Sudden sense of dread today and trying not to panic

[AlwaysAnxious32]

Anyone else get a sudden sense of impending doom? I've had this wash over me today suddenly and it feels horrid. I just have this sudden sense of dread and I'm finding it really difficult to explain. I have suffered anxiety and panic in the last and I have OCD. But this doesn't feel like the kind of panic I would normally get. After a quick Google, it says could be a heart attack or PE. I don't have any chest pain but not I feel like I've got pain iny shoulder but I don't know if I'm making that up. I've started to really panic some more. Anyone else had this?? And been ok?. Working myself into a right state, also feel.silly going to A and E and I saying "I feel a sense of dread". On the brink of a massive panic attack. Can anyone calm me the hell down. Hand hold needed.

How are you today OP?
I’m not a doctor so cannot comment on the symptoms of heart attack, but I did have a bout of anxiety in the past and it manifested in an awful feeling of intense dread that would wash over me. My body would then go into fight/flight mode and I’d literally start shivering (I would wrap myself in a blanket on the sofa until it passed). So all the symptoms you’ve described can definitely be caused by anxiety.

“All through my life I've had this strange unaccountable feeling that something was going on in the world, something big, even sinister, and no one would tell me what it was."

"No," said the old man, "that's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the Universe has that."

"Everyone?" said Arthur.

"Well, if everyone has that perhaps it means something!
Perhaps somewhere outside the Universe we know..."

"Maybe. Who cares?" said Slartibartfast before Arthur got too excited. "Perhaps I'm old and tired," he continued, "but I always think that the chances of finding what out really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied.”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I am.feelimg slightly better, I didn't sleep well, I've woke up and and my heart is racing and I just feel hot and bothered. I know it's most likely anxiety but I have that little niggle of "what if" espebailly as I saw on another thread on here that someone had the same sense of doom as their only symptom and then had a heart attack the next day

Ive had this for days. I think its a combination of niggly little worries and the fact that I wasn't wearing my hrt patch for a few days.

Doom feeling can be a drop in blood pressure. I have allergies and it is listed as one of the symptoms of anaphylaxis. Now obviously it isn't that so don't start worrying about that. Anaphylactic shock is quick and no doubting it!

Drop in BP can happen though with infection or dehydration and other things.

I think because you're anxious perhaps you you can try and be logical. Make sure you are eating and drinking. Check your BP and note the figures (today only). Check your temperature. If these things are normal, then perhaps it will reassure you?

If you do have a temperature and low BP, then maybe get checked out?

It wasn’t fair for the posters to mention the sense of doom for sepsis and heart attacks when you said quite early on in the thread that you have anxiety, worry about your health and that your ex partner has said this has happened before.

If I were you I would make a plan for Monday - book a GP appointment for your anxiety, and book in for some help either with a private therapist (you can google low cost therapy to find a trainee which can be a lot cheaper), you might have an NHS self referral service in your area, or you can ask the GP to refer you. Today and tomorrow I would look on YouTube or Spotify for guided relaxation/mindfulness/hypnosis recordings for anxiety based on feeling safe. You could also look for DBT relaxation techniques or CBT thought challenge exercises. If it’s your thing, you could look for some workbooks on Amazon (some are aimed at people with ADHD so they’re easier to get through in small chunks).

I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better today, I had a friend who used to have health anxiety so I know it can be stressful and scary. Your brain is doing a great job of it’s primary purpose which is to keep you safe, but when it gets “stuck” like this it goes into overdrive and can make you feel the opposite

@AlwaysAnxious32 have you tried yoga nidra? Look it up on YouTube. You don't move it's a type of meditation. Ally boothroyd does them and she's great. There's different ones of different lengths. Try a 10 minute one if you get chance.

@AlwaysAnxious32I’ve had what you describe twice. The first time was around the timing of my father’s death (I didn’t know he was dying and he was in a city miles from me). I remember having to lay down on the bed (early evening). The second time was the night before my child’s symptoms began (life changing diagnosis). I told my husband something catastrophic was about to happen and it did. Maybe it’s an ancient part of our brain to try to prepare or protect us? Not wanting to worry you, as that’s just my own personal experience and I feel like I’m slightly more tuned in than the average person to this kind of thing..other people don’t seem to understand these feelings and look at me like I have two heads or something..

Well that's bound to relax op! 😉

Don't cos I've had two horrible dreams this week, very vivid. One where my son drowned and the other where my dad died fml. I think these dreams have definitely been fueling me.

