sullengirl111
04-13-2014, 10:49 PM
hi. this is my first post, and I don't have much experience with anxiety until recently, but i'm wondering if what i'm feeling is anxiety related or heart related.
i'm 29 and female if it matters at all.
in summer of 2013 one morning I took a diet pill (zantrex 3) along with a starbucks double shot (stupid - I know). I had done it before and it never phased me. I just needed the energy to get things done. a little while after I did that, I got really hot, felt like I couldn't breathe, dizzy, and my heart was racing. I had that sense of doom like I was having a heart attack. I stood in front of the a/c and called my mom. she called the clinic for me, and they told me things to do to calm down from too much caffeine. I remember laying in the bath tub at my moms, then laying in front of a fan most of the day. I felt twitchy and like I couldn't calm down no matter what I did. she was keeping my son (he was 2 at the time). that evening I went home and my husband called a family doctor and they sent me some valium. I took one and eventually went to sleep. I woke up the next day feeling really fuzzy and had a tightness in my chest (mainly underneath my left breast) that lasted about a week. I went to the clinic in the midst of it and he told me it should be gone by Monday and gave me a 7 day prescription for clorazepate (tranxene). went to the lake that weekend, wakeboarded, and the symptoms slowly disappeared, and that was the end of it..
then in January 2014 after my 3 year old, my husband, and me (as well as my entire family) passed around a stomach bug, the flu, sinus infection, colds, and a "supposed" inner ear infection that gave me vertigo one night and fogginess for a week. the main stress was my son running fever, throwing up, etc and being so miserable, because he had all these things pretty much back to back. apparently different members of my family had different things, and when we all got together, we contaminated each other. then we were all quarantined from each other, so we stayed home alone pretty much the entire month of January. we got together one time thinking we were over it, and a few days later I had the flu. luckily my son didn't get it again (must have been the same strain he had weeks back). anyway, when I went to the clinic with the flu, they told me my heart rate was 138 and high. I had felt normal (besides having the flu) before then, but when they told me that it scared me. I was tense for a while at home, quit drinking any caffeine, and slept. the next night I felt like my heart was racing, couldn't get comfortable or calm down, and then I started with the chest tightness again. every morning I woke up I hoped I wouldn't feel the tightness, but it lingered every day, and I only had a few tranxene left from the summer so I only took when I absolutely had to. after a few days, I went to see a different doctor. my bp there was in the 160's and my heart rate was in the 120's. she was concerned about my bp, and I had never tested at home, so I didn't know any different. after talking about everything, she prescribed wellbutrin xl 150 mg, metoprolol 25 mg, and clorazepate 7.5 mg to take as needed. but she said start them on different days so I know what side effects i'm getting from what. my husband bought a bp machine, and we discovered that my bp at home was fine.. in the 120's, sometimes in the 110's. so she told me not to take the metaprolol. and the wellbutrin has since been upped to 300 mg after having another episode.
weeks later had a blood test and my cholesterol came back high. 154 bad cholesterol and total was 207. the clinic told me to change my diet and it was fine. in a followup from that my heart rate was in the 120's, bp in the 140's. the nurse commented that I must have a sunburn on my arms, and i said that I shouldn't. I looked down and they were blood red all the way up to my shoulders. I could feel it on my face and neck as well. she ran an ekg on me since I was concerned about my heart. it came back as normal except sinus tachycardia at 95 bpm. I thought that was ok, but she said it needs to be under 90. they told me they can't refer me to a cardiologist for any more tests without any real reason to, or the insurance wouldn't cover it. she advised me to start taking the metoprolol just to lower my heart rate on a daily basis. she also added celexa 20 mg, and said we should taper back the wellbutrin. the good thing about wellbutrin is that I have lost about 25 lbs on it since I started early February and I have struggled to lose weight ever since having my son 3 years ago. while pregnant I went from 130 lb to over 200 lb before I had the C-section, and I have lingered in the 160's - 170's since then.
