Do You Prego Ladies Ever Suffer From Panick Attacks? I Do!

[Butterfly Spirit]

So anyways ladies, since I found out I was prego and bleeding I find it hard to breathe normally, my chest is tight and I can't get a natural rhythm going and the first 2 days I could barely sleep because I was afraid of not breathing normally and I even woke up with a struggle. I just continue to see brown cm that never completely stops. I'm trying everything I can to accept I am pregnant and be happy I am pregnant, but I'm so nervous about what could happen to my little one, and how I don't know what will happen. Hubby has a different insurance this year and we will be unable to deliver at the hospital we love. I just HATE That too. I'm just anxious and overwhelmed I guess.
Tonight the attack is pretty bad, just have to stand up and walk around and pray for it to stop.

Do you pregnant ladies ever have this happen in your current pregnancy?

Thanks

[Butterfly Spirit]

Okay I just went to pee and it was the FIRST time that I did not wipe a stitch of blood! Phew maybe the Lord knows this is just too much for me to handle and it's all over?! I will keep you all updated!

[rainbowflower]

yay for no blood!
don't have much advice I'm afraid - I'm a nervous wreck during the first trimester especially too. I count down the days to each milestone (of which I create many!)

perhaps talk to a doctor if you're having panic attacks?

[Butterfly Spirit]

yay for no blood!
don't have much advice I'm afraid - I'm a nervous wreck during the first trimester especially too. I count down the days to each milestone (of which I create many!)

perhaps talk to a doctor if you're having panic attacks?

That's okay Rainbow lady. :)
I am going to try to get an OB and appt set up tmw! I just need to see what is going on in there! :)
I have NEVER worried so much with a pregnancy and I find myself thinking I will surely go insane.. and time will drag!

[TTC5]

Sounds like your suffering anxiety and panic attacks. I suffer from depression and panic attacks and it can be very frightening :(

Try to take in slow deep breathes, out in fresh air if possible. Close your eyes and imagine your chest opening up wide and all the good oxygen flowing through your body.

[Butterfly Spirit]

Sounds like your suffering anxiety and panic attacks. I suffer from depression and panic attacks and it can be very frightening :(

Try to take in slow deep breathes, out in fresh air if possible. Close your eyes and imagine your chest opening up wide and all the good oxygen flowing through your body.

Thank you for sharing with me TTC5 that I'm not alone. It is VERY scary and comes out of nowhere sometimes huh. I have to stand up to feel I can breathe. Thinking back now I think I did in fact have panicky breathing with DS#2 in the first trimester. I need to go outside and walk and use visualizations like you said!
I didn't even tell DH until the day I went back to the doc.

[TTC5]

Understand completely. I am medicated for my mental illness though it got so bad that I would not drive through traffic lights or answer the telephone. Weird hey..

[Butterfly Spirit]

Understand completely. I am medicated for my mental illness though it got so bad that I would not drive through traffic lights or answer the telephone. Weird hey..

Nope you aren't weird at all. I don't like to drive much.... either.. ha ha and the freeway? FORGET IT!
DH puts up with me in that way.

[willtherebe4]

Hi BS,

Sometimes I think we are our own worst enemy for knowing too much each time we are pg. I mean that in a good way though because we also know how precious the end result is and how bad we want that. With DS #3 I felt very nervous for some reason too, convinved myself for a bit that there was something wrong with him and it was very horrible!! I ended up having 7 scans with DS3 which seems ridculous looking bck but most of those were early then the reg 20wk and another late one because they were worried about his large size. I have also had 3 MC so that didnt help. The blood issue is not nice and I bled in the first trimester of all 6 pregnancies (after the first pg (MC) I was so neurotic that when I was pg every time after that, that DH was NOT allowed to purchase any toilet paper unless it was plain white). I'm sure once the bleeding stops and you are further along you will feel more at ease and begin to enjoy everything like you want to. You just want this to work so try and take it easy on yourself and keep yourself distracted if you can I find that helps.

[Butterfly Spirit]

Hi BS,

Sometimes I think we are our own worst enemy for knowing too much each time we are pg. I mean that in a good way though because we also know how precious the end result is and how bad we want that. With DS #3 I felt very nervous for some reason too, convinved myself for a bit that there was something wrong with him and it was very horrible!! I ended up having 7 scans with DS3 which seems ridculous looking bck but most of those were early then the reg 20wk and another late one because they were worried about his large size. I have also had 3 MC so that didnt help. The blood issue is not nice and I bled in the first trimester of all 6 pregnancies (after the first pg (MC) I was so neurotic that when I was pg every time after that, that DH was NOT allowed to purchase any toilet paper unless it was plain white). I'm sure once the bleeding stops and you are further along you will feel more at ease and begin to enjoy everything like you want to. You just want this to work so try and take it easy on yourself and keep yourself distracted if you can I find that helps.