Thanks everyone. I don't feel unwell at all. I'm not cold any more. The doom feeling has settled but it's still there in my head and in my chest. I'm trying to be logical in the sense that I have got alot going on that I'm trying to just ignore.

Me and my ds are moving out of our home soon, due to the separation between me and his dad. It will be 50 miles away. I'm anxious about living alone.

I've also got this lump on my neck which is being investigated.

My son is severely autistic and due to start school in September and he has very very challenging behaviour.

So I think maybe my anxiety and OCD symptoms are heightened at the moment, I know they say stress makes it worse.

I'm feeling much more logical today, even if I still feel like I'll drop dead any moment. I couldn't sleep last night well because I was scared I wouldn't wake up!!

I’m glad you’re feeling better.

The truth is any of us can drop dead at any minute or get hit by a car etc but the reason this happens is because we don’t get any symptoms and do t realise anything is wrong.

It sounds like you’ve been to the doctors plenty of times and so it’s not like you haven’t been seen for years.
They would have picked up on something by now.

Instead of worrying about dropping dead (which you wouldn’t even know about) perhaps do things that you can control eg having life insurance, leaving emergency phone numbers out etc.
For me, dying doesn’t scare me but leaving my DC does (I am a single parent) and so doing anything I can to help them if that situation happened, makes me feel a bit better.

Considering you and your DP are separating then he has no right to tell you that you can or can’t go to A&E.
So if you want to go, then go.
However, if you’re soon to be living on your own then you’ll obviously not be able to go as easily and so perhaps not being seen last night was the best thing to happen.

Are you and your DP separating over your anxiety?

I felt like this before I got the last version of COVID (not vaccinated).
Just saying, it seems eerily similar.

An impending sense of doom is usually anxiety… but it can be related to sepsis.
Id get checked if you feel physically unwell and or have a high or low temperature…

Sounds more like you were stressed because you knew your ex was on his way back. Then when he came back and was his usual self, you were still stressed, but just not quite so much.

Life will improve once you're not stuck in that limbo of knowing you'll hear his key in the door at some point.

well that's a) utter bollocks complete coincidences in your case and b) supremely unhelpful to the OP

Everyone gets that from time to time. its just the consequence of being alive and knowing one day you will not be.

Music is a great mood switcher. try listening to your favourite upbeat songs and and doing a hobby. if you don't have one, get one. Drinking wine isn't a hobby by the way. it's a way of life 😂

Yes the fact that one day i will die fills me with panic..my brain cant coprhend it and I think about it alot. I do get scared of leaving my DS especially as he's so young and has special needs.

We are separating for a number of resins, mainly because we just want different things and I felt like we was just wasting our lives. There is love there but he's very old fashioned in the sense that I'm the woman and he expects me to stay hole, cook, clean, look after the kids, do everything for him and he can go to work and then go out on his jollys, do nothing in the house, spends no time with DS or do any parenting. Has a gambling problem. The list goes on. And obviously, with my MH issues, he gets fed up, finds me draining etc. which is understandable. We just aren't compatible. I feel too pressured looking after DS and then looking after him as well. It's like having two children.

Yeah, it freaked me out more to be fair.

I don't know. Because even tho we've got our issues and such, his physical presence comforts me. Like, when I'm feeling like this, I just think to myself, I just have to make it until he is home and I'll be ok even though I know he's going to scold me or call me pathetic etc just his physical presence and the fact I'm not alone if anything happens to me comforts me.

I strongly suspect that once you're settled in your new place and getting some appropriate support your anxiety might lessen once you're away from your partner.

I get that having someone's physical presence is reassuring particularly if you heave health anxiety.

I had symptoms exactly like yours when I was in the run up to leaving my XH. I would have to get up in the middle of the night, have a hot bath then wrap up in PJs, dressing gown and thick socks under the duvet with a hot water bottle or electric blanket.

I also have ADHD so interesting to read upthread that it could be connected.

Are you receiving any professional support for your health anxiety @AlwaysAnxious32 ?

You are ill. But not physically ill. None of the other catastrophic health issues you have been worried about on mumsnet in the past have come to anything and I doubt this will either BUT what is clear is that you do need help. This is no way to life for you, your child or your partner.

It's not a load of nonsense. Drinking too much water can dilute the blood and flood the circulatory system. Can lead to heart and renal failure.

i am pretty sure most people are aware you can overdose on water. However they also know its Rare, takes enormous amounts of water, usually over a sustained period of time, and in no way possible from drinking a litre every few hours as was the suggestion it was in response to

I would be wary about assuming what most people know. Especially when lives depend on it.