Anxiety ruining my life
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hello everyone. My names Gina. I'm an RN and you'd think I'd have a better handle on my health but Im more often than not a worried mess. I have genetic anxiety..GAD... panic attacks..irrational fears.. etc. On the 20th i started zoloft 50 mg and advanced to 100mg. I also have xanax 0.5mg for panic. On the 23rd my husband and I sadly lost his 20 year old brother to a tragic car accident. It's been terrible. Prior to the accident I sensed something was off and started having anxiety.. lots of it. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling mildly short of breath. Mind you I'm just 30 years old and healthy. Anyhoo when I got that feeling I checked my heart rate on my fitbit tracker and it said 45. 45?!?!?! I was terrified. I went into a full blown panic attack. I almost went to the ED. Since then I am scared to fall asleep 😢😢😢 I am convinced I have sleep apnea and that I'm dying. I don't know what to do. When I'm falling asleep I feel my respirations slow and get startled out of my sleep. I have palpitations... I'm fearful. Doesn't help that I am on full time night shift and have trouble sleeping. I don't like taking the xanax, it makes my head hurt, to the point I awaken with a headache. Furthermore convincing me I have sleep apnea. I sound completely irrational. I just need a friend to tell me I'm okay and not alone. Thank you to everyone in advance. God bless you guys. -G
0 likes, 9 replies
claire33434 ginaRN55
Posted
Hi Gina. A heart rate of 45 when sleeping is not unusual so try not to panic. I know that's easier said than done. I know anything below 60 people can worry and as an RN you probably fear the worst! Have you checked it again since? I'm not familiar with the medication you are taking so can't offer advice on that.
ginaRN55 claire33434
Posted
I'm afraid to wear my fitbit tracker since reading my heart rate was 45. The medications have helped stop my panic attacks but now and again I get scared. Today as falling asleep after work my husband asked if I was okay because it sounded like i was catching my breath in my sleep. Ugh!!!! I'm going to go insane 😢
emilylawless ginaRN55
Posted
I'm 22 and healthy and I wore a hear monitor cause of Palps and my lowest was 46 when I was sleeping and my dr said that's good. That a low heart rate is good it means your heart doesn't have to work as hard.... He said young healthy people should have a heart right at around 60-70 but sleeping it gets slower and he said for very athletic people they age an even slower heart rate of 45-60 when resting
ginaRN55 emilylawless
Posted
I thought the same. But I'm not overly athletic! I'm guessing it's genetic because my parents were both runners. I am active but not an allstar lol. That makes me feel much better. I just get scared because I wake up feeling like I need to take deep breaths.
thanks again for your input!
emilylawless ginaRN55
Posted
Yes I workout most days a week moderate and my heart rate is usually high 60's-70's don't worry about it when my heart rate was in the 40's and I freaked out too and the dr said it was perfectly normal for a healthy person
dalene63026 ginaRN55
Posted
dee53012 ginaRN55
Posted
I've never checked my pulse, but i have, on many occasions, been resting, nearly asleep, and notice I am not breathing. I lay there and think, i can choose not to breath or to breath, what shall it be? After a while I think, yaa, I can do another day and in goes the deep breath.
Culd you tell one of the doctor friends what's been happening and see if it is normal for the bp to drop that low at rest?
Hope you can relax and not worry too much.
ginaRN55 dee53012
Posted
Hey there. No I haven't been checked for sleep apnea. But I do have a physical next week and I'm going to talk to my MD.
realistically I don't think I have it...but there's always that possibility. I'm 30 and healthy but why would I feel like I have to catch my breath when I'm falling asleep? I've heard anxiety can cause that to happen because as you fall asleep your breaths slow... so perhaps anxiety is causing me to snap awake and feel scared. Since I've stayed the meds it hasn't happened again too often. Ugh I'd best talk to a doctor.
Mandie29 ginaRN55
Posted
Hey Gina the breathing thing happens to me at night sometimes too. I saw you said you have a Fitbit. My advice is get rid of it. I was wearing too and checking my HR probably 200 times a day. It would drop into the 40's at night, go from 50 to 170 in 5 minutes, all weird stuff. I thought I had something seriously wrong so my doctor did a holter monitor and guess what? My Fitbit was totally off. Turns out I have SVT though and my Fitbit wasn't tracking my episodes because it wouldn't track anything over 130 bpm.