So today I was driving the whole family in the car and my heart suddenly starting beating really fast and hard. I started to have a stabbing pain in my chest and I could not catch my breath. Then I started to feel dizzy, lightheaded and my arms started going all tingly. I was on a busy freeway so my husband helped me steer off the freeway into the grass. Once the beating stopped I was shaking all over and breathing was a little labored but I was better. Now we are home and all is well I just feel pretty worn out. My husband thinks that once I had the racing heartbeat I got scared and had a panic attack bc I was driving all my kids on the freeway. I think I may have had a PA but after I had the trouble breathing. So I am debating if I should get checked out, would you? I had a well check a few months back and everything was great, except my weight but I am on weight watchers and have lost about 18 lbs but I am still pretty overweight, I have a little ways to go. Any ideas?
It could have been a minor heart attack, a panic attack, or sometimes women get either irregular heartbeat or rapid heartbeat. My mom suffers from rapid heartbeat, her symptoms are very similar to what you experienced. Her's is benign, but she had to go through extensive testing to prove that.
Go to a doctor right away and rule out heart attack. You will probably need additional testing--but better safe than sorry!
Marilyn is right. Please go to the doctor and talk it through. You need to get a cardiologist to give you a series of tests, including a stress test.
Please don't put this off.
Dawn
i don't understand as a wife and mother why you wouldn't be at the emergency room right now.
yes, probably a panic attack (how funny, this was on General Hospital on Friday - i know, no basis in reality, but it was exactly as you described) but who are we? not doctors or nurses. PLEASE get checked out. NOW.
I would probably go get it checked out (or at a minimum call your dr). You are correct that it could have been anxiety but you don't want to take any chances.
Here's a better idea than asking us:
Call the 24/7 nurse advice line through your hospital & tell them what happened. They'll triage you over the phone then tell you whether to:
- go to the ER immediately or
- go to urgent care today or
- make a first thing in the morning apt or
- see your doctor sometime this week or
- treat at home
And what symptoms CHANGE this (meaning go ER immediately, see doctor sooner, etc.).
LOVE the 24/7 nurse advice line :)
Note... If you haven't used them before this is NOT the weekend answering service through doctors offices, but an actual nurse staffed 24/7/365 department in the hospital.
You need to get checked asap. With this being heart month every magazine has run stories about heart attacks and what you had certainly sounds like one. It could also be a PA but its not something you can afford to misdiagnose at home.
Yes, go to the ER or urgent care today. Better to feel a bit silly than to discover later that you should've gone. They will probably not be able to find anything and if that's the case I'd make an appointment with your primary care physician for a more thorough check up.
So what that your racing heart led to a panic attack. Why was your heart racing in the first place?
I have missed beats and often have an irregular heart rate. I went thru numerous tests with a cardiologist which showed the cause for them is benign. What a relief.
Of course, you should. And not just with a primary care - a cardiologist.
Any heart arrythmia (irregular heart beats) should be checked out. Preferably immediately to the incident. That would have been the time to head to the nearest ER. Sometimes you don't get second chances!! There can be several reasons why this happened, but no doubt it was probably electrical in the conduction mechanism. Sometimes caffeine or cough or cold medicines can trigger things like this. Things that have stimulants, some energy drinks, and it could have been an anxiety attack, but it could be something in your heart that caused the anxiety. The chest pain is definitely a red flag, shortness of breath, numbness, dizziness, etc. all symptoms of a heart "attack", just because you are in your 30's, you are not immune. If your husband wasn't there to get you steered off the road, you could have had an accident. Many accidents happen as a result of a "medical condition" while driving, but they often don't live to tell the story.
Atrial fibrillation can cause these symptoms and sometimes yoga excercises can slow the heart down, (of course, driving down the road, you can't do that).
An EKG can often determine if you have had a heart attack, but you might need some further testing and wear a monitor for a couple of days to see what you heart is doing. Sometimes an electrolyte imbalance, like low or high potassium can trigger these episodes. Sometimes a virus can cause problems and also bacterial infections too.
Do get checked out, hopefully this is an isolated incident, but one must take this as a warning that something isn't right.
You absolutely should go now. You should have gone then. It has red flags all over. Call your regular doc. He should know and maybe meet you there. It is something. It's is not nothing. It could be transient and come back in the middle of the night, full force. It sounds like a conduction problem.
An irregular heartbeat can be real trouble.
Your symptoms sound like a heart attack.
You were very lucky your heart evened out again.
(You are also lucky you didn't lose consciousness and crash the car.)
If it hadn't you might not be here to be telling us about it.
All is NOT well.
Consider this a wake up call.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT WHILE YOU CAN!
You might need a pace maker or some medication or a stent or bypass surgery.
Do not wait.
See a cardiologist and get it checked out immediately.
If you had a mini heart attack, your blood will have enzymes in it that indicate heart tissue was damaged but they need to sample your blood ASAP.
See a cardiologist.
Or go back to your Primary Care Physician and get referred to one.
You need it properly diagnosed.
Or go to an ER, today.
Heart attack symptoms in women, are different than in men.
I had read an article about it in "Prevention" magazine last year.
You should go to an ER.
Definitely get checked out. I hope to hear that all is well with your health and it was indeed just a panic attack. I suffer from episodes such as this daily and luckily for me it is not cardiac related at all but rather from my anxiety and other disorders. Please get things checked out just to make sure you're okay. I'd hate to hear otherwise.
Absolutely go today and get it checked out at the ER or Urgent Care.
It could be something as simple as you are dehydrated or it could be something more severe.
No one will think you silly if it turns out to be nothing serious for having gone in. The doctors and nurses take heart things pretty serious and would rather you come in and they find nothing serious than have you die if it is serious.
I've been in a couple times. One time I found out I was very low on potassium and something else. I had been pretty sick and couldn't take the time off from work to rest and get completely over it. I had my problems on the way to work even. The second time I had an inflamed and spasming muscle bundle that's around the shoulder, neck and arm..in exactly where you hear of the classic left arm and body signs of a heart attack. I was hooked up to the EEG etc and nothing came up with my heart thankfully. The muscles were pinching blood vessels and making my arm turn colors and it hurt like heck.
But do go in today. It's not something to play with.
All the best! Hope they find nothing serious.
always have it checked out....no harm in that.
but serious harm in ignoring events such as this.
it does sound like a panic attack.
panic attacks should be checked out.
go.
khairete
S.
Safety and health should be priority .
Go get checked out. Maybe it was a panic attack. If not, then you are on the road toward a recovery if it was more.
Good luck and go see the Dr ASAP
Yes, please get it checked out.
Go to the emergency room or Urgent Care.
Don't wait.
You want them to rule out a heart attack.
Don't let them just "talk to you". Get an EKG to make sure it wasn't a
heart attack.
Heart attacks don't wait.....they attack. Please let us know how you are
doing.
sounds like a panic attack. I had my first one last Friday and its so scary. I went and had a ekg done just to be sure. My ekg was perfect but I have had 2 more since then. I just started xanax and lexapro for them. If it happens again xanax is a miracle drug for panic attacks.Panic Attacks make you feel like you are going to die and its the only way to explain it!!! I wouldnt wish them on my worst enemy. Hope you get to geeling better. Its crazy what anxiety can do to the body, arms going numb, cant breath, rapid heart rate,sweating, chills. It sucks!!!
Please get it checked out!
Cold be symptoms of a heart attack. You may want to get that checked out.
