Hi everyone,
I just wanted to ask if I could possibly be having panic attacks and not knowing it?
The symptoms that I'm having are mostly racing heartbeat and heart palpitations. When I say heart palpitations, I mean that I can notice my heartbeat, and sometimes it feels like it is beating out of order and skipping beats. Sometimes my heart wakes me up early in the morning (say 3AM) beating fast and sometimes it makes it difficult to get back to sleep.
But the heart palpitations are not permanent. The last episode started last week Friday afternoon and it is now Monday afternoon. They are about as bad now as they were on Friday afternoon, although they were generally better over the weekend. They never went away completely over the weekend.
So why am I here? I'm at my wits end with these palpitations. I have had them for about 18 months now. Last year, I saw an endocrinologist and cardiologist about them. They did a full battery of tests, including blood tests and heart function tests. They could find nothing to explain my palpitations and did not observe them. The cardiologist in particular was very unconcerned, basically his attitude was well you aren't having them now, so not an issue.
So there is nothing physically wrong with me and yet they persist. I've tried experimenting with my diet, eating more or eating less, or not eating this or not eating that, and nothing really seems to be correlate with them.
Stress might to a certain extent, but even that I'm not sure about. I had a stressful event on Sunday morning and that definitely made them worse, but that also doesn't mean that stress causes them. Sometimes they happen when there is nothing stressful and nothing that I am fearful of. I never associate them with anxiety. Sometimes I have had episodes of severe stress and/or anxiety but no palpitations.
I don't know for certain whether I have an anxiety disorder, I thought perhaps I'd ask the experts here.
Other information that may or may not be pertinent - I had what I would call a traumatic childhood. My Adverse Childhood Experiences score is 4. I have seen mental health professionals in the past, and did have been to more than one psychotherapist. Two of them in particular really helped me. I am not seeing any mental health professionals now. I do at least 30 minutes of mindfulness meditation every day. Sometimes this slows my heartbeat, but doesn't stop the palpitations.
