high state of panic right now help!

[pele33]

Hi guys i have been diagnosed with health anxiety and panic disorder. I hve been having bad panic attacks for approx a year and a half now. I have fought and fought the gp's diagnosis convinced i have heart problems after a scare in jan 2007. Cardiologists are not concerned with me,however i think different. My symptoms turn horrific after a night on the beer and after a sunday night out all day i have had chest pains trouble breathing tight chest slow heartbeat fast heartbeat a lot of skipped and missed beats. last year i visited a and e 20 times thinking i was about to have a heart attack and was always sent home on top of this i am in a permenant state of anxiety thinking i am about to have a heart attack. I an now sat at my computer thinkin once again that i am about to pop my clogs terrified wondering if the drs got it wrong, the feeling is so intense, does anyone experience anything similiar ? would like to chat

[kendo59]

Ummm... in your previous posts, you tend to always indicate that your panic/anxiety attacks come after a night out drinking.

If this is how alcohol affects you, then why not give up alcohol?
You don't how to cease your social life, just stick to soft drinks.

[pele33]

yea there is a link between the two and my anxiety is triggered by alchohol. i ave calmned down a lot but really need to kick the beer in the head if this is what it does to me. Still don't know if my symptoms are dangerous or not ?:shrug:

[andrewc]

Hi Pele

All the symptoms you describe seem to be indeed caused by anxiety. You are getting caught in negative thinking loops which make your anxiety worse especially after drink.
Have you had any therapy and medication to get rid of the anxiety?

I would suggest to go back to the GP and ask for a referal to treat this once and for all.


Regards

Andy

[pele33]

hi andy
Yea i have had cbt twice and i am n 30 mg of duloxatine and 80mg proponoyl beta blockers nothing seems to help as i just still find it hard to believe that nothing is wrong with my heart

[Alisonj]

I also find it hard to believe nothing is wrong with my heart although I have had numerous tests. I have a strong family history so it intensifies my worries. Do you exercise at all? Do you only get panic attacks and these heart sensations after drinking or just randomly? Wht has your GP told you?
THere are so many of us on here with similar issues, do some searches and I bet you will find many many people with the same feelings.
Either way I hope it goes away and you feel better soon!

[pele33]

Hi alison
My symptoms are more or less always there but when i have a night out with my mates they intensfy 100 fold the following day. If i stay away from the ale it is manageable but once i on the beer they are nothing short of horrific. Yes i do wight training a lot but after a day of panic i avoid the gym, also sometimes after i train my heart goes nuts and my pulse races, this is after recovery and when i am back home its really weird. Do u think u are going to die when the symptoms strike ???

[Mikke]

I know this isn't easy to do, but you should consider:

- Trusting your cardiologist. :blush:

The next step is realizing that if your heart actually is healthy (a conclusion based on trust in your cardiologist), and axcepting that you have instead a disorder that are notorious for mimicing heart problems, namely panic disorder.

If you are able to do that, you will hopefully get to the point where you can work on issues that causes your anxiety symptoms, like troubles in your life...

Don't get stuck trying to resolve your anxety symptoms. I know it's hard, I constantly check my pulse at the gym, but have decided that skipped beats and racing heartbeats are nothing more than anxiety symptoms, and that they are not going to stop me from doing what I love - lifting heavy weights and see nice people who love the same thing.
Instead, try your best to resolve the things causing your anxiety symptoms. You will not find them investigating your heart...

[Amy2Crazy]

Pele,
I know exactly what you mean about being afraid you are going to die. But, at least I try to tell myself, if there really was something really wrong heart-wise, surely I would have died already as many times as I have thought I was having a heart attack. I know it is hard to believe when your chest is hurting and tight and your heart is thumping all over the place. But you have to find a way to believe that it is anxiety, because that is what it is. That is what it is for me, and you, and everyone else on here that has the exact same problems. Plus, cardiologists know more about the heart than anyone else, and they wouldn't let you walk around with a time bomb in your chest, right? I know that voice all too well that says that maybe they were wrong. But they usually aren't wrong. In fact, if they are still practicing, they are most likely never wrong. I really do understand how you feel. This is the worst, most terrifying thing I have ever experienced, and it is so hard to not think you are going to die.

Something I have found helps the chest pains is a massage between my shoulder blades and on my shoulders. I got a shiatsu massage pillow and it works fantastically!

Hope this helps,
Always,
Amy