Symptom Reassurance

[dittarco]

Hi -

I've been suffering with anxiety for as long as I can remember. I am 32 now and my first panic attacks happened when I was around 10 or 11.

Many odd feelings / symptoms have come and gone over the years. For the last 6 months, I have been experiencing the following:

1 - episodes light-headedness (not daily and I am not dizzy; nothing spins)
2 - a feeling of pressure above my nose
3 - "seeing things" ... little white spots (had my eyes check; perfect)
4 - palpitations out of nowhere or provoked (had an EKG and it was normal)
5 - twitches, heavy legs, tingles

The latest episode was triggered by a bout of bronchitis I had in October. I now have this overwhelming fear that I will pass out and something will happen to me.

My husband tries to reassure me that it will not happen.

My questions are:

1 - if it was serious in nature, would it come and go like it does? or would it get worse?

2 - I am pretty sure I don't breathe right most of the day... could this be a cause of it?

[Gary A]

It's difficult to say really. It sounds like classic anxiety and panic symptoms to me, however, this should really only be confirmed by your doctor. As for you not breathing right, I'm not really sure what you mean by that. Are you breathing too much? Too heavily? There is a syndrome known as hyperventilation syndrome that could certainly cause all of what you mention, but again, this is a diagnosis for your doctor. To me it doesn't sound like anything "serious", but if you're worried then a doctor should be your first port of call.

[dittarco]

I feel like I am always holding my breath... sometimes I don't realize I am doing it until symptoms arise.

---------- Post added at 13:56 ---------- Previous post was at 13:52 ----------

Also - I went for my last physical in July... everything was perfect.

I did go back to the doctor 2 weeks ago to tell him what was going on..he didn't seem concerned at all...

I'm not sure if I should keep poking or instead accept it may very well be anxiety / panic

[Gary A]

If you're breathing erratically then you may very well be giving yourself these symptoms. It's amazing how much poor breathing can affect you physically. All of your symptoms could be down to chronic hyperventilation. If your doctor wasn't concerned I don't think you should be either.