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Don't know what really could of happened

Posted , 6 users are following.

leahandrea
leahandrea

I had a really scary episode yesterday and I'm scared. I honestly don't think it was a panic attack. I haven't had a full blown panic attack for a long time now. I was driving my 15yo daughter to school, we were at the light and I had a weird pain in my thumb so I started pushing on it and decided to take ibuprofen which never happened, but I started feeling strange and went into a full fledged freak out. I felt like I was going to die, everything started fading which made me start to freak out more.I started thinking that I was going to die and my daughter wouldn't have me and a million other thoughts all within those few seconds which felt like forever. My body felt cold and I was shaking like a leaf. I pulled off the road and into a parking lot freaking out. I was screaming call 911!! Something is wrong with me! Once out of the car, I told my daughter not to call 911 just yet. So yeah, I got out of the car and there was a man coming out of the building so I told him what was going on. My My tongue and roof of my mouth went completely numb. I was in a total freak out. I ended up going to urgent care with my aunt who is a nurse for over 35 years now. They ran an ekg and it came out normal, but the dr who was extremely young by the way suggested I go to ER to rule out a stroke or heart attack, but my aunt said she didn't think I needed to and that since he was young and was very by the textbook he said what he felt he needed to in order to cover his butt. He didn't seem to know anything about anxiety. He told me I didn't have any of the classic anxiety symptoms. I have been an anxiety sufferer for 10 plus years. I take citalopram 10mg daily. Either way, now I'm freaking out thinking I might have had a TIA stroke and it's just a matter of time before I have another or a full on stroke or something serious and since I didn't go to the hospital ER I'm just a ticking time bomb. I've been googling symptoms and reading a million stories on this and completely obsessing over it. I'm so scared.

0 likes, 15 replies

15 Replies

  • Des60
    Des60 leahandrea

    Posted

    Hi leahandrea, sorry to hear about your episode, I would urge you to go to ER and get a thorough check up, hopefully it will be nothing serious, I understand the 'ticking time bomb' feeling as I had a TIA last year, for your own peace of mind go to ER as soon as you can. Good luck to you.
    • Des60
      Des60 leahandrea

      Posted

      The only answer I can give you is that my symptoms were nothing like yours, I'm no doctor so please get checked out. Good luck.
  • Winnie143
    Winnie143 leahandrea

    Posted

    Well get a Doctors advice always as it puts your mind at ease, but  it sounds like a panic attack.  Did your mouth go dry and you couldn't swallow and pins and needles?  My Daughter has panic attacks and I always tell her to suck a sweet or keep water by her xxxx

    Good luck and get yourself checked even if it puts your mind at ease

    No Stress xxx good luck

     

  • samuels
    samuels leahandrea

    Posted

    Hi leahandrea,

    Sounds like  you had an adreniline rush whilst having a panic attack, but that's just my opinion, I am not a doctor but have suffered a couple of TIA's and symptoms don't match, but if the urgent care doctor suggested you seek  treatment at your ER then I would be inclined to just in case, if he was a young doctor and your aunt is a nurse of 35 years, I'd go with your aunts advice , believe it or not these dedicated nurses are just as well trained as doctors today, the doctor only gives permission or orders nurses to adminster medication etc etc in emergency situations when they are more than capable of what an emergency doctor can do.

  • samuels
    samuels leahandrea

    Posted

    I had suffered from panic / anxiety attacks for  20 years, I haven't had one for 3 years up until a couple of months ago, it just reared it's ugly head up from out of nowhere and tried to scare me,  smile I beat it, it went after about a minute, I used the CBT that I was taught and didn't let that fear scare me...... fear fuels a panic attack sufferers fire, I know it's hard but don't let fear scare you, fear is a natural process but for whatever reasons panic attack sufferers para sympathetic  and the sympathetic nerves become unstable, irritated and this causes all those weird but natural feelings to make us think there's something drastically wrong.
    • beth4700
      beth4700 samuels

      Posted

      Dear Samuels,

      I have suffered from chlostrophobia (extreme ) and anxiety/panic attacks for years since being left in an MRI unattended while my head was restrained. I have them so bad I've thought I've had a. stroke at least twice.

      I also have a nerve dystrophy called reflex sympathetic dystrophy or RSD. I was very interested in your reply about panic attacks and how sympathetic nerves fuel the fear. Could you please direct me to how, or who or what information you know about sympathetic nerves being directly involved in panic attacks. I'm very, very interested since I am now out of remission for RSD and anxiety attacks come over me daily over small issues. Whatever information you could lead me to would be so appreciated. I don't know if you've read something or a doctor explained this, etc. I have many issues and sometimes if you're proactive it leads to assistance. So anything you would be able to lend...even if you my think it's irrelevant, I would appreciate it more than you could know.

    • samuels
      samuels beth4700

      Posted

      Hi beth4700,

      Dr Claire Weekes, she wrote a series of books on Panic / anxiety attacks and Agoraphobia.

