Question about panic attacks and acid reflux

I have had your same symptoms, OP. You're experiencing obstructive apnea. You need a CPAP and might need a larger dose of Priolsec (prevacid).

Get a sleep study. In the meantime, sleep with your upper body elevated, perhaps in a recliner.

Thanks for your reply R1.

I had a sleep test done some years back and was diagnosed with mile apnea and the doctor felt I didn't need a CPAP at that time. It's been at least 10 years.

I've been taking 30mg of Prevacid every day along with 10mg of Domperidone three times a day.

I started sleeping with my bed elevated about 12 years ago. I notice that when the symptoms hit I feel better when I get up and move around as opposed to sitting which is why I feel this is GERD related and not panic attacks.

I see a chiropractor every two weeks but haven't been there in three weeks because of the virus. Last time I was there he worked my back pretty hard and my stomach was sore the rest of the day.

I wonder if I'm going through this because something was hurt during the last adjustment, or because I haven't had one recently.

Buy some pure 100% ALOE VERA JUICE, no flavors. Drink a few shots every day. It will help both GERD and bowels.

I just looked at the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea:

[quote]1.Excessive daytime sleepiness 2.Loud snoring 3.Observed episodes of stopped breathing during sleep 4.Abrupt awakenings accompanied by gasping or choking 5.Awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat 6.Morning headache 7.Difficulty concentrating during the day 8.Experiencing mood changes, such as depression or irritability 9. High blood pressure 10.Nighttime sweating 11.Decreased libido

The only symptoms I have are #5 and #9

R3 is that legit of just holistic BS? Not being an asshole, just want to know before looking for that.

OP, if you have GERD, is your head/upper body elevated when you sleep?

I had issues re this recently and found that putting something under my mattress to lift it slightly worked wonders. We didn't get the big expensive wedges, but had two sort of puffy couch pillows and just used those.

A sleep study is probably your next step, but you'll need to see either an endo or a pulmonologist first.

Also, Prevacid.....isn't that the one they pulled from the market?

I take two doses of Nexium a day per my doctor's orders.....one when I wake up and one about 12 hours later.

[quote]OP, if you have GERD, is your head/upper body elevated when you sleep?

I do. Years ago I put four phone books under the back legs of my bed frame to raise the entire bed up.

[quote]Also, Prevacid.....isn't that the one they pulled from the market?

I don't know. I've been on it for 13 years and my doctor still renews the prescriptions and my pharmacist fills them.

You may want to revisit that medication, then, with a doctor, OP.

A, after that many years it loses its effectiveness.

B, neither Prevacid nor Nexium are prescription meds now. Both can be found over the counter and generic. (I get Costco's version of Nexium for half the price.)

I have both GERD and panic attacks. your arm hurting could be gas related (anecdotally, my armsbhurt every time I have gas, it must be a vagus nerve thing) or it could be sleeping at an elevated height and on your side- your arm gets a weird angle that causes muscle ache all day. I have had both. re panic, don't discount how much you may have going on under the surface emotionally during this covid shit

OP, you don't need to have all the symptoms to have apnea. And I suggest you don't know if you snore or have episodes of interrupted breathing without someone else noticing or during a sleep test. Given your weight gain (and presumed age) and worsening GERD, I'd be willing to lay money on it.

Prilosec to prevent the acid is probably better than trying to treat it after symptoms develop.

I have only had one panic attack in my life. I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart racing and I thought I was having a heart attack. By the time the medics arrived at my apartment, I realized that the pain of my ingrown toenail had triggered the panic attack.

Anxiety is not a requirement. Stress on your body can trigger a panic attack. A combination of acid reflux and sleep apnea could be stressful enough to cause your panic attacks.

Dear OP, you gained weight and got older. Your body tells you it's time to change or adjust.

Change your eating habits. Notice which food items cause the acid reflux problem and find creative ways to replace them with food items that don't cause acid reflux.

Take note of what you are doing before you go to sleep. Do you watch or read scary and terrifying stuff before you go to sleep? That could trigger nightmares and your body producing the panic attacks and acid reflux.

Thanks for all the replies. This is one of the reasons I love this place. Between nude celebs and snark and bitchiness is some genuinely good advice.

