I don't get a racing heart when having a panic attack. Is this normal

Hi I don't ever get pounding heart either with my panic attacks but I do her the fluttering or what seems to be irregular heartbeat. I get sweaty and light headed too. These are all definite signs of anxiety but I always tell everyone to get it checked just to be sure although almost all the time it isn't your heart. I still wouldn't wanna play God or act like a doc and tell anyone not to get it checked. You always want to be sure and it gives us a peace of kind once it's confirmed everything is ok. You definitely sound exactly how I am and it is anxiety.

I worry about my health every single day and my fear of getting bad news from my doc consumes me. It's so scary. When I have anxiety attacks I get tingles and what feels like ions and needles in my body as well as sweats, shakiness and nauseous stomach. The chest pains I rarely get or a rapid heart best I never get. Just a flutter like I said. I think you definitely are having physical signs of anxiety.

Oops!!peace of * mind I meant

Thanks mandi for your comment.

It's reassuring someone else has similar symptoms to me but not great because I wish neither of us had anxiety etc. I will get it checked out as I know I've always had low blood pressure and irregular heart beat but that's what makes me panic is death although like you say 9 times of out 10 it's anxiety. I envy those who never suffer from such things.

Thanks again

It's *

Hi Meryl!

Have a look at ' a breathing exercise to calm panic attacks' on 'anxietycoach.com'

Also have you looked into 'Mindfulness' . It is recommended for all sorts of medical conditions that induce stress e.g. Cancer, after heart attacks, tinnitus and particularly anxiety. It's based on meditation techniques .

Sometimes available on the NHS but check out

bemindful.co.uk

I have found it very helpful. You do need to practise it everyday.

Hope this helps.

Hello

I have only had a few panic/anxiety attacks. But each time my heart beat stayed completely normal. My anxiety attack manifested as a sudden wave of blind dread and a white hot burning sensation in my throat and chest, and I began to sweat and my hands to shake.

Hi I suffered with panic attacks for years, had 2 horrible ones this week, I really thought I was gonna die, my heart does weird things feels like I have a butterfly in my chest, my heart goes fast, then slow and then it misses a beat, anxiety and panic attacks are awful for all of us, its nice to have the opportunity to talk to others

It's nice to know but also a shame that we're not alone. I currently feel panic and slight tingling in my hands and feet but I'm going to try a strategy where you accept it, don't fight it and concentrate on something else. Let's all be in this and get over it together. None of us should suffer alone. I sympathise with all of you! It's horrible.

Hi Meryl, I don't get the heart symptoms so much a a kick in the stomach feeling. We are all a bit different. The strategy you mention is a good one, using an active thought to break the circuit of the neg thought. This is one of the tools I was taught at the NHS Talking Therapies CBT sessions and it helped me a lot. As did getting on the right meds and taking up exercise. Cheers, David.

Hi Meryl,

It has, thankfully, been a long while since I had a full-blown panic attack, but I don't remember a racing heart being a feature.

I do know I started with tingling in fingertips and toes and having shallow breathing. The tingling would spread into my hands and feet and lips. At the height of an attack my hands would be rigid and my lips numb and stiff and all I could do was concentrate on not daring to swallow and not being sick. These symptoms invariably always happened at the start of a journey as I had been properly travel sick on a school trip in my late teens.

I am now 49 and I suppose I managed to "grow out" of full blown panic attacks as other life events took over, and I confided in close friends / partners over my attacks. If I knew it would be reckognised if I had an attack and my companions would look out for me, it took some of the fear out of it and I got over them more quickly - eventually finding the incidences grew fewer and further between. Now if I get panicky or very stressed about something or someone, my heart really pounds as if I have been running (it's very wearing afterwards), but I don't think it really races as such. The tension manifests itself more as stiff shoulders and headaches. Listening to music helps a lot, and trying to keep busy.

Years ago I started getting odd fluttery feelings and sometimes it felt as if my heart missed a beat, double beat, or flipped over! With heart problems in the family it really worried me. Instead of googling I found myself thumbing through a very old medical book and discovered that something as simple as indigestion can make it feel as if your heart is fluttering or skipping beats! Sure enough, my symptoms did seem to be linked with bouts of indigestion. As stress upsets the digestion I can understand the links.

As for getting yourself to sleep - whenever I struggle and my mind is racing I pick a subject, such as flowers, bands or girl's names, and go through the alphabet thinking of as many names as I can for each letter. I only ever got to the end of the alphabet on about 2 occasions, usually drifting off before C or D. Beats trying to count sheep, but I suppose it's the same principle - getting your mind to focus on something away from your worries.

Hi everyone.

Thank you all for your responses. Its all been helpful and reassuring.

Thankfully I have been very busy the last couple of days with exam revision. I have been trying the technique of going through the alphabet while thinking of as many names for each letter as I can. I too drifted off before I reached the end of the alphabet. I have also tried another method of relaxation to fall into a decent sleep and this has meant traveling back in time to my early childhood. When I was younger I used to listen to tapes before I went to sleep so since I first posted I have been listening to a story as well as trying my own methods to get to sleep. This has really helped me. It's a bit like white noise - a distraction for your subconscious in the initial stages of light sleep. However the build up to bed time brings quite some anxiety.

I will also sometime in the future get myself some CBT to get back onto the straight and narrow. I really appreciate all your comments as they are comforting yet sad because I wish non of us had to go through anxiety and panic.

I hope we can all find help within each others advice

I also don't get a racing heart too often. I get the fluttering in my stomach and it's starts pounding. The severity means I can't even lie down, I have to pace around until it subsides and get back into bed. This cycle continues for hours.

Can anyone else relate? I always worry myself when it happens that there's something medically wrong and have to convince myself not to call an ambulance