u/Shevz_thetruck

Two months ago, I stood up and had my first ever pre-syncope episode which induced a my first ever panic attack. I thought I was genuinely dying. I called 911 while my boyfriend had me lay down on our bed which was placed in the living room because well, we were slobs.

I waited maybe less than 10 minutes before I heard those beautiful sirens outside my door. Then came in several two ems workers, one paramedic and one emt. To be honest, I don’t even know the difference.

My house was a mess, I was in deep depression, it probably stunk. However, I was treated like a human in need. I wasn’t made fun of, I felt safe. Now the symptoms didn’t subside at all, but I was being reassured.

I’m beyond positive they knew exactly what it was, a panic attack. But they didn’t dismiss me. They loaded me up in the back, the emts and the on duty officer all had me laughing with there jokes and I felt like I could relax. I told the emt “you guys are angels”. Which is corny now that I look back, but that’s how I truly saw them.

I’m sure she wasn’t allowed to say this, but I asked “am I gonna die” and she said “not today”. She was older then me by around 3 years (I was 18 now 19) but in that moment, I almost felt like i was in the arms of my mother, being comforted in a bad storm. Corny I know, but comforting.

We laughed on the way to the hospital while I was trying to fight passing out. It actually isn’t a memory that I fear. The worst part was when I had to say goodbye and wait for my blood tests to come back.

If you’re curious, no I did not test positive for that heart attack enzyme. But a doctor’s appointment two months later confirmed I do unfortunately have POTS.

So I just want to say, thank you. Thank you for saving lives, and thank you for dealing with scared teenagers like me. I always look back positively on those emts. I love you guys! (Idk abt paying that bill though sorry)

So, I went to the doctor two days ago. It took one visit for him to say that I very likely have pots, and referred me to the cardiologist. I was put on 25 mg of metoprolol.

My heart rate is great now, but I feel like something is missing. My heart not pounding for 30 minutes after I lay down is strange. It’s almost like I don’t have one, despite it being in the high sixties and seventies (sorry). It’s so amazing.

Then when I stand, it will only jump to 98-100. Way better than it jumping to 120-130.

Although, I just feel strange. I feel good, but it’s so foreign to me after a rough onset of symptoms 2 months ago. I can walk, I can run for a few seconds, I can laugh with my friends, I can walk around.

It just bugs me that it feels like I don’t have a beating heart even though my HR is in a completely normal and steady range. It doesn’t help that I have anxiety around a medication that slows your heart rate.

Anyone feel like this when they first started them?

I was on a road trip, about 5+ hours. We were going up elevation into the mountains. We were almost to our destination and then it hit me while sitting in the car. I got that horrible presyncope feeling. I thought I was going to pass out. My HR read 140 bpm (for reference my resting hr is 70 bpm), and my adrenaline was burning through my veins. I was able get out of the car go into the giant RV bus we were trailing. I put my legs up on the couch and it improved. We then had to stop at a gas station so I could walk out my adrenaline. Now I’m suffering the consequences this morning. My joints hurt, walking is hard. I’m just all around tired asf. Idk if it was the drive or going up the elevation.

It doesn’t really feel like a panic attack minus the adrenaline. It feels like someone is choking you and you’re about to pass out, which is when my adrenaline dumps.

That’s the major difference for me. I have panic attacks of course, but they feel completely different.

I was a church kid, I still go to church, and for reference I’m undiagnosed. However, one thing I noticed sense I was little, was that during the standing parts of church, I’d always feel dizzy and the immediate need to sit down. I would fight through it every time because my grandmother would get mad if I sat.

By the time church was over, I had to go home and take a nap. It especially was more frustrating when my family went grocery shopping after, and I’d find myself trying to sit on a bottom shelf or pallet at the store because standing was so exhausting.

I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was little and that’s when I had extreme heat intolerance. My parents had to keep me out of the heat all the time, and even as an adult (barely) my parents still go out of there way to try and prevent me from going out in the heat. Heat actually would be my main seizure trigger. However I’ve been seizure free (that we know of) for at least a decade.