Oh Willtherebe4, Thank you for sharing your experience!!!!! Wow. You certainly have had your share of hardships! :(

I am very sorry to hear about your losses, and I cannot begin to imagine what you went through!
:sadflwr::sadflwr::sadflwr:
So With DS#3 you were considered high risk right? I was going to call the doc office tmw and find out what they define as high risk. In my opinion it's a blaring yes, to at least get one ultrasound to clarify things..I can't wait until week 10, I will go insane!
So can I ask you how you bled? I stated bleeding on the 17th (a week before AF was due, and day one it barely filled one pad, day two I just had a feeling so I took a cheapie hpt and saw a ghost line, and that day the bleeding filled a couple pads? It just picked up, and there were some clots.
days 3 I used a few pads and on day 4 I finally saw a line so I tested with a real hpt and got my BFP (day before AF was due). My bleeding slowed down a lot and was nearly stopped. It also started one day and stopped the next, I'm tired and it's prob explained better in my other thread. I had my hcg levels checked early this week and they were just fine. Since then it's been old blood spotting. I had some morning sickness but weirdly enough day before yesterday it vanished! I'm hoping this is the sign of a girl and nothing more lol.
So did they find the reason you bled each seperate time? Was it a subchorianic hemorrhage, placenta previa (sp?)
Breakthrough bleeding.. or heavy implantation bleeding? I just can't imagine you going through what I have gone through the last week.. over and over again... :(
I know our minds are VERY powerful things and I do need to calm down. I hope I wake up in the am and the blood doesn't return..but I'm still going to try to get into an OB regardless.

I am so happy that you had some healthy pregnancies that made it all the way to the end. What blessings they must be in your life! Thank you for sharing with me, I really appreciate it!

[atomic sagebrush]

Hormones can def. cause that feeling (interestingly, a lot of women going thru menopause have symptoms very similar to what we go thru in pg). Wishing you the very best!!!

Yay for no spotting!!!

[auroara78]

I suffer from anxiety in general, preg. or not preg, but sometimes I find, esp. in early preg I get kinda mental about having a panic attack, as if I'm going to severely hurt the baby, and that fear of course fuels more uneasy feelings which starts a new wave coming on....

The only thing that works for me with panic/anxiety is plain distraction. I also detest driving more than you can imagine (I pretty much just manage to get myself to work and back, but my DH does most of the other driving. I may drive 5-10 mins to grocery store or clothes shopping, but that is when I'm feeling very "brave"). Sometimes I have magical moments when I'm driving and I know I'm driving, but I'm not so worried about everything to do with driving, and my mind wanders off and I find it really peaceful.

Anyway, I know this is not much help for your current situation, but just for me distraction works. I've tried the tactic of directly confronting the issue (which is what my therapist said I should do) but it just makes me really antsy and makes it 10x harder to drive. When I don't think about my anxiety, or I think about things that make me really happy, I can feel myself relax and it's truly easier to breathe.

Is there any beautiful image from your past you can pull up? Sometimes when I was nervous driving, I calmly envisioned the U/S that said this baby would be a girl and it helped me a great deal. Or I would imagine what kind of color combos I could dress her in, or I'd try to think about who she'd look like (DS1 looks like me, DS2 looks like DH), etc. I also think of course postivity plays a big part. Have you tried a prenatal yoga tape or just a gentle beginning yoga tape? When I was in my midst really, really bad with it I would do a yoga DVD at home and it really did help, just clearing my head, focusing my breathing. I know its sounds cliche, but it helped me regain some "control" and I think when I lose "control" is when my panic attacks flare up.

[Butterfly Spirit]

Thank you Auroara!
What a brave disclosure! You and willtherebe4 have disclosed some very hard personal struggles and losses! You are two amazing women, that I will think about whenever I get to feeling this way.
I can't imagine how it would feel to go through daily life and feel anxious and panicky all the time, that must be a trial! I too am having a hard time breathing normally thinking.. what if I'm not getting enough oxygen for baby!?
Why won't the brown (old blood) cm STOP!? WHAT IS IT!?
I went to babycenter.com and looked up brown cm and surprisingly A LOT of women experience it! I'm so terrified to even make love to my husband and I feel awful! I seduced the crap out of him to make this sweet baby and now he wants to play with no reservations and I have to say NO! :(
Thank you for sharing your driving woes with me! I'm really not alone. Some people think it's so ridiculous! Even ones that are reading this probably can't believe it, *sorry ladies* but it is a part of every day normal life that is extremely difficult for us!
I know in a year I will have to get over it and drive DS #1 to school, that will be unavoidable.

