Does this sound like an anxiety attack to you?

[p1234]

I'm not new to this forum having suspected I may have anxiety related disorders in the past. But the thing I've always struggled with in terms of diagnosing that is that I'm not someone who worries, panics or generally has the mental health profile that one would associate with anxiety. It could be self denial I suppose !

What I do have is a number of symptoms of anxiety, such as palpitations, frizzy scalp, hyperacusis. But I am completely used to them and comfortable about them, I just ignore it all and get on with life. In the back of my mind its down to work stresses and bad guts but I've never been able to prove that, and don't particularly feel the need to.

Still the other day I got home after a weekend away, did a couple of hours work on the pooter and felt quite good about myself, so decided to go and sit with the wife and have a couple of alcohol free beers with the tv on. Wicked I know ;)

Then I started to feel strange, almost "floored", guts felt unusually relaxed, and I started to feel a bit weird, but not dizzy, felt the need to lie down, heart started pounding like crazy. I'm normally quite fit and my heart rate was well over double what it would normally be just laying down. I tried to relax and control breathing and see if it went away but it just kept getting worse, I felt like I should pass out, my hands and feet went numb, and my legs (thighs) started shaking and I felt rather cold. I was unable to speak at my normal speed, I could only talk slowly.

My wife got an ambulance to come. I was still going downhill. When they arrived they did an ecg and it was all ok, and heart rate started to go down after they asked me to stand up.

In hospital they couldn't find anything wrong with me whatsoever, all they could think of was an anxiety attack. Yet I wasn't consciously paniced or worried

In the couple of days since I've been back to work but I don't feel completely functional mentally.

I was hoping anyone who experiences panic/anxiety attacks could tell me if this is consistent with your own experiences of what attacks can be like. I suppose a trip to the docs is due but I'd like to have a better understanding of whether this fits well with a panic attack or not.

thanks in advance

[Anne1221]

Do you ever feel stressed out? I personally have been to the emergency room and I had no idea it was my anxiety. No clue. I was floored when they told me that and kind of like "no way". But they convinced me they had ruled everything out and then I realized it was my anxiety.

First things first. You need to stop ignoring the palpatitations and the hypercusis (sp?) and go to a doctor to find out what is causing those things. You can't just have all these symptom and say 'I'll ignore them and get on with life". Whether it's physical or otherwise, stop ignoring them and get to the root causes.

[p1234]

Thanks, I definitely work very hard and am tired a lot of the time, but not really stressed out as such. Work is what I enjoy and it feels good to be able to work and achieve things etc etc.

I have been to the docs before, and I've always found going there to be unhelpful - if you go to a doctor with the symptoms of anxiety they will say you have anxiety and get you out of the room as soon as possible. If I could find a doctor who would be prepared to take a deeper dive into my history I might be interested, but no takers so far. They all just assume that you're in self denial. But the truth is that I just want to get on with life and if it is some kind of nasty condition then it will probably show up later. I don't really think any of the possible conditions have any treatment other than taking good care of oneself which I'm trying to do anyway.

Even the thought of going to a doctor gives me anxiety ! No doctors, no anxiety, at least not that I am conciously aware of.

[NAJ]

IMO, if Medical Doctors are not helping and blaming it on Anxiety and you are really concerned about this then see a Counselor or Psychiatrist, they are trained to deal with situations like this.

[ericd2]

I hear you. Panic attacks are scary. I had three episodes a few years ago that scared the heck out of me. Heart palpitations, sweaty hands, and several visits to the doctor. Seeing a counselor or another trained helps professional has been the best medicine for me. There's a always a "reason" why our body freaks out, and in your case, there might be some build-up of some issues over time. You seem to be self-aware, which is a very good thing. Have you considered talking to a counselor or pastor? It's been so worth it to me to get stuff out.

[p1234]

Thanks for the great responses.