R8 Nexium is over the counter now here as well, but Prevacid is still by prescription only. Note sure why. I tried the generic Prevacid but I found it didn't work for me very well.

R9 truthfully I have been having a lot of shoulder pain over the last five months. I figured it was from shoveling snow, but I'm not certain. Maybe it's time for a new mattress or a better sleeping position. The arm pain was a new one for me and frightened me enough to call an ambulance.

R10 I agree and unfortunately last time I had to wait nine months for a sleep test and that was a decade ago. I can't imagine how long it will take now.

[quote]Anxiety is not a requirement. Stress on your body can trigger a panic attack. A combination of acid reflux and sleep apnea could be stressful enough to cause your panic attacks.

That never occurred to me R11. I guess it was a perfect storm of physical ailments that came to a head. I admit I haven't taken the best care of my body over the decades and I knew it would catch up with me. I've also been getting up really early over the last 18 months for work, sometimes at 4:30AM to start for 6AM.

R12 back on March 13 with the first episode I actually did wake up from a nightmare. I assumed that's what caused what happened, but then it happened again today.

I had a brother who got really mentally ill around this age and the panic attacks, anxiety, worry, fear and paranoia got so bad that he killed himself. I'm frankly worried that I'm heading down the same road.

[quote] I had a brother who got really mentally ill around this age and the panic attacks, anxiety, worry, fear and paranoia got so bad that he killed himself. I'm frankly worried that I'm heading down the same road.

You've got to work on that. Do not tie your own fate to what happened to other family members. Get professional help, even when it's just some telephone hotline at the moment. It gives you the assurance you are taking steps in the right direction of getting better.

Aloe Vera Juice for GERD is legit! Not holistic BS. Been using it for years, tastes like cactus!

OP, if it was a severe GERD attack, they can present very similar to heart attacks - they come on fast and are severe - but unlike the latter, they can be cured by drinking three glasses of water in a row. Once it starts to settle you can take fast-working antacids or meds to make you burp if you think that's going to be more useful.

If three glasses of water doesn't fix it, it's not acid reflux.

It's likely you woke up, thought you were having a heart attack and THEN panicked, which would be normal behaviour.

Losing more weight, modifying your diet and making sure you've always got water nearby are a good start, and yes, have your doctor review your GERD meds. That could be done over the phone.

I don't know, but you're giving me a headache.

I have had that happen to me twice in a year, It is incredibly unpleasant. Horrible.

Both times I took a Xanax, and then sat upright with pillows and then made it back to sleep. R16 is correct about the water. Get well hydrated during the day and before sleep.

Gee whiz, I can't think of anything in the last month that would cause anxiety levels to raise to the point of people having panic attacks

[quote]Both times I took a Xanax, and then sat upright with pillows and then made it back to sleep. [R16] is correct about the water. Get well hydrated during the day and before sleep.

I go through this when something terrible happens in my life. (Been having panic attacks for about 20 years.)

A few months ago my father died of a heart attack. My GERD started acting up, I had panic attacks, I ended up having to spend a week or so sleeping upright. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I sat in a dark room for days and then finally after talking to a few friends who helped me through it I was fine.

My brother ended up in the hospital for a few days and he almost died. Same thing happened again. I didn't think it would do anything to me because I felt like he would be fine on the surface but nope. I got upset. GERD. Panic attacks. Hyperventilating. Room spinning. I'm never in any actual "pain" when I go through these phases. However, the GERD can be a lot to deal with, especially if I "eat garbage" to deal with my problems. (I'm really not much of an eater but when I'm upset I will go a bit crazy.)

Early last month it happened a third time because I had spent about a week reading about COVID and I was freaking myself out. GERD, some chest discomfort which was relieved by burping up (you know what), hyperventilating, I spent days in bed and couldn't move. I went to the Doc. He knows my history. I felt like I even had COVID and they looked at me like I was on crack. They recommended exercise, meditation and they put me on a new anti-anxiety medication. (I've been on and off of them for years.)

Once they told me I'd be fine.

All of my symptoms went away. The GERD subsided over the new few days.

I'm fine for now OP but I also have to avoid news that will upset me because I know what my body will do.

Sometimes our minds can be bigger than us in ways we can't entirely comprehend.