I have not done prenatal yoga, or any yoga for that matter and I will certainly have to check it out! Also going to do some walking during this pregnancy. How often have you worked out?
I'm watching episodes of America and Britain's Got Talent on youtube and just enjoying the beautiful music. If there is anything on this earth that can calm me down it's music especially people like Susan Boyle, Paul Potts, and Jackie Evancho and they were all discovered from there.
This will be one long week but I did get an appt at the new hospital I have to deliver at ..high risk clinic u/s on May 7! I'm excited! I've never gotten one this early so it should be interesting.
I am so elated for you that you got your baby girl! You still just must be on cloud 9! :)
Thank you for sharing and thank you for the support. I will try all your suggestions!

[willtherebe4]

Hi Butterfly Spirit,

How are you doing today??

Yes with DS#3 I had spotting soon after finding out but I think by then I had already had an early scan as I was unsure of dates (he is our surprise package lol) so I was sent for another scan given my history. Normally if we were trying I would have tested early but this time I tested to see if my AF was running late (we were at day 36, normally only 31-32). I didnt want to book into the regular hospital system until I was past the first trimester (this happened 1st time then I MC just before 11 weeks and that was the hardest esp being first time). Sometimes they could see a little bleed and I expected some brown spotting and other times it was fresh red spotting). I never did have it anything as heavy as you describe though but there are plenty of people that still get AF, maybe this is what is happening to you and maybe the earlier bleed was implantation??

There is one thing that I have learnt though and thats that bleeding is very common and not always bad. I think if there is also pain associated then that is the warning sign for me that things arent great. I remember at one early scan with DS#3 (pg No 6) even knowing my history the sonographer said he was confident all was ok and would be more surprised if it wasnt - I thought that was a bit confident of him to say knowing my history as he hadnt started the scan yet, anyway he was right.

The other thing that comes to mind is that when we test early and get that BFP we dont know if that otherwise could have been a chemical pg that was about to turn in to AF?? This probably happens often to lots of people, but of course if you are trying you want to test asap.

For me I can take the good or the bad news and deal with that, but the not knowing is what I find hard. I dont normally suffer from anxiety or panic attacks etc, so it was strange to feel like that. Things were much better after the 20 week scan and I finally got to enjoy my little man growing in me and he is a beautiful healthy little one year old now.

FX for you it is good news, please keep us updated.



Oh Willtherebe4, Thank you for sharing your experience!!!!! Wow. You certainly have had your share of hardships! :(

I am very sorry to hear about your losses, and I cannot begin to imagine what you went through!
:sadflwr::sadflwr::sadflwr:
So With DS#3 you were considered high risk right? I was going to call the doc office tmw and find out what they define as high risk. In my opinion it's a blaring yes, to at least get one ultrasound to clarify things..I can't wait until week 10, I will go insane!
So can I ask you how you bled? I stated bleeding on the 17th (a week before AF was due, and day one it barely filled one pad, day two I just had a feeling so I took a cheapie hpt and saw a ghost line, and that day the bleeding filled a couple pads? It just picked up, and there were some clots.
days 3 I used a few pads and on day 4 I finally saw a line so I tested with a real hpt and got my BFP (day before AF was due). My bleeding slowed down a lot and was nearly stopped. It also started one day and stopped the next, I'm tired and it's prob explained better in my other thread. I had my hcg levels checked early this week and they were just fine. Since then it's been old blood spotting. I had some morning sickness but weirdly enough day before yesterday it vanished! I'm hoping this is the sign of a girl and nothing more lol.
So did they find the reason you bled each seperate time? Was it a subchorianic hemorrhage, placenta previa (sp?)
Breakthrough bleeding.. or heavy implantation bleeding? I just can't imagine you going through what I have gone through the last week.. over and over again... :(
I know our minds are VERY powerful things and I do need to calm down. I hope I wake up in the am and the blood doesn't return..but I'm still going to try to get into an OB regardless.

I am so happy that you had some healthy pregnancies that made it all the way to the end. What blessings they must be in your life! Thank you for sharing with me, I really appreciate it!

