[SheilaKathy]

Last night I felt dizzy on and off like I was going to faint. I had been having a lot of anxiety throughout the day. I called 911, being concerned because I live alone and if I did pass out, I might not come to. So the ambulance took me to the H. and there they diagnosed me with "anxiety" and sent me home.

In studying more clearly online about it, I determined that this was not just anxiety, but a panic attack, I think, a much stronger episode. This is just my opinion, I could be wrong, but I just don't see anxiety alone causing one to almost pass out and see colors before their eyes!

Here is a link that I believe confirms my findings.:

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/g...ttack-symptoms

What has your experience been with Panic vs. Anxiety? Can anxiety alone cause one to nearly pass out and see colors before one's eyes? Or is that more of a Panic Attack??

[benzenering]

Hi...if you check out some of the posts in the anxiety forum, you'll find that pretty much everyone experiences symptoms of these differently. For example, I have both anxiety and panic, but neither causes me to see colors or feel like I'm going to pass out, as you've described. I have much different, yet just as serious, symptoms. Living alone, I don't blame you for calling 911. But that could get expensive fast. Maybe it's time to get a physical with blood work to rule out other things, especially if you were feeling dizzy. Have you been eating and hydrating well? Taking your meds? Getting some exercise to relieve stress and anxiety? Self care really has helped me. I hope that you can find the answer.

Usually panic attacks are viewed as a form of anxiety. So when they said you had anxiety, they might very well have thought - and you might very well have had - a panic attack.

[ruthful]

There are 5 main types of anxiety disorders: Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Social Phobia, aka Social Anxiety Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

I've had panic attacks, and they're terrible: Sweating, fast heartbeat w/ chest pain, blurred vision, weak legs, and an overall thinking/feeling that you're going to die and wanting to flee the situation.

I'm just guessing, but panic attacks may be related to the fight-fright-flight syndrome.

[SheilaKathy]

Yes, I have heard of it as fight, flight, freeze/ fawn and in this case it was the fawn that happened. In the past, it has been more of the chest pain, fast heart rate and super high anxiety combined, that is why I had no clue what was happening until later, when I read up on anxiety, because I could not believe that ALL THAT had JUST been what I had previously experienced as anxiety or even what I had considered to be panic. This was totally new to me. And puzzling, when it had been labelled "anxiety." To me, "anxiety" is butterflies in the stomach. I can and always have been able to deal with that. This was what I thought was something totally new.

They of course gave me blood tests, so I will have to get records sent to my Dr. to tell what those showed. However, since I have low blood sodium levels normally, they started a sodium I.V. in the ambulance, so the blood tests probably won't show how low that was, because I don't think they were able to get any blood while we were enroute to the H. I think maybe they got one tube, if I recall, from the I.V. site. Maybe.