Melatonin helps GERD, and of course sleep.

Makes me groggy in the morning, though.

OP, I was on Prevacid for about 13 years, but I built up a tolerance and the Prevacid quit working.

However, I didn't get a memo that it was no longer working. For about a year beforehand, I'd been having to take antacids like Tums or Rolaids several times a day to settle my stomach. Eventually, I figured out the Prevacid was no longer working.

I went to my doctor and got him to write a prescription for Protonix. Once I got on that my stomach settled down fairly quickly.

Why would a person who uses a chiropractor worry about aloe being “holistic BS”?

When I was in my first year of college, I used to wake up in my dorm room with panic attacks in the night. I would have a feeling of severe nausea, heart beating fast, and if I didn't break the cycle, I would start shaking uncontrollably. The more I thought about my upset stomach, the more panicky I would get. I learned the only way to get through it was to take my mind off of it. Basically, I would just sit on the toilet in case I had to throw up (which I never actually did), and I would bring a textbook with me to read. By concentrating on reading, it broke the cycle of panicky thoughts and gradually I would calm down. I never sought medical help, because I wasn't that type of kid.

Eventually the nighttime panic attacks went away on their own. (In hindsight, I can see how certain changes in my life helped.) Nowadays, if I find myself getting panicky during the day, I acknowledge it to myself, "You're getting panicky," and I still use the same strategy of immediate distraction. I'll go for a walk to take the edge off, and I'll try to dive into some project that needs concentration to distract my mind.

Thanks to everyone for your replies, very helpful.

Thanks R15 I'll look into it.

R22 can I ask what dosage of Prevacid you were on?

I decided to self medicate and increase my Prevacid to 60mg. My stomach was no longer bloated and I noticed the panic attack type symptoms stopped. However the dizziness and lightheadedness from the extra dose was hard to handle. And the reflux wasn't much better.

I went back down to 30mg this morning and I'm ok so far.

I'm starting to think I didn't have panic attacks but the reflux and stomach bloat was so bad it felt the same as one. My heart wasn't racing like a panic attack, but the splenic artery was throbbing for some reason. Add to that the usual congestion I have made worse by the reflux.

[quote]If three glasses of water doesn't fix it, it's not acid reflux.

R16 thanks for your reply. Truthfully, some days when I drink water the refulx is worse. I normally drink 3 liters of water a day.

It's not a question of being hydrated, OP. If you drink a lot of water just before you go to bed and then lie flat, it's likely to encourage the reflux.

The three glasses is to wash down the acid that is causing the severe attack, and the antacid following is to try to settle it down in your stomach. How much water you drink the rest of the day isn't relevant to this advice.

Try some pure Aloe Vera Juice and get back to us.

I tried to order omeprazole from a bunch of places & cant get it. Costco is my usual go-to for it & for their version of Zyrtec. All out

Opposite to OP I’ve just developed what seems to be GERD for the first time in my life (mid-late twenties), but I have past experience of panic attacks & blackouts. It’s the hyperventilation with GERD that trips me into panicking. Awful condition.

My trouble at the moment seems to be keeping the airways open and calm enough to comfortably drop off to sleep. I’ve been taking Gaviscon and drinking chamolile tea on a empty hot-water-bottled stomach every night before bed for a week and a half, and while it is relieving it isn’t clearing up the issue. I’m also staying away from all the problem foods and beverages, getting gentle exercise, elevating my bed, and sipping on plenty of water but it’s not gone. This is my first time; is it just a condition that takes a long time to simmer down, or do I need to talk to a doctor and get some pills? I’m hesitant to take any, as I’ve heard a lot of negative press about anti acid mediation in recent years (grandpa, sister and beloved dog all died from bad meds, hence my natural suspicion).

Being a lesbian of course I have an insider hook-up with my local health food store, so I can give Aloe Vera juice and such a try. Not sure about others but I’ve found ACV makes my reflux much worse (the ACV Cureall people truly are nuts, like the EVOOs).

Prilosec.

[quote] Also, Prevacid.....isn't that the one they pulled from the market?

Are you thinking of Zantac, (Ranitidine) it has been found to cause cancer?

A friend of mine was experiencing the exact same symptoms as you OP. He's dead now.