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Panic attack with normal HR?


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Recently, my panic attacks have presented with my HR only hitting around 80 bpm, but my blood pressure can shoot as high as 162/112. And the panic can last for hours.  :'(

 

Muscle tightness accompanies this, but especially in my left pectoral/shoulder/neck.

 

Has anyone else experienced this?  :-\

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Yes I remember having huge anxiety attacks for no emotional reason - pure chemical anxiety.  My heart rate and BP were not elevated - I checked.  I believe now that it is an adrenaline rush - chemically induced anxiety.  Feels awful.  One day it was so bad - all day long - I finally just broke down and cried like a baby and it eased somewhat.  Stay away from anything that revs you up - caffeine, sugar, any stimulants, etc.  I found that stress makes it worse so try to avoid as best as possible.  I hope you feel better soon.

 

Oh and Vitamin C made it much worse for me too.

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I had an hour long one last night.... And when I took my heart rate it was 85!  Would have figured it was 135, I thought I was having a heart attack and fought the urge to go to the ER.  Glad it's not just me!
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Yes I remember having huge anxiety attacks for no emotional reason - pure chemical anxiety.  My heart rate and BP were not elevated - I checked.  I believe now that it is an adrenaline rush - chemically induced anxiety.  Feels awful.  One day it was so bad - all day long - I finally just broke down and cried like a baby and it eased somewhat.  Stay away from anything that revs you up - caffeine, sugar, any stimulants, etc.  I found that stress makes it worse so try to avoid as best as possible.  I hope you feel better soon.

 

Oh and Vitamin C made it much worse for me too.

Oh, wow vita c? Yeah, I had some sugar today, and I wonder if that’s what caused my current anxious condition.

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I had an hour long one last night.... And when I took my heart rate it was 85!  Would have figured it was 135, I thought I was having a heart attack and fought the urge to go to the ER.  Glad it's not just me!

 

I hate we both suffer this, but it is nice to know I’m not some anomaly.

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Same.  My chemical anxiety just now started to abate, around dinner time when it started at 430 am.  I had insomnia and was laying quietly in bed,, relaxed, when it hit me like a truck for no reason.  Like Deanna said, pure chemical adrenaline.
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Same.  My chemical anxiety just now started to abate, around dinner time when it started at 430 am.  I had insomnia and was laying quietly in bed,, relaxed, when it hit me like a truck for no reason.  Like Deanna said, pure chemical adrenaline.

 

Last Saturday I woke up at 12:30 AM with a panic attack. Didn’t come down until 5:30 that morning. Pure hell. Never want to go thru that again.

 

Glad you’re doing a bit better.

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Epinephrine is what is released during a panic attack. If u read what epi does and it’s symptoms you’ll see ur panic attack n anxiety symptoms.  Panic attacks are harmless but they are terrifying. Read about what happens in a panic attack n what to do for it. Panic attacks come on suddenly without warning and anxiety attacks generally hv a source. It’s expected to hv at least anxiety attacks during wd. There’s nothing wrong with you. Anxiety is a normal human emotion n is also, by itself,  harmless but feels like crap. What we do about the feeling of anxiety is what can b dangerous but anxiety by itself isn’t. The thing to do is learn about anxiety and what to do about it. Skills are essential. I think we often keep looking at what we put in our body and completely miss the other things that cause anxiety. Our brain does not know what is causing our anxiety. When it receives certain chemicals like epi it is designed to do certain things. It is designed to cause our heart rate respiratory rate to both go up , including B blood pressure, flushing cuz our blood leaves our skin so it can pour into our more vital organs like heart lungs brain kidney. Your brain has no idea why you’re anxious. You cd b in a car wreck, a fire, a college exam, a carnival ride …. we tell ourselves where the anxiety is coming from. All ur brain knows is that it received epi and as a result increased HR, RR, BP, sweating flushing etc.

we use epi in the hospital to save someone’s life. It kick starts a heart and the diagram for breathing and increases BP amongst a bunch of other things. We need epi. Epi just dsnt feel good when ur sleeping or relaxing. Epi is the dbl edge sword n is the hormone or CHEMICAL in real time that’s making you feel like ur dying. But, no worries, ur not dying. It just feels like it. 

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Ronin - 5 hours, yikes, that does sound like hell.  Time passes so slowly during the panic attack.  My hour long one felt like at least 6.  I'm sorry that happened to you.  Going through something like that does make you fearful of doing it again, or for longer. 

 

Serenity- thanks for the important reminder that panic feels dangerous but really can't hurt us on its own.

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Epinephrine is what is released during a panic attack. If u read what epi does and it’s symptoms you’ll see ur panic attack n anxiety symptoms.  Panic attacks are harmless but they are terrifying. Read about what happens in a panic attack n what to do for it. Panic attacks come on suddenly without warning and anxiety attacks generally hv a source. It’s expected to hv at least anxiety attacks during wd. There’s nothing wrong with you. Anxiety is a normal human emotion n is also, by itself,  harmless but feels like crap. What we do about the feeling of anxiety is what can b dangerous but anxiety by itself isn’t. The thing to do is learn about anxiety and what to do about it. Skills are essential. I think we often keep looking at what we put in our body and completely miss the other things that cause anxiety. Our brain does not know what is causing our anxiety. When it receives certain chemicals like epi it is designed to do certain things. It is designed to cause our heart rate respiratory rate to both go up , including B blood pressure, flushing cuz our blood leaves our skin so it can pour into our more vital organs like heart lungs brain kidney. Your brain has no idea why you’re anxious. You cd b in a car wreck, a fire, a college exam, a carnival ride …. we tell ourselves where the anxiety is coming from. All ur brain knows is that it received epi and as a result increased HR, RR, BP, sweating flushing etc.

we use epi in the hospital to save someone’s life. It kick starts a heart and the diagram for breathing and increases BP amongst a bunch of other things. We need epi. Epi just dsnt feel good when ur sleeping or relaxing. Epi is the dbl edge sword n is the hormone or CHEMICAL in real time that’s making you feel like ur dying. But, no worries, ur not dying. It just feels like it.

