You suddenly feel an intense shortness of breath that won’t go away; pressure is constantly pushing down on your chest; your hands are hot and sweaty; your heart is beating so fast that you are afraid you are going to pass out; you feel like the temperature has increased; and you feel tingling in your extremities. “Oh no! I must be having a heart attack,” is the first thought that penetrates your conscious awareness. But is it really a heart attack?
The scenario I have just described is very often misdiagnosed. The symptoms of a heart attack are very similar to those of a panic attack and often a person does not know the difference. I speak from personal experience when I tell you that experiencing your first panic attack can be very frightening. Often you don’t know what you should do or if it will go away on its own. I might not have known that either if I hadn’t witnessed it beforehand with my sister. Regardless of whether these symptoms are from panic or heart problems, you definitely need to learn how to recognize the signs so you can be better prepared in the future. Early detection is the key.
I have lived with panic attacks for many years now and they can be very debilitating. The first sign of a panic attack is shortness of breath. What that means is that you will feel as if you can not catch your breath, and when you do breathe, it will be more of a gasp as opposed to normal breathing.
When I first started getting panic attacks, they generally lasted for about 10 minutes, but as they progressed, they started lasting longer, and now they can sometimes last up to 30 minutes.
Another common symptom is a rapid heartbeat, in other words, you can feel your heart beating at a fast pace, and sometimes it feels as if it will pop out of your chest. You also can experience extreme pressure on your chest, something that may feel like sharp jabs pushing down on your chest. The best way to describe this pain and discomfort is that you feel like you have an elephant sitting on your chest, pushing down on you and knocking the wind out of you. Often you have sweaty palms and seem to be burning up, sometimes culminating in feeling weak and nauseous.
Once you have had a panic attack, you often worry that you will get another one and that stress can unintentionally lead to creating what you are afraid of. Do not ignore the symptoms; there is help available.
So what is the difference between panic and heart problems you may wonder? The main difference is that a person who is the midst of a heart attack often vomits. A person suffering through a panic attack may have bouts of nausea but vomiting is very rare. People suffering a panic attack describe the chest pain as sharp, and it is generally localized to your upper chest, the area just over your heart. The symptoms usually peak at about 10 minutes. At that point you will experience a slow and steady recovery period.
A person who is in the midst of a heart attack, however, describes the chest pain as more crushing and the pressure is generally started in the center of the chest and can move throughout the rest of the body, never really localizing to a certain area. They feel as if they have a huge weight sitting on top of them, and it can often go away and then return a few minutes later. Heart attack victims will rarely have the shortness of breath that accompanies panic attacks unless it is related to their fear of dying. They often have at least one episode of diarrhea or vomiting and the symptoms do not go away after 10 minutes. Call 9-1-1 immediately if this is the case.
Panic attacks do not cause heart disease or vice versa. Neither condition is a walk in the park, but if you learn to recognize the symptoms then you can much better control what to do. Anxiety is much easier to treat, if you know that you aren’t going to die from it. There is help available for both conditions.
Always remember: If there is any doubt, it is better to err on the side of caution—call 9-1-1 immediately.