      Since my Panic attacks were caused a bit differently than most, bitten by a copperhead snake and it interfered with my nervous system like most animal poisons do, I'm not afraid of snakes as some psychologists and pyshiatrists have suggested, they seem to think the actual snake had set off my panic attacks, I can't see how when I didn't even see the snake in the first place smile.

      Now back onto the para sympatehtic and sympathetic nerves, I can't remember exactly which one controls what now, but one set of nerves controls our thoughts (fears) and the other set controls our organs (hence the feeling of having a heart attack,a stroke, a brain tumour, things like that, they get all confused  / out of whack and that's the state it puts people in, very cruel feelings but they do have a simple explanation.this is according to Dr Weekes and my GP .

      If you Google her I'm sure you would find some information about her, she has passed now but as a doctor she had personally suffered panic / anxiety attacks herself, she wrote a series of books on how to beat it, I honestly couldn't tell you if they are still being printed or not, perhaps try your local library,they maybe able to assist in tracking down her books. Also Google for information about the para sympathetic and sympathetic nervous system as I have all information in storage now and unable to give you direct sources.

       

  • leahandrea
    leahandrea

    Posted

    Thank you all so much for replying. I am going to get checked just in case and to help put my mind st ease.I've never heard of adrenaline rush paired with a panic attack. That's interesting. Yeah, nurses are much more in tune I feel because they are the ones taking the orders and actually being with the patients more. I know when I've gone to the dr in the past, I've seen the nurse practitioner more than the actual dr. My anxiety is just through the roof this morning. I feel so nervous.
  • wdtony
    wdtony leahandrea

    Posted

    I had a severe adverse reaction to escitalopram and 3 years later I had a stroke... I was 38 and no other risk factors for stroke. Those SSRI's are nasty and can wreak havoc on your CNS and endocrine systems... and possibly mess with your coagulation in the blood since serotonin controls that.

    As for what happened, I would say from going to the ER a bazillion times myself that you had what they would call a complicated migraine. I personally believe that migraine symptoms are serious especially since they parallel stroke symptoms but I would go in that direction if I were you. When I get complicated migraines I get confused and super nervous and things start to go numb. I would keep the concern and lose the worry. If you decide to go off of the citalopram PLEASE READ ALL ABOUT TAPERING FIRST! It can be a nightmare if done wrong since SSRI's are so incredibly addictive. Good luck and relax.

    • samuels
      samuels wdtony

      Posted

      Hi  wdtony,

      It is as you say preferable to taper off SSRI's and SSNRI's but you can't if you are like me, have severe side effects from them, As I have said I have severe side effects from them but the doctor wanted me to persevere on with them and after about 4 weeks I just couldn't keep going on the way I was so I stopped the medication(s) and all the adverse side effects disappeared.

      I don't want to offend or upset anyone with this comment, it was made by a psychologist many years ago, they stated that Anti Depressents aren't designed to help with panic / anxiety attacks and I am of the same opinion as I have been on just about the lot of them from all the drug families and they haven't helped me in any way, they do help with depression, I have seen changes in people with just depression, I was never depressed when I had suffered my panic attacks. different doctors have different opinions but as I mentioned earlier it all comes back to the para sympathetic and sympathetic nerves, the one that handles our thoughts and the other that handles our organ functions, as stated in a comment earlier ( I think it's waiting to be moderated for some reason ) I can't remember now  which bundle of nerves handle what.

  • beth4700
    beth4700 leahandrea

    Posted

    Dear Leahandrea,

    It's such an awful feeling to lose control and not understand what is going on with your body. Anxiety and panic attacks are more mentally devastating sometimes than dealing with an actual stroke. I know this statement may offend some and my apologies to those who really don't understand what it is that I'm attempting to convey.

    Just because you keep anxiety, panic or whichever you choose to label them, under wraps for many years doesn't mean slight things won't trigger huge attacks. One thing I've learned is this....panic attacks are a physical and mental disability and illness. It's not secondary or less serious than a "real" illness. They're ugly and dibilitating. If let to go on without treatment they can be responsible for gastrointestinal issues and cause ulcera, etc.

    I guess what I'm saying is that don't just write off the attacks if it's not a stroke

    I would encourage you to get to your doctor and go through the process of finding out the truth. Truth will set you free Even though your Aunt is an RN (that I have a lot of respect for by the way), she is not an MRI or a doctor and other issues could be at hand. Especially with your tongue going numb. I'm not trying to scare you at all. I would suggest that you have an experienced doctor check you over. I would rather deal with any issue with a head start instead of waiting and worrying and finding out you could've had more options if you would have just had it checked out earlier. Your body has a way of telling you when something isn't working right. Even if it is 'just another ugly anxiety episode' there's an underlying reason. Listen to your body.

    My best wishes to you.

    • leahandrea
      leahandrea beth4700

      Posted

      Thank you so much. I agree. I'm definitely going to see my dr and get s complete check up. I even feel tempted to go to ER today because I'm scared that waiting might throw me into something serious. It's such a difficult battle. I've been having serve anxiety since I had that episode Friday.
  • leahandrea
    leahandrea

    Posted

    I appreciate all of your replies. It's nice to have people to lean on and encourage me. It's been frightening these last few days. Thank you all so much.
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