ghosty
06-30-2014, 09:23 AM
Hi everyone! This is my first time posting here and I haven't really spent a lot of time around the forums, but I wanted to introduce myself and my story because I really feel like I could use some advice. I've never really experienced anxiety, or at least at a level where I felt it needed to be addressed. I'm 21, I have a job that I really enjoy, a solid relationship, no serious money struggles or anything, so it really surprised me that I was hit with something like this.
Over the weekend I had my first panic attack and it kind of threw me into a tizzy. It happened at work during a really slow day, so I was initially taking it easy and chatting/joking around with my coworkers. I was sitting at my desk when all of a sudden I felt really dizzy and nauseous, and I noticed that my heart was beating abnormally fast. I checked my own pulse and it was 130. When I stood up to get some water, I really thought I was going to collapse or throw up or both. I work in an urgent care center so I expressed my concern to the medical staff and they brought me into a room right away. By the time they took my pulse it was up to 140 and my blood pressure was off the charts as well. At this point I was crying uncontrollably, totally convinced that I was going to die. I have never experienced so much dread and fear in my entire life. Like I really thought I was having a heart attack or something. The doctor immediately did an EKG and my heart rhythm was fine, so he explained to me that he believed I was having a panic attack. This seemed so strange to me because it hit me out of nowhere, untriggered. I was under the perception that panic attacks happened in stressful situations or when people were overwhelmed. I've always been really easygoing and not prone to anxiety or panic, although it runs in my family pretty strongly. As a result of my experience, I'm having a lot of fear that this will keep happening if I don't start trying to get control of it, but I'm not sure where to go from here.
From what I've read it seems like medication has helped a lot of people, but I'm a little weary about trying to take that route for a couple reasons. 1) I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager and put on a lot of heavy-duty medications I truly didn't need and that affected me negatively. My mood disturbances totally stopped once I started treatment for hypothyroidism. And 2) As a result of my hypothyroidism, I experience a lot of fatigue, and I feel like the last thing I need is a medication that could make me drowsy, especially at work. So I guess my question is, what kind of routes have you taken, and what has been the most helpful to you? Should I even bother, since it only happened once?
Thanks! :)
Over the weekend I had my first panic attack and it kind of threw me into a tizzy. It happened at work during a really slow day, so I was initially taking it easy and chatting/joking around with my coworkers. I was sitting at my desk when all of a sudden I felt really dizzy and nauseous, and I noticed that my heart was beating abnormally fast. I checked my own pulse and it was 130. When I stood up to get some water, I really thought I was going to collapse or throw up or both. I work in an urgent care center so I expressed my concern to the medical staff and they brought me into a room right away. By the time they took my pulse it was up to 140 and my blood pressure was off the charts as well. At this point I was crying uncontrollably, totally convinced that I was going to die. I have never experienced so much dread and fear in my entire life. Like I really thought I was having a heart attack or something. The doctor immediately did an EKG and my heart rhythm was fine, so he explained to me that he believed I was having a panic attack. This seemed so strange to me because it hit me out of nowhere, untriggered. I was under the perception that panic attacks happened in stressful situations or when people were overwhelmed. I've always been really easygoing and not prone to anxiety or panic, although it runs in my family pretty strongly. As a result of my experience, I'm having a lot of fear that this will keep happening if I don't start trying to get control of it, but I'm not sure where to go from here.
From what I've read it seems like medication has helped a lot of people, but I'm a little weary about trying to take that route for a couple reasons. 1) I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager and put on a lot of heavy-duty medications I truly didn't need and that affected me negatively. My mood disturbances totally stopped once I started treatment for hypothyroidism. And 2) As a result of my hypothyroidism, I experience a lot of fatigue, and I feel like the last thing I need is a medication that could make me drowsy, especially at work. So I guess my question is, what kind of routes have you taken, and what has been the most helpful to you? Should I even bother, since it only happened once?
Thanks! :)