Doug
17-04-18, 11:18
Hi all,
First time poster.
I've been suffering from anxiety since New Years Eve 2016 - I remember the date because I woke up that morning and didn't feel right, had a huge panic attack in the afternoon and I've suffered anxiety ever since.
I used to have anxiety when I was in my early 20's, I had a two year-ish period where I had daily panic attacks and didn't cope with them too well, I used to run away quite a lot thinking I needed to escape my current situation, go to hospital etc...
Then all the anxiety stopped suddenly and I didn't have a single issue for 8 years.
The anxiety started at the beginning of 2017 and reached a head in march of last year. I started having sever palpitations and chest pain when on my lunch break from work. I couldn't calm these down so I went straight to A&E. Once I was there, everything calmed down, my BP was checked, I had an ECG, all clear. Saw a doctor who said it might be acid reflux and told me to talk to my GP.
Saw my GP the next day who chatted to me about my symptoms and diagnosed anxiety and put me on 10mg of Escatalopram, she still wanted my heart checked out fully so I was given a 24 hour ECG. When that was done they said that they didn't see anything that concerned them but they wanted the palpitations to be cleared by a cardiologist - cue a year long wait to eventually have another ECG, a heart MRI and eventually a cardiologist shrugging at me and saying it was "Just anxiety"
Things calmed down a bit over the summer and my attacks became more and more rare.
Then just before Christmas it all flared up again and seemed a lot more extreme this time - throughout 2016 I would only get attacks at work, usually in the afternoon. Now I get them at home and at random times. It almost always happens whenever I sit down to relax or when I get into bed.
It starts with that feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, then I get lightheaded and short of breath.
then I get the heart palpitations - these are the only symptom that I really can't cope with, I start to worry so that makes my heart worse, sometimes it's not fast it just pounds heard in my chest to the point where I can can feel it.
I feel like I'm going crazy when this happens like "is this my time? Is my heart going to give out?"
When I'm not having an attack then I know that it's all anxiety related and probably not dangerous but when I'm in the midst of it I really struggle to regain control.
It's affecting my work, my social life, my ability to relax etc...
I'd love to hear people's coping mechanisms when they start having scary palpitations. I just want to get back to how I used to be.
Sorry to ramble on so long, it helps to get it off my chest.
First time poster.
I've been suffering from anxiety since New Years Eve 2016 - I remember the date because I woke up that morning and didn't feel right, had a huge panic attack in the afternoon and I've suffered anxiety ever since.
I used to have anxiety when I was in my early 20's, I had a two year-ish period where I had daily panic attacks and didn't cope with them too well, I used to run away quite a lot thinking I needed to escape my current situation, go to hospital etc...
Then all the anxiety stopped suddenly and I didn't have a single issue for 8 years.
The anxiety started at the beginning of 2017 and reached a head in march of last year. I started having sever palpitations and chest pain when on my lunch break from work. I couldn't calm these down so I went straight to A&E. Once I was there, everything calmed down, my BP was checked, I had an ECG, all clear. Saw a doctor who said it might be acid reflux and told me to talk to my GP.
Saw my GP the next day who chatted to me about my symptoms and diagnosed anxiety and put me on 10mg of Escatalopram, she still wanted my heart checked out fully so I was given a 24 hour ECG. When that was done they said that they didn't see anything that concerned them but they wanted the palpitations to be cleared by a cardiologist - cue a year long wait to eventually have another ECG, a heart MRI and eventually a cardiologist shrugging at me and saying it was "Just anxiety"
Things calmed down a bit over the summer and my attacks became more and more rare.
Then just before Christmas it all flared up again and seemed a lot more extreme this time - throughout 2016 I would only get attacks at work, usually in the afternoon. Now I get them at home and at random times. It almost always happens whenever I sit down to relax or when I get into bed.
It starts with that feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, then I get lightheaded and short of breath.
then I get the heart palpitations - these are the only symptom that I really can't cope with, I start to worry so that makes my heart worse, sometimes it's not fast it just pounds heard in my chest to the point where I can can feel it.
I feel like I'm going crazy when this happens like "is this my time? Is my heart going to give out?"
When I'm not having an attack then I know that it's all anxiety related and probably not dangerous but when I'm in the midst of it I really struggle to regain control.
It's affecting my work, my social life, my ability to relax etc...
I'd love to hear people's coping mechanisms when they start having scary palpitations. I just want to get back to how I used to be.
Sorry to ramble on so long, it helps to get it off my chest.