RECENT BAD PANIC ATTACK

[NYCCALM]

Hi there,
i'm new and i wanted to say a great big thanks for having this forum up.
Now i'm going to tell my tale.

I've had panic attacks a while ago, but it didn't hit me as bad as last night.
abotu several years ago, while waiting for a family memeber,
i was hit with a sudden dread that they might not be coming back (god forbid)
so i started to get and antsy, uncontrollable shakes, a wild pulsating feeling in my throat and jaw.
that passed.
the next time it happened was 9/11, understandably (years years apart.)
then the next panic attack hit at the end of feburary of this year.
i calmed myself down, and got through it.

so here's where it gets really nerve wracking.
last week, i was on the train, and found it very hard to breathe through my nose. i account this to my deviated septum, but my face began to
tingle and i felt like i had to hold on to my conciousness.
i braved through it because i was on a train ride, it lasted about six minutes, but i made i through and i was good.

the next time about a day or two later, i wasn't really having hard of breathing but i felt the slight tingling in my face.

noithing until last night at about eight pm, i had just gotten back to work from eating dinner, i started to have trouble catching my breath,
and my face began to tingle uncontrollably (it started from the tip of my nose and spread over my whole face) and would jump to spots all around my body, hand, right leg, etc. it went away for a second then shot down my right arm. i walked to an emergency room and waited for a while,
i calmed down, but i could still feel remnants of the tingling, coming back and forth, and my breathing wasn't the greatest. I had no idea, and i checked with the doctor who diagnosed me with having a hyperventilating/panic attack and referred me to a neurologist.

i wondered if any of this had to deal with my recent weight loss (I lost 17 lbs since march 1st, since i use the gazelle) i 'm on the cross trainer on 3 day intervals. mon/wed/friday and do weight lifting the opposite days, and have one day of rest. i go to school five days of the week (9hr lenghts) and i work 2 days out of the week, one on a school day when i get out at 12, and i work from 1-6. the other day i work 11am-9pm. with my saturdays being off. I am also taking a water pill, to lower my blood pressure. so i am wondering if all these factors could cause this, or is
it all simply in my head. i don't feel pressured really.

but after i got home, i tried to relax, and fell asleep i get a call which awakes me early, but i start to have the slight twitching and oncoming
jumping of the nerves in my throat, a sure sign i was going to have a panic attack. but i calmed down, and got my mind onto something else.
got my blood drawn this morning and will find out if the potassium levels are ok due to my water pill. because potassium affects the heart.
i also set up to see a neurologist (beacuse i was spooked by a family member by them saying "that's not good" due to the tingline) this week, as well as an allergist (for my deviated septum.)

has anyone else had this type of thing happen with the immense tingling,
and short of breath, am i making too much out of this?? could the exercise/school/work sched be a big factor in this??

and from time to time i am feeling little hints of tingling on my face.
i'm hoping this is all in my head and nothing more.

thank you all i really appreciate it.

 

[Makaylee]

Sorry for the late reply, this is the first time I've even looked at this forum.

I've been doing the same excact thing you have. I was in the car with my mother one day when all of a sudden I found it hard to breath, and my lips went numb and tingly to the point where they wouldnt even move, and then it spread to my arms. It got so bad, that my hands actually started curling up into a claw, and I couldnt move them at all either. My sister is epilectic, so we promptly went to the ER, thinking I was having a little seizure.

When I finally got the the Emergency room, I was feeling much better,but unfortunately, when I got there, they were very busy. They never looked me over, I just sat in the hallway, untill a nurse came up, asked me questions, and told me that I hyperventilated. I never got it checked out again, but I have read alot of books on the subject and I've finally learned to control it.

I found out that when your lips or face starts to get numb, (thats the first sign that you are hyperventilating), that you really need to relax your whole midsection and try to breathe normally. Laying down if you need to helps alot. Also, you need to try to be careful not to take big, deep breaths, (overbreathing), as that can actually make the problem worse.

When I would start tingling and stuff, I would kinda panic, wondering how bad it was going to be this time, and all that, so I would work myself into a panic attack. Diverting yourself from thinking about it is also one of the best things you can do, it works like a charm.

Let me know how your trip to the doctors goes, and what they found out! (It could help me, too..)

 

[moonbabe]

Hi Nyccalm.
I always used to experience the same thing. In fact I became so sensitive to every bodily twinge that mild indegeston was automatically thought of as heart failure etc lol :roll:
Because we suffer from panic attacks,( being in the fight or flight response) we become hypersensitive to the signals our bodies send us.Any little twinge becomes a major illness, or panic driven situation. I always used to think I was having a heart attack when I'd get palpitations, or my heart would race during an attack. I would say these awfull things to mysely, like, " My hearts beating TOO FAST" etc. It was only when I learnt to change that thought to " My heart is beating fast, but it will soon calm down it's nothing to worry about." Did it help me to stop the panic attack.
I hope you get on ok at the drs + good luck with it all
Jules

 

[Sheeane]

