I won’t bore you with the whole long story, but for two years…I haven’t felt like my normal self. Yes I was happy, active, engaged with my friends and family and especially my kids and husband. However, at night…like clockwork, as I lay down to fall asleep it started. Horrible heart palpitations and dizziness. I could have sworn I was about to have a massive heart attack. So much so that one evening it was so bad at 3am – I drove myself, in my pajamas to the emergency room while on vacation in Palm Springs.
It wasn’t a heart attack…and six hours later I left the emergency room with a prescription drug to take once I got back home. I looked it up – it was for Panic Attacks.
Well, I hate to say this, but I don’t have Panic Attacks. There wasn’t a chance in heck that that could manifest itself in such a way that for almost 2 years I feared going to sleep at night because of what happened to my body and head the moment I laid down. If I was sitting up, all was well. If i was propped up in bed next to my husband watching a show – all good.
But after a few months my husband started to use a headlamp to take my pulse while I tried to fall asleep, he tried to observe me with the flashlight from his iPhone..anything to help figure out what was going on. (later I found out that anxiety and panic attacks can manifest in a way that makes you think you are having a heart attack! ugh)
So I went to my doctor. All of this started when I was 48 years old. I am now 51. So, I am sure most of you can get what my doctor said. Menopause. Of course, its the wonderful scapegoat I think most doctors use when they can’t figure it out.
Well lucky for me I have a great, dogged ,YOUNG doctor, who isn’t even close to being at an age where menopause could happen…she is in the height of child bearing years! So despite knowing a lot about menopause, because she is smart, she said “lets not chalk this up to menopause – it just doesn’t seem to fit”.
I love my doctor. I’ve told so many friends about her I think she now has about 10 new patients…and I think they now all love her too!
So for 18 months we did test after test…we started with Cardiology. Might as well start with the heart if you think you are having heart attacks. Getting into specialists was not easy and was very time consuming. One appointment took a month to get in. Then from there the other various appointments had 1.5 to 2 month waits. After 8 months, I officially had a diagnosis – my heart was great, in perfect condition…no heart attacks for me! GREAT!!!
Huge relief.
My mom’s side of the family is known for their bad hearts sadly. A heart attack took my grandfather at 50 so I never got to meet him and took my Godfather I loved so much, when I was only 27. I have an uncle who has had quadruple bypass surgery. A heart condition would not have been out of the question.
So if not heart, then could it actually be a panic attack? Anxiety? I didn’t believe it, but we decided I should start seeing a therapist and see if perhaps that was the culprit.
Why Not Me 