Fast forward to three years ago, I converted to Catholicism and started going to church again after like 6 years (I’m 19 now). Best decision I made for myself. However if you’ve ever been to Catholic mass, or to a Catholic Church on important holidays, you’d understand how much you stand, sit, and stand again.

I found this extremely difficult. I was beyond exhausted after mass, and instead of hanging out with my boyfriend (which I always somehow made time for), he would have to take me right home after for a nap.

I noticed in highschool, going up the stairs was extremely difficult. I wasn’t really out of shape at the time, and usually worked out once or twice a week, among being active in other things. But sports became incredibly difficult due to my pcos and just being fatigued all the time.

I always had to find a way to sit down all throughout my youth. And despite keeping up with good grades, I was always sleeping in class because walking from class to class made my legs feel so weak and my head feel faint. Sometimes I would fake being sick, just so I could lay down in the nurses office, or so she would call my mom and I could take a nap.

These symptoms worsened after interning at a jail, I’d shadow a correctional officer, and as you know, they stand 99% of the time. I’d try to lean on something or move my feat in a certain way. I’d just get so dizzy and tired. My legs felt like they’d give at any moment.

Brushing my hair would always exhaust me as well. It got so bad when I moved out of my parents house, that I would rarely leave the house, stand, or brush my hair. Showers started to get exhausting. My heart would especially beat fast during these moments.

I lost my smell completely during my freshman year of highschool because of Covid. I’ve never even truly gained my smell back. That’s when things gradually became worse. All I ever wanted to do was nap. This past year, I chalked it off as my bipolar depression. However, when I had manic episodes, I still found ways to nap.

I started to schedule my days based around getting naps. Every outing that required me to stand, I had to take a nap.

Two years ago I went to Disney world. And let me tell you, that was worse then any conditioning for sports or workouts combined. My legs felt like jelly. At a lot of points I felt like passing out and it didn’t help that I had extreme pain due to a ballet injury. My mom’s friend even offered to get me a wheelchair, but I felt like I’d be taking it away from people who actually needed it.

Then 2 months ago I got my first panic attack. That’s when these symptoms got worse. I developed a sort of panic disorder. It’s gradually getting much better since I moved back in with my mom. However I’m noticing these symptoms more. I thought maybe it was hyper vigilance due to my anxiety, but things just aren’t adding up.

Now when I go to the store, I look at those motor scooters with envy. I hate anything that involves walking. My friends can’t even take me to the store without me needing longer breaks anymore.

I chalked it up to agoraphobia due to my panic attack, but it just didn’t make sense. Nothing about being in public scared me. It’s the walking that I’m “scared” of. Then I thought maybe it was because I layed in bed or sat so much that my body wasn’t used to standing. Normal things for my friends and family, just seemed so outrageously difficult to me, that I thought it was the same for everyone and I was just a whiny baby.

I’ll probably never seek a diagnosis till I’m older, my mom chalks it up to anxiety and I can’t afford medical appointments due to insurance being so trash.

Im considering maybe a mobility aid and looking at pots treatments which can be done at home, I just don’t want to embarrass myself. Any tips?

Hello, I’ve never been diagnosed with pots, nor do I really understand it. About two months ago, I had my first ever panic attack. I thought I was having stoke.

I was playing video games online with my friends, and started to feel very odd. I stood up after a funny smell (what I would imagine a seizure aura to be like) and my heart rate jumped and I felt like I was going to pass out. I called 911 and my heart rate was clocked at 120 bpm when the emts got there. I got to the hospital, basically they gave me Xanax and told me I had a panic attack. They also said I should follow up with a neurologist, but who has that kind of money anyways.

I developed a panic disorder, but with lots of medication for my bipolar disorder, it has gotten much better.

However, I notice it’s been getting hard to walk lately. I just can’t tell the difference between panic symptoms or if something is wrong. My legs feel like jelly, and my head gets tingly and sometimes I feel like I’m gonna pass out if a stand. But the passing out feeling isn’t like everything is going black, it’s like being overwhelmingly exhausted and like you could just fall asleep mid standing up.

My heart rate feels like it jumps when I stand or walk around, but theres no way for me to tell since I don’t have an Apple Watch or any of that. For reference I do nicotine pouches but I’ve never had this problem before. The problem goes away when I sit down.
I also am on the chubby side, but I’m not necessarily obese. It’s not in a way where it would affect me negatively health wise, but a bit of some stomach and thighs.

