Can a panic attack do that ?

[gen2002]

Hi,  (my english is not perfect so i'll do my best) i've been dealing with lots of malaises since many years but I have more since approx. 3 years, time when I start to do some testing (i've write here in the past). I'm a 31 yo women, eat very well, my weight is ok, don't drink or smoke, one of my grandfather died from an ACV and my other grand father had a little heart problem but that's all in the family.
I've pass many tests for my heart because of many different malaises (ex. : heart that goes at 160 in the middle of the night, intolerance to exercice, heat (palpitations when it's hot, when I get up in the night and sometime just when I sit when I was sleeping my heart can go to 140), intolerance to cold etc. etc. etc.). Echo, stress test, holter ECG. All came back normal. But didn't have any kind of malaises when doing the tests so... ?

Now what happen sometimes is mostly when i'm tired, my cardiac rhythm go high for a few second then come back to normal, then go up, and down etc. For like 20 min.. And I don't feel well, I feel panicked, light headed, like i'm gonna pass out. I had these yesterday when I was driving my car, I was VERY tired since a few days but decide to go buy some things missing anyways. But it happens most of the time in the night when I sleep and wake up, feeling "weird". It never happened in the day before...
I was checking everywhere while driving to find a place to stop if something went really wrong.

I have had ALL the kinds of palpitations I think over the years. So that's why I'm freaking out like that, because it's happening for NO reason, and the symptoms are always different each time praticly :(

I've had also vagal malaise on different occasions but since 2-3 years I have them at the dentist (injection), when I have BIG emotions or see injection (like on my son) (it was not the case before at all)

I've seen an electrophysiologist that didn't want to pass others tests. She said that I probably have a problem with my baroreceptors ?! (dysautonomia ???) She didn't explain all that very well, I was not understanding.
And ask me if i'm anxious. YES anxiety is in the family. But I didn't had a lots of informations from her, I didn't have the time to explain all my symptoms either. When I said to her that I can't tolerate exercice because I feel bad and VERY exausted quickly she said that if I do exercice often, it's gonna go away with time. I didn't have the time to explain that I did the test for a  long period of time, doing exercice on a regular basis and had to stop because of the malaises and I've never seen a benefit or improvement over time from exercice :(

So she sent me see a psychiatrist at the same cardiology center. Who said that I need anti-depressor, that I have a panic trouble :( I've try 2 in the past (Celexa-Paxil) like 10 years ago after having my son (difficult time, born very premature, diagnostic of cerebral palsy etc.) and after 2 weeks, had side-effects that sent me to the ER. BIG side-effects, not normal ones at all. This time i've try Zoloft (25 mg.)and again, after 2 weeks, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I was feeling very very very weird, a nauseous feeling and very very very panicked like I've never been before, my pupils where dilated, I was not me anymore at all, I was thinking that I was becoming completely crazy, I was feeling completely intoxicated, I almost puke while calling 911 and the symptoms dissiped in approx. 20-30 min. At the ER, they said that it was a big panic attack... Not because of the Zoloft hum... But I stop them, like to others, I was really feeling TOO bad,
And the psychiatrist said the same thing for sure ! That this dose of Zoloft is like water. So praticly that it was all in my head pffff.... NO it was not at all, i've never felt this way other then when i've try anti-depressor !

Anyways... Sorry for my long message, it's difficult for me to explain well in english so it takes time.

So do you think that the "on and off bizarre" palpitations that I had yesterday can be a panic attack ? It was really like waves of palpitations and not just palpitations. I was like coming calmer in between them for a few seconds and bang, the other second, the palpitations was coming back for a few another few seconds. It was scary because I was feeling bad also and very light headed.

I've read SO many thing over the internet. I think I have dysautonomia for sure because like I said, at night when I have to get up, my heart can go as hight at 140, sometimes just to sit in the bed (like it was a BIG effort) and for this, i'm sure at 200% that it's not panic at ALL. My heart slows when i'm lying and go up again when I'm standing. But only at night and when I'm pretty awake, it pass after like 15 min.. Or in the day, if I sit for a long period, that i'm a little tired, when i'm gonna stand, my heart will go fast a little bit but in the day it replace itself quickly more than at night when I'm sleeping and my heart don't go as high.
After reading a lots of things, I was afraid that some of my palpitations where dangerous (like dangerous arrythmia or fibrillation or something like that), and i was thinking that I have cardimyopathy (praticly more than POTS), I think it looks A LOT like my symptoms and read sometimes that cardiomyopathy can be hard to detect so I was very afraid about this one :( If I had cardiomyopathy, after the tests that I done, do you think they find it ? If it's at the very begining stage ?

So what do you think about all that ?

I've take another appointment with my family doctors (who don't know nothing about all this, dysautonomia etc. he didn't know how to write it correctly, I have to say to him)... it's not reassuring for me but it's the only doctor I can go :( And i'm gonna see again the electrophysiologist in like 3 months but i don't think it will do nothing more :( And this psychiatrist don't want to see me again because she treat people that have like hallucinations and big case, not like me.

Thanks for your patience and reading me

[remar]

Many Drs will only check TSH. This is only one of the thyroid tests you should have. I would recommend seeing an Endocrinologist. They will do all the tests you need.
No, it is not common to have your hormone levels checked with regular blood work. It's something you have to usually ask for. Your family Dr can do this or you can see your Gynecologist.  
You said you eat well but, do you go for long periods of time without eating? I'm wondering if your blood sugar may be dropping.

[gen2002]

Thanks for your answer. My blood tests have always been ok. But a nurse said to me that it's sometimes difficults to detect thyroid problems and you have to do blood tests everydays for a week. Is that true ? I've never heard of that..
For testing the hormones, it's not in the normal blood test ? What hormones should I ask for ?

And no, no numb feeling or nothing like that so it's not like you BluCrystal...
I think that when I'm having those palpitations, i'm panicked a little at first... I think, I don't really know after all... but like I said it always happen when very tired (when I wake up in the night) or like the other day, in the day (first time) but was VERY tired and feeling exausted. I wonder if the tiredness make me more prone to having adrenaline discharge or panic attack. It's really like waves. My heart goes high, after a few seconds, I try to relax myself, deep breathing etc. and it goes down a little, and pouf it goes up again etc. It's like I'm capable to control myself but not totally and the palpitations return. Sometimes I'll start to shake too.

[BluCrystal]

These 'palpitations' you describe as 'waves'... do they make you feel as if you had a painless electrical shock, and does your body feel numb for a moment or so at the same time?  This is what I experience, myself, and after a CT scan, was diagnosed with benign parasthesia, which, I was told, is untreatable as well as physically harmless.  I know it is uncomfortable and scary.  I was told that in order to reduce them, I must remain as calm as possible.  Maybe this would help you.

[remar]

You may be having panic attacks. With these antidepressants, sometimes in the beginning of taking them you can have even more anxiety, but it can go away.
I would ask for more testing. Have your thyroid tested for one thing. You're having some symptoms of low thyroid. I'm not saying that is what's going on because I am not a Dr and can not give you a diagnosis. Another thing you may want to ask for is testing on your hormones.