It’s the feeling of panic, hopelessness, urgency and helplessness and you don’t know why and can’t explain it. It seems to be partially, if not completely, physiological, at least the way I experienced it. It can be the result of a panic attack due to anxiety, a heart attack or stroke, high fever, drugs, etc. I don’t know if it has a name, but I hope somebody knows what I’m talking about. The key here is unfounded as in not a psychological sense of total despair but rather a rapid onset… sense of impending doom. I really don’t know how to explain it better…
Question, what is it? It seems to be such a distinct, unique and rare feeling. For me it can be so intense I have flashbacks to such events. (I’m not insane, I swear) Has it been studied on a psychological and physiological level? Do we know what the mechanism is and what triggers it internally? Are there people who this does not happen to?
Do you have a known cardiac problem? I’m not implying the feeling you have is in any way related, but people who have some types of life threatening arrhythmias (heart rhythm disturbances) describe the feeling they get in those exact words.
Agreeing with picunurse here. I’ve had those feelings when I go into atrial fibrillation. With me it’s coupled with a sense of paranoia so I do everything possible not to let the people I’m with know anything is wrong. I suppose as a long term survival strategy it’s not the best idea, but there you have it.
In my case it seems to be a kind of feedback loop, where physical symptoms relating to terror cause emotional symptoms, and right back atcha.
Agreeing with picunurse here. I’ve had those feelings when I go into atrial fibrillation. With me it’s coupled with a sense of paranoia so I do everything possible not to let the people I’m with know anything is wrong. I suppose as a long term survival strategy it’s not the best idea, but there you have it.
In my case it seems to be a kind of feedback loop, where physical symptoms relating to terror cause emotional symptoms, and right back atcha.
A couple of years, and a computer, ago, I was often tormented by a sense of impending Doom. I finally quit playing that game; I put down my BFG, and I walked away. For a month or so, I was still dodging from side to side in my chair every time I sat down to type. The computer I’m using now does not contain any imps, and it fires no rockets at me. The hair on my nape does not stand up when I grab the mouse.
I still have a few kinds of actual doom waiting in the wings, like everybody else. For most of those hazards, there is nothing I can do.
Well, I just call it “life,” but my shrink calls it “Generalized Anxiety Disorder,” or something like that. Once when I was in college, I had a very unusual panic attack that felt much more intense and physical than others I’ve had. There was a very strong sense of physical urgency to it, like feeling the need to breathe or urinate, but without any sense of a release mechanism or any specific urge. It was one of the strangest and most frightening things I’ve ever experienced.
I’d never heard about people with heart conditions feeling that way–I wonder what the precise mechanism is. I wonder what my heart was doing then, too.
And THAT’s precisely what I’m asking. The strong physical sense of urgency and discomfort without an obvious outlet. In my life I have met a lot of people who shared this experience with me sometime in their life and all causes have been different, but we instantly recognize what each other is talking about: It’s rare, it’s debilitating, you can’t think, you have a physical urge to fix it but you don’t know what “it” is or how to fix it, you feel like something bad is going to happen and everything seems to make it worse - until suddenly it passes.
People I’ve met experienced it because of
a) Very high fevers (this has been one of my experiences)
b) Waking up from sleepwalking
c) Waking up when exhausted and didn’t get enough sleep (mine, I slept for 40 minutes after not sleeping for about 40 hours and I got this feeling, it was also combined with extreme nausea and dizziness)
d) Drugs (caffeine overdose)
e) Drugs (psilocybin “bad trip”)
f) Heart condition
g) Anxiety disorder/phobia
h) Food poisoning
i) Alcoholic blackout
My wife experiences these and for years couldn’t get Doctors to take it seriously as a physical problem. Finally, came to find out it was/is her thyroid. Many of the Doctors she had seen were seriously uninformed of the far-reaching effects on the heart rate, body temp, hair loss, and feelings of impending doom.
I would suggest a blood test and review by an endocrinologist. Do not accept a General Physicians review. Many will say “Oh, the levels are within the norms” when if fact the range is enough that being at one extreme end or the other may seem acceptable to a GP but may not be for you.
She has met several people who complained of similar problems but never heard of this being a potential cause. Upon test, they were found to have the same type of thyroid imbalance and were much improved following a medication change.
I was actually having one of these attacks earlier today.
They’ve been happening to me for a couple of years now and used to be associated with severe anxiety and manic depression.
While those two have left me long ago, I still get this general sense of forboding… I never realised anyone else did too. I thought it was just a strange case of nasty post-millenial stress.
Does anyone know of any other online info about this condition? It’s nice to know I’m not alone here… Thanks
Just as a .02 worth EMT’s are taught to assume cardiac on feelings of impending doom, but any number of things can cause feelings that something is horribly horribly wrong. Without a full checkup, no really good way to diagnose it. Assuming a psych problem is dangerous. If there is a pattern to these episodes make note of what you were doing for about an hour before the episode and let the doctor know. It will assist him greatly in narrowing where to look for your problem.
Huh. I’ve never heard of anyone else feeling like that. It only happened to me the one time, but was a time in my life when I had a lot of physchological stress going on. I was later hospitalized for Major Depression, which the docs now suspect may be Bi-Polar type II. (With, as I mentioned above, the possability of co-morbid Generalized Anxiety. When I saw a new psychologist recently and asked her what she thought I had, her response, partly serious, was, “You’ve got a lot of things!”)
