First panic attack, and Possible circulation problems

So I got up this morning and went to the bathroom. After I went back to bed I pretty much flopped back down onto the bed. Then I felt this sharp pain on the side of my brain, with my, 'what if' thinking, the first thing that pops into my head is aneurysm, couple seconds later I got this building pressure in head so I started freaking out pretty much saying out loud I'm going to die. I stood up, went to the kitchen and got a drink, still freaking out, however trying to re assure myself everything's ok.

After I calm down I go to the doctor and he prescribes me some anti-depressents (I don't feel depressed but I am going through a somewhat stressful time in my life and they do have some anti-anxiety properties so whatever) and some as needed anxiety pills. The as needed pills have yet to help me and the once daily pills haven't taken effect.

Through out the day I still felt building pressure in my head, followed by a slight chill in my face, then dizziness, all in about 5-15 seconds, plus some constant minor tingling in my head. It eventually slowed down and became less severe as it got later. When I went to bed, it started again, I soon realized that if I put much pressure on the back of my neck, like resting it on a pillow, the pressure starts where the spine meets the skull in the back of the neck and the pressure builds till I start to panic then I have to calm myself down again and usually looking up and breathing deep helps a little bit.

As I was writing this I put my hands on my cheeks and leaned on them on my desk, and pressure started building up in my sinuses.

So I guess my question is... What's the problem? is it lack of blood flow to the head? To much? How would I deal with this? and would an MRI or blood test detect anything like that? Because I had one of those at the hospital today and they didn't detect anything.

I don't know if it is a panic attack that caused this problem, I would think it's the other way around since that's how my attack started in the first place. But I pretty much can't let my head touch anything with much pressure or it happens... This makes sleeping pretty much impossible, coupled with the fact that my shoulders feel strained and I want to rest my head, this is pretty awful

I have not tried any therapy or relaxation techniques (beyond breathing deep and counting down from 10, which... is pretty useless). Thankfully the pressure has stopped to a managable level.

However I wish that would just come back in place of my new problem. I'm exhausted and every time I close my eyes, it becomes nearly impossible to breathe, I have to try very hard to breath and after a while I pretty much just cant draw in breath anymore, and any second I stop breathing with my eyes close it feels like I will nearly pass out

Are there any immediate relief to this beyond medication? I've take two full pills of my fast acting anxiety meds in the last 24 hours... And i'm only supposed to take 1/2 of a pill twice a day if needed. despite this... I'm still having my problem.

Another sleepless night, another post.

Unfortunately after typing out huge text block post and nearly finishing, some how backspacing got messed up and started going back in pages so I lost my message, sorry if it seems a little rushed.

Basically, I think I might have pseudotumor cerebrei/idiopathic intracranial hypertension. I have a good amount of the symptoms and I don't know what else could be causing my head pressure, I just can't believe it's from anxiety, mainly because I never had problem with anxiety untill I started getting the pressure.

I also was diagnosed with sleep apnea a couple years back but I could not follow through with the C-pap due to it feeling like I was breathing into a pillow no matter what setting or mask we tried out. Sleep apnea has also been cited as a cause for the pseudotumor cerebrei too so thats another thing.

Lately I've been getting jolted awake from something, it's possibly sleep apnea related, but I've awoken to shallow breathing from sleep apnea but this is different. I feel this weird flash in my arms and legs a very quick split second before I become awake and concious. Kinda as if my body gets scared or something and jolts me awake, this usually happens 2-4 times before I finally sleep normally (for me anyways).

Also I've been noticing an increase in losing track of thought. This ranges from annoying, to absolutely terrifying. Sometimes ill just forget what I was thinking about, nothing to out of the ordinary for alot of people. Other times it will feel like my brain will block me from thinking about it (like trying to think what I want to say in this message for instance). The worse times usually come when I'm tired and trying to sleep. I usually try and visualize something I like when I go to sleep so I can calm down and be a little bit more comfortable. However a lot of the time I'll stop being able to think about it and my brain will just black out what ever I visualize and wont let me think about it. The only thoughts pretty much allowed to go through my head by that time are what was I thinking about? and why can't I think about anything? and I just get this feeling like my brain just wants to stop trying and give up as in a dying sort of way I'm used to having my thoughts wander off into absurdity and into dreamland before I'm fully asleep and then becoming concious and being like... Why the hell was I thinking that? but this is different and its very unpleasent.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had some of the same problems with controlling their thoughts and trying to get to sleep and all and what I could do to help with my problem. I feel like I have a lot of trouble crossing the line where you stop thinking and finally start sleeping. I nearly get to sleep, then I become aware of my thinking stopping, so I start again and It puts me farther from sleeping. Any feedback is greatly appreciated, being able to atleast try something when I'm having these problems is nice, and being reassured that theres still some hope of getting back to my original self.

Thanks for your past, and any future help. It's really nice having a forum like this... It seem's like just posting helps me think rationally and calm myself.

Hi Millor, wow that is quite a mouthful...Pseudotumor.....hypertension. I have never heard of this, though I would think that if you are really suspicious of it, you would want to consult a Neurologist.

I'm guessing that you have been google-searching symptoms on the web, which can be a double edged sword. While it is great to be one's own health advocate, and have access to information at your fingertips...it can also be a nightmare for those with anxiety, sending us into obsessive worry!

Honestly, all of your symptoms could easily be attributed to anxiety, but it is always good to have peace of mind, so pursue this if it will make you feel better!

I hope that you get to the bottom of this soon, (and get some much needed sleep) and do let us know how it goes.

Take care,
Scaredy Cat