Being terrified in the hospital
Hi guys, I wanted to share what happened today.
After an appointment today I smoked a cigarette (I stopped for quite a while, started a few weeks ago and definitely will stop now). While on my way home on the bike I felt my heart rate went up really fast. I started feeling uncomfortable and panicked when I measured it over 140bpm. I was close to the hospital so I decided to go there and sit on a bench in front of it. Soon my heart rate was over 160bpm. I managed to wait for around 15 minutes before heading inside. There I kind of walked back and forth, afraid to go ask somebody for help. After a few minutes I headed to a lady who was showing people the way and told her I wasn't feeling well. She pointed to the emergency room and I went there while feeling very guilty. I have never contacted a doctor during a panic moment, always rode it out, but this time it felt too much.
I had to sit in the waiting room and after a bit a nurse came to check up. It had been already half an hour since it all started, but when he measured me my heart rate was 138bpm. After discussing with the doctor he brought me to the observation room where an ECG was done and blood was taken. I have never felt this terrified for my life before, even though I was in the safest place I could be. It all felt extremely real; I was hooked up on machines, nurses were walking past my bed, and other patients were being brought in by ambulance personal. After having waited for almost one and a half hour I called a nurse and told her how I was feeling and asked when the doctor would come. She noted that it was getting a bit busy and said she would see if she could speed things up, mainly because of my anxiety. I also said I was feeling very warm, so she went to measure my temperature. I had a slight fever at 38.1 degrees Celsius and was quite soon after that transported to a closed room due to Covid19 suspicion. Didn't take long before the doctor came to ask multiple questions and answer mine. She did a test and went to do a third ECG. After about 15 minutes she came in to say I would have to wait one or two days for the results on Covid19, but that all the other tests came out fine. There wasn't anything to worry about and I could go home.
I have had it very few times that my heart rate goes that far up and the last time was a few years ago. What I never had is that my heart rate stays that high for two and a half hours. Before I left the hospital it said 110bpm on the screen, so it was getting lower. After having been home for about half an hour my heart rate was around 90bpm and now it's 68bpm. My temperature is also much lower at 36.8 degrees Celsius. I feel exhausted, unwell, and still slightly afraid. I have the suspicion the main reason my heart rate stayed that high for so long was being in the emergency room.
If you got this far, thank you for reading and hope you're having a great day!
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
As scary as it was, try and listen to the Doctors. It can happen with stress and anxiety.
I have been in exactly the same situation as that several times. As long as you are stressed and/or panicky, your heart rate can and will stay high. At my worst, I've had heart rates stay over 120/130bpm for 36 hours. Same situation as you, hooked up to ECG's in A&E, blood tests, chest x-rays etc. Always the same story 'you're fine, you can go home'.
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Anxious people notice their heartbeats and often respond to a normal raise in beats with panic which make the heart race even more.
My heart got 'stuck' at 145 bpm. It started when I woke up at 2am and kept on going despite me lying down. It was still 145 when the ambulance got me into A&E at 6am. They tested my heart and bunged me some beta-blockers - which later triggered panic attacks because I was aware that my heart had slowed right down.:whistles:
Having scrutinized that night, I recall that I had a Chinese meal (lovely, but every time I had one, my heart would race - possibly MSG sensitivity) and a pint of 7% craft ale (That's some hefty stimulants right there)
It's a horrible feeling when your heart is going like the clappers (as if you're running) only you are lying down!:scared15:
You have anxiety. You had a cigarette (stimulant) but here is where it gets confusing because you say 'bike' but that could mean motorbike or cycle to me. If it's a bicycle then you will naturally have elevated your heart rate through exercise, and being anxious, you will be more aware of sensations in your body, and more likely to react to them with panic which will make the heart beat even faster. Add to this, if you have a bit of a cold or raised temperature, your heart will beat faster - as it does when we are in pain or have just eaten a meal. This is completely normal, but it doesn't feel normal, so we trigger the fight or flight response and that is like throwing fuel onto the fire - BOOM!
