Aa
Strange "drop" feeling in chest
Hi. I have a fairly involved question, so please bear with me. I was recently diagnosed as having panic attacks by my primary care physician. I am 24, recently returned to college. Before I went to school, I had none of the problems I am about to describe.
My feelings of being weirded out first started when my left arm and hand started going numb. Doctor said it was due to neck spasms. Next, different things started to pop up. I definitely have panic attacks (periods of racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, tightness in my chest, nausea, etc) but I also have a strange feeling in my chest 95% of the day. It feels sort of hollow all the time, and every two minutes or so I will have a feeling like a "drop" or almost like a shock in my chest. I have had PVCs (all the time) for at least 5 years, and it almost feels like a more severe one of these. When I'm having this problem, I also have difficulty swallowing and can sort of feel the swallow going all the way down. The drop feeling is worse when I bend over or crouch down.
I went to the cardiologist last week and he did an echo and said I have a perfectly normal heart. He prescribed alprazolam for the panic attacks. What I can't make anyone understand is that even when I'm not having an "attack" I still feel icky inside. I take my pulse a thousand times a day and it varies from 58-85 when at rest, depending on the time of day. Also, I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like my heart is barely beating (super slow) and I can't breathe.
I have been experiencing terrible insomnia, mostly due to the fact that I am terrified I'm dying. There are sometimes periods of days with no sleep whatsoever (it's 4am as I type this!). My main concern is that I could have a heart condition that would not be easily identified just with the echo. I haven't passed out or had trouble exerting myself or anything, but when I feel this way I don't want to do anything but be perfectly still and I can't stop thinking about it.
It also seems to perhaps be connected to food. I used to love eating and look forward to it and my family really based a lot of our good times around meals, but now food sickens me. When I'm hungry I get the "drop" feeling, then I think if I eat it will go away, but it doens't and sometimes actually worsens. Then I think perhaps I need to use the bathroom, and I either will go and be sick to my stomach or not be able to go. I have never had problems with my bathroom habits before, but haven't been "regular" in over a month now.
I want so much for this just to be anxiety and for it to go away naturally. People tell me to think of something else and it's just my "panic attacks" but when you have physical symptoms that are very bothersome and constant, it's hard to just turn it on and off. Please let me know if there is anything else this sounds like, or if I should just trust my cardiologist and take my xanax and try to find some counseling.
PS - Additional info about the alprazolam. It's only .25 mg, and I've taken it twice. The first time it didn't seem to do much. It definitely calmed me, but didn't help with the hollow chest/drop feeling. Tonight I took it and actually experienced some relief. I was able to go out with friends and be very productive. However, once I went to sleep I kept waking up and my heart rate was very low. I don't know if this is because of the xanax, but it was very scary and has kept me awake.
I'm sorry to post all this, but I have been to the doctor multiple times and they are very helpful but I never leave fully satisfied. I'm really scared and this is interfering with my school work and social life severely.
My feelings of being weirded out first started when my left arm and hand started going numb. Doctor said it was due to neck spasms. Next, different things started to pop up. I definitely have panic attacks (periods of racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, tightness in my chest, nausea, etc) but I also have a strange feeling in my chest 95% of the day. It feels sort of hollow all the time, and every two minutes or so I will have a feeling like a "drop" or almost like a shock in my chest. I have had PVCs (all the time) for at least 5 years, and it almost feels like a more severe one of these. When I'm having this problem, I also have difficulty swallowing and can sort of feel the swallow going all the way down. The drop feeling is worse when I bend over or crouch down.
I went to the cardiologist last week and he did an echo and said I have a perfectly normal heart. He prescribed alprazolam for the panic attacks. What I can't make anyone understand is that even when I'm not having an "attack" I still feel icky inside. I take my pulse a thousand times a day and it varies from 58-85 when at rest, depending on the time of day. Also, I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like my heart is barely beating (super slow) and I can't breathe.
I have been experiencing terrible insomnia, mostly due to the fact that I am terrified I'm dying. There are sometimes periods of days with no sleep whatsoever (it's 4am as I type this!). My main concern is that I could have a heart condition that would not be easily identified just with the echo. I haven't passed out or had trouble exerting myself or anything, but when I feel this way I don't want to do anything but be perfectly still and I can't stop thinking about it.
