Incredibly weird panic attack or nothing out of the ordinary?

[Ditapage]

I went to bed last night at 8:30 and had a mild headache in the right side of my head just above my ear on my scalp - the temporal bone.

I woke up 2 hrs later in a horrible panic. The area where the headache was felt like a numb heavy pressure and I felt faint. I paced around the house not sure whether to wake somebody up. I can't even describe the feeling which is what makes me obsess so much. It's like one side of my head is in a vice - it's a gripping, heavy, numbish but painless feeling. It's so strong I fear I will faint, or I am going to die. When I checked my heart it was 130bpm.

After 2 xanax's, a nurofen, and drinking some green tea the intensity of the feeling was gone, my heart went down to 80bpm which is my post anxiety reading and I went back to sleep. So I figure it's a panic attack. But it's a weird one. I had a cat scan 2 weeks ago and there's nothing going on. Yet I get pressure feelings in the side of my head or pain in that ear and I can't make any sense of it.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? I've had these kind of numb heavy head panic attacks before - ALWAYS the right side and 2 hours after I fall asleep. It truly feels like some invisible thing is pushing against my head and gripping it, sometimes my ear on that side will go hot and red. What is this!? Is it just panic? Thanks for any replies.

[catsandnaps]

Hi Dita, I've had a very heavy feeling in my head in the past, but mine is usually on both sides, like a giant hat is squeezing my head until I'm certain my head will just explode. Yikes. Thankfully, it hasn't, but it typically is a sign a big 'ol panic attack is brewing. I've read on here that this is anxiety, and I'm going to trust the people who told me that. Anxiety symptoms are soooo vast, it can pretty much affect any part of the body. It makes no sense!
You have the doctor saying your scan was normal, which is awesome! That means no matter how uncomfortable the gripping feeling is, it will not hurt you.
I hope this helps a bit, hopefully someone else has a better experience or knowledge on why this happens. Keep working through this, you can do it!!

[Ditapage]

Thanks for the reply and encouragement catsandnaps :) I still struggle with the belief that anxiety can cause anything and I am hypersensitive to my body so I have to accept that I am going to feel panicky over anything at this point until I achieve overall calmness. Sometimes "what's that?" creates a problem that was never there.

[Torimori]

Hi I get exactly the same but not at time. At times I've felt that my head might explode and then when it subsides I feel daft again! I am the same as you that I really cannot understand how anxiety can present itself with so many physical symptoms and am terrified that I will miss something one day. How is the head feeling now?

[Ditapage]

Thanks Torimori, my head feels fine today because I'm obsessed with a tight sternum ha! It's always something but never the same thing. My panic symptoms have a schedule. One day it's head, next it's chest, next it's mental anxiety, next it's dizziness, next it's fatigue. The thing I hate most about this whole disorder is I can't trust my body anymore to alert me to a real problem.

I've had the head exploding feeling too. For me (and most likely for you) it was tight neck muscles and scalp tension. It was my first panic symptom and the beginning of my seizure obsession because I thought that was what it would lead to. Then I met a friend who's actually had seizures and said you don't feel one coming. So in our case it's definitely adrenaline, tension.

[ray.olsen]

This can be a lot of things despite what the CAT scan is saying. I think you should consult with a neurologist and have EEG so you can rule out epilepsy. Then have it checked for a tumor. It's really difficult to treat a disease that you don't know about. It can even be hypertension so have also a blood chem test. It's better if you have a full executive check up so you'll be able to keep track of your body. I hope you won't have any more seizures. Update me on the findings. God bless.

[Arevie]

I once had a feeling simular to this. I was putting immense pressure on my brain ( ha imagine trying to push real hard taking a poop face all red and pushing ) then I felt something kinda pop in my brain area ( doctors said ear area) anyways... I went to the ER had a cat scan they said it was a head ache without a cause ... I had just watched a crap ton of Greys anatomy so I was thinking brain annurisum ... Anyways the feeling I had was half of my head had a balloon blown up in side and if I tilted my head just right the pressure would go to the other side a little I was so worried I was dieing... The hole thing went away with time ....