Is This A Pots Or Panic Symptom?

[lieze]

I was just sitting here having to debate daughter as she shopped through her book order.

It got really stressful basically she can have 2-3 items hopefully around $15.

She kept saying okay can I have this one then?

I kept telling her she could have the one stationary kit she wanted for $10 and then maybe one or two other very inexpensive things.

She just couldn't grasp the concept and wanted to mark what she was getting in ink an the order sheet.

Each time I opened my mouth to speak I felt like it was leaving me short of breath.

In the end I yelled because I was so so frustrated.I

I had told her the same thing 5 times and she did not get it.

I wanted her to pick out things she liked to go along with the one item and just put a mark beside them and we would look through it together then and decide on the final order. It does not have to be decided on a Friday night and I wanted to help her choose something appropriate.

This entire time I am playing a gameboy to help distract me and I have a child on either side of me looking at their orders.

As I yelled she got up crying and left calling me a meany and by this time the exertion of verbally dealing with this child left me feel as if all of the air was gone out of my body.

I could feel myself breathing in and out and my heart beating fine but I have gotten this feeling before that there is something wrong with me and all of my cells have been depleted of air and no more air can get into them even though I feel the air go in and out of my lungs it feels like nothing is happening.

So basically at that point I gave up thought okay I'm just going to pass out and die.

Continued to play the game the entire time.....

Felt lightheaded, felt the need to poop whatever, got a headache....

Then just nothing lingering feelings.......

Still playing the game then I start to feel my face sweating, then I could feel sweat everywhere and I felt cold and had to cover up to get warm.

Is this just panic?

Is that feeling that all the air is sucked out of my body just a false message?

Actually now I feel better than I have in a few days.

It almost felt cleansing once I got past the point of feeling like I was going to collapse.

[lieze]

I just had a brainstorm....

What if this feeling is low blood sugar?

[babettess]

Lieze,

I used to get all these feelings pretty frequently. My PoTS specialist said they were from too much adrenaline, but often confused with panic attacks. I would check my O2 sats while I felt like I couldn't breathe and they were normal. I also had a peak flow meter I used and it was normal too. I started taking Lexapro about 7 months ago and these episodes have decreased dramatically. If I remember right, don't you have Lexapro sitting in a drawer that you are too scared to take? Again, that sounds just like me. Just thinking about taking medicine could throw me into one of those spells. I finally decided I owed it to myself to try the Lexapro. My dr ordered liquid so I could start out with the tiniest dose. The first night I took it all I did was put a drop on my tongue. Then every few days I would increase the dose a tiny bit more. I am up to 5 mg a day. I have truly noticed a difference in the adrenaline surges/panic attacks or whatever they were. I am very glad I decided to give the Lexapro a try. It was very scary when I first started taking it but I figured by taking such small doses and increasing the dose so slowly that if I had a reaction it wouldn't be too severe. Of course I had benadryl beside me every time I took a dose just in case of an allergic reaction and I made sure I had someone with me who knew I had taken medicine so they could keep an eye on me. I never had any problems with it like I've had with other meds.

I just wanted to share my experience. I hope you feel better soon. Oh and I have low blood sugar, too. I eat small meals all day long to help with it.

Hang in there and take care of yourself.

Babette

[Friedbrain]

myself to try the Lexapro. My dr ordered liquid so I could start out with the tiniest dose. The first night I took it all I did was put a drop on my tongue. Then every few days I would increase the dose a tiny bit more. I am up to 5 mg a day. I have truly noticed a difference in the adrenaline surges/panic attacks or whatever they were. I am very glad I decided to give the Lexapro a try.

Thanks, Babette, for sharing that. That's along the lines of what my cardiologist recommended. He said that my body over-reacts to adrenaline and that an anti-anxiety would help reduce the swings that most people have but can handle. I'm loathe to start another med, but it does make sense.

[lieze]

Yes thank you so much and yes--I have a whole drawer full of meds sitting here that I am afraid to take.

I'm going to try to get the blood sugars under control-we'll see if it makes any difference.

[lieze]

And thanks for letting me know you had the feeling too but pulse ox and peak flow meter were normal.......makes me feel a lot better about that.

I remember looking back my nailbeds were just as pink as could be-if I was that hypoxic I think I would have noticed some cyanosis.

[babettess]

Yeah, my nailbeds and lips were quite pink, although I completely felt starved for oxygen.

[persephone]

It sounds like a panic attack, especially as you were sitting down and not standing up at the time?

[lieze]

It could be persephone, I appreciate your thoughts on it.

I have to say-compared to POTS panic is like a walk in the park.

I would choose panic over POTS anyday of the week.

I am just trying not to worry so much about all the feelings.

Besides trying to keep my blood sugar stable the feelings I'll try to deal with.

I do appreciate everyone's input on this.