Any ideas?

[eurochick]

My mum is having some strange episodes. She wakes up in the night and feels like she can't breathe, she then starts shaking uncontrollably. She has had no appetite since these episodes started.

My nan (her mum) has said she had something similar a couple of times and the dr just said "panic attack". It could be that but she doesn't have anything particularly stressful going on at the moment.

She is in her early 60s and in generally good health. However, in the past she has had cancer twice (breast and then secondary bone cancer in her neck - the surgical scarring from the latter does occasionally make swallowing food difficult).

She is currently refusing to go to the dr. I am, of course, terrified that the cancer is back for a third go in some form.

Any ideas?

To be honest I don't know. I have had severe depression and bouts of anxiety though. For me it started with physical symptoms, sudden loss of appetite, nausea,then panic attacks - largely over my health and actually triggered by the 7 year anniversary of the death of my mum to cancer.

I didn't realise it was depression. I had lots of vague aches and pains eventually i became suicidal. Eventually and thankfully, my GP diagnosed depression. I took antidepressants, I'm still on them, and thankfully I haven't looked back. I feel fine now.

It's entirely possible for mental health issues to cause physical symptoms such as you describe. Your mum must go to her GP to rule out physical causes and address her anxieties if this is indeed the cause. Hope this helps x

Thanks. She had been free of the attacks for a week and so thought she had seen the back of them but then had another one last night, so she has said she will go to the dr now.

They sound really scary - she just can't get her breath at all. She wakes up light headed with her ears ringing, so I'm thinking maybe sleep apnea and those are oxygen-deprivation symptoms.