What does a panic attack feel like?

[Enigma52]

I'm in a hell of a mess here.

Hysterectomy in November, everything removed and on a hormone blocker ( letrozole).

No HRT allowed, due to secondary breast cancer cells in my lung.

I feel horrific. I think I'm having what I feel like are panic attacks at night and now during the day. I feet go warm or cold, my chest is burns , then my face and then dripping with sweat. I feel as though I can't breathe! Shaking, jittery, god I feel like I'm dying!

This went in for 2 hours last night!

It first happened last Friday and I went to a&e, i was so scared. They hooked me up to a heart monitor, did bloods, ECG etc and all fine.

I can't continue like this. I have no quality of life. GP has given me sertraline (25mg) for a week, then up to 50mg going forward.

Just don't know what to do!

Could it all be to lack of hormones??
Extreme anxiety?
😥😥

I don’t know. I was a lot younger when I had them, but I thought I was having a heart attack, despite being in perfectly health in my early 30s — violent palpitations and irregular heartbeat. GP sent me straight to a cardiac ward for an ECG, which was clear. Then GP asked me to tell him about my life, listened and said ‘You’re in denial about how much stress you’re under, but your body is feeling it’ and prescribed beta blockers,

Your temperature fluctuations and sweating sound more like hot flushes?

It could be, panic attacks vary person to person. I would always just check with a GP to confirm.

I had panic attacks, where i start being unable to swallow, do a weird breathing thing and think i can't breathe, then i wet myself and limbs contort (probably oxygen issues as i am breathing weird) 😂 don't get them so much now. But ive seen others that go completely silent and wide eyed in terror.

But once what i thought was a panic attack so i popped a diazepam to slow heart rate turned out to be sepsis 😬😬 so they can mimic various illnesses, if unsure always best to get all physical issues ruled out.

What do you do when it happens? When you breathe in does your stomach expand or does your chest lift up?

Agree that it sounds like the joys of the menopause. Try box breathing for five minutes to control your breathing and have a damp cloth to hand to wrap around your neck when you feel a hot flush starting, it can really help.

Op ask GP for propranolol. It stops the physical anxiety symptoms so you don’t feel so panicked.

Did they mention how much blood loss during surgery? They told me, I was wondering because low iron can contribute towards anxiety. Although my anxiety was horrendous before HRT after my hysterectomy. Sorry to hear that isn’t an option for you

sorry, reread and saw surgery was Nov so the blood loss won’t be an issue by now.

This sounds like menopause but the symptoms are extreme due to the hysterectomy throwing you right into it rather than it being a gradual process.

If it's "just" anxiety beta blockers will help;

The hot and cold and sweating sounds like the hot flushes I got during peri except they didn't last 2 hours.

I agree that sounds very menopausal. I have a friend who had a full hysterectomy and she got almost no guidance as to what it would feel like. It's criminal how doctors either don't have the data/training or don't really care what women feel.
Heart racing and palpitations is common, the heat, the sweating, the night-time disruption. I have one of those USB-powered fans from Amazon and use that in the night.
Keep talking to medical services, though. See if your GPs surgery has a menopause specialist. Mine does, and she's fantastic. Even if HRT isn't an option, it's clear you need some ways to mitigate this. Fluoxetine can be used to calm hot flushes, for example, I had that for a while (rather than sertraline - I think - I'm not a dr!).

Oh boy, this is brutal.

Actually don't know what to do!
I had everything tested last week.
Numerous CT scans due to pleural effusion on lung, including one last week.

Felt great Friday and yesterday, got so much done.

Today... feel like I'm dying!

I don't even know if I can take BB with this pleural effusion on lung.

Will email oncologists secretary on Tuesday but what to do now?

My legs feel like jelly.
Heat keeps hammering my chest and neck. Palpitations etc.

Do i call 111?
Ring the Christie hotline ( the hospital I'm under?) Maybe it's exteme anxiety due to meno and my lung issue?

Ring the Christie.

gp won't know what to do with cancer involved.

@Octavia64 yes I am.

I went to Christie hospital yesterday.
The fluid on lung requires draining again coupled with severe anxiety causing these horrific panic attacks.