View Full Version : Do these sound like panic attacks?
About two weeks ago I was lying in bed relaxing about ready to go to sleep for the night. All of a sudden I started to feel strange. I reminded of how I feel when I am going under anesthesia before surgery. Or kinda the same feeling when you are just coming out of anesthesia. I told my husband that something was wrong. My head felt so weird. I think I felt very weak too. Nothing was going black but I felt like I was fading away or something. I laid back down and cried and cried. After about 20 minutes I started feeling normal again. I don't know if my heart was racing or not, I didn't notice it pounding or anything just the horrible feeling in my head. Fast forward nine days later. I had a very busy day and was pretty tired. Again I was in bed trying to relax while watching tv. Then all of a sudden that same feeling came back. I thought I was going to pass out or something. I told hubbie something is really wrong and I hurried into kitchen where I have a blood sugar monitor and a home blood pressure monitor. I tested my blood sugar and it was fine. Then I took my blood pressure. It was elevated. Not extremely high. But my pulse was 153! I thought that must be what's wrong then. I went back and laid down on the bed and the feeling like I was going under anesthesia wouldn't go away. I was crying and shaking and fighting the feeling I guess. It was so terrifying. I really truly believed I was dying. I yelled to hubbie to call 911. He did. I could hear him but his voice sounded strange. It took over 20 minutes for the paramedics to arrive. I was face down on the bed shaking and saying someone please help me, I'm about to die. They got me to roll over and put oxygen on me and monitored me. I know I was throwing pvc's (premature ventricular contractions). I've had those over 20 years and they don't bother me much. Never made me feel weird in the head like this. Anyway by the time they put me in the ambulance I was starting to feel normal. I was have pvc's every 20 seconds or so. Husband said there were seven EMT's in my bedroom. I never saw any of them except the lady that put the oxygen on me. I was so out of it. They took me to the hospital. They did a chest xray which looked okay and labs. I have felt fine since. This was 5 days ago. TSH was high on blood work but they retook it yesterday when I went to see the cardiologist and it was fine. I don't understand how it could fluctuate so much in 4 days. I had an echo yesterday but haven't heard the results yet. Tomorrow I'm having an 30 day heart monitor hooked up to see if they can catch another episode. I've been scared that I might have another episode. Trying to figure out if the panic attack caused the tachycardia or vice versa. It was the most frightening experience of my life. Anyone ever felt this way?
---------- Post added 26-11-14 at 00:26 ---------- Previous post was 25-11-14 at 21:56 ----------
Wow, no replies at all?
Hmm...well either could cause the other.
It does sound A LOT like a panic attack to me. That sense of doom or foreboding. People tend to focus a lot on the physical effects of a panic attack - breathlessness, the racing heart, shaking, weak legs, numbness/tingling - but the mental effects of an attack can also be just as invasive, and that is how mine go too.
As you describe, I feel just a strange sense of worry, doom and weirdness, and then I also feel like I am going to pass out, and during a bad attack, I always do.
The fact that you are tachycardic, as well as having the horrible feeling and sensations mentally, very much strikes me as a panic attack. It is a little complicated by your cardiac history, which I guess muddies the waters a little for you as to whether it actually is a panic attack or not, but in my opinion, from what you describe, it sounds like it.
Back to the question of what came first, well hard to say. Tachycardia definitely stems from a panic/anxiety, and very quickly too, but then again, many of us can have a panic just from having an elevated heart rate, due to various reasons, either just because we associate it with panic, so we freak out and panic because of that, or if an anxiety sufferer has a health anxiety and their heart starts racing, they worry that something is terribly wrong physically, and then have a panic.
Panic attacks are con artists. They do make us think that we are really physically unwell, dying, etc, etc. but the physical stuff is purely fueled by our mental anxiety, which is why I would lay money that yes, YOU DID suffer a panic attack, and yep, they are really frightening I know, but it is possible to tackle them and find ways to cope with them.x
Thanks for your reply. Neither the ER doctor or the cardiologist said anything about it possibly being a panic attack. I guess they have to rule out heart problems first. Going to get a monitor tomorrow and will have to wear it for a month. Just wonder if I will have another episode while wearing it. It's been five days and I haven't driven my car or gone anywhere by myself since it happened. I just can't forget how absolutely terrifying it was. I wonder if I should request a stress test. I exercise regularly and love it. I do a kickbox class twice a week and also a boot camp class. I am afraid to go now. Just HATE having something so terrifying happen to me and nobody can really tell me what caused it for sure.
