They really can happen...

Ever have an anxiety attack? When you’re going through one, it’s the scariest thing imaginable. When it’s over and you think about what you did, it’s actually pretty hilarious. Why am I writing about this? Well…

Sunday morning I woke up with one. I think it was about 5am and I first woke up feeling like my heart was swimming in mud, and my hands and feet felt numb. I was completely convinced that I had really low blood pressure and that I was in the early stages of death. My mind kept focusing on the fact that a few weeks ago when I was in for a routine checkup with my doctor* and she had a hard time getting my blood pressure. Why I would wake up thinking I had low blood pressure and I was about to die at 5 in the morning, I haven’t a clue.

I got up out of bed a few times, once to get some water as I thought I needed to hydrate and another time to do yoga. Yeah. I was so worked up by thinking I needed raise my heartbeat that I actually got up out of bed and did STRETCHES.

When I went back to bed, I laid there for a few minutes thinking it was over, trying to convince myself I was fine, and the panic would began to wash over me again. Finally I woke up Gilday. I hated to do it, but I really was convinced I needed to go to the hospital.

He was wonderful, as he could be being woken up by his wife at 6:30am telling him that she’s having a panic attack. He immediately went into “solve the problem” mode, which was telling me that it was being caused by an over stimulation from caffeine. I had drunk a lot of green tea the day before, and had a rum & coke before bed, which I normally never do. It worked at tricking my body into thinking that was the reason, and with a little cuddle time, and so much patience by my husband, it eventually went away and I was able to get back to sleep.

Of course, I’m leaving out the funniest part. I actually asked my husband to check my pulse to make sure my heart was still beating. Yeah. I did.

It’s really funny now, and yes, it’s giving Gilday a whole lot of new material. I think this even trumps the “big drink” from ‘98. I’m doing research to figure out why it happened, and how to avoid them in the future, but it’s just amazing that my body would react that way and that my brain would actually believe it. Stress apparently is a powerful thing!

Oh well. Now to work on my anxiety about having anxiety attacks…

* My doctor is Princess Lea, seriously. There is always the thought in the back of my head where if I were to go in with some odd illness, that I could say "Help me Dr. Burgstrausser, you're my only hope!"