[Butterfly Spirit]

Hi Butterfly Spirit,

How are you doing today??

Yes with DS#3 I had spotting soon after finding out but I think by then I had already had an early scan as I was unsure of dates (he is our surprise package lol) so I was sent for another scan given my history. Normally if we were trying I would have tested early but this time I tested to see if my AF was running late (we were at day 36, normally only 31-32). I didnt want to book into the regular hospital system until I was past the first trimester (this happened 1st time then I MC just before 11 weeks and that was the hardest esp being first time). Sometimes they could see a little bleed and I expected some brown spotting and other times it was fresh red spotting). I never did have it anything as heavy as you describe though but there are plenty of people that still get AF, maybe this is what is happening to you and maybe the earlier bleed was implantation??

There is one thing that I have learnt though and thats that bleeding is very common and not always bad. I think if there is also pain associated then that is the warning sign for me that things arent great. I remember at one early scan with DS#3 (pg No 6) even knowing my history the sonographer said he was confident all was ok and would be more surprised if it wasnt - I thought that was a bit confident of him to say knowing my history as he hadnt started the scan yet, anyway he was right.

The other thing that comes to mind is that when we test early and get that BFP we dont know if that otherwise could have been a chemical pg that was about to turn in to AF?? This probably happens often to lots of people, but of course if you are trying you want to test asap.

For me I can take the good or the bad news and deal with that, but the not knowing is what I find hard. I dont normally suffer from anxiety or panic attacks etc, so it was strange to feel like that. Things were much better after the 20 week scan and I finally got to enjoy my little man growing in me and he is a beautiful healthy little one year old now.

FX for you it is good news, please keep us updated.

Hello Willtherebe4,
I am doing pretty good! I haven't had any spotting since Thursday only brown cm.. so that's my focus right now. I keep praying that God will save my baby, and I feel peace... then I feel crazy all over again.
I did get an appt with a high risk clinic for an u/s May 7, and that will hopefully give me some answers, any answers!
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I really appreciate you sharing all that personal info and helping my cope with my pregnancy, because I sure need it! I need to compare my experience to anything it could remotely be!
Now as far as what my bleeding could be, Rainbow pointed out that it could be breakthrough bleeding.. which is completely normal.. As for implantation I don't think it was possible since I did see a ghost line the next day.. is that possible?
So I bled from April 17th to the 22st ghost lines from April 18th to 20th
As to why I have brown cm I have no idea! I still think my little bean is in there, and that is a good feeling! There's a possibility there's a placental tear (that's what the clinic told me) or I read it could be low, sitting right on top of the cervix..and that bleeding can and will happen throughout the whole pregnancy as the uterus expands.
I agree with you, that I can deal with it... it wouldn't be easy but it's the unknown that I too hate THE MOST! Answers give us peace, once we have grieved and dealt with whatever misfortune came our way. Happiness comes from knowing! So tell me, are you currently TTC or are you gearing up to conceive in the coming months?
Thanks again for your help!

[zanacal]

I just stumbled across this thread looking for something else ...

I believe I've suffered from panic attacks this pregnancy. They started after I was sent to hospital for a suspected DVT (which I didn't have thankfully). Several times when I was driving I suddenly felt as though my vision narrowed, I was aware of my heartbeat and I had a rush to my head. I was terrified I would crash the car and had to pull over and was very shaky for a while after. I also woke up in the night feeling like I was falling and couldn't breathe properly. At several stages of this pregnancy I've been convinced I'm going to die. I went to the doctor who I suspect thought I was a crazy pregnant woman so I went to a second doctor when it didn't get better and he referred me to a cardiologist. It's only since seeing the cardiologist, who confirmed nothing to worry about, that these episodes seem to have stopped. It may well be that some of the symptoms I was experiencing were real and I know that heart issues during pregnancy are worse during the second trimester when they happened - but I do now believe that they were just panic attacks. My mum and sister have/do suffer from them and I read they can run in the family. Sometimes fears take hold in your sub-conscious and even though you can reason with them to yourself they're still there! I've been on a hypnosis for childbirth course and they gave us an anagram for fear - False Evidence Appearing Real - this rang very true for me!

{hugs} and I hope you feel better soon x

[Butterfly Spirit]

I just stumbled across this thread looking for something else ...

