nomore
03-06-08, 14:20
I have been reading the forum for a while now but never actually got around to posting.
Just to give a little background, I am 27 years old and am somewhat new to the health/general anxiety, panic attack thing. Everything started about 8 months ago while I was shopping for some birthday presents. The morning started normally but as I was walking around I started feeling light-headed, they type of feeling that you get sometimes when you haven't eaten anything (I think it's associated with a drop in the sugar levels). I am not diabetic so I just thought "No worries, this has happened before, I am just hungry. I'll get something to eat a little later". Well, as time passed it got worse and all of a sudden, while waiting for a stop light on a street I felt like I was going to collapse. I leaned against a sign post near me and after that sat down near the street curb. By that time, my whole body was shaking, I had cold seat, felt like something was very wrong and that I was going to pass out at any moment, my heart rate must have been 200 BPM. Needless to say, nothing really happened, beyond me being scared out of my mind. Eventually, I was able to calm down but the thought that something is wrong with me has not left me ever since. This is what I know think of as my first panic attack (the really funny part is that even now, as I am writing this, a small part of me still thinks that this was not really a panic attack but something was indeed wrong with me on that day). Luckily, a couple of days after that I went to the doctor for a regularly scheduled check-up. I didn't mention my episode but they did an ECG and full blood work. Everything was normal.
Anyway, this was basically the catalyst. My health anxiety and panic attacks are basically heart related. I keep thinking that there is something wrong with my heart and that I am going to have a heart attack, or something else heart related, that is going to put an end to me at any moment (since 8 months ago!).
Since that day, in the first month or so, I had a few more panic attacks. At that time I didn't really know what to make out of all of this as I had never felt anything even remotely close to what you feel during a panic attack. Shortly thereafter the ectopics started and I started "listening in" on my heart constantly. One Sunday I woke up with pain on my left side, around the area where the rib cage connects to the breast bone. I thought to my self; "hmmm...funny, well, I've actually had similar pain before and will probably go away". Well, as the morning progressed the pain did not go away and I worked my self into a panic frenzy again. I thought that I was having a heart attack. I woke up my girlfriend and asked her to take me to the ER immediately. At that time I also felt like I was short of breath, so you can imagine what this additional symptom did to my panic! Went to the ER, they checked blood pressure and gave me an ECG. The ER doctor said that there was nothing wrong with my ECG and also did an oxygen level test, to check out my breath shortness symptoms. O2 levels were fine. By that time I no longer felt that chest pain. Eventually, after I explained exactly how the pain felt and where it was he determined that the pain I felt was associated with the muscles connecting my rib cage to the breast bone (turns out to be a very common condition, which is sometimes associated with sharp pain). The pain only occurs if you move, stretch or take deep breast in/out. For some reason, during my "heart attack" I failed to notice that I no longer have the pain if I just stand still (do heart attacks stop when you just stand still !? :D )
As most people here probably know, initially, the ectopics are terrifying. So, after a few weeks of that and panic attacks, I decided to go to the doctor again. Went to the GP and he did an ECG and full blood work. Everything came back normal. I insisted that he refer me to a cardiologist, so he did. Went to the cardiologist, another ECG, 7 day Holter, stress test (I reached my target heart rate with no problems) and full echo. Everything came back normal. By that time I actually had a new symptom, occasional lightheadedness/diziness when I am walking outside. The Holter showed 2 skipped heart beats (not ectopics but actual skipped beats). Funny thing is that I never actually felt those skipped beats. The cardiologist was not concerned at all about those and said that the last time he wore a Holter he had 2-3 skipped beats in a 24 hour period. All of this was around January.
So, about £1000 later, I guess I felt a little better. I should note that at the time this was all happening to me I was under quite a great deal of stress, probably the most stressful time of my life.
Eventually, I learned not to go into full panic mode over ectopics and for now they have largely gone away. I still get them, definitely not as much as before, they still scare me sometimes but I am trying not to pay attention. I still "listen in" on my heart and every small pain or pinch in my left chest area can scare me (this is stuff that I would have paid no attention to about 1 year ago). My diziness/lightheadedness got worse and I also started feeling spacy, had trouble concentrating, etc. About 2-3 weeks ago, I also started feeling like I cannot get a satisfying breath. I don't feel that all the time, just sometimes, although about 2 weeks ago it was about enough to make me pull an emergency brake on a train! (I didn't actually do that though, can you imagine....:D ).
Anyway, I will continue my story a bit later.......