It also seems to perhaps be connected to food. I used to love eating and look forward to it and my family really based a lot of our good times around meals, but now food sickens me. When I'm hungry I get the "drop" feeling, then I think if I eat it will go away, but it doens't and sometimes actually worsens. Then I think perhaps I need to use the bathroom, and I either will go and be sick to my stomach or not be able to go. I have never had problems with my bathroom habits before, but haven't been "regular" in over a month now.
I want so much for this just to be anxiety and for it to go away naturally. People tell me to think of something else and it's just my "panic attacks" but when you have physical symptoms that are very bothersome and constant, it's hard to just turn it on and off. Please let me know if there is anything else this sounds like, or if I should just trust my cardiologist and take my xanax and try to find some counseling.
PS - Additional info about the alprazolam. It's only .25 mg, and I've taken it twice. The first time it didn't seem to do much. It definitely calmed me, but didn't help with the hollow chest/drop feeling. Tonight I took it and actually experienced some relief. I was able to go out with friends and be very productive. However, once I went to sleep I kept waking up and my heart rate was very low. I don't know if this is because of the xanax, but it was very scary and has kept me awake.
I'm sorry to post all this, but I have been to the doctor multiple times and they are very helpful but I never leave fully satisfied. I'm really scared and this is interfering with my school work and social life severely.
Rugg et al...
It's really comforting to know how many people have been through the same thing. Until last year I never understood what anxiety or panic was and then one evening *BANG* out of no-where I had a panic attack in a room full of people. I honestly believed I was going to die that evening and ended up in hospital. However, there was 'nothing wrong' with me physically - but it is the start of what will be a long journey in my life of mental illness, which is anxiety.
Don't let the Dr's tell you there is 'nothing wrong' with you. If the physical tests add up to nothing physical being wrong (you can trust this) then this probably indicates that there is something mental that you are suffering, which needs to be treated just as seriously and should not be 'laughed off' or met with 'you're a hypocondriac'. Don't ever feel stupid for suffering!
My anxiety is ill health anxiety and it is a perpetual cycle - sometimes i get an anxiety physical symptom out of the blue which triggers mental anxiety which leads to more physical anxiety, sometimes it's mental then physical.
I've had it all, the waking up in the night not being able to breathe, the numbness, the racing heart, the inability to eat, the feeling that you can't talk or are having a stroke, the muscle pains, the spasms, the vertigo, the blurred vision, the headaches, the difficulty swallowing or shallow breathing etc. etc. etc, not to mention the sheer exhaustion of it all. In the last year i've self diagnosed brain tumors, heart problems, ovarian cancer, skin cancer, degenerative bone disease, hyperactive thyroid, meningitis, breast cancer, lymphonia, MS (the list goes on and on). I've kind of taken the attitutude now that my symproms are my bodies way of dealing with stress (panic attacks being the pinnacle!). If i have a symptom i'm worried about then i'll leave it three to four days and then go to the Dr if i'm still worried. If i'm worried about MS i'll go for a checkup every three months to explain my symptoms to the Dr, what i'm worried about and ask if we can keep tabs on it to see if it is really a problem. This helps me to feel i'm not just ignoring symptoms but putting them into perspective.
I used to have it every second of every day, and then sometimes i'd have a 'good day' and then later a 'couple of good days' and now - 1yr on it takes me by surprise when i get it! I know it may never go away completely but it's about living with it, and it makes me a stronger person.
Keep up the fight! It will have periods of being awful and then better and then awful - that's how it goes - but it doesn't have to rule your life always. You are still a person!
It's really comforting to know how many people have been through the same thing. Until last year I never understood what anxiety or panic was and then one evening *BANG* out of no-where I had a panic attack in a room full of people. I honestly believed I was going to die that evening and ended up in hospital. However, there was 'nothing wrong' with me physically - but it is the start of what will be a long journey in my life of mental illness, which is anxiety.
Don't let the Dr's tell you there is 'nothing wrong' with you. If the physical tests add up to nothing physical being wrong (you can trust this) then this probably indicates that there is something mental that you are suffering, which needs to be treated just as seriously and should not be 'laughed off' or met with 'you're a hypocondriac'. Don't ever feel stupid for suffering!