Anyway, I'm still here - four years later. No heart problems aside the usual anxiety symptoms..
All the best.
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ankietyjoe
As scary as it was, try and listen to the Doctors. It can happen with stress and anxiety.
I have been in exactly the same situation as that several times. As long as you are stressed and/or panicky, your heart rate can and will stay high. At my worst, I've had heart rates stay over 120/130bpm for 36 hours. Same situation as you, hooked up to ECG's in A&E, blood tests, chest x-rays etc. Always the same story 'you're fine, you can go home'.
That must have been horrible, 36 hours.. can't imagine how scary and tiring that must've been.
I understand what happens in our body during these things, what the driving force behind it is (our psyche), but I do not get why we are more prone to it (outside of being conditioned). It is not particularly helpful in the grand scheme of things. Maybe I am also missing the point here, because there a lot of human conditions that are not helpful for survival.
My cousin has a very serious heart condition and he is completely fine with it. I have spoken about it before with him and I can't understand how to get at that point. Reading things here on this forum is quite reassuring and many times helps, but it also shows me that I am probably in this for the long run.
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NoraB
Anxious people notice their heartbeats and often respond to a normal raise in beats with panic which make the heart race even more.
My heart got 'stuck' at 145 bpm. It started when I woke up at 2am and kept on going despite me lying down. It was still 145 when the ambulance got me into A&E at 6am. They tested my heart and bunged me some beta-blockers - which later triggered panic attacks because I was aware that my heart had slowed right down.:whistles:
Having scrutinized that night, I recall that I had a Chinese meal (lovely, but every time I had one, my heart would race - possibly MSG sensitivity) and a pint of 7% craft ale (That's some hefty stimulants right there)
It's a horrible feeling when your heart is going like the clappers (as if you're running) only you are lying down!:scared15:
You have anxiety. You had a cigarette (stimulant) but here is where it gets confusing because you say 'bike' but that could mean motorbike or cycle to me. If it's a bicycle then you will naturally have elevated your heart rate through exercise, and being anxious, you will be more aware of sensations in your body, and more likely to react to them with panic which will make the heart beat even faster. Add to this, if you have a bit of a cold or raised temperature, your heart will beat faster - as it does when we are in pain or have just eaten a meal. This is completely normal, but it doesn't feel normal, so we trigger the fight or flight response and that is like throwing fuel onto the fire - BOOM!
Anyway, I'm still here - four years later. No heart problems aside the usual anxiety symptoms..
All the best.
I have also had tachycardia at night, being woken up by it, but never for that long. :( That's horrible. We probably give other meaning to these things than people that are not afraid and that meaning fuels it.
YES, that is exactly what I have as well. The physician at the A&E wanted to give me Oxazepam and I denied it for the same reasons; when I feel my heartbeat going slower all of a sudden due to meds I feel very panicky.
It is a horrible feeling indeed. I commend people that can be in peace with their body and mind during dangerous situations.
Oh yes, I should've thought about that. With 'bike' I meant bicycle! The trigger came from that I guess. I rode the bike for five minutes, stopped to smoke, and continued. But right after I got on the bike my heart was beating like crazy. My response to that made it all much worse of course, but I have somehow become very sensitive to these things.
Same counts for me. :))
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Perpetual
Oh yes, I should've thought about that. With 'bike' I meant bicycle! The trigger came from that I guess. I rode the bike for five minutes, stopped to smoke, and continued. But right after I got on the bike my heart was beating like crazy. My response to that made it all much worse of course, but I have somehow become very sensitive to these things.
There you go! Your heart rate was already elevated, and normally, through exercise, and then you stopped to have a smoke - (stimulant). Non-anxious people will feel their hearts racing, but not be alarmed by it because hearts are supposed to race during exercise, when we watch a scary film, have a 'near miss', and numerous other things..:yesyes:
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Perpetual
That must have been horrible, 36 hours.. can't imagine how scary and tiring that must've been.
