Hiatal Hernia and Panic Attacks(Need some insight)
Posted , 27 users are following.
Hello all!
Before I begin:
-No history of cardiac issues(done around 4-5 tests, all clear)
-GERD for several years(Diagnosed 3 years ago)
-No particular family history aside from late 60s diabetes and high blood pressure late life.
-20 years old male, no drugs, no smoking, no alcohol, healthy diet
-Only real issue? Stress and sensitivity.
I've been suffering immensely due to an unknown illness. It'd cause long term tachycardia, general panic, insomnia, clammy cold hands, the whole slew of things. Generally what your body says when it wants you to know something is very wrong. I'd be fine one moment, and then suddenly have a weird feeling in my chest(turns out that was my hernia being pushed up from a stomach spasm) and then have a panic attack slowly come up. Of course, it's my body reacting to this, so it wasn't diagnosed as an SVT. I've had ALL the cardiac tests. Holter, Stress, Echo... You name it. I legitimately thought too many times that I was going to die suddenly and no one would know what was wrong with me. My heart would race and sometimes feel like it was going to just stop. I never passed out, it never happened without a precursor of panic(so if the tachycardia comes up SUDDENLY, like 90 to 160 in a couple beats, it's likely a cardiac issue). I starved myself in fear of having even more issues, but it turned out that it made it far worse. After year of being sick like this, the symptoms seemed to subside and disappear. I was fine for a while. I could run, do whatever with no issues. Then one day, it showed up again. Mysterious. I'd have runs of the same panic, the same chest pain, the same acid reflux...
I took all the damn tests, but it was a hernia. The doctors demanded I take a CT to make sure, but I prefer not to have a huge dose of radiation at only twenty. I went to a chiropractor and had my stomach pulled and it got rid of all my symptoms immediately. All those 150-160 BPM panic attacks, all those sleepless nights, all those times when I swear I was thinking I was going to die...
I'm far more sensitive than normal people. I notice things wrong with my body much more clearly and feel much worse. No one understood what was wrong with me(I had telltale signs of a hernia even then, back pain, chest pain, belching, acid reflux). A hernia that was missed by endo-scopy obviously isn't that big of a deal, right? Wrong. My hernia isn't permanent. It straightens itself out and cramps up repeatedly. It can come and go, but it comes with a vengeance when I have long term stress or if I stress my GI.
The point of this isn't to say that doctors are wrong, or that you shouldn't trust them. It's just that if you want to be healthy, you have to do your own research and find your problem if the fixes aren't working(this sadly happens more often than not). PPIs made me feel worse. My stomach spasms cause hernia and this hernia makes me feel god awful like I'm going to die(panic attacks randomly).
I'm having bouts of my hernia again, but when I use my chiropractor's method of pulling my stomach back down, VIOLA! No panic, tachy's gone, feelings of dying are gone.
Stress is a killer for any disease for the stomach. A lot of people say that "stress doesn't cause problems with health", but stress affects the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system. It slowly breaks that balance and makes everything spiral out of control. The body's a well oiled machine and one part that breaks makes the whole thing stop working.
The final thing I want to point out is that although there are set definitions out there of symptoms and various things for various illnesses, DO NOT TRUST THEM 100%.
Everyone's body is different(if this is hard to understand, think of it like this; everyone's minds are different, right? So obviously, the way they handle things is definitely going to be different!). They may be the same anatomically, but the way they react to certain drugs and the like is VERY DIFFERENT. The was the main issue I have with the current healthcare system. Far too many times do people have horrible reactions to different medications because of misdiagnosis and drug rejection from their bodies. Some people experience heart attacks like they're chest discomfort and some people experience them like it's the end of the world. Some people don't even noticed GERD and some people have straight up freak-outs that are chalked up to anxiety.
That aside, how is everyone doing with their hernias? Hernias generally are considered "untreatable" aside from surgery, but even to that, I find that a good lifestyle with activity can hold back even diabetes. I still get bouts of breathlessness(one in the middle of the night when my stomach is completely empty, but a glass of water tends to fix it quite nicely), but it's significantly better now that I know what's wrong with me and can get a hold of my own health. I'm just curious, how many of you hernia sufferers have felt this before? I feel like I'm the only one who has such violent symptoms from what I've seen.
Thanks and good luck with your road back to health!
-Dan
4 likes, 34 replies
theshop62 DMile10
Edited
I had panic attacks for over twenty years. When a surgeon found and repaired an unknown hiatal hernia i had while undergoing another surgical procedure. It was a blessing in disguise, my debilitating panic attacks went away immediately like a miracle, like somebody hit an on and off switch.
