What is happening to me?

[watermelonsugar11]

Hi, for the past few weeks I've been having random dizzy spells and I have no idea what's causing them. Had a full blood count done at GP, had blood pressure checked & ears all checked but everything was normal. It started again about an hour ago, I was sitting down with my little boy and i just suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe properly, I then started sweating really bad and the dizziness happened. Now an hour later I'm still lying on the sofa, heart rate hasn't dropped below 100 since then, still feel like I can't breathe (oxygen levels are bouncing from 96-98) and now feel super tired like I've not slept in days! Has anyone had this before? I feel completely wiped out!

Anxiety?

Have you made a diary of what symptoms you get and when? That might be helpful.

I do have anxiety so was wondering if it was anxiety attacks but it seems to come on even without triggers?

This is how my panic attacks present. Just out of the blue, not necessarily in response to anything.

Does it happen at a particular time of day - when you are hungry, for instance, or after a meal?

Yeah I have done that! That's what my gp told me to do while I was waiting to get booked in for bloods. It's very random, no pattern to it at all and there's nothing specific that seems to trigger it, I've even kept a food diary in case it was something I was eating

Anxiety attack/panic attack sounds exactly like mine

No, there's no pattern to it at all. It will just happen randomly each time

@VariationsonaTheme @GrowThroughWhatYouGoThrough Is there anything I can do to help them? I think I make myself worse because as soon as the dizziness comes on I start getting anxious in case I faint while I'm home alone with my little boy

How old are you? Could be perimenopause?

There are some breathing/grounding techniques which help, I also take propranolol which help massively.

I'm 21 so i don't think so

I've learnt to accept that it's happening and tell myself it will pass I'm not going to die and that works for me I feel in control and find they pass quicker. You could try some grounding techniques.
I've suffered for years I take anxiety medication but every so often they still happen.
I've also learnt to pick the phone up and tell my mum/husband/friend it's happening and they just take to me/at me until it passes

I take fluoxetine which I thought was helping, I've been on and off antidepressants since I was 14 and fluoxetine seems to be the only one that doesn't give me awful side effects and make me feel worse! Maybe I need to speak to a GP again and try a few more... I tried the one where you say 3 things you can see, 3 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear etc and keep going until you calm down but it didn't work

It might be anxiety/panic attacks, but it might also be worth getting checked for atrial fibrillation.

Sounds very much like anxiety. I get very dizzy before a panic attack.

Thank you for that, I think I'll try this and see if it helps. Afterwards I'm always thinking I've got through it numerous of times before so why do I make myself worse but it's so hard to put yourself in a positive mindset instead of freaking out, I definitely need to try that! I don't really have anyone to ring, I have my partner but he works 12 hour shifts and can't answer his phone or my nan but she's quite unwell at the moment so I don't like to bother her. My best friend passed away last year so I'm unable to speak to her about things now

Hang on, are we sure the doctors have ruled out all possible physical causes yet? Sometimes diagnosing weird stuff like this is a tedious multi-stage process where you go to the doctor, get tests, go back to discuss them, get different tests, go back, maybe have a referral to check something out, etc. (though sometimes to a doctor who actually has the patient in front of them, it's simpler than that and they can confidently diagnose anxiety). Anxiety is definitely a possible (maybe even likely?) cause, but I'd want to be sure that it wasn't something else first.

I don't want to encourage you to feel even more anxious about this and end up on a wild goose chase, because it's probably nothing serious, but I speak as someone with lifelong mental health and anxiety problems who also put symptoms of coeliac disease down to anxiety for years on end 🤣

I have no idea what tests they've even done, I'm
Assuming iron levels/thyroid things like that but everything is always put down to anxiety with my doctors so I was actually shocked they even done bloods for me. Because my anxiety is very bad towards anything health related (only since I lost my best friend this started) it seems whenever I have a problem they just tell me anxiety causes physical symptoms too and leave it at that

are you taking naproxen or ibuprofen? could be a side effect.

but I agree with pp, panic/anxiety attacks can be like that. they feel very physical.

No, I don't take either as I have asthma and ibuprofen flares it up

Yeah I know what you mean, it can get frustrating at times. It's true that anxiety can cause symptoms that look like all kinds of things, and if you have the kind of anxiety that likes to manifest in physical symptoms it can one day decide to pop up as headaches, or diarrhoea, or fainting 🙄 But then anxious people can also get migraine, or coeliac disease, or low blood pressure. It's like it's a system custom-designed to cause confusion and worry 🤣

So you have had all the various blood tests that have ruled out any obvious problems.
Hopefully that has reassured you. BP and Sats all fine so that’s good.
It really does sound like panic attacks but if it continues and your anxiety is still a problem go back to GP who can decide if an ECG or any other investigations will reassure/ identity any other physical problems.💐

@ClumpingBambooIsALie yep it really is🤣 it's always difficult not knowing whether somethings just a new anxiety symptom or if it's something else! I'll make another appointment and see what the GP says :)

Yeah it's definitely reassured me! I start counselling next week so I may give it a few sessions and see if that helps & if not I'll go back to the GP and see if they want to do any further tests! There's no appointments left anyways until the end of June so I'll give it until then :)