anxiety attacks?

what are they?

a while ago, I noticed that my heart would start racing or beating really hard and loud, I'm not sure which, when it was least expected..
i'd be sitting there watching TV or ready to go to sleep and my heart seemed to go nuts..
i don't think i ever experienced pain except once..

so i went to the doctor, he hooked me up to something really scary that ended up not hurting, and told me there was nothing wrong with me. He said it was prob. too much caffeine.. i know it couldn't be true since i rarely drink coffee/soda/tea.. or caffeine, but i ignored it cuz he said it was nothing serious or having to do with my heart..

i went to another doctor two days ago (for a different reason) and she said she thinks i have panic attacks..
how weird is that? i never imagined..
she refered me to a mental hospital or something like that.. but i really don't think i have that.. but who knows? i'm not a doctor.. yet... lol

anyway, so does anyone have them or know what it's like? and is it curable?

thanks =)

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes
Well you just might find
You get what you need

Hello Jolie.
I have the same symptome at times with panic attacks.I have actually had to limit the time I watch TV at night since I have flashbacks, and it helps not ot have them as often. I listen to music instead after a certain time of the evening. I stop watching TV at least 1 hour before I retire for the evening and belive it or not it helps.(Something so Simple).
I hope you cnsult a professional therapit that may be able to give you more tips to help control the anxiety. Take care and good day. Soidhonia

hi I have the same problem, been dealing with generalized anxiety disorder now for 4 months and I am on meds,changed my whole life style,I do Yoga every day.quit smoking,drinking alcohol, excercise but I still have heart palpitations sometimes or my heart will race.....not all the time even tho I take meds it does not stop me from having those symptoms sometimes....I hate it at times because I am doing everything I should be doing...but I guess in time it will work...but the anxiety still comes every now and than out of the blue...so we have to learn how to cope with it..take care and god bless.

Yay! Another yoga fan. Yoga has helped me SO much in dealing with my anxiety.

P.S. I'm still trying to quit smoking.

I also am dealing with GAD. I am anxious about everything. Panic attacks scared the daylights out of me when I fist started having them. I did have the racing heart beats, had a hard time catching my breath and was covered in sweat. I thought I was dying. I have tried a few different meds and no luck until my dr. put me on xanax. That made me nervous because it is addictive but it is working better then the other meds I have tried. We will se about withdrawls when it is time to come off of it,,,,Good luck,,,

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Juliana said:
Yay! Another yoga fan. Yoga has helped me SO much in dealing with my anxiety.

P.S. I'm still trying to quit smoking.

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I tried Yoga, but it didn't help my anxiety. Neither does deep breathing. I have found that anything that has a quiet focus, or a focus on my body, makes it much worse. I need to have fast-paced or challenging activities that keep my mind occupied.

It was interesting... the other day my husband and I were moving the last of our stuff out of our old house... I was feeling agitated that day. And once I started the physical work of moving, I began to feel better. I actually liked carrying things back and forth, working up a sweat. Maybe I should actually attempt to exercise once in awhile.

Sounds like panic attacks to me - was diagnosed quite awhile ago. The rapid heartbeat is only one of the symptoms that I experience - hyperventelating, sweating and many more. For some reason I find that putting ice on the back of my neck seems to calm me down a little, no idea why this works.

I know what you mean about quiet focus not being enough to calm your anxiety. Active distraction works best for me. I mostly do Ashtanga Yoga; it's Power Yoga -- strenuous, and quick transitions from one pose to another.

I do Iyengar Yoga sometimes too, but I generally choose that on days when I'm not feeling exceptionally anxious. On days when I'm really uptight and tied in knots, I know I need something strenuous to calm me down. Over time, the breathing has become second-nature for me -- because I tend to panic if I actually FOCUS on my breathing -- and that can actually make me hyperventilate.

I spend a lot of time just trying to DISTRACT myself with activity. Tiring out my muscles and working up a sweat is a good way to do that.

There's another form of exercise I used to do. I developed it in the aftermath of a very painful break-up of a long relationship. I would focus on my job all day, keep the emotions inside, but then when I got home in the evening I would go on a "run and cry." I would basically just run and cry (not out loud -- cuz I didn't want people to think I was totally losing it). LOL. A few minutes into the run, the crying would stop and I would feel such a release and would come back home feeling much better -- like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Oh yeah, don't we all just love anxiety attacks. Wipes the fun right out of living! Lol.