I suppose I'm a bit of an odd case in that firstly I don't consider myself to be anxious and I definitely do want to continue enjoying working hard, and that does involve considerable stresses, long hours etc etc. I'm of the view that the anxiety symptoms are a mix of something weird going on health-wise combined with life stresses etc. I genuinely don't experience worry, panic or thoughts that you'd associate with anxiety - I certainly have in the past, but I've learned how to put it all to to rest so I really feel that the attack was autonomic rather than invoked by conscious thoughts if that makes any sense !

However I need to "not have another attack" since my brain has been custard since the one on Sunday and work has been difficult this week. Also it scared the hell out of my wife which isn't good at all !

The one thing I keep coming back to is that whoever I see is going to say "ease off work", "slow down", "do meditation" etc etc. I don't really want to do any of that ! Perhaps I just have to accept that things will be that way but for me "life" is about achievement in doing the things you like. While I enjoy a bit of social and I walk and cycle lots thats just stuff I do to allow me to maintain a normal life rather than stuff I want to do.

There are other issues, like I'm supposed to have Menieres (so they tell me, but I haven't had a vertigo attack since 2011), I definitely have gastric problems including possibly abdominal adhesions, and I've recently found myself with an (over) eating disorder which I am now trying to address. So its all work in process but the absolutely obvious approach - ease off work - relax etc etc, doesn't appeal at all !! oh dear. Maybe I'll just carry on until next time I drop !

[Anne1221]

Be SURE you are getting enough sleep!! You can work hard, be an achiever, but that one aspect is crucial.

[Olive Yew]

So i get what's called symptomatic anxiety or non-fearful anxiety which is where you can be happily going through your day, minding your own business, and then your body just starts spazzing out for no known reason. You're healthy and fit as a fiddle, but your body doesn't know that. Throughout the day I get a whole spectrum of symptoms from anxiety without actually feeling fearful or obsessive about anything. A lot of times, i START being fearful BECAUSE the symptoms act up and make me feel bad. So it's totally a thing to not feel like you're an anxious person but still have anxiety. It has more to do with brain chemistry than it does traumatic experiences or worry for the future.

[p1234]

Thank you, that just puts everything in the right place.

Regarding sleep, its interesting that I was excessively tired just before this last attack, just from late drinking the night before and also the night before that I only got four hours. Being married to a snorer doesn't help :--)

Olive that really helps - thank you. Its interesting that the symptoms of anxiety are much more noticeable after the attack, whereas before I was feeling very good. Now I'm a bit zonked and my concentration is rubbish.

Well I think this thread has been great for me as I now have a plausible explanation of whats happened, and I don't see any reason to kick off a medical run around at this stage, I'll just ease off for a while and build back up to where I was. Down but not out :--)

[p1234]

I saw a private doc 6 months ago who mentioned that my blood oxygen saturation level was 100%, and went on to discuss the implications of that in terms of hyperventilation. I didn't think much of it at the time but having googled it a bit and assembled my thoughts around all that it seems to be a plausible explanation for all my symptoms and history etc. I guess I'll have a dig around on here for threads covering that also.

[Anne1221]

One thing that you may want to look at is any alcohol consumption. That, combined with lack of sleep, can do lots of things. In your first post you mentioned "alcohol free beers" and in this latest post you said "...from late drinking the night before". Doesn't matter if you do drink or don't, or how much, but do not discount that has having nothing to do with any panic attacks.It most definitely can be connected.

[p1234]

Yes alcohol is a difficult one. Maybe once a week or two weeks there'll be a social engagement where I let my hair down a bit :--) If I want to be clever in work I've found (after much trial and error over many years) that one or two beers is much better than no beer. I think I've read other peoples posts who state the same thing. Generally I'll probably have a few evenings off and a few evenings of one or two beers so its not exactly a lot. I believe that the alcohol helps reset the hyperventilation issues by relaxing me more to return breathing to normal overnight, whereas I seem to stay more stressed and tense when I don't, and that builds up over time.

I can't say I'm much worse after a big drink, sometimes those are the good days in work.

Its all festering in my compost bin at the moment ! I don't have all the answers but I feel very positive that I am onto something with the hyperventilation theory. Whether thats the only underlying cause or not is another question which I suspect will needs several months or even years to answer with certainty.