"I might be having a heart attack."
As my breath came in shallow and short, I took stock of the symptoms best I could. Rapid heartbeat? Check. Sweaty palms? Check. Dizzyness? Check. Shortness of breath? Check. Chest pains? Check. Being the neurotic health nut I am, tallying up symptoms was easy. But as the list of warning signs grew, so did my panic, which turned out to be the heart of the problem anyway. Last Wednesday, I thought I was having a heart attack.While 22 years old? Yeah right. Three blood pressure readings, one electrocardiogram and a doctor's visit later, I confirmed my body had, in fact, siked me out. After announcing my blood pressure to be 108/66 and "perfect," the physician's assistant agreed I'd experienced a panic attack. Rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, difficulty breathing, dizziness, disconnect? All symptoms of a panic attack.
According to The Health Center's Web site, women are twice as likely to have panic attacks, which also seem to be gifts from your gene pool. When I had my first "attack" two weeks ago, family members began sharing their experiences. As it turns out, my father, his brother and his mom have all had bouts with anxiety attacks. It just seems to be one of those subjects no one talks about, hence this blog post. To those of you who get a flutter in your chest from stress, just know you're not alone.
There are many tools to manage your anxiety, and one of these methods or a combination might form the right plan for you. To ease your stress with a click, check out this delightful Meditation Station for soothing photos and sounds. More pro-active treatments can include:
For some of us, these treatments might seem like a threat to our perfectionist image. In which case, remember (a) perfectionism is impossible and (b) these are temporary tools to overpower your panic. Then again, integrating healthy practices such as ten minutes of meditation a day or becoming a Yogi mightn't be such a bad thing. In any case, it doesn't hurt to get examined by your physician to ensure what you're experiencing is actually a panic attack. Despite self-diagnosing myself as having a panic attack, I had a hard time believing there wasn't truly something wrong with my heart. A treatment plan and a physical gave me peace of mind.
In the past, I've read a bunch of garble on how stress negatively impacts your life, and now, in some ways, I believe it. Still, there is good stress and bad stress, I think, i.e. the good stress pushed me to ensure ethical decisions were made during my job as a news editor, while the bad stress increases my fear and hinders my enjoyment of this wonderful life. To some extent, worry works for me. Until it turns into panic.