I could breathe easier, but it was a different type of breathing, something i wasn't used to, maybe normal breathing? Turned out it was something i wasn't used to because i had been breathing entirely wrong the past 20 years, I probably felt that was the normal way to breathe all this time, but it wasn't, along with the acid reflux and gerd causing me to not breathe normally.
Now I can do anything and am not afraid to finally live my life. The surgeon told me: I bet the other doctors for the past twenty years said you had asthma, panic attacks etc, he said it was the hiatal hernia causing all those symptoms. Hmm so it wasn't in my head after all, I knew 20 years ago, the panic attacks, asthma, Gerd, had to be something physical and this just proved it.
So please don't suffer, insist on getting tests and if something is wrong, in my case massive gerd causing me not to breathe properly causing panic attacks. But the doctors in the past never told me I even had a hiatal hernia, yes or no. All they kept saying is you have asthma and panic disorder!! If they just said I did had a hiatal hernia instead of, oh just take protonix and tums and live with it, i would have questioned more and went to the right doctor to have the issue addressed with surgery. This probably would have saved me with over twenty years of suffering breathing issues and panic attacks.
Any personal questions on my journey, I can answer any issues or questions you may have. Thank you
rose84630 theshop62
Edited
i had panic attacks, but i didnt know its associated with the hernia, but now its acting up my hernia and i feel panicky, did u have problems with not be able to burp like ur full of air u cant get out? then after awhile a big burp comes out and you feel relieved?
rose84630 theshop62
Edited
can i ask if you had belching, like u had to burp but couldn't?
sasical72 rose84630
Posted
yep
victoria05131 theshop62
Posted
hi there, i never thought i would find another person with a similar case as mine. i had weight loss surgery and a year later i was told i had a hiatal hernia and right after that i started having panic attacks, episodes of deep, deep depresion and i basically live with anxiety every single day. i also struggle to drink and swallow food but i think that's mainly due to my gastric sleeve. but the panic attacks are driving me crazy. thanks for sharing your story, it helped me realize I'm not crazy and not alone. did you anxiety and panic attacks go away completely after surgery? did the doctor explain what was causing it?
sherry904 DMile10
Edited
i have these issues also but mine also involves shortness of breath. my endoscopy is scheduled for June 15. i cant live like this.
would love to find a chiropractor tgst coukd do what yours does.
Live2bfree sherry904
Edited
6 months later, mine turned out to be my back! just had 2 laminectomies on my lumbar spine, and this was the root cause - nerve compression. stomach is good, everything else good. healing up and hoping this was my only issue. Get CT scan and MRI when docs cant figure it out.
sasical72 Live2bfree
Posted
Hi
Are you saying you were having panic attacks and they were coming from problems in your back? I ask because sometimes that's where I feel mine originate from
jordan7792 DMile10
Posted
very insightful story Dan. I could say my case is identical to yours. Im also trying the stomach "pull down" technique on myself, but I'm not sure wether i actually pull down my stomach or not. Could you post a video (YouTube) or a link which i could use as a guide ?
Thank you in advance.
sasical72 DMile10
Edited
Since 2 years ago I have this thing happen to me where I will be fine and all of a sudden I get this strange kind of sinking feeling in my chest, I start to sweat, have shortness of breath, fast heart rate and just a general panicky feeling, it sometimes feels like I will drop dead, this is always followed by a bowel movement.
After the bowel movement I have a lot of gurgling and rumbling and feel like I have trapped gas, when I finally get rid of the gas I feel fine again.
I have had various tests all ok except for a small hiatal hernia.
Could that really be causing all this? Doctors can't offer any explanations
rose84630 sasical72
Posted
i get trapped air, try to burp but burp some until a burp a big one and then im fine
emma88655 sasical72
Edited
yes!!! i get this all the time and i have suffered with anxiety and panic attacks for years but what youve described is EXACTLY what happens to me. and usually for me when it happens is in the morning . please can you share if you found out what was causing this
sasical72 emma88655
Posted
I'm seeing a digestive surgeon on Thursday to see if she can shed some light on the matter. I will let you know if I find anything out. How long has this been happening to you?
You could also type in Google: healthunlocked panic and other symptoms before a bowel movement
It's a whole thread about this subject
sasical72 emma88655
Posted
Hi Emma,
How are you doing? do you still have those symptoms?
melanie84042 DMile10
Posted
Hi thank you so much for writing this! The same thing is happening tome. My chiropractor fixes it but then the next day or within a few hours it comes back up. I don't know what to do the adrenaline rushes and anxiety is a nightmare. and the pressure in my throat and back of my skull is a nightmare. I am afraid ot pull my stomach down to hard and hurt myself more.