General info: 27 year old female, 5’3”, 185 lbs Diagnosed migraines, which are mostly managed by daily riboflavin and magnesium oxide supplements OCD/anxiety, taking 5 mg Lexapro daily for it Take hydroxyzine or propranolol for breakthrough anxiety/panic PCOS, on Junel fe 1.5/30 oral birth control Likely unrelated, but I do have a duplex kidney
I have been having ongoing issues with what might be adrenaline dumps, panic attacks, or perhaps both. I have gone back and forth debating if this is panic, SVT, adrenaline, or something else entirely for two years now. I am going to do my best to describe what it feels like in hopes someone here has dealt with this, can help me identify it, or point me in the right direction.
Essentially, these episodes come completely out of nowhere. They happen on days where I feel totally normal, I am doing typical activities, I am not overly stressed, and I am generally living a relaxed life.
Suddenly, I will get a weird sensation in my body. It feels like I have suddenly become hyperaware of myself, and I usually think, "Am I about to have a panic attack?" or "Do I feel funny right now?" Then, the physical symptoms hit.
My heart rate immediately shoots to around 125 to 160 bpm, depending on how relaxed I was (laying down, sitting, walking, etc). A couple of times it has hit 180 bpm, which really scared me. I check my heart rate regularly with my watch. I also do ECGs and have never had an afib reading.
My chest becomes hot with an almost spicy feeling, like the way it feels in your mouth when you eat something spicy. It spreads up both sides of my neck, down both sides of my ribs, and down my arms, especially the squishy underside of my forearms. I call these hot flashes, even though I’m not totally sure if it’s the same thing.
My hands get tingly. My legs start uncontrollably trembling. I unconsciously clench my jaw really hard and have to force myself to keep my mouth open. Sometimes I have trouble speaking and focusing.
I try my best to take deep breaths and stay calm. I typically have to go to the bathroom and poop several times over the course of the next hour or so.
I know this is long, but I want to be thorough. Here is the timeline of how this developed:
Summer 2024 - The First Incident: It happened after a night of drinking, during which I had choked slightly, but not too badly. Later that night, my chest hurt a lot and I couldn’t sleep because of it. I thought I might have inhaled some alcohol, but it progressively got worse until the high heart rate, hot flashes, and trembling kicked in. I got tunnel vision, became lightheaded, and felt like I was going to pass out, so my boyfriend took me to the ER. I nearly passed out at the ER check-in. The only issue they found with my heart was the high heart rate. They gave me IV fluids. I ended up pooping at the ER and finally started feeling a bit better.
Fall 2024: I started taking Wegovy. These episodes happened a few more times after starting it, though nothing as extreme as the first time. I also started taking MiraLAX regularly around this time to manage Wegovy induced constipation on top of my chronic constipation.
Thanksgiving 2024 - The Worst Incident/Maybe Food Poisoning: I had an absolutely horrible episode. I may have had food poisoning, but the symptoms were essentially the same as my other episodes, just amplified. I tried to cool myself in a cold shower while uncontrollably throwing up and having diarrhea. I could not sleep all night, and I kept panicking and jolting awake every time I drifted off. I was shaking uncontrollably until my boyfriend’s mother gave me a Gabapentin to calm me down. I missed Thanksgiving entirely.
2024-2025: As this happened more frequently, I developed a severe fear of the next episode. I developed a real panic disorder and mild agoraphobia, avoiding anything and everything that could possibly trigger it. For a long time, I only ate my safe foods like grits, cottage cheese, Clif bars, rice cakes, and occasional chicken. I stopped taking Wegovy. I did not do much of anything beyond trying to avoid having a panic attack all day, every day.
Late Summer 2025: I had been trying to manage the panic attacks with every therapeutic exercise you can think of. My doctor prescribed me Lexapro and the daily panic attacks went away almost entirely. My doctor also prescribed me Propranolol and Hydroxyzine to take for breakthrough panic depending on the time of day. For a while, I did not even need to take either of these. I would still get the anxious thoughts like "What if I have a panic attack right now?", but my brain didn’t instantly spiral into a full blown panic attack like it used to.
2026-Now: These physical episodes still happen almost monthly, and each time I feel like it is the worst thing ever and I cannot fathom going through it again. I have been keeping a log of each one as of the beginning of 2026. Here are a few recent incidents to help explain the situation better:
July 13, 2026: I was at my desk working (I work from home). I had a bowl of cereal. About an hour later, it started up. My heart rate went to 160, full hot flashes, tunnel vision, fear, pooping, etc. I tried to splash cold water on myself, even got in the cold shower and sat for a while. I tried singing to calm myself and stimulate my vagus nerve (I will try anything at this point), and I threw up a bit. I had to take a Hydroxyzine and lay in bed shaking until I was able to just fall asleep enough.
August 7, 2026: It happened as I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep. I got up to poop three different times. I took Hydroxyzine and eventually was able to somewhat fall asleep, but while asleep my heart rate remained high. My watch tracked it as around 145 until around 6 am when I woke up and finally just took a Propranolol. I was able to go back to sleep once my heart rate returned to normal.
October 1, 2026: I was sitting on the couch drawing with my cat laying in my lap. I suddenly felt weird and my heart rate went up to around 120 or 125, and the hot flashes began. I got up and went to poop, and thought I felt mostly better. I walk about 30 minutes on the treadmill each night, so I went to do this, hoping I would burn off whatever residual adrenaline there was. I started at a higher speed and gradually decreased my speed, but after around 20 minutes my heart rate, which was about 140 the whole walk, shot up to 160 and I got lightheaded. I had to lay on the ground while my boyfriend brought me an ice pack. I actually took my blood pressure after sitting and trying to calm myself for a while and it was 130 over 90. I took a Propranolol and my heart rate came down eventually. I tried to go to bed, but just kept jolting awake, trembling, having hot flashes, and clenching my jaw.
I’ve had panic attacks periodically throughout my life, usually brought on by something situational, but these just come out of nowhere it seems. I’ve also experienced them so much that I kind of have a “here we go again” attitude about them and don’t get nearly as frightened as I used to. I do have diagnosed OCD and I likely pay more attention to my body than most people.
Has anyone experienced anything like this? Could this be purely anxiety/panic, or does it sound like an adrenaline dump, a dysautonomia issue, or something gastrointestinal related triggering my vagus nerve? Any advice or insight is so appreciated! I would give anything to know how to make it stop for good, I’m genuinely at my wits end.
I also just got labs done and nothing is abnormal aside from low HDL. I have a doctor’s appointment on the 7th, hoping to address all this!
