Post PM panic

How do you talk yourself down? I have sleep apnea and last Tuesday fell asleep in the couch and was sleeping so peacefully that my husband left me. I awoke with funny feeling in chest (shortness if breath) along with heart palpitations ( menopausal). Being only a short time post PM still have post PM panic and made the mistake if taking my BP. Ended up creaking out over the reading - not stroke territory, but high for me and calling 911. ER doc said coming was the right move, but I still felt foolish. Any ideas on taking a few minutes to decide if things really are ok? Since my entire journey really just started in the ER on Jan 30 with the PM implanted on Jan 2, I gave not had much time to get used to the idea....


2 Comments

In Order of priority

by donr - 2013-01-12 10:01:18

1) heat a cast iron skillet red hot & beat your husband severel about the head & shoulders for being a dork! He did you NO favors by letting you sleep peacefully when you have apnea & apparently have a CPAP. My wife & I have his & hers CPAPS - we NEVER let one another sleep other than a few moments w/o the machine. Annoying as it is, be awakened to hook up is a life preserving act. Especially if you are asleep on the couch & probably hav your neck bent into some weird position that affects your breathing/

An interesting fact for you - there is about a 60% correlation between having apnea & needing a PM, so you especially need the support while you sleep.

2) Learn some patience. Unless your PB is morbidly high on a first reading - like 200+/150 - You've got time, so sit back, take a few deep breaths, call husband to come sit with you so you are not alone, have a nice hot cup of something & relax for a while before retaking your BP again. Check your pulse, also. When you are suffering an anxiety attack, EXPECT all your vital signs to be out of whack. That's what adrenalin is for - to make you super alert, super strong & ready to either fight or flee. You awoke scared! Your adrenal glands automatically gave you a great, big, ol' honkin' blast of panic juice & your body reacted JUST THE WAY IT SHOULD.

3) You just got a PM - how do you know that your heart palpitations were from menopause? Do you even know what kind of palpitations they were? There are bunches of the, all w/ different names. This is NOT a period in your life to assume anything. Until you know how to recognize what kind of palpitation you have, don't assume.

4) Give ME your time machine - At 76, I'd like it. After all, you started this journey on 30 Jan, which is still 2 weeks away & had the PM planted on Jan 2, which is two weeks ago.

5) Freaking out is fully authorized for PM newbies, but you have to bring it under control. I'll gve it to you straight from an ER Doc, my #2 Daughter, who just last week had an 8 month veteran of PM hosting in her ER. She called me to come see him - her guidance to me was "Dad, this guy is scared out of his tree, see if you can calm him down for me. You've got a PM, I don't." He felt the same way you do - foolish for going into the ER when it was nothing. Let me tell you - This poor man was indeed scared out of his tree - I sat & talked to him & his wife for an hour, watching the monitor of his ECG. At first, he was pacing 100% of the time; as he relaxed & got over his fear & anxiety, his pacing % went to zero. Back to the foolish part. At the hour point, Daughter walked in to check on us at just the right time. We had just stopped talking about feeling foolish for going to the ER when it was "Nothing." I prompted Daughter to tell him what SHE thought of him coming in - she regurgitated the same line I used - just like I knew she would. "What you had was REAL, it was not NOTHING. I would rather see you for false alarms than as a man near death because he put off coming when he felt something was wrong. That's what I'm here for." She gave them another 10 minutes of essentially treating them both for anxiety on the issue of feeling foolish. I knew what she was going to say - we hear it at the dinner table every time we visit. We have NEVER heard a disparaging word from her about these kinds of situations.

6) So relax & learn to recognize what is normal for you.
I'l tell you exactly what I told the man in the ER - As long as you have your Pm & it is working & your medical condition has not changed, you have time to rationally consider what is going on w/ your heart.

You have to learn all about your condition & your normal symptoms; you have to understand it. You just got one good data point on the way to knowledge.

7) You came to the right place - ask & we probably have the answers. We can help.

The one question that will aways get you blistered is: "I'm feeling such & such. should I call my Dr. or go to the ER?" My answer is always "Why haven't you gone already?" If you feel concerned enough to ask, you already know the answer...

Don

normal!

by Tracey_E - 2013-01-12 10:01:53

What you are feeling is normal!! I was in the ER several times in the first weeks, also. Never ever feel bad about going when it turns out to be nothing, that's better than ignoring it when it's something serious. I wouldn't say panic attacks are normal, but worrying and being preoccupied with it is, esp if you didn't know anything was wrong and it came on very suddenly. It takes time to heal mentally and emotionally as well as physically. Know that it gets better!! If the anxiety is keeping you from functioning, ask your dr to give you something short term to get you over the hump. You would not be the first. And come talk to us here! We've all been there and come out the other side.

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