Question:
Or was it a panic attack? I normally don't get panic attacks. I get
anxious (tense), but not
like the symptoms yesterday night. Nothing like them at all.
Here were my symptoms (I am female):
Pressure/extreme pain in chest area that radiated to my arms and back.
I don't know how long it lasted, since I fell asleep from the
exhaustion. No pain pills or antacids relieved the pain--only time.
Feelings of indigestion.
Nausea
Breathlessness
Nervousness
Extreme Fatigue
This may be the Lexapro leaving my system. I don't know.
I don't suffer from indigestion typically when I'm anxious. When I'm
anxious, I just feel "on edge," like I'm going to give a performance at
the Metropolitan--just jittery.
But if it was a new, improved version of a bona fide panic attack, then
geez, this one got me to the floor in physical pain for a few hours. It
was mostly physical PAIN rather than anxiety.
Has anyone had a "panic attack" or a "severe indigestion attack" like
this one?
Answer:
Only medical tests can tell you for sure. My partner had similar pains
and was warned it could be angina. We went to ER during one such
attack. They ran a battery of tests. All were fine. He knows, by
exclusion, that it was anxiety.
I have had symptoms similar to those you describe. An ambulance was
called. This was pre my diagnosis of Panic Disorder. I was
hyperventilating.
One question. Did you fingers feel tingly or numb?
I don't understand much about an ECG, but the cardio at the hospital
said that I indeed had a heart attack previously and have part of my
heart damaged, but he didn't say if it was last night or not. I was
supposed to go back this evening for a two-day stay for more tests and
monitoring, but I refused because I have a two-day weekend scheduled
with my husband and I will not skip that for anything. I am home now.
Here I am, a 33-year-old businesswoman, and already having the best
time in my life with anxiety and depression. Now a stupid heart attack,
which must have been last night.
I thought young women don't get heart attacks, but that is wrong, very
wrong.
No, there was no tingling or numb feelings in my fingers. There was no
hyperventilation either. I'm just not going to worry about it, and will
enjoy the weekend with my husband.
We are driving to St. Augustine to see the oldest city in the US.
With all due respect Marie, you don't really know what we think about. At
this moment, I'm thinking that you may ought to reconsider how you handle
your next chest pain episode. The compendium of symptoms that you described
have been made widely known to be suggestive of a cardiac origin, and are
normally treated immediately.
That you are only 33 years old and have ECG evidence of myocardial
infarction, to my mind, makes it imperative that you stay and follow their
instructions. People who are younger do not have the same amount of
"collateral circulation" (extra arteries that form around the 'main ones' as
we age) and if you are having vasospasm, or arrhythmias, elevated cardiac
enzymes with predictable patterns in rise and fall, you MUST be evaluated
and treated in a hospital by a cardiologist, or the results could be
catastropically bad. Also, your insurance company is not going to pay for
treatment received in a hospital setting if you left "against medical
advice".
I would be utterly remiss to say anything except that you must (MUST) go
back to a hospital and be treated for this problem, period. Your vacation
plans are just plain non-important as compared with the future of what
happens to your heart muscle. I spent many years working as an RN (who did
think about more than just going home) on a cardiac intensive care unit, and
started out on a very busy (and difficult) telemetry floor where patients
such as yourself were treated every day. It is not the norm for a person in
their early thirties to have electrocardiographic evidence of a myocardial
infarction (commonly called the "heart attack") making it all the more
compelling for you to receive treatment, because those findings were
unearthed during the time that you DID spend in a hospital. Cardiologists
treat anxious people all the time, btw, so don't worry about that. You MUST
take care of this!
Oh, and to my friend, the one who says I "claim to be a medical
professional" and that they don't like me "giving medical information and
advice" - this is OFFICIALLY my advice (above) to Marie, and you are more
than welcome to send all of this to whomever you care to. The answer to
"What is two plus two" is always going to be the same, whether you get the
answer from a fireman, a person on disability taking adderall, or a nurse,
or a doctor, or a janitor. Whether the correct answer is provided or not is
obviously the germane issue here, and I stand behind my advice to Marie 100%
and will not back down at all.
