so miserable, not sure what to do now.(long)

[patsdeadfrank]

i have posted a couple of time on other threads about how rubbish i have been feeling with the fainting and things. i went to my midwife and was really honest and because i had mentioned it before she sent up for monitoring. i actually had an episode on the way there but i thought great at least they will see.
my heart rate was high as it always is in these this makes me feel like i am panicking but my bloods and pressure and baby and everything else was fine.
so they did the your pregnant thing could be a touch of hypo-tension and sent me home, i actually cried leaving because i know its more than that but what could i do.
so i go home feeling a bit better and carry on about the day and the evening comes and its starts to kick in again the weird off feelings, like my brain just cant focus and i know its coming and i should just get to sleep because that usually staves it off. so i did, about 30 mins later i wake up my heart is racing i am freaking out everything is spinning. that passes after about 5-10 mins then the uncontrollable shaking and feeling like my legs are going to collapse.
i call antenatal and i go in really sure they will help me because this is brand new, they do the usual stuff and then told me i can go home. they think that maybe its a heart thing...but the obstatriction (sic) actually said to me since your pregnancy has been normal you prob just had a bad dream.
they have referred me to a consultant on monday who is going to refer me to a cardiologist but how long is that all going to take?
when i was leaving they said if it happens again come back bla bla bla and i said for what? and they said maybe someone will have a different idea.
i sobbed the whole was out and in the taxi home i really cant keep feeling like this every day and being told i am just pregnant, i know every pregnancy is different but i have had four and never had anything like this, never wishing i actually had something like pre-eclampsia or something so they can get this baby out of me and i can get back to feeling like a normal human being.
i just want someone to say oh thats a symptom ahhh dont worry you have this we can sort it, so now i am telling them everything i feel all the time and probably just confusing it all.
sorry its so long but i just cant stop crying and wondering are they just going to leave me like this for another 5 and a half wks.

Sorry, don't have any suggestions but you seem to be having a really rough time.
How far along are you? Do you think these might be panic attacks? I have no experience of this at all.
I hope you get on ok with the consultant on Monday.

no i dont think so. i mean i am not ruling anything out but to be fair i dont have any reason to be panicking especially not when i am asleep. but i went to the doctor a few years ago because of a thinking i was going crazy and he said it was panic attacks i mentioned this when the midwife said thats it felt like when she wakes up in the night with a racing heart beat, but she has a heart condition. they were surprised the gp didnt look in to it further at the time and thats why they are now saying that it could be a heart thing being made worse by the pregnancy, but thats negated by the fact that i have had 3 normal pregnancies with none of these symptoms. i am nearly 35wks.

Have you had a 24 hour tape at any stage since this has started or even a simple ECG? I would see what your consultant suggests on Monday but if he doesn't recommend one of these, particularly the 24 hour tape, I would ask for one to put your mind at rest.

24 Hour tape woild be attached in the morning for obviously a 24 hour period and would capture any irregularites. Sorry your feeling so bad. If it happens over night/tomorrow why not go to A + E instead and they would automatically do an ECG with your symptoms.

Could you possibly be anemic?

www.emedicinehealth.com/anemia/page3_em.htm

Though nowhere near as severe as your symptoms, i've had palpatations, dizzy spells and lethargy. Have been taking 2 spatones a day( a lot easier on the system than iron tabs) and have felt 100 times better.

Was going to suggest aneamia too, I'm aneamic and have exactly those symptoms.

That sounds so scary and horrible :(

Hope you get it sorted soon.

The first thing that came to mind when reading your op was panic attacks. They are grim and you can have them when you are asleep and be woken up by them.

If you are stressed with the pregnancy panic attacks are definitely a possibility. They really can feel like you are dying :(

Hope you feel better soon x

I agree with Methe, sounds like panic attacks. I had depression in my first pg and ended up having them, which was weird because I'm not normally a stressy person, but I would just end up in a ball on the floor feeling like I was having a heart attack - anything could set it off, sometimes it seemed like it was nothing at all :(

Go to your GP and ask their opinion, and don't let them fob you off. Sounds horrible (and is) but it's better to find out and get treatment than struggle with it. If you are worried about your physical symptoms it might just have triggered something else/might be getting to you more than you realise. If it does turn out to be anxiety you can get a sort of antihistamine which makes you sleepy for when you're feeling a bit freaky and it won't harm the pregnancy at all.

I hope you manage to get something sorted out, things sound pretty dreadful x

I'm anaemic too & have similar symptoms. GP's sending me for a 24 hour tape but I didn't feel I need as the iron supplements have helped loads.

