kimmiepie
21-06-07, 03:23
Hi. I don't think I've ever posted in this forum before, I'm usually over in the health anxiety area. But I thought this time it might be more appropriate here.
I've suffered with anxiety/health anxiety since I was 6 years old. In my teens I had panic attacks daily and that continued until I was 22. I'm 26 now, and even though I still have a lot of anxiety/health anxiety I don't have panic attacks very often anymore. Maybe one or two every few months, which is nothing to me since I used to get them 10 times a day.
Well, yesterday I started to get a fullness in my chest, like something was in my lungs but wouldn't come out...like fluid or something. I started to worry about it and immedietly feared the worst (congestive heart failure, as a girl I know just went through that). Then by later on yesterday I was having what I can only describe as my heart not pumping enough blood or something. Now, I have low blood pressure a lot but this was different. I get that "Gasping" in the middle of the night where I wake up and have to catch my breath...and when I do that I can feel the blood rush back to my head etc when I take that big breath...it's a weird feeling and hard to describe. It was like having that in the day time. Last night I did not go to sleep until 4am because of this.
I had an acupuncture appt today and he said my heart sounded fine, and my husband is pre-med and checked my lungs which didn't have any fluid in them. It got SOOO bad today. I was having that trouble almost constantly. Which was causing me to start to panic. It's much worse when I first stand up or when I am walking around or something...it's as if my heart or lungs are not getting enough blood or something and then I can feel the blood go to my head (not the same as low blood pressure). So I got up from the couch and immedietly felt very strange all over and the blood rushed to/or away from my head...I did not feel lightheaded but a very strange and overwhelming sensation that I was going to pass out and my head was deprived of oxygen or something. I screamed for my husband which has NEVER happened. He said this was the first time he's ever been scared for me. After this episode it continued in milder doses and I had all the classic panic now as well....hyperventilation, blurry vision, lightheaded, shaking, weak legs, tingling.
It's still hard to describe what it felt like. It's like when you first get that surge of adrenaline like you're scared and your heart pumps and extra bit or loses a bit (not sure which) at that moment....it was like that constant waves of adrenaline making my heart and blood do that. Over and over again. Or when you've been holding your breath a long time and you start to get dizzy/full in the head and you let it go and it all comes shooting back....kind of like that. And when it happens my heart starts racing (it's not ectopics I get those too). It's sort of like my heart is working super hard to get everything flowing through and it makes me weak all over and...darn I just don't know how to explain it.
I felt very weak like I had just been through a huge battle, and I had to lie down. It took me a bit to fall asleep as I was still having episodes and actually gasped one time when I was falling asleep.
When I woke up I felt better. I am still weak and my muscles hurt like I've been hit by a truck. I have had a few other small episodes of it. My heart is still beating a million miles an hour though. Also when I woke up I noticed my lungs feel like I've got a bit of an upper respiratory infection. Maybe that's why they felt/feel full.
ANyway, it really scared me and I'm terrified this will happen again. I mean, it has been two day of hell. :weep: And today I just wanted to die rather than live with this. This has never happened before and I don't know what I'll do if it continues. My husband couldn't even go to work tonight.
Thanks for listening to my rambling. Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?
I've suffered with anxiety/health anxiety since I was 6 years old. In my teens I had panic attacks daily and that continued until I was 22. I'm 26 now, and even though I still have a lot of anxiety/health anxiety I don't have panic attacks very often anymore. Maybe one or two every few months, which is nothing to me since I used to get them 10 times a day.
Well, yesterday I started to get a fullness in my chest, like something was in my lungs but wouldn't come out...like fluid or something. I started to worry about it and immedietly feared the worst (congestive heart failure, as a girl I know just went through that). Then by later on yesterday I was having what I can only describe as my heart not pumping enough blood or something. Now, I have low blood pressure a lot but this was different. I get that "Gasping" in the middle of the night where I wake up and have to catch my breath...and when I do that I can feel the blood rush back to my head etc when I take that big breath...it's a weird feeling and hard to describe. It was like having that in the day time. Last night I did not go to sleep until 4am because of this.
I had an acupuncture appt today and he said my heart sounded fine, and my husband is pre-med and checked my lungs which didn't have any fluid in them. It got SOOO bad today. I was having that trouble almost constantly. Which was causing me to start to panic. It's much worse when I first stand up or when I am walking around or something...it's as if my heart or lungs are not getting enough blood or something and then I can feel the blood go to my head (not the same as low blood pressure). So I got up from the couch and immedietly felt very strange all over and the blood rushed to/or away from my head...I did not feel lightheaded but a very strange and overwhelming sensation that I was going to pass out and my head was deprived of oxygen or something. I screamed for my husband which has NEVER happened. He said this was the first time he's ever been scared for me. After this episode it continued in milder doses and I had all the classic panic now as well....hyperventilation, blurry vision, lightheaded, shaking, weak legs, tingling.
It's still hard to describe what it felt like. It's like when you first get that surge of adrenaline like you're scared and your heart pumps and extra bit or loses a bit (not sure which) at that moment....it was like that constant waves of adrenaline making my heart and blood do that. Over and over again. Or when you've been holding your breath a long time and you start to get dizzy/full in the head and you let it go and it all comes shooting back....kind of like that. And when it happens my heart starts racing (it's not ectopics I get those too). It's sort of like my heart is working super hard to get everything flowing through and it makes me weak all over and...darn I just don't know how to explain it.
I felt very weak like I had just been through a huge battle, and I had to lie down. It took me a bit to fall asleep as I was still having episodes and actually gasped one time when I was falling asleep.
When I woke up I felt better. I am still weak and my muscles hurt like I've been hit by a truck. I have had a few other small episodes of it. My heart is still beating a million miles an hour though. Also when I woke up I noticed my lungs feel like I've got a bit of an upper respiratory infection. Maybe that's why they felt/feel full.
ANyway, it really scared me and I'm terrified this will happen again. I mean, it has been two day of hell. :weep: And today I just wanted to die rather than live with this. This has never happened before and I don't know what I'll do if it continues. My husband couldn't even go to work tonight.
Thanks for listening to my rambling. Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?