I am a 19 year old male. About a week ago I went to bed after eating some fast food and experienced something I never had before. A feeling of dread came over me and my heart rate began to increase, and despite doing things to stop this dread, such as running on my elliptical or drinking water, I was soon feeling my heart beat out of control and breathing heavily. After about 20 minutes, I told my father what was wrong and went for a walk with him through our neighborhood. Eventually I calmed down enough to go to sleep. But since that night, I have been feeling residual effects from this attack, like occassional chest tightness, fears of having an underlying disease (despite being told nothing is wrong with me physically, after being given an ECG, by my doctor), and overall tenseness. Lately I have been obsessing over my heart rate, and I really hate feeling like this. There is a trauma that I have failed to properly work through (death of a loved one), and I am scheduled to attened therapy in the next few days, and plan to excersize more vigourously and eat more properly than before my episode. I found this forum through constant googling, which Ive found out to be a pretty bad thing to do, but I am thankful just to be able to type this out. My father has been through a similar episode before and keeps telling me it is only the anxiety making me feel the physical symptoms. Generally, when I focus my efforts on something and before getting out of bed, these symptoms pretty much disappear. How have you worked through the residual effects of an attack?
Hi,
I too lost a loved one, my Dad and have had chronic Anxiety for six years now.
I also have panic attacks, racing heart, hyperventilating, pins n needles in arms hands and lower jaw etc. Following the advice of the paramedic I try to calm don by reading something out loud, or try to take a deep breath in then hold it for a count of five seconds then breathe out slowly.
I too am going to councilling to help me understand why I still have not dealt with the grief 3rd session later today.
Worst case scenario in a panic attack is that you pass out through hyperventilating (breahing too shallow and fast) then the brain resets itself and when you wake your breathing should be back to normal, but hopefully it wont get to that stage, i never have.
Panic attacks seem worse than they really are but they are still pretty scary there are some good reading materials here..
wellbeing-glasgow uk
Yes I know what you mean. I have had this also.
First, you haven't completely worked through your grief and I am glad you are going to a therapist. The feeling of dread, fast heart rate and breathing could have been brought on by the death of your loved one.
Any symptom caused by anxiety cannot hurt you. It's scary but that's all it can do.
your heart is fine.
all anxiety starts in the brain, so you need to calm down the brain to get rid of the symptoms.
What helps me a lot are audio meditations on you tube for anxiety, negative thinking,sleep, etc. they completely calm down my whole mind and body! And teach you how to separate anxiety and negative thoughts from yourself. Many to choose from. I use earbuds and lay down. I think they could really help you.
yes, do not google symptoms!
Stay active, keep going to therapy even when you start to feel better.
For panic , search you tube for panic attack emergency.
For chest tightness, slowly inhale through the nose, make sure your belly rises, slowly exhale through the mouth like blowing out a candle. Do several times. Listen to a YouTube meditation for anxiety.
You will be fine once you begin to manage your anxiety. 😁
Your reply has really helped put my mind at ease, so thank you. I am starting to make better sense of what I need to do to manage my anxiety. I will keep what you suggested in mind for the future. Thanks so much, honestly. It helps to hear from someone else that understands.
Thanks for recommending the breathing excersize to me. I am sorry to hear of your loss. Just know that there is someone else who understands your grief! Thanks so much again, honestly.
No problem just let me know if you have any more questions and if I can help I am happy to ...
Glad your getting replies and so glad you have been brace enough to reach out for help, you hopefully now won't be afraid when this happens as others can reassure you it is horrible but manageable, wish I had guts to ask for help at your age, would have eased my mind just knowing we're not alone, glad you told dad too. My mums really supportive❤️
Sorry, first bit meant to say brace. ❤️
Oh 😊 Meant brave.❤️
I am so glad it helped you!
Remember not to react with anxietyif you get symptoms from it. Because what will happen is that the brain will send out more adrenaline and you will feel more anxious again. What I do is calmly acknowledge the symptom and either go about with the rest of my day or listen to one of the meditations for anxiety. If you can ever get a hold of a book called mindfulness, it teaches you what you need to know to gain peace of mind again. Helps you separate negativity and anxious thoughts from yourself. I'm sure your therapist is aware of mindfulness techniques, you could ask ❤️