Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I'm hoping to get some help with some issues with anxiety and hypokalemia (low potassium levels).
For background, I have anxiety, OCD, and depression. I have been working with a psychiatrist on changing medications from Zoloft since September. I recently started on a starting dose of Prozac (10mg) on November 2nd (a little over a week ago), and I have been on 100mg of Wellbutrin for about a month now . I have been on 300mg of Seroquel for about two years now. My anxiety has been very bad since ending Zoloft, which is why my psych has started me on Prozac in addition to Wellbutrin. I also have semi-frequent panic attacks.
So, on Tuesday night (about 4 days ago) I had taken my 300mg of Seroquel at 11:00pm and felt a bit jittery and couldn't go to sleep, which was very strange for me. Around 12:10am I got up for a third time to go to the bathroom when my heartrate suddenly spiked to 168 bpm. I called my mom to come over and sat down, which brought my heartrate down to 146 bpm. It did not feel like any panic attack I ever had. I felt sick, lightheaded, out of breath, like I was going to pass out. I ended up calling 911 because I felt like it was something weird with my heart. For background, my mom has bad atrial fibrillation and my symptoms were identical to an afib attack, so I really didn't want to take any chances.
The responders came and said my EKG was normal and my heart rate went down to 120bpm. They said it was just a panic attack. I got up to go to the bathroom and my heartrate spiked again. At that point, I asked if I could go to the ER because I did not feel normal at all. I felt somewhat normal once I was in the ambulance, which is when I thought maybe it was a panic attack after all. I got blood work done and EKG tests and they said the only thing that was off was my potassium levels, which were at 3.3 when they should be between 3.5 and 5.0. So, it was only barely low. They said it can causes heart palpitations and irregular heart beats, but I was also having a panic attack which made it worse. Told me to eat more potassium-rich foods. They also told me that my Prozac could have something to do with that, so I should contact my psychiatrist. I have since been taken off Prozac by my psychiatrist and I have an appointment with him on November 21st.
Since then, I have had issues with anxiety and physical symptoms. For example, on Friday when I was at work, I took a physical nosedive during a meeting where I got light-headed, sick, dizzy, headache, etc. and I went home for the day. This happened at about 2:30pm. Yesterday (Saturday) I had been feeling completely normal until 4:00pm when I went to lunch with my family. Again, I took a physical nosedive with the same symptoms: 130bpm, light-headed, headache, panicked feeling and had to leave immediately. My heartrate has been high pretty much all day, everyday (in the 90 to 110 bpm range). I seem to get bad around the 4 to 5 pm and get better around 8pm. The thing is, I have no idea if this is psychological or physical. I have zero clue whether these attacks are panic attacks or potentially issues with low potassium.
So, after that huuuuge block of text, I have a few questions:
-Does Prozac cause issues with hypokalemia? Will being off it reduce these symptoms? If so, when can I expect to see improvements?
-Does hypokalemia cause anxiety issues? Are these any links between low potassium and anxiety?
-Can panic attacks cause these physical symptoms I'm having? I've never had these symptoms with panic attacks before.
-Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing before?
I am seeking advice because I can't contact either my doctor or psychiatrist until tomorrow. These symptoms are making my life extremely hard and I have been non-functioning.