So panic attacks are dangerous after all

[Phil H]

...reading in the news that a link has been found between panic attacks and heart disease....especially in the younger person under 40:weep: ...everyone says panic cant kill you..it can it seems?..Of course we have to remember the typical panic attack person probably has a poorer diet and drinks too much which doesnt help!

Your thoughts?

[bottleblond]

Phil

I think it's all a load of all tosh to be honest.

They say a lack of excersise is unhealthy, as is too much excersise, smoking, drinking, eating too much meat, not eating meat, the sun, the ozone layer, blah blah blah!!

At the end of the day, we will die if we worry and we will die if we don't so be happy and enjoy life as much as you can.


Lisa
x

[miss_worry]

Well said Lisa!!! I must admit I stopped caring what the news say. One day they say do this and don't do that the next they changed their minds again. I know panic attacks don't kill you, because if they did would have been 100 times over!!!

Vxxx

[Phil H]

panic attacks dont kill you no...but the link is between the effects of panic to later years having heart disease.

[Alabasterlyn]

I also read that article and the general implication, if indeed this study was correct, is that although people with panic disorder may be more likely to get heart disease in later life, they are less likely to die of it. Perhaps that should comfort us :winks:

[Phil H]

i agree less likely to die from it only because of being paranoid and getting checked over regular!

[Alabasterlyn]

i agree less likely to die from it only because of being paranoid and getting checked over regular!

Probably yes :)

However as we all know the papers are full of research statistics that are based on very small studies and are over found to be inaccurate.

[june]

The trouble with this type of headline is that we only see the horror / scary bit - to afraid to read on.

[playman44]

its these sort of reports that actually cause more panic than anything load of old rubbish i think

[harasgenster]

I think they are linking "stress" (of which panic attacks are a sort) with younger mortality here. Stress puts pressure on your body, yes, but probably not as much as poor diet or heavy drinking.

There's a bit of truth in it but it's definitely exagerated for a slow news day.

[fozzy is crying]

Well it is true anxiety and panic attacks do not kill you but they can lead to heart problems which can be a problem. I know this as I have had them effect my heart and for the last three and a half years had it fully diagnosed. It has lead to many 999 calls etc and a few that were life threatening and touch and go. But I am still here and my heart is still a problem but it now a safe one. This has also reduced a lot of the panic that lead to it as well now my heart specialist is 100% on top of it.

Panic etc often leads to very high heart rates and untreated will over a period of time if very high and last for hours at high levels cause heart damage or sudden cardiac arrests at any age. By high rates I am talking about very high rates around 200 or more beats a minute lasting for hours at a time at these very high rates. Usually with very high blood pressure as well. Cases like this are extremely rare but some of us do have them like I have. Perhaps one case in a million. News stories tend to talk about bad news but rarely tell you it is based on small numbers it has effected. Medical studies reported also tend to look at small numbers of extreme cases and not healthy ones. Often to make news the media just pick on the bad parts of the study and do not tell you the main results are good. Good news does not sell newspapers!!!!

One night last August I had a heart rate of over 300 with a bp of 198 over 130 last in one attack for over 12 hours. For over 11 hours of it six paramedics and a cardiac consultant were at my home with it looking like NASA control centre with all the kit they brought in during that sustained attack being too unsafe to move me but was safe in their hands and did not panic after they got here. While they were here I had two TIAs and a heart attack, and survived to tell this tale to you. Cases like this are so rare that Worldwide it might happen in a handful of cases a year.

A heart rate of up to 140 per minute is really nothing to worry about but still should be discussed with your Doctor and not really an urgent matter. It is caused by the brain producing extra Adrenaline as a direct result of the panic attack. If you do get the very rare extreme high sustained rate do not panic but seek immediate medical help. The medication treatment if needed for these very rare cases is 100% effective and kicks in in an hour or two at the most.

The answer it to have it checked out with your Doctor and then if needed heart specialists. For the heart rate to be monitored and the degree of high rate and if it lasts for hours to be assessed by these experts. The treatment is simple and very effective if needed, most often not, and that is Beta blocks either discriminatory ones that just lower the heart rate and prevent the racing occurring or non discriminatory ones if there is also a high blood pressure problem.

