Woke up at 3:30 am this morning, chest was tight, couldn't catch my breath, had heartburn, fingers were numb, severe anxiety, light headed, was salivating like i was going to puke and I was freezing. Looked up the symptoms online and they were close enough and bad enough to warrant an ER trip. They did an EKG, X-ray and bloodwork and thank goodness, all came back normal. They had no clue what was going on but weren't worried. Gave me the paperwork and sent me home. I don't drink, smoke or even drink soda. I eat fairly well and started working out again a few weeks ago focusing on cardio. I need to lose about 20lbs but at my height thats only around 10%. So what the heck was this? Dead sleep to heart attack-like symptoms?
Sound like anxiety attack man. Glad everything came back ok and keep on working out. Once you build the mentality, you'll feel guilty missing a day or two with no exercise. Same thing with eating habit. I only eat a salad or subway and cheat on the weekend only. As we get older we have to watch what we eat
Wow. Sounds scary. Were you dreaming something or are you in an altered emotional state? Sometimes stress, depression, anxiety, or fear can cause these sudden attacks during sleep. Glad you're okay though.
You might want to check your family history. Maybe there's some kind of illness that could be passed down to you... if so, you could do well to prevent it.
Severe anxiety? Were you experiencing a constant rush of negative thoughts as if your nervous system was on the fritz? You could have been experiencing an anxiety attack.
It may be Acid Reflux. I had some of those similar symptoms earlier this week. Went to the ER, got those same tests. Everything came back normal. Diagnosed me with acid reflux which seemed to fit since it happened only at night after eating dinner and then sleeping. At first when I went though, they said it could be a lot of things including something to do with your lungs. Usually an MRI or Chest X-Ray is supposed to tell you though if it's lungs related.
I doubt it was GERD. My wife and a good buddy have this and from what I've seen it's not the same. I don't get heartburn very often, and it's usually triggered by tomato paste or chocolate, neither of which I've had recently. Anxiety attack- possible. I've experienced a couple over the past year but they were just the panic feeling, and in the middle of the day. Nothing like this. I'll check my family history. I was having a weird repetitive dream about building a pinball machine. I get these types of dreams sometimes and while it jacks up my sleep, it never caused all of the symptoms I had. If it was a succucbus, I hope it was a hot chick succucbus and not one of those little trolls from that movie Cats Eye.
Can only think of extreme heartburn/gastro issues or acid reflux; but if you didn't eat anything rich close to bedtime that's probably out. Might also be an anxiety attack due to stress. Something tells me if you sleep on your front rather than your back, that might help.
