What the hell happened does this sound like a panic attack

[wtfhappenedtomeyest]

I had something really strange and scary happen last night. I was in the garden in the evening with the kids, I felt really irritated as ds was going on and on at me, but before this I was fine, I sat down and started to feel lightheaded and not quite right so I said to dh im going inside to sit down, once I got inside I can only describe what felt like a fire starting under my skin, my skin was getting hotter and hotter and it was so intense my bra touching my skin was too much, it felt sore, it was all over my torso mainly and the back of my head, but weirdly I didn’t feel hot, I had a weird cool feeling down below, it was so so strange. The burning felt like it was just under my skin, and I could’ve ripped my own skin off it was that intense, I tried to lye down with the fan on me but that felt really uncomfortable, I was trembling and my eyes seemed to be twitching side to side, I had to take some deep breaths, I thought i was going to have a seizure and I was panicking dh would bring the kids in and they’d see me like this. After a few minutes the burning feeling gradually started to calm down but I could still feel the warmth/stinging on my skin for a while after. After about 10 mins my body had returned to normal and I managed to go outside and tell dh what happened.
I had a really stressful day yesterday, felt anxious all day and haven’t been well this week with some kind of inner ear fullness, my ears keep popping and I had a couple of days of dizziness.

Has anyone ever experience anything like this ? I’m wondering if it was a panic attack ?

Sounds like it might have been heatstroke to me. Glad you are ok.

I used to have weird 'panic attacks' when kids were small. First one I ever had was coming home from holiday in France. It had been a very hot day driving and we were staying in a motel with 3 young kids. When everyone was in bed, including me, I started to feel faint, my heart was beating so fast, I could breathe fine but I felt like I was going to lose consciousness. I lay on the ground and raised my legs and tried to breathe slowly to calm down my heart. It went on for quite a while I think, maybe an hour. It was very scary. After that, it happened quite a few times over about 5 years, maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I learned how to handle it better and also did have blood tests and heart monitor for a day but all tests were negative (didn't actually have an incident while I was on heart monitor though). Gradually as kids got older these incidents stopped. I also got better at distracting myself, thinking about relaxing things for a while until it went away and they got shorter/ more bearable.

I think the stress of the heat combined with long term stress and short term emotional stress maybe just sets your body into a spiral and this is how it copes. It's not an obvious or traditional panic attack but maybe a way of physically responding to stress.

It's worth doing tests just to check all the obvious things are OK though.

Yes i forgot to mention my heart was beating quite fast, I read online it could’ve been some kind of flight or fight response, it was just the way it came on from nowhere and how hot my skin was, it was honestly like nothing I’ve experience before and I could’ve ripped my skin off, it felt sore and like it was stinging

I suffer with both panic attacks and fainting and it sounds more like the latter to me. The key thing being the hot and cold you describe - I havent heard of that being a common panic attack feeling, but it is a part of fainting or almost fainting.

when I faint or almost faint it isn’t quick, for several minutes I have the most awful and confusing hot feeling, and see stars, and feel sick. It’s because my blood pressure drops extremely low and blood pools in my lower body, so my brain doesn’t get enough blood/oxygen and sends all sorts of wacky signals out.

in my opinion, the heat and stress got to you so you became faint, without actually losing consciousness

Interesting I never considered fainting, well because as you say, I didn’t actually faint. The cold feeling was so weird, and just around my groin area?! I don’t ever want to experience it again I was so frightened

It could be a stress thing, made worse by the heat. I hope you are feeling better now? I don't know, we're not used to this intense heat and I think it is making some of us feel unwell.
Regarding strange panic attack symptoms, I remember when my kids were small I was watching a psychological horror film and all of a sudden was so overwhelmed with panic that I had to rush outside and couldn't go back indoors for quite a while. It's never happened before or since. I watched that film again years later and it wasn't that scary!! I did used to have some weird intrusive thoughts when my kids were young, I don't anymore. I don't think it's that uncommon from what I've read.

Thank you I’m feeling better now but also keep analysing any feeling I have worrying it’s going to happen again. It’s funny you mention intrusive thoughts because I’m having them a lot lately, either that I’m going to die or my children are. I am medicated for anxiety and ocd and it’s normally working fine but the last few weeks the instrusive thoughts have come back. Yesterday I felt really anxious all day due to some personal stuff going on and felt really stressed, hence me wondering if it was a panic attack. I’m sorry you had that weird episode too, it sounds frightening.