the metoprolol made me think my bp was bottoming out the first night because I was dizzy and felt outside myself while eating at a restaurant with my family, so I only take a half a pill now for about a week and a half. haven't started celexa yet because honestly i'm scared how all of these are interacting.
my real concern is the chest tightness under my left breast that lingers so long after a "panic" or whatever is happening to me. no one has really been able to explain that, and they just think its anxiety and rapid heart rate. since the metoprolol my HR is now usually in the 70's-80's which is good for me. but I still get the feeling in my chest. I felt it tighten up a few nights ago while my son was screaming in the tub and my husband was talking about my dad's kidney numbers, dialysis, and talking about giving him a kidney, and how I couldn't because my blood pressure and everything was all out of whack (when its really not, its my heart rate) plus all the meds i'm on. and he was told not to tell me about the kidney problems so I didn't "stress out about it". it made me feel really weak and like I really needed to get my s*** together so that I could help if anyone ever needed me like that. so now my chest has been tight off and on since then, and i'm contemplating whether I need to push the cardiologist issue or accept what I've been told. I have no energy and now I have a perpetual period. the normal one lasted about a week, then a light one that lasted since then, and now the regular one seems to be starting up again. I just had a pap in february and results were normal (had surgery for pre-cervical cancer before, so it stays in check).... anyway....
does all this sound like anxiety/panic or a heart problem????
I don't know what to do, and I don't know what to think about all these different medicines.
never took anything for depression or anxiety in my life until recently. most I ever took before was headache medicine. (I didn't even get the prescription for Tamiflu when I had the flu.) and i'm scared every day now that something is bad wrong with me. I feel so guilty for dwelling on myself, because I have a great family who all wonders what reason I have to be "depressed or anxious", plus I have a 3 year old that needs me to be energetic and happy for him, and I just feel like i'm not giving him 100% because of how I feel about myself. it feels so selfish to be so fixated on my health, and it makes me hate myself, yet I just can't let it go.
sorry for such a long post. any response at all would be greatly appreciated.
i'm 29 and female if it matters at all.
in summer of 2013 one morning I took a diet pill (zantrex 3) along with a starbucks double shot (stupid - I know). I had done it before and it never phased me. I just needed the energy to get things done. a little while after I did that, I got really hot, felt like I couldn't breathe, dizzy, and my heart was racing. I had that sense of doom like I was having a heart attack. I stood in front of the a/c and called my mom. she called the clinic for me, and they told me things to do to calm down from too much caffeine. I remember laying in the bath tub at my moms, then laying in front of a fan most of the day. I felt twitchy and like I couldn't calm down no matter what I did. she was keeping my son (he was 2 at the time). that evening I went home and my husband called a family doctor and they sent me some valium. I took one and eventually went to sleep. I woke up the next day feeling really fuzzy and had a tightness in my chest (mainly underneath my left breast) that lasted about a week. I went to the clinic in the midst of it and he told me it should be gone by Monday and gave me a 7 day prescription for clorazepate (tranxene). went to the lake that weekend, wakeboarded, and the symptoms slowly disappeared, and that was the end of it..
