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Panic attacks associated with faintness, not rapid heart rate?
Hello,
I hope someone can help explain this to me. My symptoms strike me as atypical of panic attacks, yet I'm sure they are panic attacks. First, I will offer some background. Then, I will explain what my panic attacks feel like.
I have had panic disorder for the past 25 years since I was in my early teens. Back then, it was harder to diagnose because the Internet wasn't around. I went unmedicated and would have 20 to 40 panic attacks per day, which caused me to become housebound until I did receive a diagnosis when I was 20 (15 years ago). Then, I began taking a regular dose of Xanax, 1 mg 3X per day, and this has caused all of the random panic attacks to go away.
However, I still struggle with situational panic attacks which seem to come from very predictable things. For one thing, I am a teacher. Whenever I have to give a lecture to a group of parents or anyone "new," to me, I still have panic attacks. I also tend to have them in any situation where I feel "stuck," like in traffic, driving over a bridge, being in a crowd, sitting in the middle of a movie theater. That sort of thing.
What is curious to me is that I don't recall having ever had rapid heart rates, or a sensation of shortness of breath either. Ever. Even prior to treatment.
When I have a panic attack, it comes on at first very rapidly, over a few seconds, as if I might faint, with everything feeling very far away suddenly. If I'm driving, I usually pull off the road. Next, it might simply get worse, with things sounding loud, as if they are echoing, and my body completely numb, unable to feel, totally weak and functionless. This could last up to a minute or so. It's also hard to see because things seem overwhelming. Sound is equally too much and is clanging all around me. I do have a distinct desire to flee from wherever I am at (and actually, if I do, it will immediately all go away). Sometimes, if it's very bad, I will have sudden full-body shaking and then people do notice that I'm panicking. My voice is usually very severely tremulous. I do feel like I'm losing control of myself, but not psychologically so much as that I'm so faint and far away and cannot keep control over my body. I have no actual fear about this and have just come to accept it.
But I don't sweat or have a rapid heart rate, feel like I am dying, or feel anything even remotely like shortness of breath. My breathing doesn't speed up.
Why?
I know this is a panic attack. I am not questioning that. It is clearly situational at this point, although it used to be pretty random throughout the day, it always passes, there are predictable triggers which I can avoid, and so on. I've been tested for other things in the past like pheocromacytoma (unsure of spelling, sorry) and hyperthyroidism, and also seizure disorders. But it's none of these. And I wouldn't much expect it to be.
Still, do other people have these sort of "faint-feeling" panic attacks rather than with rapid heart rate and breathlessness?
I'm otherwise in decent health although I've had a few problems here and there, not likely related.
I'm well educated and hold a graduate degree and all of that, although I am not educated in regard to medicine or the human body particularly well, nothing beyond an undergraduate Biology course over a decade ago. So in reading about panic attacks, their causes, and so on, I simply don't follow why mine should be lacking any signs of normal adrenaline, but instead they come out like a profound faintness coupled with some sense of derealization/depersonalization and a desire to get out of the situation fast?
Thanks for any thoughts, or even just an acknowledgment if yours are similar. I've been wondering about this for around a year so I do really appreciate your insight.
I hope someone can help explain this to me. My symptoms strike me as atypical of panic attacks, yet I'm sure they are panic attacks. First, I will offer some background. Then, I will explain what my panic attacks feel like.
I have had panic disorder for the past 25 years since I was in my early teens. Back then, it was harder to diagnose because the Internet wasn't around. I went unmedicated and would have 20 to 40 panic attacks per day, which caused me to become housebound until I did receive a diagnosis when I was 20 (15 years ago). Then, I began taking a regular dose of Xanax, 1 mg 3X per day, and this has caused all of the random panic attacks to go away.
However, I still struggle with situational panic attacks which seem to come from very predictable things. For one thing, I am a teacher. Whenever I have to give a lecture to a group of parents or anyone "new," to me, I still have panic attacks. I also tend to have them in any situation where I feel "stuck," like in traffic, driving over a bridge, being in a crowd, sitting in the middle of a movie theater. That sort of thing.
What is curious to me is that I don't recall having ever had rapid heart rates, or a sensation of shortness of breath either. Ever. Even prior to treatment.
When I have a panic attack, it comes on at first very rapidly, over a few seconds, as if I might faint, with everything feeling very far away suddenly. If I'm driving, I usually pull off the road. Next, it might simply get worse, with things sounding loud, as if they are echoing, and my body completely numb, unable to feel, totally weak and functionless. This could last up to a minute or so. It's also hard to see because things seem overwhelming. Sound is equally too much and is clanging all around me. I do have a distinct desire to flee from wherever I am at (and actually, if I do, it will immediately all go away). Sometimes, if it's very bad, I will have sudden full-body shaking and then people do notice that I'm panicking. My voice is usually very severely tremulous. I do feel like I'm losing control of myself, but not psychologically so much as that I'm so faint and far away and cannot keep control over my body. I have no actual fear about this and have just come to accept it.
