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AMBULANCE took me there, and they threw me out!
I am 25 years old. My whole life I have experienced painful episodes involving my heart skipping beats and the right side of my chest/arm hurting. I have seen countless doctors and they all keep saying "anxiety attack". Anyone who knows me knows this is absolutely ridiculous.
I have been training for a marathon for the past two weeks. Running for an hour every day on a treadmill. Three days ago I did my first jog outside. A little over a mile. I jogged a steady pace, steady deep breathing, and I felt wonderful the whole time. I jogged in a large circle back to the gym. I entered the doors, talked to the receptionist for a while, told her how great I felt, ran into a trainer and chatted for a minute. I began to sweat and have mild, expected labored breathing so I went to the locker room, where I began to feel dizzy. I sat down, drank some water, and put on some music to keep myself focused as I breathed slowly in and out. I felt fine after 3-5 minutes. I went out to the public area to consult with the trainers more. After two sentences I felt my chest tighten in a way I have never felt, and I could hardly breathe. They instructed me to sit on the floor. I did, and my hands began to tingle. I laid down, put my feet up on a chair, and concentrated on slow, deep breaths. 4-7 minutes passed and the dizziness and tingling became unbearable. As they phoned my housemates to retrieve me and take me to urgent care, my legs, then face, began to tingle badly. They phoned 911. They checked my heart rate. It was NICE AND SLOW. I continued to breathe DEEP AND SLOW. Immediately my hands involuntarily curled into tight fists and I couldn’t move my arms or open my hands. My legs became similarily unresponsive. As I explained what happened (because I was rational and not at all scared), my face involuntarily tightened and I couldn’t move my jaw to open my mouth. The fire department came and told me to continue breathing deep and slow. They did an EKG, blood sugar test, and listened to my heart. All results were completely normal. My blood pressure was raised though. The more I breathed as they told me to, the worse my condition became. The less I breathed, the better I felt. Eventually I forced myself to talk more and breathe less, and 10 minutes later I could move, but weakly. The ambulance took me to the hospital as I felt better, just very tired. As the stretcher was pushed into the hospital doors, it happened all over again. Within hours they kicked me out of the hospital because they couldn't find "any biological reason" why this had happened, even though they only took one chest xray and a couple of simple blood tests. My ex-husband had to carry me out of the hospital because I was too weak to walk. They told me it was just a simple "anxiety attack" and they gave me a prescription for Lorazepam and turned their backs on me.
Ever since this happened I have been very weak, and my chest is tight when I breathe. Does anyone have any clue what happened to me? At my age, doctors don't beleive me when I tell them I can feel something is wrong, but I can't afford to ignore it. I am a single mom with two little babies that are counting on me to live.
I have been training for a marathon for the past two weeks. Running for an hour every day on a treadmill. Three days ago I did my first jog outside. A little over a mile. I jogged a steady pace, steady deep breathing, and I felt wonderful the whole time. I jogged in a large circle back to the gym. I entered the doors, talked to the receptionist for a while, told her how great I felt, ran into a trainer and chatted for a minute. I began to sweat and have mild, expected labored breathing so I went to the locker room, where I began to feel dizzy. I sat down, drank some water, and put on some music to keep myself focused as I breathed slowly in and out. I felt fine after 3-5 minutes. I went out to the public area to consult with the trainers more. After two sentences I felt my chest tighten in a way I have never felt, and I could hardly breathe. They instructed me to sit on the floor. I did, and my hands began to tingle. I laid down, put my feet up on a chair, and concentrated on slow, deep breaths. 4-7 minutes passed and the dizziness and tingling became unbearable. As they phoned my housemates to retrieve me and take me to urgent care, my legs, then face, began to tingle badly. They phoned 911. They checked my heart rate. It was NICE AND SLOW. I continued to breathe DEEP AND SLOW. Immediately my hands involuntarily curled into tight fists and I couldn’t move my arms or open my hands. My legs became similarily unresponsive. As I explained what happened (because I was rational and not at all scared), my face involuntarily tightened and I couldn’t move my jaw to open my mouth. The fire department came and told me to continue breathing deep and slow. They did an EKG, blood sugar test, and listened to my heart. All results were completely normal. My blood pressure was raised though. The more I breathed as they told me to, the worse my condition became. The less I breathed, the better I felt. Eventually I forced myself to talk more and breathe less, and 10 minutes later I could move, but weakly. The ambulance took me to the hospital as I felt better, just very tired. As the stretcher was pushed into the hospital doors, it happened all over again. Within hours they kicked me out of the hospital because they couldn't find "any biological reason" why this had happened, even though they only took one chest xray and a couple of simple blood tests. My ex-husband had to carry me out of the hospital because I was too weak to walk. They told me it was just a simple "anxiety attack" and they gave me a prescription for Lorazepam and turned their backs on me.