My anxiety is ill health anxiety and it is a perpetual cycle - sometimes i get an anxiety physical symptom out of the blue which triggers mental anxiety which leads to more physical anxiety, sometimes it's mental then physical.
I've had it all, the waking up in the night not being able to breathe, the numbness, the racing heart, the inability to eat, the feeling that you can't talk or are having a stroke, the muscle pains, the spasms, the vertigo, the blurred vision, the headaches, the difficulty swallowing or shallow breathing etc. etc. etc, not to mention the sheer exhaustion of it all. In the last year i've self diagnosed brain tumors, heart problems, ovarian cancer, skin cancer, degenerative bone disease, hyperactive thyroid, meningitis, breast cancer, lymphonia, MS (the list goes on and on). I've kind of taken the attitutude now that my symproms are my bodies way of dealing with stress (panic attacks being the pinnacle!). If i have a symptom i'm worried about then i'll leave it three to four days and then go to the Dr if i'm still worried. If i'm worried about MS i'll go for a checkup every three months to explain my symptoms to the Dr, what i'm worried about and ask if we can keep tabs on it to see if it is really a problem. This helps me to feel i'm not just ignoring symptoms but putting them into perspective.
I used to have it every second of every day, and then sometimes i'd have a 'good day' and then later a 'couple of good days' and now - 1yr on it takes me by surprise when i get it! I know it may never go away completely but it's about living with it, and it makes me a stronger person.
Keep up the fight! It will have periods of being awful and then better and then awful - that's how it goes - but it doesn't have to rule your life always. You are still a person!
I have to say thank you for posting this I've had that feeling for a while now and I'm on propranolol for it . Unfortunately I'm far too terrified of needles to have blood tests and stuff so I'm just going to hope mine goes away but I'm just so happy that I'm not the only one , thank you
Hey update ... I'm sitting here waiting for tomorrow to come with the results of a Echocardiogram scan .. mostly of the suspected "Enlarged Main Pulmonary Artery" they now suggest I have, sheesh!
I was told it looked enlarged from a CT scan about 2 weeks ago & the cause? Well it is "common" to get this after the lobectomy I had? OMG really!
will these scary medical maladies & Heart/Lung serious **** ever leave me alone .. I don't want to be scared of dying all the time ... I'm 56 yrs. old & I want to live to be a healthy & 86.! I live alone w/ dogs so I get to always be scared alone .. I have to take Clonazepam just to hold down the panic .. Its so evil
I was told it looked enlarged from a CT scan about 2 weeks ago & the cause? Well it is "common" to get this after the lobectomy I had? OMG really!
will these scary medical maladies & Heart/Lung serious **** ever leave me alone .. I don't want to be scared of dying all the time ... I'm 56 yrs. old & I want to live to be a healthy & 86.! I live alone w/ dogs so I get to always be scared alone .. I have to take Clonazepam just to hold down the panic .. Its so evil
I just wanted to say thank you. And im sorry that you have to go through this. I am actually going through the exact same thing espcially the dying part. Thats one thing im super afraid of. Im kind of scared to go out like i used to. Im even scared to cut grass thinking my heart is just going to stop. If you find out what this is please let me know
your description is basically word for word what ive been going through!!! I haven't been to the doctor yet but its so good to know im not alone and that theres a really good chance im not actually dying lol im 21 and did a lot of drugs starting about 2 years ago and ending about 8 months ago when I met Jesus and was able to stop it all. I started having panic attacks in the midst of the time span of the drug use, and tho the symptoms have been getting better and better and the panic attacks fewer and fewer, the symptoms nonetheless remain and now theres been a new development with the heart drop feeling that gets worse when I bend down. overall I think im definitely on the mend, and I think most of my symptoms are def partly a mental thing because praying always helps. anyways, glad to know im probably ok, i'll be praying for us all :)
byebye,
Alex
byebye,
Alex
I have had the same problem that recently got a WHOLE lot worse. All of the same symptoms of appstudent. Everything is the same which is weird, because I have been trying to find anything on these symptoms and it was hard to find. I emailed my doctor and am planning to go in and see a psychiatrist because nothing has helped me in the past at all and I know at this point, even though I do not want to, i have to be put on some type of medication. I have done all kinds of tests with a cardiologist and came back A-OK.
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