Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Panic attacks and your general related health
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
Panic attacks and your general related health
by Rhonda, Mar 30, 2000 12:00AM
I am 29 years old. I started getting panic attacks about 6 years or so ago. I haven't exercised in a few years because I have a sedentary job and I had pneumonia 2 years back and I had to stop my regular 3 times a week exercise to recover from pneumonia and was told not to exercise for about 4 months. After that I found it hard to get back into it. Now if I go for a walk, do pretty mildly strenuous activity, of course my heart beats faster and I breathe faster, and I feel light headed, but I don't know if it's because I'm that badly out of shape (I'm not overweight, only about 108 pounds) or if it's because I breathe kind of shallow because my nerves are kind of bad right now, and then this leads me to thinking, "oh, no, I'm not getting enough oxygen, I shouldn't be breathing this hard, and I'm going to pass out", and I start to kind of get panicky about how I'm breathing, and am so conscious of it that it makes me light headed. I start to thinking, that I'm developing asthma, but I really don't think I am, because I don't have chest pain or wheezing. I know panic atacks can do very weird things to the body, and I'm currently attending to a naturopath to try get myself back on track and to wind down. He tells me that being on the birth control pill most likely contributes to my anxiety because it contains hormones. I've been on it for 7 years and I never did have panic attacks before that time interestingly. Should I go get my lungs/heart checked out to make sure that the thoughts I'm thinking are just caused by panic attacks. Then if I know there's nothing wrong physically, then I can go from there? Just a side note, about 1 month ago, my vision went blurred for about a day in one eye, but it was better the next day. I've heard you can have blurred vision from panic disorders, but this came on quite suddenly. It seems to have been fixed by massage therapy (the tiny muscles that go over the eyebrow were quite sore), so this may have just been a side point because my neck and back have been really sore lately. Anyways, the above garble is my question. What should I do, and should I explain the whole situation to the doctor. I don't know in how much detail they will check my lungs or breathing, etc. Thank you very much for allowing me to ask this question.
Doctor's Answer
by HFHS MD - RG, Mar 30, 2000 12:00AM
I agree with you to see a doctor to rule any physical source of your condition. Other medical condition like thyroid disorders and some medication may cause the symptoms that you are experiencing.
If the results from your thorough medical examination comes back normal, and your symptoms persists, I would advise you to consult a psychiatrist to consider panic disorder.
If the results from your thorough medical examination comes back normal, and your symptoms persists, I would advise you to consult a psychiatrist to consider panic disorder.
I've read all your comments. Not being an expert on the matter, I guess I'll share my 2cents for what its worth. I am now 45 y.o. and about 2yrs about I went for a run for lunch at work and when I came back to my desk I started breathing real hard. I didnt know what was happening. It was getting really bad and I told my boss I was going to the hospital. My left arm was hurting, my chest was hurting and I couldn't breath. I thought maybe I was having an asthma attack. But their is no asthma in my family that I know of. Well, ER decided I had a asthma attack and gave me a inhaler and saw me on my way. I was hyperventilating while all this was going on because I was scared to death. I thought I was having a heart attack.
For 1yr prior this excursion to the ER I had been seeing my reg doc regularly because I was always feeling like I had the flu. I was run down didnt feel well. Cut way back on my excersizing (cant spell either) I used to compete in running, biathalons, etc. Anyway, I cut way back. Then about Sept 99 I started with the same thing again. Oh, I've these pains on and off but got tired of going to the doc so I toughed it out alot of the time, took off from work, etc. But they got real bad. Pains in chest, breathing hard, sweaty palms. I find it interesting that they have been coming on more and more and I too am on the pill. I started the pill when I got married Nov 99 and now I'm on paxil and klonopin. I feel like I'm crazy and my poor husband cant take much more of this.
I share each of your pains and their are days I wished I was dead. I not afraid of death anymore. Used to be. But when I stopped drinking and started praying I was released from some of my anxieties. I do think God played a roll in that but right now I need more help. I think I'll go over to my bible study.
Sorry so long, But true.
firenze