There is nothing to panic about and if you do panic you will just make it worse. In 99.99% plus of cases there is no need even to treat the heart rate problem. Try and find ways of dealiing with the panic whewn it happens. There are many good ideas on here and elsewhere. Do not look to see what harm it will do but only how to cope with it. There are lots of lovely people on here 24/7 you can talk to and talking most often is a good way to stop the panic. Many have MSN, Skype etc and you can chat privately on here as well.

In the rest of these very rare but real cases as I said it is simple, safe and 100% effective. One low dose [80mg] slow release capsule a day. That give 24/7 protection.

As with lots of posts on here many panic needlessly including me by putting off seeing those qualified to diagnose and treat. I have done that myself many times over the years but now realise I should have put my hand up straight away and seen the Doctors etc.

Panic is real to us all and effects us in different ways and for different reasons. Tummy aches, heart beat, aches and pains etc you name it. But no one has died of it.

I hope this puts you mind at rest.

Remember you are not alone we are all here for everyone.

One of my NMP teddies shirts says it all "Ted Says Relax". Another one has a shirt that says "Don't Panic Ted is here". Anothers "No more panic"

God bless you all

Gordon

[Andy84]

A link means nothing. In the paper a while back there was a story that said there was a link with skin cancer and those people that wear sunglasses...that doesn;t mean wearing sunglasses causes cancer! It means that people who wear sunglasses spend more time in the sun. The same is true here. Anxiety/panic leads to depression which in turn leads to an unhealthy lifestyle. This then leads to an increased risk of heart disease.

In truth I have also read that those people with anxiety are more likely to survive a heart attack than non-sufferers! Work that out! Also, if you think about it, a panic sufferer, all things being equal, should be less likely to have a heaert attack. The extra adrenaline in the body casues the ehart to beat faster, therefore excercising it, strengthening the muscle...

[Mya]

Andy84 Thank you for replying with a more positive post. I have been in a high state of anxiety for the past 2 weeks and reading this post has only made me spiral downhill even more. Thanks for the reassurance for all us sufferers. xoxo

[Going home]

I think alot of newspapers exaggerate the truth. It's more likely to be that if there's an already diagnosed heart problem, as in not benign, then panic could affect it. For the people who've had all the tests like most of us have on here, and been told repeatedly there's nothing wrong with our hearts then I doubt very much that panicking will kill us. Ive been panicking for most of my adult life, and suffered with missed heart beats and flutters for most of that time too and my heart is still a strong heart. What will eventually kill me, and when, I cannot predict, who can? But I doubt it will be in the middle of a panic attack.

Don't believe all you read and try not to worry about this probably misinformed article :)

Going home xx

[ronski]

Heart attacks from panic attacks, I dont think so or every time you exercised hard you would drop dead. Heart attacks from ongoing stress a possibility. There is a difference between anxiety and stress. Anxiety is a normal defensive mechanism where stress is a destructive emotion where we are generally out of control of controlling our environment. Sinus tachycardias have been shown in the medical papers to have no effect on mortality than a normal person. Really fast heart rates 140 and above normally have other causes so a cardiac opinion needs to be sorted by your GP as there may be other diagnoses that need to be looked at.

One small research project does not prove anything, it needs years of research with thousands of people to even hint at any relation. Anxiety does cause system imbalance and that is normally through autonomic nervous system overload and that is why people have tachycardias and palpitations, cold hands and feet, excess sweating which are all signs of sympathetic drive. Panic attacks are short lived and do not stress the body that much, stress is much more subtle and will damage the body much more over time. The papers are all to eager to publish these facts and that is why now I never get a paper as all to often especially with health issues they only show one side of any problem. As other posts have shown excessive drinking and smoking is much more dangerous than panic attacks.

[rhea]

am a bit worried now as i suffer wiv anxiety and frequent panic attacks and am onli 18 and as harasgenster says it does put your body and heart under pressure wen ya hear is raceing 150 beats per min!! so av always rhort panic attacks cud have a negative effect on the body, xxx