Huge thanks to anyone who actually reads this and I apologise for the rant.
Just to give a little background, I am 27 years old and am somewhat new to the health/general anxiety, panic attack thing. Everything started about 8 months ago while I was shopping for some birthday presents. The morning started normally but as I was walking around I started feeling light-headed, they type of feeling that you get sometimes when you haven't eaten anything (I think it's associated with a drop in the sugar levels). I am not diabetic so I just thought "No worries, this has happened before, I am just hungry. I'll get something to eat a little later". Well, as time passed it got worse and all of a sudden, while waiting for a stop light on a street I felt like I was going to collapse. I leaned against a sign post near me and after that sat down near the street curb. By that time, my whole body was shaking, I had cold seat, felt like something was very wrong and that I was going to pass out at any moment, my heart rate must have been 200 BPM. Needless to say, nothing really happened, beyond me being scared out of my mind. Eventually, I was able to calm down but the thought that something is wrong with me has not left me ever since. This is what I know think of as my first panic attack (the really funny part is that even now, as I am writing this, a small part of me still thinks that this was not really a panic attack but something was indeed wrong with me on that day). Luckily, a couple of days after that I went to the doctor for a regularly scheduled check-up. I didn't mention my episode but they did an ECG and full blood work. Everything was normal.
Anyway, this was basically the catalyst. My health anxiety and panic attacks are basically heart related. I keep thinking that there is something wrong with my heart and that I am going to have a heart attack, or something else heart related, that is going to put an end to me at any moment (since 8 months ago!).
Since that day, in the first month or so, I had a few more panic attacks. At that time I didn't really know what to make out of all of this as I had never felt anything even remotely close to what you feel during a panic attack. Shortly thereafter the ectopics started and I started "listening in" on my heart constantly. One Sunday I woke up with pain on my left side, around the area where the rib cage connects to the breast bone. I thought to my self; "hmmm...funny, well, I've actually had similar pain before and will probably go away". Well, as the morning progressed the pain did not go away and I worked my self into a panic frenzy again. I thought that I was having a heart attack. I woke up my girlfriend and asked her to take me to the ER immediately. At that time I also felt like I was short of breath, so you can imagine what this additional symptom did to my panic! Went to the ER, they checked blood pressure and gave me an ECG. The ER doctor said that there was nothing wrong with my ECG and also did an oxygen level test, to check out my breath shortness symptoms. O2 levels were fine. By that time I no longer felt that chest pain. Eventually, after I explained exactly how the pain felt and where it was he determined that the pain I felt was associated with the muscles connecting my rib cage to the breast bone (turns out to be a very common condition, which is sometimes associated with sharp pain). The pain only occurs if you move, stretch or take deep breast in/out. For some reason, during my "heart attack" I failed to notice that I no longer have the pain if I just stand still (do heart attacks stop when you just stand still !? :D )
As most people here probably know, initially, the ectopics are terrifying. So, after a few weeks of that and panic attacks, I decided to go to the doctor again. Went to the GP and he did an ECG and full blood work. Everything came back normal. I insisted that he refer me to a cardiologist, so he did. Went to the cardiologist, another ECG, 7 day Holter, stress test (I reached my target heart rate with no problems) and full echo. Everything came back normal. By that time I actually had a new symptom, occasional lightheadedness/diziness when I am walking outside. The Holter showed 2 skipped heart beats (not ectopics but actual skipped beats). Funny thing is that I never actually felt those skipped beats. The cardiologist was not concerned at all about those and said that the last time he wore a Holter he had 2-3 skipped beats in a 24 hour period. All of this was around January.
So, about £1000 later, I guess I felt a little better. I should note that at the time this was all happening to me I was under quite a great deal of stress, probably the most stressful time of my life.
Eventually, I learned not to go into full panic mode over ectopics and for now they have largely gone away. I still get them, definitely not as much as before, they still scare me sometimes but I am trying not to pay attention. I still "listen in" on my heart and every small pain or pinch in my left chest area can scare me (this is stuff that I would have paid no attention to about 1 year ago). My diziness/lightheadedness got worse and I also started feeling spacy, had trouble concentrating, etc. About 2-3 weeks ago, I also started feeling like I cannot get a satisfying breath. I don't feel that all the time, just sometimes, although about 2 weeks ago it was about enough to make me pull an emergency brake on a train! (I didn't actually do that though, can you imagine....:D ).
Anyway, I will continue my story a bit later.......
Huge thanks to anyone who actually reads this and I apologise for the rant.