Dysautonomia or Anxiety? Need Help

Mental health
1

On and off for the past 4 months I've been experiencing symptoms that I've never had before being diagnosed with anxiety/panic disorder. I know i have been dealing with anxiety after I lost my ex to cancer. I became so stressed and anxious about my health which eventually lead to my first panic attack. Fast forward to may of this year the panic attacks became more frequent, I was dealing with tension in my chest and convinced myself I had angina and would have a heart attack if I worked out. One day I worked out and had the most intense panic attack ever, I was certain I was going to die. Since then I've been obsessed with checking my pulse and blood pressure having panic attacks regularly. I had my heart checked by a cardiologist had test ran and all was ok minus bp spikes from anxiety.

Here is where things start to not look like anxiety. Off and on after I'd had a panic attack or a full day of anxiety, my resting heart rate sometimes remain high for days from 55 -

66 to 84 -100 and when I stand, my heart jumps to 140 - 160 and slows to 120. I start getting really bad tension headache and blurred vision. I am not anxious when it happens. This reaction lasts days even weeks after I'd had a panic attack. As if my sympathetic nervous system is stuck on. This only started recently after I was diagnosed with panic disorder.

I checked my bp when standing and my bp doesn't really change much. It might go up if I panic but otherwise it remains pretty regular. But my heart increases way beyond what is normal for me.

Is this some form of pots? Can panic and anxiety cause dysautonomia? Or is it that due to overstimulation from all the stress, panic and anxiety, my sympathetic nervous system is responding innapropriately? I can't do anything without my heart racing and its really uncomfortable and hard to live like this.

2

Hey there, im an 18 year old girl and I am in the same place as you. I lost my classmate, he was 19 and died of an heart attack, something very rare for a guy that seemed to be very healthy and was so young. It devastated me since the anxiety has been eating me alive since then, its been just 2 months. My anxiety went so far I ended up in ER. I will copy something I sent to a guy in other thread:

I went to ER with these symptoms two months ago (actually called an ambulance for myself) and I was lucky enough to be seen by a doctor which was specialised in psychosomatic illnesses. Im 18 too. He looked at me and knew im fine. He drew me on a piece of paper a graph or whatever that looked like this.

Stress/Anxiety ----> Heart Palpitations/sharp pain/breathlessness ----> Ambulance, ER visit

My first argument was "Well you say that stress is on the first place, I dont have it like that. First, I get the pain and everything and THEN...." and he said: "And then what?" and I said "Well then I get stressed." and he told me thats the problem. I will get some pain or sensation that everyone gets once in a while, OVERTHINK it, all I would think about is my body sensations and really with that the pain and sensations get much much worse, you will get sharp pains everywhere, your pulse will start to raise, you wont be able to take a breath, you will sweat, be dizzy.. And that is a panic mode. When im in panic, only option on my mind is that im dying. Which again, just makes everything worse. Mind is very strong. It can make you believe a lot of things, like when you are dreaming that you are really in the situation.. I dont know if that makes sense or not. Just what I learnt from terrifying experiences of mine, reading books about anxiety, doctors opinions.

Now for some statistics, I looked up the probability of someone as young as you and me getting a heart attack or a stroke. 1000 to 2000 people that are younger then 40 experience a heart attack yearly. I dont have to tell you how huge US are, so we know that getting a heart attack at such age is veeeery rare. The people that get it at a young age either have some heart condition that has been left untreated or are obese, have blood pressure issues etc. People dont get heart attacks for no reason, especially not as young as you.

You seem to have anxiety. I just know it when I see it since im the same. Just the fact that you know and monitor the exact numbers of your heart are anxiety-like. Your mind and anxiety subconsciously wait till you stand up or do a light activity and when you do it, your heartbeat raises since you mind is like...waiting for it. I dont know how to explain it but I hope you get the point. I remember two months ago getting up the stairs and I would immidiatelly feel like my heart is going to jump out of my throat, I would check my pulse right away and count how fast it is. And If I counted a number higher then 100, i would freak out, and the cycle would continue. I remember lying in bed and thinking "Oh no, I have to go downstairs for water, I cant since stairs raise my heartbeat so much, im scared i might get a heart attack" I would just avoid activities at all times. I still do, but less. 

And about the headaches, I do get those too all the time, im actually convinced I have a brain tumor and colon cancer nowadays.. So you know, fun stuff. It seems like it never ends and will be there forever, but trust me, time heals it. Time and ignorance. Do your best at ignoring it. It is the only thing that helps me.

Wishing you the best of luck.

Amber

3

Your heart rchrbl  will vary in its beat when you are doing different tasks, the readings above seem ok although I would advise you see your GP regards your Anxiety and help to move on because of your loss. Possibly your Anxiety is part of the loss you feel when your Partner died. It may be you need to grieve and move on ith your life. The GP can arrange a treatment plan for both these problems

Make an appointment with your GP A double appointment, make a list of your anxiety etc, that will help you get more out of your consltation

Good Luck, we are here if needed

BOB

4

While I do agree with the comments above, POTS is something that gets blown off or misdiagnosed as anxiety quite often. I’m going through something very similar myself. I was in the ER a couple months back, and any time I simply sat up, the heart rate monitor would start beeping (alerting them to come check on me) because my heart rate would shoot up to about 140, as opposed to the 75-80 it was before sitting up. I do in fact have anxiety, but that’s not a normal jump in heart rate. I shouldn’t have been any more anxious sitting up as I was when I was laying down. My dad thought it was weird, and then told me to try to control my heart rate with my mind. I started worrying about my health and told myself I was dying, but there was no change in heart rate even though I felt more anxious. Only changing positions made my heart rate jump. So, I’m not diagnosing you, but it is worth bringing up to your doctor. I had no idea POTS was even a thing until I left the ER that day, and that was because I looked up “rapid heart rate upon standing”. It was one of the first things to come up, and everyone who spoke out about it talked about how they were diagnosed with only a mental health issue before getting diagnosed with POTS. So, again, I’m not diagnosing you, but bring it up to your doctor and see what they say. POTS is as real as anxiety, and you won’t get relief if you’re not getting the correct treatment. 

5

That's funny you said brain tumor and colon cancer. I also thought I had a CSF leak after reading about it. But I don't have all of the symptoms but mysteriously they appeared. It's funny how the mind works. A friend of mine recently died of a heart attack at 24 but I was having these problems before this happened but it still shakes me up.

6

I would definitely get checked out and have your GP set you up for a cardiology appointment. Although I can say from experience even if the tests show you're fine your anxiety may not accept that answer. Im sorry for the loss of your ex. That can make it difficult. I lost a friend recently as well and it makes me question every little pain or new thing I feel.