Non-Anxiety "Panic Attacks" with POTS?

Posted by azurite @azurite, Aug 20, 2020

I'm 27 years old, and 2 months ago (coincident with just before I had an upper endoscopy), I started experiencing symptoms of lightheadedness, dizziness, heart racing and pounding out of my chest, blurry vision, etc. I had a til table test done earlier this month that was positive for probable POTS. However, coincident with these symptoms, I also began experiencing what I would call non-anxiety "panic attacks." At times when I wake up in the middle of the night, my heart will start racing and a sense of panic floods my body. My veins feel as if they go white cold with electric charge, and I feel 'trapped' inside my body, oftentimes shaking. My brain will also often feel like it's being pulled into another dimension. It's a horrific sensation that can take 20 min to pass (I typically have to take a Xanax to get through it). There were also days when as soon as I would wake up in the morning I would instantly be filled with a sensation of panic with a racing heart. My body feels like it's constantly on the edge of fight-or-flight, but it feels entirely physiological rather than psychological (I've been meeting with a psychologist for months and had been doing really well with my anxiety, I never experienced panic attacks before). Has anyone else with POTS experienced these issues? I'm getting better dealing with my issues of lightheadedness during the days, but now I'm terrified to go to sleep at night.

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Justin McClanahan, Moderator | @JustinMcClanahan | Dec 6, 2023

In reply to @jsaffold3535 "Hi! I also was diagnosed with POTS and had these “nocturnal panic attacks” for a span..." + (show)

Hello @jsaffold3535, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. It is great to hear that you have gone a month without issue. Have you noticed any side-effects or any other issues with the beat blockers or are you feeling overall great now that a month has past since you started?

dart0207 | @dart0207 | Apr 10 9:40am

I am in the process of being tested for POTS. But your post hits home for me because for months I have thought have been going crazy at night. I will wake up in the middle of the night not really in a panic attack but I lie in my bed with a feeling of like paralysis of my body. Because in my head I hear myself like telling my body to move but it won't and it last about 20 minutes or so and then goes way. But it is like an out of body feeling or like your mind and body are in 2 different dimensions. That the mind and body are not working together.

desi27 | @desi27 | Apr 14 10:37am

Same experience. Lasted for years but went away. Anxiety Medication like Klonopin helped. I am off everything now. I am still not sure how it started and why, and how and why it stopped! 🤔

harveywj | @harveywj | Apr 15 10:16am

delete

monarchbfly | @monarchbfly | Apr 28 12:16pm

I have pots and would also have trouble with sleeping. Right after sleeping for about 2 hrs, I would wake up with symptoms. I read somewhere that the sleep cycle is 2 hours long and it may have something to do with that, a sleep cycle apnea. The other is my endocrinologist had me wear a continuous glucose monitor to see if my blood sugar was crashing while I slept. He said that nor/epinephrine is released when blood sugar gets too low and sometimes it can be overproduced, waking you up with symptoms. He also mentioned that sometimes the opposite is true. You can have higher blood sugar and sometimes too much insulin is released by your body and your blood sugar drops so fast, it wakes you up with symptoms. Sorry you are going through this.

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