What on earth was wrong with me?

[Tiramisoo]

Around lunchtime today I felt a really strong feeling of stress. Tight-chested, just feeling very stressed generally. It lasted about two hours then went away. No identifiable trigger or cause. I do have anxiety, but that’s usually just intrusive thoughts. I’d been worrying about something this morning but nothing out the ordinary for me.

What could it have been? Has anyone had this before?

I’m pregnant, so I’ve wondered if it could be hormone related.

Sounds very much like a panic attack.

Can they last for two hours? I’ve never had a panic attack before. The only one I’ve witnessed was somebody who was hysterical, crying and inconsolable and it lasted maybe 10-15 minutes

Could be asthma - I developed it when pregnant.

It sounds like anxiety. I had really bad mental health during my pregnancy which included being so anxious to the point that I couldn’t properly enjoy my pregnancy or look forward to meeting my baby. It was so horrible. Maybe speak to your midwives about it. Have you been through a stressful life event recently or have you been triggered by a past one? Pregnancy hormones really can mess your brain up

I’m sorry to hear you went through that. I had an early miscarriage before we conceived this baby. All good so far with this little one and counting down the weeks to the 20 week scan now, just super worried about their wellbeing and hope they will be healthy and well xx

I have learnt to recognise some of the physical symptoms I have when my anxiety worsens.
Tight chested, and a tightness, and tenseness in my throat.
It can last for weeks to be honest, but sometimes just a day or two depending on what is causing the anxiety flare up. It's not something that can disappear within minutes though.