Good news, but overthinking.

[destinymichelle]

Last night I had an attack that lasted about an hour long. I felt like I literally couldn’t breathe, chest was pounding, vision problems, racing heart, shaking, etc.

This morning I woke up crying and shaking (I’ve been doing that for the last few days tbh) so I said enough is enough, I’m going to the ER.

I got there and they put me on an IV, did a blood test, urine test, ekg, and also a chest X-ray. The dr told me she wanted to look for any signs that could be messing with my anxiety and making my symptoms worse. Of course and honestly thank god, everything is normal. So, I left feeling at ease. I just hate the breathing issues. She said I’ve probably been hyperventilating A LOT! I felt so at ease, but now, two of my friends had told me that I need to go to the ER and not say anything about anxiety because they will take the easy way out, I don’t really believe that because they HAVE to tell you when something is wrong, but of course my anxiety is making me over think it now...

[SxufferingSxoul]

My psychologist told me that constantly going to the ER will just worsen anxiety, he explained that it is because when you go there, your anxiety level goes down. But when you get back home.. it spikes back up higher than it was before you went to the ER. It’s true, that’s exactly what happens to me. I always get what you’re explaining when I go to sleep, except my chest isn’t pounding, my heartbeats feel so faint it’s scary.. and yeah don’t say to the ER that you have anxiety, because they will just brush the case away and tell you to go back home lol. But once, I didn’t even mention anything and the ER doctor knew right away that it was a panic attack, from the second I stepped into the ER center. Message me if you need to xx

[destinymichelle in reply to SxufferingSxoul]

I came in and I was very calm. I tried to lean them towards heart issues because I wanted them to run tests and not just send me home. The dr ran tests and everything was fine but now I’m worrying that maybe something else is really wrong and they’re not telling me since apparently they will just brush you to the side over it.

[Dolphin14 in reply to destinymichelle]

They did a good work up. Doesn't sound like you were brushed aside.

[SxufferingSxoul]

But he pretended he didn’t know and examined me, then admitted it in the end.

[thyroidmom84]

When I started having daily panic attacks (nearly 20 years ago) before I started taking Paxil for them, I used to visit the ER constantly, worried I was going to stop breathing. It only took a few visits to notice that by the time I was seen, my panic attack had subsided and they weren’t going to find anything wrong. My temporary solution then became to sit in the waiting room and not even sign in. I figured, if I really do stop breathing, I would be treated immediately but if it got better (which it always did), I could walk without a bill for nothing. Obviously not a permanent solution but boy did it make me feel better until I was medicated.

[Icanbeathis2016 in reply to thyroidmom84]

Listen!!! 🤭 I have done that before. Just walked right in the the ER and sat in there like I was waiting on somebody else. And it's been times I've sat in the parking lot.

It was a sense of relief without a bill. A bill that I have ran up from going so many times just to get sent back home with unknown diagnoses.

[thyroidmom84 in reply to Icanbeathis2016]

Oh how funny that someone else did this too (I mean, funny when we look back on it). That kinda of makes my day. Glad we are better now!

[destinymichelle in reply to thyroidmom84]

I feel a sense of relief knowing that I’m perfectly fine. That’s was AMAZING news because really thought that something serious was going on, but when people are telling me that they will just push you to the side it causes me to overthink and now I feel like I wasted my time and that I failed. It makes me wonder now if something serious did come back and they just didn’t tell me..

[thyroidmom84 in reply to destinymichelle]

No, you’re fine (and you need to enjoy that news)! But please start exploring the mental health aspect of this- I know it can be expensive but you’re worth the investment.

[destinymichelle in reply to thyroidmom84]

I’m seeking help at a free mental health clinic. It’s been a hard thing to commit to, but I’m trying. If I can go to the ER (which I hate going to hospitals) and let them run all these tests on me, I can surely go to a clinic where I will be getting help as well. I am so happy that they said I was okay! I knew that I was okay deep down because I’ve been fighting this for three months nonstop. I seem to be okay once I calm down or try to push negative thoughts away and replace them with positive thoughts. Like how I just said I’m scared they aren’t telling me that something is wrong with me, when I know deep down they HAVE to. They took an oath. Why would they run all those tests and use their time to just tell me that nothing is wrong with me when there is. They could’ve simply pointed out that I’m just struggling wit anxiety considering it’s literally on my chart and I’m sure I had it written all over my face. They could’ve just sent me home, but they decided to treat me anyways and even gave me some medicine to calm down. I’ve had the ER tell me to just go home and that I’m fine before, but they didn’t and now I know that I’m okay. I’m taking one day at a time and I’m going to conquer this feeling. 💕

[thyroidmom84 in reply to destinymichelle]

That’s great about the clinic. You really sound very similar to me at that age and they tested me for so many things. And people can get very conspiratorial when it comes to physicians and the medical community. Tune that out. Not saying mistakes don’t happen, but you have to learn to have faith in your physicians or you will go crazy.

