Bipolar Support Group

Hey everyone,

I have had a terrible day today. I couldn't breath properly in the morning and started feeling spaced and unreal with some bizarre thoughts and feelings although it was not psychosis. I thought I was having a heart attack because my heart was racing even when I didn't feel anxious. I went to the hospital and was in ER all day. They gave me a chest eray and two EKG's and I just felt terrible/weird/spaced/gone. I had blood tests and was sure I was a gonner. I thought it was heart disease - but in the end the main doctor said I do have a racing pulse at the moment but he is sure it is not a heart attack or heart/cardio related. I just don't know what to do at home - can my bipolar really fool me THAT much or is there something wrong? I feel very out of control and vague in my head and just do not feel like myself at all??? I feel like an anxious ghost.

It is seroquel time again tonight I think, I haven't been on any meds for a while now.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Could it be anxiety from the bipolar?? I wish I knew what was going on.

I have experienced a similar episode, and feel it was anxiety for me, I couldn't stay at the hospital for all the tests, I was in a real mess and struggle to talk or look at people, so I left through the ambulance door. But my body and mind have done some strange stuff over the years. Just my experience...

Hope you are feeling better....

thats a classic panic attack.so dont worry.its not a psychosis or a heart attack.of course im not a doctor so its great that you went to check it.i get them really often even im on meds and esp when im in hypomanic state .sometimes whole day hours and hours wave after wave.you really feel like you are dying,heart is racing ,dizziness,sweating,shaking , hard to breathe chestpains ,etc etc etc just check google and you find great info about it.ive been in er so many times because of it.but its been always a panic attack.it really feels you are getting "nuts" and im always afraid that im "losing it" or die or get an heart attack,even i know what it is.for me good way to get rid of it is counting. 1x1=1 1x2=2 etc etc as long as i feel better.but what ever you can do to distract your brains usually helps .its hard to learn to control it ,but there is so many good meds and ways to control it.its hard but only way to deal with it is to be tough and convince yourself that its ok.hopefully you feel better and try to talk about it with someone else ,and ask can you call someone and just talk till it goes past if you get it again.its been a saviour to me

Yep... I have been admitted to the emergency room by ambulance... rolled via wheel chair from my work cubby to a nurse office first... huge building- they tested my oxygen level... really all they could do -98%... I couldn't breathe... I could not! My heart was racing, my chest was tight and squeezinbg the life out of me... it was so scary and so real. I thought it was an ahsma attack... They even gave me oxygen- nothing helped...

Do the whole testing thing in the hospital... they did find a heart murmur- was mitral valve prolapse- but they diagnosed me with a panic attack. This was before I got into the psychiatric realm of help... I was not happy with that diagnosis because it implied I was crazy- making the symptoms up even (in my uneducated mind at the time)... The symptoms and experience are as real as a heart attack!

I would have many more panic attacks in my life... now I have become able to "tell myself I'm having an attack" and slowly calm down- and take anxiety meds... once you recognize them - you can sometimes curve their effect (in my experience).

So sorry you had to go through that - it's just so scary and leaves you feeling very raw and detached- it's like a trauma worthy of PTSD symptoms! Post here anytime about your experience- hope you have some good help to work through this. Peace to you.