my symptoms where so severe whilst wearing it that I was sure they would finally have an answer to which horrible arrhythmia I've been experiencing... Turns out it isn't an arrhythmia at all!

I hope this gives people experiencing nasty cardiac symptoms a clue that it really can be just anxiety and stress!