But I don't sweat or have a rapid heart rate, feel like I am dying, or feel anything even remotely like shortness of breath. My breathing doesn't speed up.
Why?
I know this is a panic attack. I am not questioning that. It is clearly situational at this point, although it used to be pretty random throughout the day, it always passes, there are predictable triggers which I can avoid, and so on. I've been tested for other things in the past like pheocromacytoma (unsure of spelling, sorry) and hyperthyroidism, and also seizure disorders. But it's none of these. And I wouldn't much expect it to be.
Still, do other people have these sort of "faint-feeling" panic attacks rather than with rapid heart rate and breathlessness?
I'm otherwise in decent health although I've had a few problems here and there, not likely related.
I'm well educated and hold a graduate degree and all of that, although I am not educated in regard to medicine or the human body particularly well, nothing beyond an undergraduate Biology course over a decade ago. So in reading about panic attacks, their causes, and so on, I simply don't follow why mine should be lacking any signs of normal adrenaline, but instead they come out like a profound faintness coupled with some sense of derealization/depersonalization and a desire to get out of the situation fast?
Thanks for any thoughts, or even just an acknowledgment if yours are similar. I've been wondering about this for around a year so I do really appreciate your insight.
i love how you are taking control and figuring out the dynamics of your attacks. knowledge is power! you described my attack a couple of days ago perfectly. but i ran, so embarassing to leave a friend group doing breakfast but the depersonalization, everything fuzzy and distant, unable to focus on any conversation and the faintness, that is what really gets me. I am mortified at the thought of fainting in front on anyone. my pulse shot to 125 then slowly receded. This so *****. I am practicing the power of now by eckhardt tolle but it really escaped me that day. 3 steps forward 2 steps back!!!
Okay, so I figured it out!
It had obviously been on my mind which is why I registered here to ask a question. I've been having a lot of triggers lately.
So I intentionally triggered a panic attack today to take my heart rate. This was easy. Lately, it's been driving that causes them. I literally just drove a few blocks in an empty area so that I would have a panic attack, and then pulled off on the right hand side of the road.
I kept my finger to my pulse the whole time.
My heart rate went WAY up, but only for like fifteen seconds, and I couldn't feel it in my chest, just in my fingers. That's when I felt like I was huffing something and getting a flushed sensation in my stomach too along with serious derealization/depersonalization and the overpowering urge to flee. After that, my heart dropped really low and then I felt faint and was shaking.
I guess I just can't feel the rapid heart rate in my chest when it happens. But it was super obvious when I took my own pulse from even before the attack. And it went away really fast too. It was short so hard to tell, but it was beating too fast to actually time. I can't even guess. Much faster than if I run. But I couldn't feel it pounding like if I run. Fifteen seconds later, it went way, way down to 50 beats per minute and didn't budge for about three minutes and stayed like that while I was shaking all over (only like 30 seconds of trembling). Then after three minutes, my pulse went back to normal and I felt perfectly fine.
Well, I'm sharing this because I wonder if there are other people out there who might not even know they are having panic attacks if they aren't having the rapid heart rate. And also sharing because it makes me feel a little more normal and less weird to figure this out.
It had obviously been on my mind which is why I registered here to ask a question. I've been having a lot of triggers lately.
So I intentionally triggered a panic attack today to take my heart rate. This was easy. Lately, it's been driving that causes them. I literally just drove a few blocks in an empty area so that I would have a panic attack, and then pulled off on the right hand side of the road.
I kept my finger to my pulse the whole time.
My heart rate went WAY up, but only for like fifteen seconds, and I couldn't feel it in my chest, just in my fingers. That's when I felt like I was huffing something and getting a flushed sensation in my stomach too along with serious derealization/depersonalization and the overpowering urge to flee. After that, my heart dropped really low and then I felt faint and was shaking.
I guess I just can't feel the rapid heart rate in my chest when it happens. But it was super obvious when I took my own pulse from even before the attack. And it went away really fast too. It was short so hard to tell, but it was beating too fast to actually time. I can't even guess. Much faster than if I run. But I couldn't feel it pounding like if I run. Fifteen seconds later, it went way, way down to 50 beats per minute and didn't budge for about three minutes and stayed like that while I was shaking all over (only like 30 seconds of trembling). Then after three minutes, my pulse went back to normal and I felt perfectly fine.