I understand what happens in our body during these things, what the driving force behind it is (our psyche), but I do not get why we are more prone to it (outside of being conditioned). It is not particularly helpful in the grand scheme of things. Maybe I am also missing the point here, because there a lot of human conditions that are not helpful for survival.
My cousin has a very serious heart condition and he is completely fine with it. I have spoken about it before with him and I can't understand how to get at that point. Reading things here on this forum is quite reassuring and many times helps, but it also shows me that I am probably in this for the long run.
It's kind of like a learned feedback loop.
The fight or flight response is designed to work for short, extreme stress. 50,000 years ago, people didn't have to worry about mortgages or workplace interpersonal relationships...etc, etc, for example. Modern life is stressful on a chronic, low level basis and we think it's normality, but it isn't. We learn over the years to get used to things that are stressful, when in fact the best thing to do is probably try and remove as much stress from our lives as possible. On top of that, modern diets are crap, we don't sleep enough, and most of us drink too much, smoke too much etc. All these things add up.
Recovery isn't so much about learning to live with anxiety (which is still important) as it is about removing stress. Stress that you possibly didn't recognise as stress in the first place.
Smoking for example puts your body in a permanent state of repair, and it's incredibly stressful. For the record, I used to smoke too! If I had a cigarette now I dread to think how it would make me feel.
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NoraB
There you go! Your heart rate was already elevated, and normally, through exercise, and then you stopped to have a smoke - (stimulant). Non-anxious people will feel their hearts racing, but not be alarmed by it because hearts are supposed to race during exercise, when we watch a scary film, have a 'near miss', and numerous other things..:yesyes:
It makes sense indeed. Although the hour before I was in a hurry; I drank a coffee and smoked half a cigarette in two minutes, jumped on my bicycle and raced to my destination. That went without an issue (other than the usual discomfort with an elevated heart rate). On the way back I was going very slow, so not any more of an exercise than walking.
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ankietyjoe
It's kind of like a learned feedback loop.
The fight or flight response is designed to work for short, extreme stress. 50,000 years ago, people didn't have to worry about mortgages or workplace interpersonal relationships...etc, etc, for example. Modern life is stressful on a chronic, low level basis and we think it's normality, but it isn't. We learn over the years to get used to things that are stressful, when in fact the best thing to do is probably try and remove as much stress from our lives as possible. On top of that, modern diets are crap, we don't sleep enough, and most of us drink too much, smoke too much etc. All these things add up.
Recovery isn't so much about learning to live with anxiety (which is still important) as it is about removing stress. Stress that you possibly didn't recognise as stress in the first place.
Smoking for example puts your body in a permanent state of repair, and it's incredibly stressful. For the record, I used to smoke too! If I had a cigarette now I dread to think how it would make me feel.
I like how your very last sentence shows the thought process of somebody with anxiety. I think that in the past weeks I dreaded what could happen with every cigarette I smoked, so it naturally never was that pleasurable (I stopped again four days ago).
I completely agree with what you're saying about stress and that is a big issue for me, because I seem to be oversensitive to certain things and get easily fatigued with stress.
Re: Being terrified in the hospital
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Perpetual
I like how your very last sentence shows the thought process of somebody with anxiety. I think that in the past weeks I dreaded what could happen with every cigarette I smoked, so it naturally never was that pleasurable (I stopped again four days ago).
I completely agree with what you're saying about stress and that is a big issue for me, because I seem to be oversensitive to certain things and get easily fatigued with stress.
Yes, the thought process of somebody with anxiety does tend to over dramatise potential outcomes, but in the case of smoking I think I'll stick with dread!
They key is to not over think 'normal' things. For example....'I dread to think what would happen if I went outside' is now an anxiety disorder sentence.
'I dread to think what would happen if I smoked a cigarette' is more about having experience with anxiety and recognising that nicotine is an intensely stimulating drug, and will probably provoke a reaction.
