No need for a long backstory but someone in my wifes family did something very wrong to someone else, and his wife and her brother wanted our help in getting said person out of jail. I said no, this may get him off of the very bad drugs he is on and he may come out a better man. Well screaming and almost a physical confrontation ensued. Needless to say by the end of it she and her brother where joining my brother-in-law in jail.
Immediately following that episode I got shortness of breath, sweating, and nauseated, enough to throw up. It took me about an hour to feel better.
I am in my 30’s, I run 10 miles a week I am about 5 pounds over my target weight. But other then the run I often spend my time in front of the computer, for work. Not needing medical advice as I have a doctor and he gave me a stress test and said my heart was fine. But he didn’t feel comfortable telling me what it could of been without me actually going in during the “thing”
So anyone?
P.S. He did admonish me and tell me next time just in case do not pass go, do not collect 200$ but go directly to the hospital.
You probably don’t need to go to the hospital unless these symptoms begin repeating themselves. Vomitting is a common reaction to extremely high stress, which it sounds like this situation is.
I used to have a girlfriend who would get stressed and throw up. The episode you described would give anyone stress. It sounds tough, I hope it works out.
Adrenaline can do funny things to people. I know quite a few people who have fainted/vomited/felt dizzy when they witnessed something traumatic or got some really bad news.
It may never happen to you again. Coming from a lifetime fainter, I offer you some advice on how to deal with it if it does:
Take slow, deep breaths.
Lie down, even on the ground, if necessary. (Falling hurts!) Sitting does little good. You can still faint sitting up. Elevate your feet if possible to push blood back into your chest.
Drink something cold and sweet. The sugar sometimes helps. Alternately, suck on a piece of peppermint candy. The peppermint helps calm the stomach. (I keep some in my purse at all times.)
Loosen any tight clothing.
Force yourself to relax as much as possible. Imagine a calming scene, or recite song lyrics in your head-- anything to distract you from concentrating on your symptoms.
Thank you for the replies. As for your suggestions Lissa I did 1,2, and 5 because it felt like I had too, speaking of drinking something my mouth got parched, I am talking Sahara desert dry before the throwing-up.
Hopefully a scene like this does not repeat itself so I never have to go through that particular brand of hell again.
With all due respect to the doctor, if he won’t diagnose an anxiety attack without having taken the pulse himself, he’s a chicken. Telling LostGoals to go to the hospital if he has another is just a neat way for doctor to cover his tail. So, if there’s a repetition (although this sounds like a “one-off” to me), LostGoals gets to spend several hours in a corner being ignored so doctor can say he gave the safe-for-him conservative advice.
Bull. He was having symptoms not inconsistant with cardiovascular collapse. He might have been in a serious heart block, and the only way to know that is to do an EKG. Also a great opportunity to get Oxygen saturation levels, a quick blood sugar and electrolyte levels, and check cardiac enzymes. IF it’s all negative, along with the stress test, only then would I be comfortable telling my patient that it’s anxiety.
Anxiety/stress reactions are diagnoses of exclusion! Other things must be ruled out first.
I’ve had patients die of so-called “anxiety reactions” because noone checked a heart rhythm during an episode. Some dysrhythmias can turn into Ventricular Tachycardia, then into Ventricular Fibrillation, then into death.
You’re leaving out the context. Do you really think this was a cardio problem? In ppm, how likely? And, if you really thought it was likely, wouldn’t you be doing the tests now, rather than waiting for another attack?
Or are the rest of us simply disqualified from the conversation because we’re not MDs? (Gratuitous use of jargon = obvious power move.) Remember, I didn’t tell LostGoals to go non-medical. I suggested he see another doctor.
Sounds very much to me like stress-induced…very similar to symptoms of a panic attack. I’ve had two or three instances in my life in which I had exactly the same symptoms. I didn’t vomit, but I felt instantly short of breath, light-headed, nauseaous, and I ended up fainting before I had a chance to even think about vomiting. Unfortunatley, the first time, I was nowhere near a hospital to get checked up (a train in the middle of Croatia near the Bosnian border, in the middle of a winter’s night is not the place to suddenly develop your first panic attack. Lemme tell you, I honestly thought I was going to die.)
Anyhow, I will always defer to the doctor QtM. I’m just saying that in my case, your symptoms are not inconsistent with what happens to me when I get an anxiety attack. They are hell. When I had my fainting episode, I was tweaked out for months afterwards. The idea of not always being fully in control of my body freaked me out. The doctor prescribed me Xanax, but I loathed the stuff and just stopped taking it. Eventually, everything just worked itself out.
Everyone’s opinions are equal! Quit being such a fascist jargon-spouting elistist, Qadcop.
Sigh. Don’t know about the rest of you, but as for me, on a medical issue, I think I’ll take the opinion of an M.D. with a long history of accurate, helpful posts over someone I’ve never heard of with a postcount of 35.
Also, it makes little sense (even to this layperson) to ignore the possibility of a physical condition consistent with the OP’s symptoms that could lead to death, even if stress/anxiety is the most likely cause.
I don’t trust doctors. If I want an opinion on health or medicine, I prefer to talk to regular people. Same for financial and legal advice.
Of course, I’ll be lucky if I last two years of the twenty year sentence I’m facing for tax irregularities, so maybe I ought to rethink that whole stance.
I’m in the middle. Consider the opinion? Certainly. Kow-tow to it blindly? No.
What’s more interesting to me is the issue of probability. If the obvious diagnosis is 99.99%, that’s one thing. If there’s something I’m missing, that’s another. And I’m happy to be “learned” better.
As for the number of posts, fair cop. Admittedly, I’m new. On the other hand, I’m not a baby. Maybe I have something interesting to say. Or not. Time will tell. If Random’s opinion proves to be typical, I’ll go away, to the benefit of all (myself included).