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How do you know you're having a panic attack
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: 11 hours ago | Replies (24)Comment receiving replies
@user_ch783e933 Not saying you had a hypertensive crises, but I had something like happen to me a few years ago. My BP went as high as 200/120...I was given a supplement blood pressure medication only to take when my blood pressure was 150/100. I may have used it once or twice and I never had an issue again. I had a cardiac workup and nothing significant was found to have caused this. Honestly, I do not remember any significant life experience that would have triggered a panic attack. I have had a panic attack before, but this felt different. So, I had no idea why my blood spiked so high and I will probably never will.
Something that caught my attention was your mental health history. Thank you for having the courage to mention it. I suffered greatly from depression from a cardiac event from three years ago. I am much better now but never really got over it. About 2 years ago, I was driving to work and broke down and cried. I did not understand why at the time. I told my psychologist that I suddenly felt like I was going backwards in my recovery. We talked and she asked when was the onset of my depression (July 6, 2022) and the date I started feel depressed again was July 10th, 2023. Subconsciously, I emotionally reliving the experience. These days, I still have trigger moments but I now recognize and handle them better. To be honest, before this, I used to think people were overboard about triggers...I was skeptical. I now admit how wrong I was about that.
Replies to "@user_ch783e933 Not saying you had a hypertensive crises, but I had something like happen to me..."
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Heart attack is a terrifying experience, as I've read much about the psychological effects, and the PTSD and fear can last quite a long time. I'm assuming they found the artery and repaired it? Usually that's what happens, either with a stent or open heart surgery. The mental aftereffects of any sort of intervention on your heart is very common and a therapist who has an awareness of this can probably help you to deal with it. A spike of 200/120 is apparently not uncommon, and does occur more often than we know, according to my cardiologist's PA who sees this all day. If the cardiologist wants me to take an additional medication when that happens again, I certainly will, but daily that would be a problem since my BP last night was 113/68. I take it first thing before getting out of bed, it's usually in the 120s/70s, perfectly normal first thing in the morning after all I'm not 20 any more. And at night, sitting in bed watching TV, doing tablet stuff, etc. it's usually the same or lower. I only take it once. I know if I take it again, it will probably go lower each time, but lately the anxiety of taking it more than once can cause it to rise. Your mind can take your BP to heights unheard of and it has nothing to do with any crisis except in your subconscious. It sounds like you definitely are reliving the experience that was so frightening at the more or less same time of year. We really don't seem to be able to control the subconscious and it's a real enemy. But at least you have a definitive reason that you can work on to slowly desensitize yourself and if the reason your heart attack occurred has been successfully addressed, you're very unlikely to have another one, especially if your cardiologist keeps an eye on things as the years progress.