Anxiety attacks

@worbington5 I'm presuming your heart rate is increasing without of exercise. Blood pressure rises with an anxiety attack. You'll probably perspire and your senses are on heightened alert mode. You breathe rapidly and shallow which is the opposite of relaxed breathing. I went through this because of a fear of major surgery and what I did to start to learn how to control this was to listen to music I loved, and I did slow deep breathing in time with the music. I did that anytime I felt anxious which was a lot. I learned to be able to lower my blood pressure 15 points and I measured it before and after my music sessions. I also did my homework and found all the sources of my fears that came from past experiences and processed those feelings. Later I used images and videos during the music sessions so I could associate peaceful images or places with the music. I could call this up in my mind when I needed it because I had done enough of this to train my brain to relax. It worked, and I got through my surgery calmly.

Hi @worbington5 - First things first. I would suggest you have a medical to rule out anything physical .If everything is okay then you could discuss next step(s) with the doctor. In the event that he feels you are having anxiety attacks it is important to know that these are nervous symptoms and while they are distressing they are NOT dangerous and there are various ways to deal with them.
best wishes
Ainsleigh

@worbington5 - I'd like to join @jenniferhunter and @ainsleigh in welcoming you to Mayo Clinic Connect. You are wise to be looking into what might be happening with these events you are describing and looking into whether they are anxiety attacks or something else.

I'd also like to introduce you to @thankful @bonnieh218 @daisypepper @megan123 @gingerw, who might have some information or experiences to share about signs of having an anxiety attack and what might be happening with your heart rate continuing to go up and feeling like your heart is pumping through your chest.

In the meantime, you might be interested in the following, which offers common anxiety symptoms from Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961.

Three other threads on Connect you might be particularly interested in which talk about aspects of anxiety are:

- About the difficulties of experiencing anxiety https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/this-anxiety-is-hell

- About whether an experience is an anxiety attack, panic attack or something else https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/anxiety-or-panic-attack

- About distinguishing anxiety from a heart incident https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/anxiety-or-heart-issues

@worbington5 - is anything unique happening in your life right now that might be prompting some of these symptoms?

@worbington.....it is si important to get properly diagnosed with anxiety...once that is done then a treatment plan should be out in place. .i battle lung disease, so that in itself can create anxiety....exercise is an awesome way to help deal with it...cognitive therapy teaches u strategies... I get mine sometimes at nite, so to distract my thought process, I get up and watch tv....I have also used Paxil at 10 mg...it's an Ssri and not addictive like a lot of anxiety meds are✌️✌️