Mine usually only happened in bed, but I've had a few in other places. But the worst were in bed. They just come out of nowhere. I'm not even thinking about anything in particular. Then my heart starts pounding, and I can feel it from my toes to the top of my head. It's horrible to feel your heart beating in places that should be QUIET. *smile* Plus I'd get a dry throat, and I would think that this time I really WAS going to die.

I dealt with it by just talking myself through it. I knew it would only last about 20 minutes, so each minute that ticked by was one less minute to endure. Plus, if I could coax my cat into bed with me, it helped tremendously to just pat his belly and stroke his fur and hear him purring. And pretty soon, the 20 minutes would be over. Phew!

I haven't had a panic attack in about 2 years now because I take a beta blocker. It stops the adrenaline from flooding your heart...so no more rapid and forceful heartbeat or any other physical symptoms. That is one of the meds I would never give up because I don't want to go through those ever again. Plus the doctor said there's really no reason to go off it because it's basically a cardiac protector. It's doing me good in a number of ways.

As for Yoga and deep breathing......yikes. I'm like the other person who posted that anything that makes you get quiet and focus on your body just makes it worse. I need distractions. I don't want to be aware of my heart beating or the sound of my breath. But I'm glad it works for so many of you, though!!!

God bless,
Sandy

Hi there I to take a beta blocker..have now for 4 months but I still get pains in my chest I have had all the tests to make sure my hearts fine. I also take it for high blood pressure....so I am hoping in time these pains will stop it worries me sometimes because I think this is not right I should not have pain in my chest. I also take zoloft and I have to say I feel pretty good I still get that odd feeling now and then my mind gets scared so thats when I do yoga. I really don't focus to much on my breathing because I simply can't my mind always wanders. I will be doing a yoga move and I'm thinking about something else entirely different like a conversation I had yesterday but the act of doing yoga and all the stretching makes my body feel better and before you know it 45 minutes has gone by. I can't sit quietly and relax I agree to focus on my breathing caused me to actually hyperventilate....it's weird how things work but it works for me I just say a prayer for everyone who has to live with anxiety it can be so scary

Hi Chichi,

I'm glad that you are taking a beta blocker. It won't do you any harm unless you have a condition that prohibits it. My doctor even said that it's a good med to take just simply because it's a cardiac protector. I don't understand why people with anxiety aren't prescribed it more often. I had to ask for it myself...the doctor I used to have never even suggested it.

You didn't mention what beta blocker or dosage. I've found that when I'm not at the right dose (that I'm still too low in the dosage), I will continue to get chest pains. Or....if I just take a regular version and not the sustained release version, I get chest pains before it's time for my next dosage. So you might want to check into that. I think the sustained release is the better way to go because it keeps dropping bits of med into your system over the course of the day. I take Lopressor SR 100 mg twice per day. It works fine. The regular version was a horror story. I used to take Inderal LA (which is the only beta blocker that actually crosses the blood/brain barrier and therefore can cause depression in some people), but the manufacturer stopped producing the sustained release version. I really liked it, too.

Since you've already gotten your blood pressure measured and made sure there's nothing organic wrong with your heart, then I would suggest that you try a sustained release beta blocker at higher and higher doses until the pain goes away. But increase the dose slowly. Remember, this is a heart medication.

Best of luck!

God bless,
Sandy

thanks for the info, docs will not tell you more than " here's your perscription" I do know that my bp meds are for my anxiety as well as my blood pressure....but thanks for clarifying that raising my dose will stop my chest pains....I think my anxiety disorder was bought on by the physical palpitations that first started a year ago it scared me and worried me thinking there was something wrong witth my heart so on came the stress of worrying. I take metoporol 100 mg a day..one in the a.m and one at night. I was reading somewhere that it is rare to have chest pains ( angina) without having heart disease, I don't know the truth but my doseage was raised 3 weeks age up from 50mg. and I will see my doc again, she always asks about the chest pains....lately I have been having them a little more than usual. I was taking Atenonol but it was a little pricy so I asked to be switched to metoporol which does the same thing she says. Of course I read everything I can on what I'm dealing with and it sometimes can be to much info, especially the one on "heart attacks" the symptoms that women particularly have and it is so similiar to what I deal with....but I guess it turns out to not be that this time......just now I felt my heart jump in my chest I hate that feeling..it kinda takes my breath away...thanks for the info much appreciated.

I have a question about beta blockers. Do they have any negative side effects? How do you feel when you're taking them? I haven't heard much about them.

Good news Chichi,

When I had to stop the Inderal LA (due to it no longer being produced), my doc for some reason put me on the regular version of metoprolol (or however it's spelled. Who likes medical names? Raise their hands). I was taking 125 mg in the morning and 125 mg at night. And this was the med that I kept getting the chest pains with. And when I was in bed and laying on my side, I could feel a spot on my side where my heart was beating up against the mattress. I had been on Inderal LA for 2 years, and had almost forgotten what my chest discomfort had been like. I HATED this new med.