Thanks for your reply. Neither the ER doctor or the cardiologist said anything about it possibly being a panic attack. I guess they have to rule out heart problems first. Going to get a monitor tomorrow and will have to wear it for a month. Just wonder if I will have another episode while wearing it. It's been five days and I haven't driven my car or gone anywhere by myself since it happened. I just can't forget how absolutely terrifying it was. I wonder if I should request a stress test. I exercise regularly and love it. I do a kickbox class twice a week and also a boot camp class. I am afraid to go now. Just HATE having something so terrifying happen to me and nobody can really tell me what caused it for sure.
Sadly, that doesn't surprise me at all that they didn't mention panic attack. Some doctors can't see beyond the end of their noses, especially specialized doctors (I am an ex-ER nurse) and also they will jump on your cardiac history before anything else. It would also depend very much how you present in the deparment. If the worst of the attack was over, then they would not steer towards panic as a cause of your symptoms. It is also a sad fact that many medical professionals (of all people) simply do not have enough experience or history of seeing and dealing with and more crucially, UNDERSTANDING mental health problems.
However! I do think that the cardiac monitoring is going to be an excellent way to proceed for you, as it will possibly (though in my opinion, PROBABLY) rule out cardiac as being a cause for your horrible symptoms.
It is great that you exercise/kick box. DON'T STOP DOING THEM!! Activity and occupational stuff are the absolute best things to do for panic attacks/anxiety attacks, because they release endorphins which help lift our mood and any exercise or activity keeps our brains busy, and distracts us from the mental stuff.:yesyes:
I just got back from having the event monitor put on. I think I was having bad anxiety in the waiting room. Hubbie was with me. Two days ago I went with a friend who drove me. I had to wait a while to see the cardio, then wait to get blood drawn, then we came back later to get the echo done. I felt like myself all day and didn't really feel anxious. I had taken .25 Xanax though. Today I didn't take anything and I felt like I was getting lightheaded and about to go into a panic twice while waiting at the hospital. I used to feel like this years ago and it pretty much went away. Now, it's back with a vengeance!!! I hate this. Having a hard time getting a deep breath. Maybe after I get used to how this monitor works, I will feel better.
Well, I had the same exact thing happen again last night just as I was trying to sleep. Uncontrollable shaking, weakness, felt extremely faint, very pale and heart rate in the 140s. Didn't call ambulance this time. It took 30 minutes but it passed. Scary as hell. At least monitor recorded it. Hope they can find out what this is.
Have you had any news on whats going on the same thing happened to me accept iv had panic attacks all my life amd I was pretty 100% it was not one im wearing a monitor tonight but iv had to wait since october to get thod and nobody seems to know whats wrong with me
I have always been convinced that my attacks were actually a cardiac problem.
My panic attacks involve my heart racing, dripping with sweat, pale, trembling and end up with me feeling faint and actually passing out, but only for a few seconds. I have twice experienced this, as I am normally able to talk myself down from an attack, but when I do faint, it scares me as I just think 'heart'.
The first time it happened I was actually at work, in the Emergency Dept. My boss ran off to get a doctor who diagnosed me with a vasovagal attack....just a faint. My blood pressure was 70/40, so what I have never understood is why my BP is so low and yet this is a panic attack. I just don't get how that can be, which is why I have always worried about cardiac stuff.
I saw my GP after this happened at work, and she scared the heck out of me by saying that I had an irregular heartbeat. I had an ECG a few days later which was normal. I have also had another recently due to constant palpitations, but again....normal, although I was tachycardic (through nerves I think)
The trouble with panic attacks is they can so mimic things like heart issues - the palpitations, the breathlessness, the sweating, the pallor, etc. It is no wonder that we worry that something is seriously wrong!:shrug:
Well I've had the event monitor on for a couple weeks now. Cardiologist has confirmed that I have PSVT. It's an electrical problem with my heart. Causes my heart to jump up to a very high rate very quickly. He sent me to an electrophysiologist. He told me that I will not die from these episodes although they can make me feel that way. He has put me on a beta blocker. I've been on it a few days and my episodes of PSVT are still happening but much less often. Hopefully this medicine will help me. I do believe that I was going into panic mode twice because of the fear of these episdoes. I had an ambulance come to my house twice to take me to ER. I've got to learn not to panic when these episodes happen. I am getting better but it is still hard. I was hoping my symptoms were just from anxiety. I will be alright though. I've got to learn to deal with it and learn to relax.
I've had similar experiences and they were just panic attacks. I've had one so bad that the floor arose to meet me (vertigo) and the voices around me sounded really weird and muffled. I would hyperventilate, turn pale, shake, it was terrible...
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