All of a sudden, I felt a tremendous wave of fear for no reason at all. My heart was pounding, my chest hurt, and it was getting harder to breathe. I thought I was going to die."

"I'm so afraid. Every time I start to go out, I get that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach and I'm terrified that another panic attack is coming or that some other, unknown terrible thing was going to happen."

As described above, the symptoms of a panic attack appear suddenly, without any apparent cause. They may include

* racing or pounding heartbeat (palpitations);
* chest pains;
* stomach upset;
* dizziness, lightheaded
* difficulty breathing, a sense of feeling smothered;
* tingling or numbness in the hands;
* hot flashes or chills;
* dreamlike sensations or perceptual distortions;
* terror: a sense that something unimaginably horrible is about to occur and one is powerless to prevent it;
* a need to escape;
* fear of losing control and doing something embarrassing; and
* fear of dying.


Panic attacks may be symptoms of an anxiety disorder. These attacks are a serious health problem in the U.S. At least 1.7% of adult Americans, or about 3 million people, will have panic attacks at some time in their lives, with the peak age at which people have their first panic attack (onset) being 15 to 19 years. Another fact about panic is that this symptom is strikingly different from other types of anxiety; panic attacks are so very sudden and often unexpected, appear to be unprovoked, and are often disabling.

Panic attacks in children may result in the child's grades declining, avoiding school and other separations from parents, as well as substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, plans, and/or actions.



Drug rehab

I started suffering PANIC attacks 2 years ago associated with occasional chest pain and "fluttering" heart rythms and feeling dizzy especially after riding in an elevator... This would cause what I thought was a mentally induced "Panic Attack" or Anxiety Attack in which I would tense up, twist my hair, run my hands through my hair, and generally want to lay down and hope it would go away.

Well, after being hospitalized twice for "Low Potassium" and an 18 month ordeal of various tests I now know what is wrong and the treatment has now worked for about 4 months now... no more panic attacks / anxiety attacks.

I have Conn's Syndrome which is a trouble in the Adrenal Glands in which my adrenals overproduce hormones such as adrenaline and aldosterone which caused loss of potassium (abnormal fluttery feeling in chest occasionally, feeling of falling and quick stop in the chest, muscle twitches / spasms) and causes hightented blood pressure and anxiety.

I am now on low dose spironolactone and I have completely turned around (in about 2 weeks after starting) and no longer have any of these symptoms... no more chest issues, no more anxiety attacks.

I had ALL of these symptoms (previously posted)
* racing or pounding heartbeat (palpitations);
* chest pains;
* stomach upset;
* dizziness, lightheaded
* difficulty breathing, a sense of feeling smothered;
* tingling or numbness in the hands;
* hot flashes or chills;
* dreamlike sensations or perceptual distortions;
* terror: a sense that something unimaginably horrible is about to occur and one is powerless to prevent it;
* a need to escape;
* fear of losing control and doing something embarrassing; and
* fear of dying.

Just a thought since I have seen some posts that describe some of these exact symptoms... Easy Blood test to see if your aldosterone / renin levels are OK and if your potassium is at or below 3.5 on the scale. If you have low or zero renin, high normal to high aldosterone and borderline to low potassium you MAY have a physical issue similar to mine.

Conn's syndrome