Caterina
23-04-05, 22:04
Hi
I have suffered from higher and lower degrees of anxiety and panic attacks for many many years, sometimes in a very distressing way and some other times only having the mildest anxiety, or even nothing for months.
I am now writing here because of an incident that happened to me on Thursday night.
Premise: I have been very stressed and overworked for a long time now, with work outside the home plus a family and house to run, plus my father (in another country) suffering from a serious illness - so, enough stress to send me into a serious state of panic.
Went to bed at 11pm feeling ok, fell asleep straight away. At 11:30 I woke up with the most awful fast heartbeat, dizzyness, difficulty in breathing, tunnel vision, you name it, I had it. Tried to control it with slow breathing, went to the bathroom (nearly fell over) and it got worse and worse. Asked my husband to call the night GP but the feeling of faintness got so strong that I thought I was having some sort of stroke. By this time I was also shaking very hard and my speech was impaired, I could hardly get words out and had a funny 'lisp', my face was all tight and tingly and I was absolutely terrified.
I managed to ask my husband to call an ambulance, when the operator heard me speak he said they were on their way straight away.
The ambulancemen came and I managed to walk into the ambulance, my husband came with me. They took my pulse and pressure and they were quite high but as we moved towards the hospital it got better and i could manage to speak a bit better. They asked if I ever had a panic attack and I said Yes but not for a long time, but this one DID NOT FEEL like a panic attack.
They took me into the hospital and told the nurse that I was having a panic attack. So instead of being seen by a doctor straight away I was shifted over to the A&E triage for nurse assessment, having to queue with lots of people in various states of bleeding and drunkenness etc (not a relaxing situation - a drunk guy accosted me as he wanted to show me the crown that had fallen off his tooth, I went nearly mad with fear, luckily my husband came with me and he sat near me straight away).
Eventually I was seen by a nurse then a doctor, got 2 ECGs, blood tests and blood pressure taken, until after 3 am when the doctor came and said that all the tests are clear, ECGS fine and it was only a panic attack.
He said that I should be glad that it was only a panic attack and need to move on etc (He meant well, I have to say he was extremely gentle).
Now, I have had panic attacks before and I KNOW what they feel like, and manage to control them to a point, and when they are really bad I pop a 2mg valium and wait them out until I calm down. But this one really DID NOT feel like a panic attack.
First of all I woke up with it already in full swing, then the feelings of dizziness in the face and tingling in the legs are not a familiar feature, then also I did not DID NOT hyperventilate - I am sure of that as I was ASLEEP!!! Is this normal? Why is everybody saying I had a panic attack?
I am finding msyelf now with the classic anxiety of the situation, I am SCARED to go to bed and sleep. Yesterday I took a preventative valium (which I hate to do because I want to save them only for real extreme situations and don't want to get addicted), and I am also suffering from some form of post traumatic stress, where I am re-living the event over and over and can't stop crying.
When I spoke to my mum by phone she asked me whether I suffer from sleep apnoea, as it sounds like one of its symptoms (fast heartbeat due to lack of oxygen in the body etc) or maybe it is a beginning of menopause symptom (I am 47 but still menstruating and no signs of hot flushes).
Has anyone got a similar experience?? How could I WAKE UP in the middle of a panic attack? and if it is not panic attack, what could it be?
I am terrified and desperate and have cried on and off all day and don't know what to do.
Caterina
I have suffered from higher and lower degrees of anxiety and panic attacks for many many years, sometimes in a very distressing way and some other times only having the mildest anxiety, or even nothing for months.
I am now writing here because of an incident that happened to me on Thursday night.
Premise: I have been very stressed and overworked for a long time now, with work outside the home plus a family and house to run, plus my father (in another country) suffering from a serious illness - so, enough stress to send me into a serious state of panic.
Went to bed at 11pm feeling ok, fell asleep straight away. At 11:30 I woke up with the most awful fast heartbeat, dizzyness, difficulty in breathing, tunnel vision, you name it, I had it. Tried to control it with slow breathing, went to the bathroom (nearly fell over) and it got worse and worse. Asked my husband to call the night GP but the feeling of faintness got so strong that I thought I was having some sort of stroke. By this time I was also shaking very hard and my speech was impaired, I could hardly get words out and had a funny 'lisp', my face was all tight and tingly and I was absolutely terrified.
I managed to ask my husband to call an ambulance, when the operator heard me speak he said they were on their way straight away.
The ambulancemen came and I managed to walk into the ambulance, my husband came with me. They took my pulse and pressure and they were quite high but as we moved towards the hospital it got better and i could manage to speak a bit better. They asked if I ever had a panic attack and I said Yes but not for a long time, but this one DID NOT FEEL like a panic attack.
They took me into the hospital and told the nurse that I was having a panic attack. So instead of being seen by a doctor straight away I was shifted over to the A&E triage for nurse assessment, having to queue with lots of people in various states of bleeding and drunkenness etc (not a relaxing situation - a drunk guy accosted me as he wanted to show me the crown that had fallen off his tooth, I went nearly mad with fear, luckily my husband came with me and he sat near me straight away).
Eventually I was seen by a nurse then a doctor, got 2 ECGs, blood tests and blood pressure taken, until after 3 am when the doctor came and said that all the tests are clear, ECGS fine and it was only a panic attack.
He said that I should be glad that it was only a panic attack and need to move on etc (He meant well, I have to say he was extremely gentle).
Now, I have had panic attacks before and I KNOW what they feel like, and manage to control them to a point, and when they are really bad I pop a 2mg valium and wait them out until I calm down. But this one really DID NOT feel like a panic attack.
First of all I woke up with it already in full swing, then the feelings of dizziness in the face and tingling in the legs are not a familiar feature, then also I did not DID NOT hyperventilate - I am sure of that as I was ASLEEP!!! Is this normal? Why is everybody saying I had a panic attack?
I am finding msyelf now with the classic anxiety of the situation, I am SCARED to go to bed and sleep. Yesterday I took a preventative valium (which I hate to do because I want to save them only for real extreme situations and don't want to get addicted), and I am also suffering from some form of post traumatic stress, where I am re-living the event over and over and can't stop crying.
When I spoke to my mum by phone she asked me whether I suffer from sleep apnoea, as it sounds like one of its symptoms (fast heartbeat due to lack of oxygen in the body etc) or maybe it is a beginning of menopause symptom (I am 47 but still menstruating and no signs of hot flushes).
Has anyone got a similar experience?? How could I WAKE UP in the middle of a panic attack? and if it is not panic attack, what could it be?
I am terrified and desperate and have cried on and off all day and don't know what to do.
Caterina