I believe I've suffered from panic attacks this pregnancy. They started after I was sent to hospital for a suspected DVT (which I didn't have thankfully). Several times when I was driving I suddenly felt as though my vision narrowed, I was aware of my heartbeat and I had a rush to my head. I was terrified I would crash the car and had to pull over and was very shaky for a while after. I also woke up in the night feeling like I was falling and couldn't breathe properly. At several stages of this pregnancy I've been convinced I'm going to die. I went to the doctor who I suspect thought I was a crazy pregnant woman so I went to a second doctor when it didn't get better and he referred me to a cardiologist. It's only since seeing the cardiologist, who confirmed nothing to worry about, that these episodes seem to have stopped. It may well be that some of the symptoms I was experiencing were real and I know that heart issues during pregnancy are worse during the second trimester when they happened - but I do now believe that they were just panic attacks. My mum and sister have/do suffer from them and I read they can run in the family. Sometimes fears take hold in your sub-conscious and even though you can reason with them to yourself they're still there! I've been on a hypnosis for childbirth course and they gave us an anagram for fear - False Evidence Appearing Real - this rang very true for me!

{hugs} and I hope you feel better soon x

Thank you so much for your reply Zancai sweetie! Sounds like some really scary stuff that you experienced! WOW!!!!! What is DVT?
I've been dealing with panicky breathing on and off today, especially since I now have the wonderfully known stuffy nose while pregnant! I was trying to take a bath and wash my hair, and I was definitely noticing my damn breathing! I definitely think there is something to being pregnant and panic attacks! And after listening to you ladies share your experiences, it seems to be TRUE!
I hope that you are feeling a lot better now you are 20 weeks! Your little princess has such a sweet little face!

[zanacal]

I'm almost 37 weeks Butterfly! I think with the breathing as well, the more you think about it the more you breathe strange iykwim? DVT is deep vein thrombosis.

[Butterfly Spirit]

I'm almost 37 weeks Butterfly! I think with the breathing as well, the more you think about it the more you breathe strange iykwim? DVT is deep vein thrombosis.

Oh gosh, I'm sorry..Zancai please forgive me!!! I read the 20" on your ticker and my tired brain said "20 weeks" 2323
I'm sorry! :rofl: bahahahahaha wOw lady, you are ready to go almost! At 37 weeks I deliver.
2321 on being full term!

[auroara78]

Butterfly spirit, you are a very lovely lady :) I hope the U/S on May 7th goes well and helps to reassure you! I haven't done the prenatal yoga very much, but every time I do I feel 10x better and more CALM!! It really is something I need to make time for! I'm going to start trying to go for daily walks after work just to get my stamina up some and to keep the preg going healthily, since I sit down all day. Think it would be really good for baby and me to get some fresh air and move my legs, esp. since I'm still considering trying a VBA2C (vaginal birth after 2 c-sections) I figure if i go for walks every day, I will tone up some and it might help the process of VBAC2C.

Zanacal, I'm really intruiged by the hypo birthing still. I'm thinking of trying to find a therapists that specializes in hyponois therapy for panic/anxiety attacks becuase my old therapist just saying "confront the issue" does not work for me. Getting on the highway after 5+ years of not doing it does not work for me, sorry. I am still too "scared" of it for the whole "just do it" thing to work, but maybe that is really what I got to do. My anxiety with driving all started from an eye issue (complicated and verrrrry long story), but my left eye does not see fine print or crisp anymore; its very blurry, and I used to have double vision which terrifed me to drive, and so therefore, the whole eye problem made the driving thing 100x worst.

Anyway, I'd love to hear more about what they said at the hypobirth class. I think a hyponosis thing could be a good thing for my subconscious.

[zanacal]

Auroara - I can't recommend it enough, I really think every pregnant woman should go to these classes! Of course I only have experience of the childbirth aspect which is what my hypnotherapist specialises in but she also works in other areas and even trains people for surgery without anaesthetic and then attends the surgery - eek! I actually wish I could take her with me when I go in to have the baby :D She gave us some techniques and a CD to listen to (we did it in class also) to counteract anxiety surrounding childbirth and I guess some of the methods in that would be transferrable to other situations.

[auroara78]

Zana, that is why I became interested in hypo stuff after I watched a science channel speical about this woman who underwent knee surgery without any drugs or anethesa because she had trained in "hypo" ways to dull the pain. It was really amazing to watch, so I thought that could be a cure for my panic attacks to see a trained hyponoist (misspelled) to give me tools to ease out of it. I think it's very, very interesting and I do think our brains are amazing and if ultilized can really help us from experiencing pain/discomfort like that.