Supposedly, a panic attack is subjectively similar in some ways to actually having a major medical emergency, especially a heart attack.
"Impending sense of doom" is a symptom of a heart attack.
"Impending sense of doom" is a symptom of a heart attack.
This is called Cardiophobia.
What made it worse was the doc in the ER did an ultrasound on my heart as I was coming down from my freak-out. I was thinking “wow, that’s amazing! That’s my heart inside of me!” Then the doctor says, “this side of your heart looks a little thick but otherwise it looks fine” and never followed up. I try not to think about that too much.
One of the most frightening experiences of my life at the time, but it was super interesting in retrospect.
In retrospect I also have kind of similar feelings about it, although I'm afraid the experience actually caused me being worried a lot more about some minor health issues in the last year.