Well, I'm sharing this because I wonder if there are other people out there who might not even know they are having panic attacks if they aren't having the rapid heart rate. And also sharing because it makes me feel a little more normal and less weird to figure this out.
Shelly, thanks. Yes, I'm quite the same way around any sort of conferencing sessions. They're an instant trigger for me depending on my mood. If I'm not too stressed out, I can cope okay. If I am on the stressed out side, it is panic attack central with these.
dancemommy, it's a bit strange. I teach High School so mine aren't too little, although they are still challenging. But I love it. You asked if I felt lightheaded or dizzy. I don't think I would say either one. It comes on really, really fast. Definitely not dizzy. Maybe like lightheadedness? The closest thing I can think of is how you feel if you suck down a helium balloon! I used to do that when I was a little kid and that's kind of like it. Or if you get laughing gas at the dentist? Without the same degree of "high" but absolutely just as intense, sudden, and overpoweringly weird.
Come to think of it, I would say that my panic attacks feel like I've just taken a big, sudden huff of laughing gas!
How strange. I'd never thought of this comparison but it actually works pretty well. Combined with like a horrible feeling of my stomach sort of dropping out, and then serious full body trembling all over.
But never with any rapid heart rate or shortness of breath (which, if you read about panic attacks are ALWAYS mentioned); I seem to have all of the other symptoms except for these two, which are usually listed as the main ones. I'm going to have to ask someone who is a doctor to explain this because it does make me curious to understand. Especially after 25 years.
Hey, it can get under control too. Mine is very well controlled these days. I pretty much am fine as long as I avoid my triggers. A few are harder to avoid though. Like driving in a taxi. We live in a pretty rural area and don't take taxis ever. But we went traveling not too long ago. I thought I was going to jump out of the taxi cab and wound up lying down in the back seat with my eyes shut. I must have had five panic attacks back to back in a twenty minute ride. It was horrible. I sometimes get them like that when stuck in traffic too. It's a fear of being trapped, not just like inside of something physically like with claustrophobia, but more like in a situation that I can't get out off easily. I've got every one of those phobias. I think that's why conferences can be hard for me but lectures aren't; if I panic, I usually just turn around for a moment and rummage in my drawer and it passes. Strategies!
dancemommy, it's a bit strange. I teach High School so mine aren't too little, although they are still challenging. But I love it. You asked if I felt lightheaded or dizzy. I don't think I would say either one. It comes on really, really fast. Definitely not dizzy. Maybe like lightheadedness? The closest thing I can think of is how you feel if you suck down a helium balloon! I used to do that when I was a little kid and that's kind of like it. Or if you get laughing gas at the dentist? Without the same degree of "high" but absolutely just as intense, sudden, and overpoweringly weird.
Come to think of it, I would say that my panic attacks feel like I've just taken a big, sudden huff of laughing gas!
How strange. I'd never thought of this comparison but it actually works pretty well. Combined with like a horrible feeling of my stomach sort of dropping out, and then serious full body trembling all over.
But never with any rapid heart rate or shortness of breath (which, if you read about panic attacks are ALWAYS mentioned); I seem to have all of the other symptoms except for these two, which are usually listed as the main ones. I'm going to have to ask someone who is a doctor to explain this because it does make me curious to understand. Especially after 25 years.
Hey, it can get under control too. Mine is very well controlled these days. I pretty much am fine as long as I avoid my triggers. A few are harder to avoid though. Like driving in a taxi. We live in a pretty rural area and don't take taxis ever. But we went traveling not too long ago. I thought I was going to jump out of the taxi cab and wound up lying down in the back seat with my eyes shut. I must have had five panic attacks back to back in a twenty minute ride. It was horrible. I sometimes get them like that when stuck in traffic too. It's a fear of being trapped, not just like inside of something physically like with claustrophobia, but more like in a situation that I can't get out off easily. I've got every one of those phobias. I think that's why conferences can be hard for me but lectures aren't; if I panic, I usually just turn around for a moment and rummage in my drawer and it passes. Strategies!
isnt it funny that we all work n a school setting with kids? lol!! and have alot of the same symtooms 2!! wow, glad 2 talk 2 others just like me
I to have these feelings...not always a rapid heart rate with my panic attacks. i feel off balance or unsteady a great deal of the time with my panic, which leads to more panic making me feel as if there is something extremely wrong with me (heart problems, brain tumor). i have had the table tilt test, EKG's and holter monitor and they say my heart is fine...although i've convienced myself it's not. i am a teacher as well, and i dread each year parent teacher conferences where i have to meet with parents to discuss heir children...i have a panic attack EVERY time and it's miserable. i have been taking cymbalta for a month now, which seems to help a little and i was prescribed xanax as needed for panic. I fought for years trying to stay off meds, but i know now i need help. My husband has been very supportive, but i know he gets tired of the crying, panic, and just all around unwell feeling. I just got way off topic...just wanted you to know you're not alone!