The dizziness can be pretty bad & last for an hour or more. The whole thing is horrible. Hope you feel better soon.

Please keep going back and get this investigated properly. I experienced symptoms like this for over 2 years and was told constantly by various GP's that it was anxiety and panic attacks. I was waking in the night feeling hot, dizzy, racing pulse, panicky etc. I knew it wasn't a panic attack, but no-one believed me. I eventually lost my sight during one of the dizzy spells (only for a few minutes but it was very scary) and suddenly they started to take me seriously. After various investigations they discovered I had a muscle wasting disease which caused respiratory failure - the symptoms I was getting were a result of lack of oxygen to my brain. I'm fine now and with treatment don't get these symptoms any more. I'm not telling you this to worry you (I'm sure you don't have the same as me), but I just want to make sure you don't get fobbed off. Whatever the cause, they need to realise the impact it's having on your life and treat it properly. It's horrible feeling like this and not knowing what to do about it. I was extremely relieved when they diagnosed me as it meant I wasn't going mad and that finally people believed me.

I did feel similar when I was anemic during the middle part of my pregnancy but the iron tablets sorted that out. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the cause could be a number of things so keep hassling your doctors/midwives etc. Good luck, will be thinking of you.

thank you for your replies. i have had loads of blood tests done over the last few days and assume that if it i was anaemic that would have shown up? the last one they did was for my thyroid which made me chuckle because thats like the last thing they check when they no other idea.
i had another episode earlier and thought maybe i should just go back in and become the massive pain in the ass patient, but it wasnt as bad as last nights and i was able to breath through it and just close my eyes till my heart calmed down rather than panic.
i think that on monday i will just take my dp and just not leave until they do something, he is v worried for me. more at the down turn in my mood than any thing i think (i am not really a crier but now seem not not be able to stop). they did mention a 24hr thing in the hospital last night, but said there was nothing that could be done over the weekend and they did do an ecg but after i had been there for 4 hrs and was feeling better and was normal though my heart rate was high when i first got there. that was nearly an hour after the event.
i am not fussy what it is, if its panic attacks i will take it, if its anaemia that would be fine as well or a heart thing is great i just want to know so it can be sorted and i can feel better and actually enjoy my last bit of pregnancy. rather that wishing it was over or trying to think of very stupid things that might bring on early labour. have also contacted my neurology nurse in case it can be linked to my epilepsy some how though the people in the hospital dont seem to think so.

I wouldn't bank on them telling you straight away that you are anemeic as the first time i was diagnosed with anemia the hosp didn't tell me - they just informed my MW and she told me at my next appointment which i think was about a month after my bloods were taken. Which is a bit daft as a couple of weeks previously i'd been to my GP because i'd been having panicky episodes, palpitations, crazy BP and dizzy spells an he had referred me to the hosp for emergency heart monitoring (which actually made me felt more panicky because of all the fuss that was being made - oh that and having to amuse a v bored 2 year old in the hospital all afternoon!!!) Now i assume the "mystery" was just caused by me being anemic as 2 weeks after when my MW told me to take iron sups, a (fortunate) mess up with my prescription and a v fortunate convo with the pharmacist who recommended Spatone i started feeling a bit better. Even though a month later i was still anemic - this time the hosp wrote to me directly about a week and a half after taking my bloods so i doubled up on the Spatone and am now feeling just 40 weeks pregnant knackered rather than other worldly - which i felt before!!!

hmmmm well they gave me my results to put in my notes. i could check if i knew which ones meant iron lvls. i will have an internet google.

pat it's Hb or haemoglobin you need to look at, and it should be over 11 although different labs have slightly different parameters.

my hb is 12.9 so guess that is ok. had my consultation and have to say i had a very good doc. she pretty much said this is your fourth pregnancy you know if something isnt right. she also said i can do bugger all for you because pregnancy wise you are fine and the baby is fine. she then spent 25 mins physically chasing down a cardiologist and a neurologist and then putting the paper work threw for an emergency trace.
so even though nothing has changed i am feeling a lot more positive because someone actually seemed to listen and understand that i cant carry on like this and its not all in my head. (though she did tell me that a side effect of my medication was anxiety which i didnt know, but why would it get worse now?)
she also told me to go to my gp because he maybe able to help me with the symptoms in the mean time, she was very lovely and very apologetic that she couldnt do more. thanks for your sympathy and advice guys it has helped.xxx

I had hyperactive thyroid and was like that. Dizzy, racing pulse, hot flashes and wobbly legs. Hope they sort you out soon!