Then when I was in the hospital just recently, I found out that this med has a sustained release version. In fact, the brand name for metaprolol is Lopressor, and I take the SR version. I only need 100 mg in the morning and 100 mg at night.....and I haven't felt my chest again. What a relief!!!!!!!!

So the next time you see your doctor, just have him switch you over to the SR version. He may not even know that it's available because my pdoc was floored when the nurse told him that yes....Lopressor DOES come in SR. And then she went into the med room and came back and showed him. Lol. So maybe the SR version is fairly new. But I think it's best to have the med always dropping into your system all day and night, rather than having it all dump at once and then petering out in about 3 hours or so (my chest would start bothering me in about 3 hours after taking the regular version, which meant I still had about another 9 hours of discomfort to go. Ugh).

Good luck and God Bless,
Sandy

PS: You can have angina without heart disease. These are two separate things. Don't worry about it if you've already had all the heart tests done.

Hi PAD (I'm beginning to tire of that name already).

Okay, hiya ((((Juliana))))!!!

Lose dose beta blockers (say 10 mg...unbelievably LOW) are used by a lot of people for stage fright. It helps with physical stress, not psychological stress. So it helps to prevent the hand shaking, the blushing, the dry mouth, the quivering voice, etc. It just doesn't do anything for the fear. Lol.

It basically prevents the heart from being flooded with adrenaline when you're under a situation of stress. It keeps the heart beat steady and the blood pressure even. It works fantastic in conjunction with an anti-anxiety: one for physical and one for psychological. And it's a cardiac protector.

Side effects: Well, why back in the ancient days when I first started on Inderal LA (which passed the blood/brain barrier, so that MAY have contributed to it), it would make me a bit drowsy at first. But once you get used to it in say 2 or 3 days, you don't even notice it at all.

Like I was just telling Chichi, you should take the sustained release version since both of us still had chest discomfort on the regular versions. And I would feel my heart beating in my toes, back, fingers, top of my head, stomache....freaky! I didn't like it, and those things can send me into a full-blown panic attack.

Have the doctor take your blood pressure and maybe even just listen to your heart for any irregularities (since I doubt he has a heart monitor in his office), and then just ask to try Lopressor SR. He may think it's only for once per day, but make sure he realizes you want to take it every 12 hours. I probably wouldn't start out at 100 mg 2x day....maybe start at 50 mg 2x day and then see if you notice a difference in your physical stress and if you think you might need a little higher dose. But it all depends on if it drops your blood pressure too low. You can always tell by checking it at Shoppers in a few days.

Wish you luck!

God bless,
Sandy

Thanks for the info, Sandy. My doc has never mentioned beta blockers to me. I will definitely ask her about them if my anxiety starts becoming a huge issue for me again. It's nice to know there's something out there I haven't tried (and failed) on.

thanks again Sandy...I'll have to check out the time releasing med....Hi Juliana I myself had no problems with beta blockers the side effects are few compared to anti depressants these work with your brain the Beta's are for your physical symtoms so no worry...have a great evening guys and god bless

Reading about everyone else's symptoms makes me wonder if i really do have them..
I don't really get sweaty or out of breath(or maybe i do, im not sure) but its not so physical..
my heart just beats really REALLY fast (or loud.. idk) and it kinda scares me cuz i feel like it may cause a heart attack later in life.. but it's not like that big of a deal..
I just thought there might be something wrong with my heart, but the doctor says its panic attacks..
two diff. people at doc's office told me that it sounded like that's what it was..
i dont believe i have them though.. i do stress alot, and i have A LOT of fears/phobias that really make me freak out..

is it possible to hava panic/anxiety attacks and not be aware of it..

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometimes
Well you just might find
You get what you need

thanks Sandy you answered my question on that u can have angina and not have heart disease....i have been trying to find out I was going to ask my dr when I see her....this gives me relief to know that...I was getting worried and I have so many other things to worry about LOL a litttle anxiety joke

hey prettyjolie...i am inthe same situation, i have been to scared to go and talk to someone about all this, but i do think i have anxiety issues and did have a panic attack the other week. its like ur heart just wont stop and then u get nervous about that and its just a vicious cycle!! have you talked to anyone about anxiety or anything you can do to reduce it? im beginning to think i might talk to someone to find out more. anyways just wanted to let ya know i understand...good luck w/ everythin!