I guess I just don’t know what to do. I don’t want to embarrass myself and talk to a doctor, lose some money, and then they tell me there’s no treatment.
But I also want people to believe when I say that I’m struggling to walk.

Maybe it is a weight issue, or maybe is anxiety. I don’t know.

I don’t mean this literally, but it feels like it.
My mania isn’t exciting, euphoria, going out, shopping sprees, or general happiness.

My mania is psychosis. Feeling like I’m being stalked, feeling like squatters are under the house, refusing to answer the door when someone knocks, looking up and strange phone numbers that call me, believing someone watches me through the window. Extreme and impulsive rage episodes. Hating everyone, feeling like my friends are talking about me. Yelling and plotting against my own friends because of this fear. Yeah I do get euphoric, or feel chosen. But it’s more fear and anger than anything.

When I finally come out of it, I feel shame and guilt. Then the depression hits. It’s awful. And no one around me suffers from it.

The only people I’ve met who “have” it, have been fakers. They’re not diagnosed and they think every mood swing in a day is bipolar.

It’s so isolating to feel like you’re crazy. And no one relates. I feel like every few months, sometimes years, I’m taken over by an evil hateful, and paranoid monster who will destroy my memories and relationships for 3 months before it goes away.

The beginning of June this month, I had my first panic attack that landed me in the ER. I started having them every day, then once a weak, then every night. But thanks to this method I created (I think) I get it under control in 5 minutes. When you start to panic, first recognize this is fear, tell yourself “I am experiencing fear, the fear is the only thing real”. Then close your eyes. Think of an item, place, food, machine, math problem, science etc. then explain it like you would to an alien from another planet. This forces you to go into little details about how it works, what it looks like, hell, sometimes I start thinking about the math behind a plane while doing it.

It’s such a great distraction and works pretty much every time. I use it mostly at night which is when my panic gets the worst, and I fall asleep in the middle of this method. I don’t take any panic pills besides hydroxyzine. And I find this works BETTER than hydroxyzine. I beg you guys to try this method ONE TIME!!! I wanted to share it because it’s genuinely a cheat code. It makes you think about complicated concepts and then you try to work it out in your mind.

1 RULE however, please let me know if it works when you try it! I want to help you guys get better. I know it sucks living like this. :)

To preface I had focal seizure up until I was about 9. Then I’ve been seizure free for years.

Last night was the scariest night of my life, and I’ve been mauled by a dog and almost bled to death, but this takes the cake.

I was sitting at my desk flipping through games on steam while I was on the discord with my friends. As I lean back into one position, I don’t know why, I get a smell. Just a very odd smell. And it was insanely strong. Then that’s when the waves started. I just get waves of tingling and impending doom. So my boyfriend is walking me down the hallways and I said “I’m calling 911, I feel like I’m going to die something is wrong”.

As I’m waiting, and after 911 hung up. It felt like I was going to die, I was having waves of a tingling sensation all over my body. It wasn’t pain, just something not right. That’s when I start begging to God to let me live. This part gets me emotional because I feel like I shouldn’t even be alive right now. It was so terrifying, there was no pain. Just the waves of something I feel like I can’t explain. They EMTs were angels and helped me feel comfortable the whole time. Including the police officer who managed to make me laugh.

I get to the hospital, I’m waiting hours. They get my blood, my chest x ray and urine sample. I’m waiting hours as the waves continue with less intensity as when I was in my living room waiting on the emt. Finally the doctor came in and said the fact I smelt something that wasn’t there points to a neurological issue like a siezure. But he’s going to treat me for severe anxiety and then gave me Xanax. The waves had already stopped by the time they gave the Xanax but I was still shooken up so that helped.
Throughout this whole thing my heart rate was reading 120bmp but was steadily decreasing and I didn’t get to 90 until the end of the 4 hour deal.
I get home around 5, and trying to sleep was a nightmare because I thought I’d die in my sleep.
None of my parents picked up the calls that I was in the hospital Anuone have a similar situation?