[Icanbeathis2016 in reply to destinymichelle]

I would feel the same sentiments after leaving doctors all the time. I felt that because I had mentioned anything about anxiety that they would automatically put everything off to that. Which is quite amazing though, how if all those symptoms I was feeling can all be anxiety then what about the other people who have those exact symptoms but found out it was something else more serious. So yes, it made me wonder if they were not being genuine with me.

Like what if they are brushing this off and it's really something. What did those other people have to do or say or even feel for them to have found out about their issues and not get sent home.

But the one thing that did eventually help just a teeny tiny bit as time passed along was that I had to start looking back to my past frets and say, "ok, four months ago I was thinking the same things, that it must be something bad and the doctors have missed something. But if by now I'm still doing relatively well. Not worse as far as physically going downward, then I must be ok because by now if it was something that bad, my body would have shown more signs of getting worse."

And I still have to do that date check quite often. To help me sometimes.

[TrustnGod]

Thank God! But good thing you got it checked out.

I would say that it honestly depends on the ER and the doctor. I work very closely with ER doctors and some of them will do a full workup and more if someone comes in with anxiety symptoms, while others just give them Ativan and leave it at that. The ER is primarily for emergent situations and going in and saying “I think this may be an anxiety attack” is going to accelerate your care more so than if you didn’t mention it. An ER doctor’s mindset is to get patients what they need, send them to wear they need to be, and get that room clean for another patient. But I’d say at the minimum they’ll probably do a CBC and EKG for patients with anxiety, and anything life threatening or super serious will more likely than not show up on one of these tests.

~Lia

[destinymichelle in reply to TrustnGod]

They did a urine test, ekg, chest X-ray, blood work, and put me on an IV. I didn’t tell her I was having an anxiety attack. I just told her my symptoms and she wanted to look at everything and make sure I didn’t have low iron, potassium, or anything and they wanted to make sure that my chest looked okay because she asked if I had a cough or anything and I told her yes and I’ve been very congested.

[Dolphin14 in reply to destinymichelle]

They did a good workup. I'm glad it was all negative.

Anxiety and panic are so scary.

[TrustnGod in reply to destinymichelle]

Awesome! She really did a thorough workup. I’m glad she checked your iron and potassium. Do you know if she did a troponin?

[destinymichelle in reply to TrustnGod]

I’m sorry, but no I honestly have no idea.

[Tranquilwaters in reply to TrustnGod]

They REALLY won't do a Traponin unless they have other clear signs of possible heart attack, or you have risk factors such as existing heart disease or congenital heart condition that may predispose you. These guys know what they are looking at in ER.

[TrustnGod in reply to Tranquilwaters]

I think it depends on the hospital. The one I work at has 2 different types of troponins that they do. One is more specific and the other is just like ok let’s just see if this is elevated. For the majority of patients who come in with chest pain, they’ll do the less specific trop.

[Tranquilwaters in reply to TrustnGod]

Ahh - you're in the US? Here in the UK it's different. They use a system of cardiac risk scoring - this way is ensures patients at highest risk get the fastest treatment, and those at low risk/no risk don't have unnecessary tests. It works very well!👍

[TrustnGod in reply to Tranquilwaters]

I am! We use heart scores to determine how at risk someone is. But we mainly use it to see if we need to possibly admit that person or keep them for observation. I think we tend to do more testing as heart disease is unfortunately very prevalent in the US. We also more often then not do IV’s on patients after a doctor has talked to them and then use that blood to do a trop and also the basics like CBC, BMP stuff like that. But as I said it just depends. I like the idea of a cardiac risk system though! I love seeing how other countries’ systems work.

[Tranquilwaters in reply to TrustnGod]

We don't routinely IV patients in ER here in the UK due to infection control, unless there is a clear indication that bloods may be needed. We also time and date the IV insertion. We also move patients quickly from A & E (our ER) to either the Medical Assessment Unit if more tests are needed, so as not to 'log jam' emergency. If a patient is unwell but the course of action is likely to be admission and more tests are needed to ascertain the appropriate specialty, they are admitted to the Acute Medical Unit. If the course of action required is clear, the patient is admitted quickly to the specialty wards (i.e. cardiology).

Patients can also be assessed in A & E by Psychiatric Services, which comprises a Psychiatrist and Mental Health Nurse. If required, the patient can be offered admission to a mental health unit voluntarily, transferred to a mental health unit with a view to compulsory admission under the Mental Health Act or will be accepted for follow up the next day in the community by the Intensive Home Treatment Team.

It is fascinsting how different countries operate!