Brain involvment

[nicky00]

Hi

Just wondering...

Unexpectedly out of the blue I had the beginnings of a panic attack.
That is as close a description as I can get.

I know a bit about panic attacks as had them years ago and went on a course to learn about them etc etc.

This was different.

All day I felt 'spacey headed' dizzy, really very weird headwise physically, its hard to describe.

Despite everything my mood was good.

At some point during the day I stopped and was forced to notice just how bad my head was,concentration etc. Two strangers talking and me reading and re reading something and not being able to process properly made me also notice how physically my head was werid.

Then it happened, the more I noticed the worse my symptoms seemed to get in a few seconds(?) Then I felt that heatwave similar to when your going to vomit but I knew it was that very old very familar beginnings of panic.

Now I KNOW that panic arises out of fear (even if your having a fun time) so natrually I could assume I noticed symptoms and that started something.

I really did feel these odd physcial head sensations before panic.

Am waiting for antiphilosphoid tests to come back etc because I mentioned my memory probs etc.
Am on planqenil for a month so far.

The bottom line is this..
Does anyone know of lupus brain involvment/panic attacks/werid sensations being a symptom?

Nickyx

[raud]

Hi :) I´m sorry to hear about your symptom and hope someone can help you with it.
I´ve also been thinking that I must have anxiety. I´ve been grasping for air, feeling breathless but not be doing anything at all. I´ve blamed it on anxiety but still not really felt scared or panicky. Some years ago I was in an abusive relationship and I know about anxiety, and being scared and numb, this is different.
I resently was told I am anemic and I went on the net to read about it and one symptom can be feeling out of breath, something about the blood not doing the createst job of moving oxygen around when you are anemic. I haven´t experienced the same thing you describe but I´m sure sometimes it´s really hard to differentiate between physical and emotional signals.
Take care :)

[nicky00]

I think it could be I felt panic because of symptoms.

My head is definately odd, physically disorientated, dizzy.

Once the tests come back I will feel more reassureance.

Thanks for replying

Nicky:)

[Janna]

Nicky- I started having nocturnal panic attacks three years ago. Out of the blue- nothing new or anxiety provoking was happening in my life. They only happen when I am asleep and they are really bad. I am on medication now but still have break through panic often. My psychiatrist isn't sure if the disease itself has changed my brain chemistry or if this is post stroke anxiety. (had a tiny stroke 10 years ago)
You aren't alone in this!

[Raglet]

hi Nikky

It is really hard to say whether or not panic attacks could be a symptom of cns lupus. Panic attacks in people without lupus come with a whole host of symptoms, much like you are describing, so on the whole I would suspect that unless you were having other cns symptoms, I would think the most likely explanation would be panic attacks not associated with cns lupus.

Brain fog is common in many people with lupus, and is not necessarily part of cns lupus. Generally speaking the dx of cns lupus (or np-sle as it is called) is made on the basis of other symptoms rather than brainfog. Which is why you will see some studies that put the rate of cns involvement being very high, as compared with other studies which put it much lower.

The other thing is that people with lupus have a lot more to cope with in their lives, which makes anxiety states like panic more common. An antidepressant with an antianxiety agent in it can be really helpful.

hth

raglet

[K-MARIE]

hi Nicki,
I have had anxiety/panic for years before i knew i had discoid lupus. my symptoms popped up in every part of my body, one thing replacing the other, including odd head things, like you describe, the more worry the longer it hangs on due to tension of the nervous system. we seem to never be sure we think it's anxiety, and wonder if it is something more serious, the negative thoughts over come the mind. people that dont worry much dont usually have anxiety.