PLEASE READ. alcohol/marijuana related PANIC ATTACKS

[cherene]

last night i had the most severe panic attack ever.
they started about 4 months ago. My first attack occurred when i was drunk and very emotional. I was opening up to someone about my problems and crying, which i hardly ever do. Then the rapid breathing and palpitations came out of no where. This brought on extreme fear of death/heart attack. 8 years ago I had an open heart surgery to patch up a hole in my heart and replace a valve, so you could understand how freaked out I became. I got close to calling 911, but the person I was with calmed me down, took care of me, and told me it was a panic attack.
The next day I had a smaller one during a stressful and frightening experience.
After that I had started having small ones.
The next major one occurred again when i was drunk and opening up to a friend. I swear my heart stopped for a moment. I was breathing rapidly, shivering uncontrollably, and my heart beat was so faint it was almost undetectable. I thought I was going to die and got close to dialing 911.
After that attack, I began having them more frequently, and more randomly. The attacks are small; just shallow/rapid breathing and increased heart rate, but they'll happen when I'm at work, resting, and other seemingly peaceful times.

I stopped using marijuana a few years ago, but i continued using it occasionally, like every few months or something. Last night was the second night in a row I smoked in a few months. The first night was enjoyable, the second was hell.
I was alone and it was about 10-15 minutes after i smoked. I began feeling like i was having a heart attack. I don't know if i was or not. An icy, electric pain was shooting from my heart down my left arm and my heart was beating hard and fast. I got really freaked out because of my previous heart condition, and knew this was an emergency. I told my mom i'd been smoking and that I had to go to the hospital. I walked into the emergency room for the first time, my whole body was shaking and walking was difficult. I told the lady I was having an emergency, and she told me to sit down and fill out the form. That's when I started panicking more than i have in my life. I doubled over in discomfort and disbelief. I was freaking out man, I was freaking out. I told her again I was having an emergency, and it was obvious by my actions. She yet again told me to fill out the form and sit down, which was physically impossible for me. I started crying at the lady, yelling, and I recall knocking something off her desk while "I'm fucking dying and you want me to fill out a form?? OH MY GOD" Then i began crying hysterically "WHAT THE FUCK. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!!" I even turned to the people in the waiting roomed and asked them "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!!!" I then began convulsing and crying and it was the worst feeling in the world. I was dying.
A few minutes later the lady then came out from behind her desk and helped me fill out the form, which i was too busy crying and twitching to notice. with the help of my mom she helped fill out the form. I blacked out for a few minutes and felt as though i was in multiple parts of my "past" at the same time. it's weird. I then snapped out of it. i honestly felt like those were the last few moments of my life. I got out of the chair and felt myself leave my body; i actually thought i was dead. I even looked at the place where i had been sitting previously and expected to see my body there, but it wasn't. so i knew i was still alive. I wont explain what happened in detail, but it was so peaceful. i began walking out of the hospital towards paradise. True paradise. it was peace, beauty, and love all rolled into one. then my mom called me to come back inside.
heaven can wait
I walked back into the hospital, out of it, shaking, and nervous.

the nurses hooked me up to the ekg and at one point i felt like i was completely better. then the shivering began again and the breathing.
I don't know. They asked me if there was any pain or pressure. I told them no, that what i was feeling was worse than pain or pressure. It felt like death, man. The worst part was they didn't take it seriously. The doctor told me it was a panic attack and gave me a xanax. He didn't tell me what to expect from here on out, but he was cool and had nice eyes. I was completely convinced this was worse than a panic attack, i don't know though.
I started looking up info on panic attacks today and i'm learning that they're pretty serious. I just hope it's not more than that, with my underlying heart condition and everything.

What do you guys think? Any similar experiences?
Any advice? Please give me some feedback. anything. even if you have no advice to give.

And have any of you had any "dreamlike" experiences like the one I mentioned?

 

[cherene]

thanks for no feedback.

 

[false]

I have sort of experienced the same thing with pot. When I get stoned now I think I'm having a heart attack and I lose almost my whole ability to hear. It's really silly because I know I'm not =really= having a heart attack but I guess when I'm high I can't think rationally.

I have not experienced anything quite like a panic attack sober.

I don't read here often, but don't get discouraged by lack of replies, sometimes it takes awhile.

 

[BornAgain]

i used to be a heavy everyday user of weed, and living in the sf bay area where we have pot clubs, i always had the highest quality bud in the world.

Now, though, weed makes me nervous and paranoid and it makes me involuntarily twitch, so I dont use it. I also usually come to the conclusion that im insane but when i sober up, i then conclude that i was just high. So i stopped using it because going back and forth like that (questioning (in)sanity) isnt very healthy and it is very annoying.

But yeah, i didnt read your whole post because it was very long and im tired, so dont get discouraged by not having feedback, thats happened many times to me!

 

[reddeka]

Oh my gosh, I am so sorry that that had to happen to you. Panic attacks are the scariest things in the world. Ive had many 'begginings' of ones where I get that icy arm feeling you were talking about and I feel like my whole body was shutting down. I have had one full fledged panic attack and it was the second time i was in my psychiatrists office. At first I just felt hot and uncomfortable, like the room was closing in a little bit. Then I started feeling like I was not able to breath and started panicing and shaking. I didn't know what was happening but my whole body seemed to be shutting down and I was crying and I literally thought I was going to die. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. The doctor had to go ask someone outside in the office if they had any Xanax for me and luckilly they did. I know have Xanax to take as needed for panic attacks... but gosh that is so scary. I thought that I was going to have to go to the hospital too, but luckilly the Xanax calmed me down.

I've read a bit about panic attacks too and I think that the most important thing to realize is that they are just panic attacks. I read in an anxiety book that there is no way your body will just shut down your breathing, you most likely arent having a heart attack, etc. So if you are able to rationalize that you are having a panic attack then you can know that you will not die and it will be over in about ten minutes. Hang in there!

 

[CC79]

I've read several posts on here about marijuana related panic attacks. Unfortuanetly, I fall into this category of how my panic attacks started. 5 years ago, I smoked marijuana twice. Thats it. The first time I tried it, I had weird feelings but no big deal. The very next night, I tried it again. Needless to say, I had a full blown panic attack. I couldn't breathe, I thought I was gonna die, everyone had to talk me down. 5 hours later the effects of marijuana wore off and I was finally able to go to sleep. I never came near the stuff again. A few days later, I was sitting on my couch at home and the whole tingling in my spine feeling started which happened with the marijuana. Next thing I new, I was burning all over and couldn't breathe. I ended up going to the hospital and looking foolish. Anyway, I've had panic attacks on several occasions over the last few years. I've never went to the doctor because I know what they are, but sometimes, I really think about getting an appointment. The last few weeks have been really rough, which is why I looked this site up. I don't know if marijuana is the main cause that started my panic attacks or not, but I really regret smoking that crap. Stay away from it, its not worth it.