I’ve had my thyroid levels checked more than once, but I’ve never had an endocrinologist look over the results. I’d think since it was usually a psychiatrist looking over the results, they’d notice something extreme, even if it was labeled “normal,” but who knows. Do you have any specific information about the possabilities of thyroid imbalance in patients with clinically “normal” levels? How comon is this and what does it take to diagnose it?
What do you mean my “left me a long time ago”? I’ve never heard of Bi-Polar Disorder (AKA manic-depression) disapearing, although it can be successfully managed. Were you actually “cured”?
At the risk of playing Cassandra, I’ll mention that I had a few very good years without any meds when I thought I was cured. It didn’t last, though.
Well, I don’t know about ‘cured’, but I’ve not had a manic episode in over a year and a half. Having said that, I know I got off lightly compared to many who suffer with it. It’s still there, but I’ve kicked it into the shadows.
Anyway, the ‘Doominess’ is the closest I’ve felt to those days since, though thats more down to the anxiety associated with it than anything. I don’t really get it that often - once a month or so.
As for possible triggers, two nights ago I was out drinking (more than is sensible for a young man, I confess), today I’ve had plenty of caffeine, and because I work nights I have no sleeping pattern whatsoever. So take you pick.
Well, I don’t know about ‘cured’, but I’ve not had a manic episode in over a year and a half. Having said that, I know I got off lightly compared to many who suffer with it. It’s still there, but I’ve kicked it into the shadows.
Anyway, the ‘Doominess’ is the closest I’ve felt to those days since, though thats more down to the anxiety associated with it than anything. I don’t really get it that often - once a month or so.
As for possible triggers, two nights ago I was out drinking (more than is sensible for a young man, I confess), today I’ve had plenty of caffeine, and because I work nights I have no sleeping pattern whatsoever. So take your pick.
Hi,
I have experienced excactly what you have described too, my problems started around the time my girlfriend at the time was being kicked out of home and my father had just permanently hospitalised after a stroke.
It took me ages to define what i was feeling but as you mentioned a general feeling of impending doom is quite accurate, when trying to explain my feelings to others i said it is like watching a really scary horror movie at the very point you know something bad is about to happen or when one of the characters is about to get killed or die horribly and the feeling you experience at that point just goes on and on and on in your day to day life with no obvious way of releasing it.
I eventually went to a good Psycologist diagnosed me with “General Anxiety Disorder” (just like Alan Smithee in his post) and he said it was being made worse by what was going on in my life at the time.
A good friend of mine gave me a copy of a film called “Jacobs ladder” as he felt it was similar to what i experienced and I actually cried when i watched it as it was so similar to what i went through, warning, it may not help to watch this as it may bring back certain feelings but if you want to try and identify your experience then give it a go.
To finish all i can do is offer words that if i could go back in time i would like to have said to myself as i went through it;
[ul]
[li]Your not alone[/li][li]Your not insane[/li][li]Talk to someone close or a shrink in great detail about this, dont hold back.[/li][li]It will pass in time[/li][li]Try to get to the root of the problem, you may be more concerened about an issue in your life at the moment than you are telling yourself.[/li][/ul]
Good luck pal.
A very big part of this kind of thing can be overbreathing.
Its very common with panic attacks to feel like you’re going to die, go crazy, etc, they can be a horrific experience. And at a lower level of overbreathing you can be left feeling apprehensive on an ongoing basis which can feel pretty awful as well.
I know it can sound silly that overbreathing can be such a large part of this kind of experience but it can be. There are some great self help manuals at this site for various anxiety disorder in PDF format.
Go to the clinician support, then check the ‘free manuals’ section. While its under that section, they’'re actually the client booklets for helping with each particular disorder.
This isnt so much to suggest you try to treat these issues on your own as the prefaces have some great information about some of the physiological causes of the sensations you might be experiencing.
People who are having a panic attack frequently use the expression “impending doom.”
The symptoms of a Panic Attack are:
* raging heartbeat
* difficulty breathing, feeling as though you 'can't get enough air
* terror that is almost paralyzing
* nervous, shaking, stress
* heart palpitation, feeling of dread
* dizziness, lightheadedness or nausea
* trembling, sweating, shaking
* choking, chest pains, distress
* fear, fright, afraid, anxious
* hot flashes, or sudden chills
* tingling in fingers or toes ('pins and needles')
* fearful that you're going to go crazy or are about to die
She was misdiagnosed for years due to “within the range” type of dismissals and the “Oh, it’s in your head” stuff. She was diagnosed by and endocrinologist to had Graves Disease in which the body is attacking the thyroid and her levels will fluctuate. What may check normal one week could be off the next. There are things called “Thyroid Storms” which can be sever to fatal and “Thyroid Showers” which are less sever and shorter term.
We went through a lot of cardiac testing and even a psychological review before finally finding out the problem. As discussed, IANAD but I’ve been through a lot of this and I hate to think someone may suffer because this is an area that seems to get too little attention.
It reminds me of the mind-set some years back by the medical field in general that menstrul problems were made up or exaggerated by women. The understanding of the physical changes taking place is a fairly recent improvement.