:)Shelly
:)Shelly
well, what do you mean by faintness? like lightheaded? dizzy? because im not sure where u r reading symptoms at, but those are very big problems 4 almost all of us anxiety sufferers, i have them everyday, i am a para educator, so i know what u mean, cuz at conferences or trainings, i get very nervous, faint feeling, butterflies, i get flushed and my head feels very disoriented, and my mouth and eyes twitch alot, mostly when i smile. and the floor under my feet feels like its shifting, its weird
Also, I forgot to mention that during my panic attacks, I definitely do get a feeling in the pit of my stomach that is like serious butterflies. That's another significant component of these attacks, but sorry, I forgot to explain... another thing is that I feel unsteady, or like the room is hard to navigate; everything is pretty hard to figure out while having a panic attack... all of my sense feel like they are on overload, visually, hearing-wise, and also my sense of up from down. Not that things are spinning. It's just very unsteady.
I also forgot to mention that I've had a tilt table test and a holter monitor but they did not help and weren't revealing.
My blood pressure does tend to be on the low side. Around 90/60, sometimes even lower. My pulse rate is pretty normal. After I have a panic attack, it can go way down though, sometimes as low as 40 beats per minute. The Holter monitor showed this but the cardiologist didn't really make any mention about it other than to ask, since I noted that I'd had a panic attack in the book they have you keep while you test. Nothing wrong though.
Does anyone else have panic attacks without a rapid heart rate? Should I ask my doctor about this? The medication is working well, and it's all largely under control. I don't have much generalized anxiety, but occasionally can get anxious or fatalistic about things. It's pretty much just panic attacks and a constellation of mainly social phobias that trigger them.
What's with the faintness? I don't get it. Everything I read says panic attacks do not cause faintness but rapid heart rate. But on my life, I get faint and have been for the past 25 years sometimes many, many times per day! I also sometimes feel like I'm being smothered, but I wouldn't say that it feels like fast breathing, more like drowning suddenly in terror.
Also, when I get scared in general, my heart rate drops. I tend toward fainting when not having panic attacks. I'm one of those people who faints when they get a fright from something, definitely. Usually on announcements of someone's death or something like that. Any real emotional stressor.
Does anyone understand why this is? I don't understand the physiology behind the attacks at all and can't seem to figure it out from online, sorry. Also, it makes me a bit anxious to feel like some kind of odd ball. It's hard enough living with panic disorder and feeling like an odd ball in the first place :(
I also forgot to mention that I've had a tilt table test and a holter monitor but they did not help and weren't revealing.
My blood pressure does tend to be on the low side. Around 90/60, sometimes even lower. My pulse rate is pretty normal. After I have a panic attack, it can go way down though, sometimes as low as 40 beats per minute. The Holter monitor showed this but the cardiologist didn't really make any mention about it other than to ask, since I noted that I'd had a panic attack in the book they have you keep while you test. Nothing wrong though.
Does anyone else have panic attacks without a rapid heart rate? Should I ask my doctor about this? The medication is working well, and it's all largely under control. I don't have much generalized anxiety, but occasionally can get anxious or fatalistic about things. It's pretty much just panic attacks and a constellation of mainly social phobias that trigger them.
What's with the faintness? I don't get it. Everything I read says panic attacks do not cause faintness but rapid heart rate. But on my life, I get faint and have been for the past 25 years sometimes many, many times per day! I also sometimes feel like I'm being smothered, but I wouldn't say that it feels like fast breathing, more like drowning suddenly in terror.
Also, when I get scared in general, my heart rate drops. I tend toward fainting when not having panic attacks. I'm one of those people who faints when they get a fright from something, definitely. Usually on announcements of someone's death or something like that. Any real emotional stressor.
Does anyone understand why this is? I don't understand the physiology behind the attacks at all and can't seem to figure it out from online, sorry. Also, it makes me a bit anxious to feel like some kind of odd ball. It's hard enough living with panic disorder and feeling like an odd ball in the first place :(
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It could be stimulayion of the vagus nerve ( something I've read very little about). Also I was told its because alot of time us Panic Attack suffers hyperventilate without even noticing it and that buils uo the carbon dioxide and can cause feelings of fixing to pass out and in some people actually passing out. but look up both of these just to be sure I'm explaining it right. Sometimes I'm not the best explainer
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