Ever since this happened I have been very weak, and my chest is tight when I breathe. Does anyone have any clue what happened to me? At my age, doctors don't beleive me when I tell them I can feel something is wrong, but I can't afford to ignore it. I am a single mom with two little babies that are counting on me to live.
Are you drinking plenty of water. I used to get very bad headaches and someone suggested I was dehydrated. I would drink about 3 full glasses of water when I got one and voila! it went away!! I drink plenty of water now, and haven't had a bad one in years. Just a suggestion.
I bet they will approve the MRI in light of the bad headache now ? May be worth looking into .. sounds like you are being taken seriously at this point ... I feel so bad for you now being/feeling ill, too!
Cheryl
Cheryl
Glad to hear you're pursuing this issue. Sometimes I think they should come up with a different term than 'anxiety attack.' The body being stressed out physicially seems separate to anxiety, which implies something in the mind. Just my thoughts...
Good luck.
Good luck.
P.S. My doctor ordered a thyroid test and MRI for me a month ago and my insurance denied payment, so the tests were never done...
Thank you so much for your input! The hospital did give me a packet of result sheets from all of the tests, and I remember some things on the list being very low, and some being very high, such as protein. I handed the packet to the cardiologist, and I forgot to get it back. I don't know if anyone saw my other post, but since the incident, I have become very sick. I think it is just a sinus infection, but I have had a KILLER migraine for the past three days, and I can't sleep. And then I remembered something odd the doc at the ER told me. She said the results showed that my body was "destroying" it's white blood cells. Is this not something they were concerned about? And the next day, the cardiologist asked me if I had cancer! And then he said he thought it was just an anxiety attack too! I have a stress test scheduled for tomorrow, and a one-month heart monitor scheduled after that, but I don't know if they'll let me do it when I'm this sick. Might bias the results, you know? Any input?
P.S. You guys and gals are great :o). I thank you so much for taking the time :o).
P.S. You guys and gals are great :o). I thank you so much for taking the time :o).
What you describe is what I experience when my calcium or magnesium gets low. However, I do not feel better until I am given supplements to bring these levels back up. You didn't seem to need anything before rebounding from your episode.
I write this to maybe give you some perspective. I'm no expert but I do know not believe you were experiencing just an 'anxiety attack.'
I hope you get an answer, or better yet I hope for you this was something that was isolated, will pass and won't happen again.
Best wishes.
I write this to maybe give you some perspective. I'm no expert but I do know not believe you were experiencing just an 'anxiety attack.'
I hope you get an answer, or better yet I hope for you this was something that was isolated, will pass and won't happen again.
Best wishes.
So sorry this has happened and do follow it up to be certain nothing is going on .. even when my daughter fainted while in the hospital they ran entire cardio workup .. not to make $$ but to be certain .. and all was ok in the end but when something like this happens and is so out of the ordinary for you, you must pursue it thoroughly and wipe out the ER and that experience as they oftentimes write things off as anxiety to be rid of the "emergent" problem and do not delve any further.
Low calcium levels can cause what you describe as well as dehydration and anything else.
C~
Low calcium levels can cause what you describe as well as dehydration and anything else.
C~
I read up on a few of your symptoms and you could have an autonomic dysfunction condition. You said you have had this for a while. If you have an autonomic problem then over-exertion could create the symptoms you describe. You can have your brain and nervous system evaluated--ask your doctor about tests.
Have you been to a specialist of any kind? Endocrinologist, or Internist? There are tests for calcium, potassium and all sorts of reasons this could be happening. I would keep searching for a doctor that will listen to you and treat your symptoms. I was severely weak when I was hyperthyroid. I went to the hospital and they said there was nothing they could do for me either. My son almost had to carry me out. But mine is a different story. I would still go and have a complete blood test done including metabolic panel, DHEA, B12, Vit D and cortisol. Hope you get better soon.
If you are training--you could be low on calcium like redhead87 suggested, or you could be low in postassium or salt--or a combination.
Also--the hands curl when one is having a panic attack because of how the blood is redistributed in the body.
They should have checked your hypostatic blood pressure--lying and then standing--as you could be dehydrated.
Dehydration can cause your symptoms.
Hope you figure out what is the matter.
Ask your doctor to run some blood tests--and have your BP taken after exercise or whenever that happens to you while lying and then sitting and then standing up.
Also--the hands curl when one is having a panic attack because of how the blood is redistributed in the body.
They should have checked your hypostatic blood pressure--lying and then standing--as you could be dehydrated.
Dehydration can cause your symptoms.
Hope you figure out what is the matter.
Ask your doctor to run some blood tests--and have your BP taken after exercise or whenever that happens to you while lying and then sitting and then standing up.
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