Anxiety Panic Attacks & Spikes in Blood Pressure

I have read with great interest and with some sense of relief that I am not alone in what I have suffered on and off for the last 2 yrs.

By way of background I am a 45 male and hold a senior position in an international company. For the last 25 yrs I have made my way up by hard work and lots of it.

2 yrs ago I experienced an event that literally scared the living daylights out of me, a blood pressure spike of 200/100, I thought I was going to die.

The spike was caused by excessive alcohol, food and hot weather. A number of tests over the last 2 yrs have concluded that my heart health is very good, calcium score of 38, ECG good, blood cholestoral levels normal, blood sugar normal, heart stress okay, BP 130/80 24 hr monitor. A good level of fitness.

I admit to the fact that I drank too much alcohol, not enough exercise and carrying too much weight. I knew my body was telling me to stop and sort myself out.

Since then I have reduced weight and continue to do so, drink much, much less and very rarely drink, when I do its wine. I run every morning for 8kms up and down hills. Physically I am fit and my job is mentally demanding and I am pleased to say I cope with both. However every now again I get an attack. My neck, head aches, my body tingles and the first thing I do is reach for the BP monitor and things spiral from there.

I check my BP twice daily and for last 6 months av 120/80, sometimes down to 112/70.

The times I have ended in ER with BP at 160/100, scared that I am going to drop dead is too many to recount.

My biggest challenge in my rewarding, happy challenging life is to beat this and it's hard. The issue is my mind always fears that the worse will happen, thus creating anxiety, thus compounding the situation. It sends my body into a desperate spiral that results in a severe panic attack with some of the symptoms mentioned by other contributors, but the most alarming and what I fear most is the rising and spiking of my BP which can last for about an hour be with lead in incremental rises in the preceding days. Then it's like a car with the accelerator stuck down.

For me the next step is cognitive behaviour therapy and continue my lifestyle changes.

I accept that I am responsible for my condition and it's only me that can cure me.

I would not wish what I feel on anyone as it is very alarming and frightening, however having the opportunity to post on this forum what I go through and see that I am not alone has already provided some relief.

My wife and doctor always offer this advice:

1. Learn to be happy and enjoy life
2. Less alcohol
3. Make time for yourself
4. Do not rush around, steady, steady
5. Calm down

Stay well all.

Welcome PJ1970, Great job on what you have done so far for a better lifestyle. I think you'll really benefit from the CBT therapy, I do a CBT group therapy and I love it. Please keep posting and we will cheer you along your journey.

Thank you all for the responses. The statement regarding the obsessive checking of BP is something I can certainly relate to and this I believe is part of my problem. Since I had the first noticable spike incident I have been very fearful and frightened of recurring spikes due to my experience and hence this I think is a major causal factor in terms of creating my anxiety. It becomes a very vicious circle. I firmly believe the anxiety establishes itself firstly, in my case, and consequently this triggers the blood pressure increase/spike. Question is how to control and rid my mind of this and ease the tensions/anxiety/panic and so forth.

I am not one to usually participate in such forums, however I have found this genuinely useful as I am able to place into words what I feel.

I never realised and appreciated anxiety/panic attacks could be this bad. It is worse, in my view, than physical pain. At least with physical pain you know what to expect and can more often than not ease the pain. It is not pain I feel, it is a feeling or sensation that is hard to describe and is worse than pain, it is that feeling of doom, uncertainty and loss of control. Very bad.

Anyway I must repair myself.

PJ,

In therapy you will learn tools to redirect your fearful thoughts that feed into the anxiety/panic.

If you would like to get a jump start on this type of coping skill...let me know, and I will provide links for therapy worksheet/thought challenging exercises for you.:)

S.C.

HI PJ1970, I'm happy to hear you find this forum useful. We do care and above all else we do understand what you are going thru. Keep posting and we cheer you on your journey of becoming anxiety free. You have a good head on your shoulders and a positive attitude and I think the CBT therapy is going to help you greatly to becoming anxiety free, or at least to be able to handle it better. :) Hugs.