My Panic Attack Solution

I was diagnosed as having a panic disorder this morning, but i don’t fully agree with his diagnosis as i never really feel anxious at all

Here’s my story…..

about 7-8 weeks ago i had my fist attack/episode, i was lying in bed ready to fall asleep and i started having terrible pains in my upper legs (similar to intense growing pains) shortly after this i felt a fluttering sensation in my chest followed by twitching of my muscles ie my leg would twitch and then my arm.

This is all within a minute or so, then i start to feel my teeth chattering which rapidly intensifies and i start to shake all over.

It feels as though every muscle in my body is contracting, so much so that i find it difficult to even unclench my jaw.

During severe attacks i also find it really difficult to breath.

since the initial attack I’ve had quite a few more, around 8-9 in total.

They all start the same way however they aren’t always so intense, they can last anything from 3 to 20 minutes.

During the attacks i’m fully conscious and aware of whats happening.

They’ve all happened at night while i’m in bed, however i’ve never woken in the night to an attack.

I’m a happy person usually and could never be described as a ‘worrier’ I really dont ever feel anxious or panicked, so this leads me to believe my attacks aren’t panic related at all and that there may possibly be another cause.

Each time they’ve happened i’ve been in bed, relaxed and really quite happy with life so i just dont get it

any advice/suggestions will be greatly appreciated

The shaking and twitching symptoms you describe would be expected to cause anxiety – that’s some scary stuff, and its not an anxiety disorder when the anxiety is caused by something scary. The question is what is causing the twitching in the first place. I am guessing that there could be two things going on: (1) something causing the muscle problems; which then triggers (2) anxiety. However, Its not really apparent that you have anxiety at all from what you describe.

I really think you need to see a neurologist (if this is not associated only with sleeping), or go to a sleep lab if the problem is associated with sleeping. You need to be hooked up to machines that monitor your heart (EKG) and your brain activity (EEG) during one of these events.

One thing to pay attention to is whether the muscles contract and stay that way, or whether you experience a sequence of the muscles contracting and relaxing uncontrollably – this separates two different types of problems.

There is a long shot that these things could be triggered by slight dehydration or a temporary shortage of magnesium in the blood stream. Its pretty easy to rule this out by taking a magnesium supplement roughly an hour before bedtime, and drinking a little extra fluids during the day. This is also a common side effect of taking Ecstasy.