Panic for no reason

[InTheDrink]

Thanks Lynne. No, I haven't had any thyroid studies done. I'll look into that.

Gear all my own bar tanks.

I know anxiety feeds on itself. Gonna try to do some dives soon so last dives don't cement themselves.

WRT heart pounding possibly being a symptom of IPE, can you elaborate? Certainly initially the feelings were very different. The IPE had a clear wheezing/rattling followed by tingling lips then dizziness. This recent experience was slightly different in that I simply had a small feeling of anxiety that rose rapidly but I didn't recognise any of the other symptoms.

Will check out thyroid as I'm due a medical anyhow.

Thx, John

 

[TSandM]

Just that if you are trying to exert yourself in the face of low blood oxygen levels, you're likely to get tachycardic. But you'll probably also feel short of breath and fatigued.

 

[InTheDrink]

Thanks for that Lynne. I didn't feel tired but knew I had to get my heart rate down hence holding on to wreck. I didn't feel short of breath either but of course with my heart beating that hard and rapidly my breathing went to **** too. Thankfully didn't burn through that much gas.

 

[flots am]

On the other hand, you might have had a poorly performing reg (did you bring your own gear?) that caused increased work of breathing, which causes anxiety. .

That would be my guess since it seems to be associated with an increased work of breathing. The first dive was deep and the second dive was in current.

Just because the gear was serviced a couple of years ago doesn't mean it's still working properly.

flots.

 

[InTheDrink]

That would be my guess since it seems to be associated with an increased work of breathing. The first dive was deep and the second dive was in current.

Just because the gear was serviced a couple of years ago doesn't mean it's still working properly.

flots.

I'll get it checked/serviced: if that's the cause then I guess it may continue to happen. And I'd prefer to give that one a miss

 

[flots am]

I'll get it checked/serviced: if that's the cause then I guess it may continue to happen. And I'd prefer to give that one a miss

Take it to a shop that does a lot of service work on your brand, and has a flow meter, so they can actually measure breathing resistance, cracking pressure, flow rate, etc. before and after.

Make sure you tell them that you want it to breathe as easy as possible.

flots.

 

[InTheDrink]

Cheers Flots will do. I'm still unconvinced this was the reason but I'll corner it off by doing as you suggest so it can be ruled out.

I'll keep an open mind about what happened but treat it with the respect it deserves. A few more dives like that and I'll be done so would prefer to avoid that.

 

[flots am]

Cheers Flots will do. I'm still unconvinced this was the reason but I'll corner it off by doing as you suggest so it can be ruled out.

I'll keep an open mind about what happened but treat it with the respect it deserves. A few more dives like that and I'll be done so would prefer to avoid that.

Nobody can tell what your problem was from across the internet, but a couple of years isn't too short a time for service, so you're due anyway.

flots.

 

[tracydr]

First off, as long as your heart is healthy and you have reasonable exercise tolerance, an elevated heart rate is unlikely to cause you to go into IPE. It might, however, be a SYMPTOM of it, but would usually be associated with shortness of breath, as well.

Second, this sounds to some extent like a syndrome I see in the ER. I not infrequently see an older person who has a BP monitor at home, who has taken his or her blood pressure and found it high. So they wait around for 15 minutes (worrying like crazy) and check it again -- and to no one's surprise, it's higher yet. So they get even more worried, and wait a few minutes, and do a third check -- and it's gone UP! Then they come to the ER, where the long wait for someone to see them generally makes the BP go back down to normal. Anxiety feeds on itself, and anticipation of anxiety can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

On the other hand, you might have had a poorly performing reg (did you bring your own gear?) that caused increased work of breathing, which causes anxiety. You could have been narced, which can manifest as anxiety. Or perhaps you are hyperthyroid?

It's really hard to diagnose over the internet. I would hope you had a really thorough physical evaluation at the time of your IPE, including thyroid studies. But it might be reasonable to check with your physician again, since things have changed.

I also have seen quite a few patients, usually male, who seem to react to binge drinking and stress by having panic attacks. Not sure why alcohol has this effect but usually, when they describe the incident to me, it's been after a weekend of heavy drinking. Often, they are type A personalities, too.