Heart Racing + Limbs felt pushed down?

[LadyA]

This morning I woke up and did my daily routine. I noticed I felt a little out of breath but otherwise I felt totally fine. No panic, no anxiety. I checked my heart just out of curiosity because I often get out of breath when it's racing and it was RACING.

I laid on the bed, did belly breathing. Suddenly, all of my limbs from mid forearm down and mid calf down felt like someone was pushing me into the bed. I gave it some time. My heart rate didn't slow for quite a while. It was about thirty minutes or maybe a bit longer when it finally did.

I called my cardio and she said the limb thing is not a symptom of anxiety, and to go to the ER.

I went, and that was the worst ER experience I've ever had, but aside from that my ekg and chest x-ray came back normal. They told me it was panic and sent me home with a valium script.

Has anyone EVER felt like their limbs were being pushed into the bed with panic attacks? I don't even felt like I had one. I wasn't afraid. I wasn't anxious. I got scared in the middle of it but that was after the fact.

It wasn't just a heavy awkward limb feeling. I mean, they felt severely like they were being held/squeezed/like concrete blocks were on them.

I have had a holter, I do have PVCs, PACS and a slightly enlarged left atrium. I do have some sort of hormonal imbalance or something that prevents me from having a regular menstrual cycle. Other than that and peptic ulcers I'm supposedly generally healthy.

However my PVCS have gotten worse, and more painful. But my heart has been checked, two cts and a couple of x-rays, ekgs and blood work. My d-dimer was positive two or three times but these last two times it was negative, which is good.

So anyone else experience this at all? Please let me know.

Edit to add: I also have mild sleep apnea. I don't think it's the obstructive kind but I'm not sure. I don't snore. Sometimes it just feels like my brain turns off it's breathing ability and I have to consciously think about breathing. It's not every night that I'm aware of, because it usually (I'd guess) wakes me up, and only seems to come periodically because I only notice it from time to time in spurts.

[Mchealing]

I think you probably experienced the Freeze part of the flight/flight/freeze response..when one freezes, you will notice you are fairly ambivalent about it, its natural so please do not think it is anything organic or a disease, it isn't. If you have a repeat of this please continue to belly breath and see it through, you may have a surge of energy at the end of the process...please let me know how you get on.

[LadyA]

Thanks for your input. I'm not sure, it felt very real and not at all in my head. The descriptions of freeze response I've just read are more like people feel frozen. I could move, but I felt pressure in my arms and legs, and a feeling of being pushed down. Could it really be that?

[JeremyWood]

During anxiety attacks, the patient could be coming across a set of symptoms such as hyperventilation, tightness in the chest, light-headedness, increased heartbeat, and sweaty palms. One of the best methods to prevent and counteract hyperventilation during this particular attack is to practice deep and prolonged breathing. This is going to help you develop a robust and secure self-help skill which would be incredibly helpful in calming yourself down while you feel that you are coming across panic attacks. Moreover, if you think you are coming across an attack, this happens to be an effective strategy to prevent imminent ones.

[Mchealing]

Thanks for your input. I'm not sure, it felt very real and not at all in my head. The descriptions of freeze response I've just read are more like people feel frozen. I could move, but I felt pressure in my arms and legs, and a feeling of being pushed down. Could it really be that?

It was real..its part of the parasympathetic response, which will produce energy which produces all sorts of strange feelings, but please do not be fearful of it, it is harmless and will pass.

[LadyA]

During anxiety attacks, the patient could be coming across a set of symptoms such as hyperventilation, tightness in the chest, light-headedness, increased heartbeat, and sweaty palms. One of the best methods to prevent and counteract hyperventilation during this particular attack is to practice deep and prolonged breathing. This is going to help you develop a robust and secure self-help skill which would be incredibly helpful in calming yourself down while you feel that you are coming across panic attacks. Moreover, if you think you are coming across an attack, this happens to be an effective strategy to prevent imminent ones.

I definitely was not hyperventilating.

I have gone through a lot of CBT and have learned to analyze what is and isn't panic. The nature of this beast however, for me, seems to be that the symptoms keep changing. One day panic feels like x, the next it feels like y, and the next it feels like z.

So I'm not discounting that it could have been panic - in fact, given how scary it was, I prefer it! - but it just.. didn't feel like panic to me.

I'm starting to think it was a reaction to the decadron that I had been given. I've had severe patchy hot flashes all day long, and had a sore throat the morning after I was given it.

[kitsune__]

Hi there! My symptoms are always changing and I also get them without the dread or fear. Our anxiety and adrenaline can present itself in a way that leaves the mind behind. So we may get a fast heart rate, chest pain, pressure or restriction in our limbs without feeling anxious, maybe we become anxious over this or maybe we don't.

To relate, to let you know it's panic, the other week I couldn't sit up in bed for a good 20 seconds as my chest felt pressured downwards but after that it shot away and I sat up, heart thumping but calmed down fairly quickly.

Good luck!

[LadyA]

Thanks for the response. I'm currently in the car but I was wondering if anyone also experiences choking with pvcs?