 

Oh, wow…didn’t know all that. Thanks for the info.

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Yes, and epinephrine is the same as adrenaline!

 

Yes! Freakin adrenaline is what we hate!

We hv all the ingredients that a person trying to escape Afghanistan has except we’re not in Afghanistan trying to escape.  They are hving the same symptoms you are. They are thankful for adrenaline cuz that’s what’s giving them what they need to climb the airplane n escape. Adrenaline has a purpose n it’sto save our life in an emergency situation. It’s just that you’re not in Ann emergency situation. You’re in wd. Epi does run its course n then u recover. 

Don’t ever worry about fainting. It usually dsnt happen n even if it did we wake up from fainting.

The tingly feeling during a panic attack is another chemical… CO2. When CO2 rises from not breathing correctly during an attack it is what causes the tingly n numbing sensations in the skin. It’s harmless. Learning all about breathing n CO2 helps.  Lactic acid is another chemical that’s released and it’s what causes your muscles to tighten n hurt. So there are lots of chemicals involved but they are coming from your body n not a pill.  Stuff we think or take in by one of our 5 senses turn into chemicals that hv a specific function.  None of them come from a pill. So reading scary stuff in here can produce the exact same symptoms as hving a scary nightmare… Fear, anxiety, panic. You’re brain dsnt know if your reading something scary , watching something scary, or actually experiencing something scary. It just sees a chemical then the chemical causes our body to respond.  The response to any fear no matter the source is …anxiety n epi together at the speed of sound. 

 

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So then for us in recovery there's nothing to be done about this except ride it out and use the psychological tools to not overwhelm us?  Because we're trying to let our bodies heal and for whatever reason our bodies need to have us have extreme epi/adrenaline for hours/days on end?
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It's happening again to me now, bedtime where I'm at- my heart rate is normal but feel like my chest is gripped with tightness and there will be no sleep, I just hope not panic as well. 
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It's happening again to me now, bedtime where I'm at- my heart rate is normal but feel like my chest is gripped with tightness and there will be no sleep, I just hope not panic as well.

 

It happened to me last night as well. Fortunately, it didn’t turn into a panic attack, but…it nearly did. My lungs also felt tight, like I couldn’t breathe easy; taking too much effort. It took me a while before I slept.

 

Hope you’re doing better.

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[ee...]

So then for us in recovery there's nothing to be done about this except ride it out and use the psychological tools to not overwhelm us?  Because we're trying to let our bodies heal and for whatever reason our bodies need to have us have extreme epi/adrenaline for hours/days on end?

 

Panic attacks are not uncommon to ppl outside recovery from a drug. You’re doing the exact right thing tho in riding them out. It’s that whole epi/adrenaline system that is kinda sensitive during benzo wd.

An increase in anxiety makes it feel like it will go into worse… like a panic attack but most of the time that dsnt happen. Do u hv anyone that u can call that can hang on the phone w u during any of these attacks. The more you can ride them out using grounding n breathing skills to help you and phone support at the least will help get them to pass. Once I got more stable n learned how I can help myself responding to attacks they went away n never came back. I hvnt had any attacks ever.  I’ll b 🙏  that you get relief from these symptoms. They hurt. But, you’llb free one day.

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Talking to someone helps.  Unfortunately most of the time I have them at 3 or 4 am, so I don't want to wake any family.  Sometimes, such as the hour one I mentioned the other night, I've called the national disaster assistance hotline. 

 

Last night I only slept 1.5 hrs, but didn't panic.

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Talking to someone helps.  Unfortunately most of the time I have them at 3 or 4 am, so I don't want to wake any family.  Sometimes, such as the hour one I mentioned the other night, I've called the national disaster assistance hotline. 

 

Last night I only slept 1.5 hrs, but didn't panic.

 

Awweee. Dang. That stinks. They are so scary n so painful. The biggest thing is to try not to feed it which is why reaching out to someone just to talk to to get they it. Cuz all u hv to do is ride them out exactly like u said. They can’t hurt you. There’s nothing about a panic attack that’s life threatening but it feels life threatening. Did you read what Warrior2021 is saying in here. It’s fabulous advice. A lot of what it takes to push they this is not anything u can out in ur mouth. It’s skills. Once u make them a habit n get into them they actually help. They also help stop them from ever coming back. The trick is in controlling how we respond to things that cd tip us over.  I had a lot of panic attack… therapy 15 years of it… before my wd. What she taught me was life saving. I called and told her too.  What was actually causing the panic attacks was related to my marriage n my husband drinking. When I took care of that then my panic n anxiety left.  I’m 🙏 for u for relief.

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