then in January 2014 after my 3 year old, my husband, and me (as well as my entire family) passed around a stomach bug, the flu, sinus infection, colds, and a "supposed" inner ear infection that gave me vertigo one night and fogginess for a week. the main stress was my son running fever, throwing up, etc and being so miserable, because he had all these things pretty much back to back. apparently different members of my family had different things, and when we all got together, we contaminated each other. then we were all quarantined from each other, so we stayed home alone pretty much the entire month of January. we got together one time thinking we were over it, and a few days later I had the flu. luckily my son didn't get it again (must have been the same strain he had weeks back). anyway, when I went to the clinic with the flu, they told me my heart rate was 138 and high. I had felt normal (besides having the flu) before then, but when they told me that it scared me. I was tense for a while at home, quit drinking any caffeine, and slept. the next night I felt like my heart was racing, couldn't get comfortable or calm down, and then I started with the chest tightness again. every morning I woke up I hoped I wouldn't feel the tightness, but it lingered every day, and I only had a few tranxene left from the summer so I only took when I absolutely had to. after a few days, I went to see a different doctor. my bp there was in the 160's and my heart rate was in the 120's. she was concerned about my bp, and I had never tested at home, so I didn't know any different. after talking about everything, she prescribed wellbutrin xl 150 mg, metoprolol 25 mg, and clorazepate 7.5 mg to take as needed. but she said start them on different days so I know what side effects i'm getting from what. my husband bought a bp machine, and we discovered that my bp at home was fine.. in the 120's, sometimes in the 110's. so she told me not to take the metaprolol. and the wellbutrin has since been upped to 300 mg after having another episode.
weeks later had a blood test and my cholesterol came back high. 154 bad cholesterol and total was 207. the clinic told me to change my diet and it was fine. in a followup from that my heart rate was in the 120's, bp in the 140's. the nurse commented that I must have a sunburn on my arms, and i said that I shouldn't. I looked down and they were blood red all the way up to my shoulders. I could feel it on my face and neck as well. she ran an ekg on me since I was concerned about my heart. it came back as normal except sinus tachycardia at 95 bpm. I thought that was ok, but she said it needs to be under 90. they told me they can't refer me to a cardiologist for any more tests without any real reason to, or the insurance wouldn't cover it. she advised me to start taking the metoprolol just to lower my heart rate on a daily basis. she also added celexa 20 mg, and said we should taper back the wellbutrin. the good thing about wellbutrin is that I have lost about 25 lbs on it since I started early February and I have struggled to lose weight ever since having my son 3 years ago. while pregnant I went from 130 lb to over 200 lb before I had the C-section, and I have lingered in the 160's - 170's since then.
the metoprolol made me think my bp was bottoming out the first night because I was dizzy and felt outside myself while eating at a restaurant with my family, so I only take a half a pill now for about a week and a half. haven't started celexa yet because honestly i'm scared how all of these are interacting.
my real concern is the chest tightness under my left breast that lingers so long after a "panic" or whatever is happening to me. no one has really been able to explain that, and they just think its anxiety and rapid heart rate. since the metoprolol my HR is now usually in the 70's-80's which is good for me. but I still get the feeling in my chest. I felt it tighten up a few nights ago while my son was screaming in the tub and my husband was talking about my dad's kidney numbers, dialysis, and talking about giving him a kidney, and how I couldn't because my blood pressure and everything was all out of whack (when its really not, its my heart rate) plus all the meds i'm on. and he was told not to tell me about the kidney problems so I didn't "stress out about it". it made me feel really weak and like I really needed to get my s*** together so that I could help if anyone ever needed me like that. so now my chest has been tight off and on since then, and i'm contemplating whether I need to push the cardiologist issue or accept what I've been told. I have no energy and now I have a perpetual period. the normal one lasted about a week, then a light one that lasted since then, and now the regular one seems to be starting up again. I just had a pap in february and results were normal (had surgery for pre-cervical cancer before, so it stays in check).... anyway....
does all this sound like anxiety/panic or a heart problem????
I don't know what to do, and I don't know what to think about all these different medicines.
never took anything for depression or anxiety in my life until recently. most I ever took before was headache medicine. (I didn't even get the prescription for Tamiflu when I had the flu.) and i'm scared every day now that something is bad wrong with me. I feel so guilty for dwelling on myself, because I have a great family who all wonders what reason I have to be "depressed or anxious", plus I have a 3 year old that needs me to be energetic and happy for him, and I just feel like i'm not giving him 100% because of how I feel about myself. it feels so selfish to be so fixated on my health, and it makes me hate myself, yet I just can't let it go.
sorry for such a long post. any response at all would be greatly appreciated.