Hi Nyccalm

I used to live it almost dayl for three years. At times my panic attacs were so bad that I past out from the hyperventilating or just kinda disapeared into myself in a way.
First time I had one I was sure I was going to die, I was terrified and there was all these people around me who I didn't know. I was in a hospital for depression and anxiety at the time, but I didn't know what was happing to me. Why I couldn't breath properly, why I couldn't keep my legs and arms still. As my blood got too much oxygen I started to feel my face go numb, den me arms and legs. The staff had at this point called a doctor who gave med a sedative, but at that time my attack was so strong it wasn't enough. After a while they had to give me some more cus after 45 min they hadn't bin able to calm me down. I was so scared and I wanted to scream but I couldn't, I wanted to fight it but I was paralysed. In the end I fell asleep from the sedativ. Afterwards they didn't tell me what it was, but after reading my journal at my gp's he told me that it was a very bad panick attack. I'm glad they've never bin that bad, after that. Now I only experience them when I'm having a very though time. In the beginning I was so afraid to get them, that I got then cus of that. But when I fianlly got aroung to telling myself the attacks are not dangerous, it started to be a bit better since I didn't have anxiety for having the attacks anymore.

 

[ilvnv]

hypersensitive

Hi There,

I'm new on this forum, and couldn't help but notice this message with regards to your hypersensitivity. I suffer from panic attacks/anxiety for about a year now, and i'm still quite new to all the symptoms. I was particularly pleased to see your comment because I too experience extreme anxiety every time i get a little "twinge" either in my stomach or head or anywhere else thinking automatically that something is really wrong with me. The twinges last a split second yet I will wonder about for like an hour....Gosh, at least I don't feel alone. I'm glad that this is "normal" to feel like this with anxiety problems.

So how do you ease the feelings of hypersensitivity?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
ILVNV

Hi Nyccalm.
I always used to experience the same thing. In fact I became so sensitive to every bodily twinge that mild indegeston was automatically thought of as heart failure etc lol :roll:
Because we suffer from panic attacks,( being in the fight or flight response) we become hypersensitive to the signals our bodies send us.Any little twinge becomes a major illness, or panic driven situation. I always used to think I was having a heart attack when I'd get palpitations, or my heart would race during an attack. I would say these awfull things to mysely, like, " My hearts beating TOO FAST" etc. It was only when I learnt to change that thought to " My heart is beating fast, but it will soon calm down it's nothing to worry about." Did it help me to stop the panic attack.
I hope you get on ok at the drs + good luck with it all
Jules

 

[zoooo]

Hello, I'm new and just read your messages..

I get the exact same thing!

I'm not suffering from Social Phobia, but do have an anxiety disorder. A part of this is hypocondriasis, which it sounds to me like you might have too?

My psychotherapist taught me about Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANT)-
If someone gets a twinge in their stomach, most people would hardly notice, but others (like me and you) will instantly get scared there's something very wrong with us. It's an Automatic Negative Thought. The best thing you can do is to write down what you are scared of. Then you write down an alternative thought, but a much more optimistic one, and try to focus on that instead. If you do this every time you get anxious about anything at all really, you should gradually get better.
After a while (for me 3-4 weeks) you don't have to write it down anymore,
it'll be a part of your thought process

I looked up a form on the internet that better explains it!
http://www.anxietyhelp.org/treatment/ant/ant_form.html

Hope this helps! Any questions, let me know. I'd be happy to hear from you!

 

[MrsP]

I just always either busy myself or go for a walk as that really helps. If I was to have a proper attack though I can't do anything even walk but thankfully this hasn't happened for a year and half now. I always start with the tingling in my face too and can't breathe, then I start shaking and hyperventilating really bad but I've found that if I sit there, the attack gets worse so to I relaly do try to fight anxiety nowadays and just distract myself even though it's so, so hard sometimes. I felt one coming on a few weeks ago and got my coat on and just walked until I felt it going away so luckily not a fully blown attack (-:

 

[ilvnv]

Hi there,

I know it's really difficult. I won't have an attack for awhile, and then sometimes, when i least expect it will grab me for instance in the middle of the night. Then of course my thoughts go wild, and the breathing and heart palpitations go...lately the breathing techniques work, but it does take so much practice...it's really difficult. Your idea of taking a walk is great, but unfortunately not something i can do in the middle of the night, when my attacks occur. but i totally understand what you mean about "fighting" anxiety... This site really helps though, to know that we're not alone.. :roll:

 

[steph_gem]

This is the first time I have read were someone has had an attack that seems as bad as mine are. I actually had one in the psychiatrist office while having an eval. I felt like like i was going to have a seisure. Everything seemed to become far away and this wierd feeling in my head like I was going to pass out, but I could feel the adreniline just pumping through my body so bad I couldnt relax or even think of relaxing. My hands totally clenched up and I would jerk around and twitch in strange movements. I just wanted to grab my head and go away. I scared my therapist and he wants me to see a neuroligist. From what Ive read they do much for panic attacks, but he wanted to rule anything else out. Does any one else get depersonalization symptoms. I told my thereapist what I was feeling sometimes and she told me that is what it is.
It just seems that there is no explanation for this. I ordered something called panick away it says to embrace the panic attack and tell your self your not afraid. Bit I am afraid, of loosing my job and my benifits. I cant just say hey Im having panic attack Ill be in back for an hour embracing it and observing my feelings. So I take abenzo before work.