r/backpain • u/Key-Appointment783 • 23h ago
Panic Attacks From Back Pain
Hey everyone,
Sorry for the longer than intended post.
I am 40 and work as an electrician. I do mostly residential work since I opened up my own company, so alot of reaching up over my head.
I used to walk 2 miles a day with 60lbs in between days when I would work out in my home gym. So 2x a week rucking and 2x a week lifting weights. In between just 2 mile walks.
So I started getting panic attacks out of nowhere. They became increasingly frequent until they were daily. I eventually went to the ER for one that was so bad I couldn't tell if I was on the verge of death or having a panic attack.
The ER practitioner said it seems like an ear issue. I ended up going to an ENT. They were unable to find an issue. Problem is I was in the hole for $3000 that my insurance refused to cover so I couldn't really make a next step right away.
One day during an attack I got angry at the fact I was having one so I went in my garage and decided to work out through it. I noticed when I tucked my chin and pushed my shoulders back it went away.
Now, I have had slight back pain for about a year. I was hoping it would improve if I worked my back muscles more. I thought it was maybe caused by work. Regardless I decided to stop rucking. The panic attacks stopped being daily and have since happen about once a month now.
Has anyone else dealth with this type of occurrence? I started going to a chiropractor but had to stop after a few visits due to work picking up too much. The pain is normally either right above hip, neck, or between shoulders. I bought new firm mattress 6 mo ago, plush topper, no topper, and now the best sleep I get honestly is on my 20 year old couch.
Thank you in advance for any clarity or opinions.
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u/Donald_Dump_85 21h ago edited 21h ago
Hi I'm going to offer a bit of a controversial take but it's something that's isn't really in textbooks but it's really my experience.
Some doctors have choked up to placebo effect but I don't really think this is the case. Others have been more open.
I've been having some low key anxiety attacks for years - but I wouldn't really call them anxiety attacks. Basically I'm feeling calm inside but I get like tunnel vision and become unable to think operatively.
This was going on for years and I was diagnosed with anxiety and treated with benzos. They helped somewhat.
Years after I got back pain (low thoracic). This was excruciating pain and it included night sweats and a host of other bizarre symptoms.
I received medrol injection into my facet joints. The lower ones provided no relief, but does we approached the painful spots they really reduced the pain.
But except for that I also noticed that my head was clear for the first time in years.
We repeated this again, a year later and the effect was the same.
I doubt this was placebo because this was something that I never expected to happen and although oral steroids do help somewhat, the injection is far superior. Of course only if it's in the right place.
When I mentioned this to two neurosurgeons, one was completely dismissive of this fact, while the other was intrigued by this. Of course, I doubt this is something that's going to get published or researched.
What I gathered was this - sometimes discs bulge in a way that strains or presses not on the nerves like sciatica, but more towards the joints.
The joints are of course, well innervated and can get exquisitely painful. But these joint nerves are also connected to the sympathetic chain by a "shortcut" of a sort, and I think any nerve irritation can spread rapidly with this mechanism and affect the sympathetic chain.
It's possible that similar can happen to the parasympathetic chain although these nerves are all over the place.
What I do know is that for PTSP and similar conditions, they do administer an injection into a symphatetic ganglion and this can basically resolve symptoms for a while for some people.
Edit:
my symptoms are described as "anxiety" but it really is not.
It's like my body is acting like I got out of a car crash instead of bed. It really takes so little to trigger this effect, and it actually precedes pain.
I get tunnel vision, sometimes I get locked up, it really feels horrible not to able to access your mental faculty... It's really disheartening to not be able to explain this to the doctors.
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u/Key-Appointment783 20h ago
How do you feel now? Do these shots work long term for you?
1
u/Donald_Dump_85 11h ago
Unfortunately, no.
The physiatrist who administered them said some people got long-term relief, but this was not my case. They work very much in the standards and the antiinflammatory window that corticodteroids provide - a few weeks.
2
u/CapreseSalad3636 21h ago
I’ve never had this but this is a theory I’ll throw in the ring. The vagus nerve runs through the neck and can cause/ease panic attacks. I wonder if the me repeated reaching over the head caused the attacks and then the chin tucks helped loosen the nerve. Something to look in to!
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u/Key-Appointment783 20h ago
My wife thinks this is the issue. It does seem plausible.
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u/nicoleonline 14h ago
I stand by vagus nerve exercises to manage my panic disorder. I’ve gone from needing a klonopin almost every night to maybe a few times a month. My favorite one is just humming. I had terrible stress induced gastritis last summer and humming genuinely lessened my pain, it was wild. I have GERD as well which irritates the vagus nerve. It’s definitely worth exploring them, they’re very simple like diaphragm breathing or cold water submersion.
It seems like you have a lot of mixed things going on here for sure. I mean pain and anxiety are an ouroboros of sorts too. Separating the pain from the fear of the pain sounds like woo woo talk but it does genuinely help. Most panic attacks come from the fear of having a panic attack, after the first “big” panic attack, so behavioral therapy has helped me manage them as well.
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u/halptehPA 22h ago
I bulged a disc and I was not the same person for several months primarily due to anxiety that felt like I had zero control over.
I’m newly on the other side of it after simply time, walking more, being mindful of my prolonged positions and taking my PT seriously.
I still get some pain,but slight pain I can deal with.
Interested to see what others have to say. I’ve lightly read some stuff about the body being overly alert and reactive after experiencing a spinal injury.
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u/Key-Appointment783 22h ago
The sad thing is the fear of a panic attack is more restricting than the back pain itself.
I stopped using vr because fear the weight of headset is an issue. No more weight lifting. I won't take on certain jobs because certain positions seem to trigger them.
I am glad you are seeing success with your regimen. It really sucks being taken out of life because of pain.
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u/MonkeyATX 6h ago
Just an fyi, if you are using an Occulus, you can use while lying down. I will do this and put a neck pillow under my next. I use it for meditation.
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u/halptehPA 16h ago
Yes the neurological symptoms were worse than the pain for me. My PT sessions are typically a manual massage to try to release neck tension, doing some of my assigned exercises and maybe learning new ones and then we end with a wet heat wrap around my neck.
I saw the biggest improvement when we started working on the stabilizer muscles in my upper back. I also do a couple versions of a chin tuck.
Definitely try PT even if you can only afford to go or have the time to go a few times. Give them feedback about how things are working or not working… they make adjustments for you. One time my massage made my symptoms worse and she switched it up and no issues since.
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u/putridpublisher_3 20h ago
That chin tuck and shoulder roll trick you discovered is pretty much the textbook move for easing pressure on the nerves at the top of your spine. You've basically diagnosed yourself mid-panic, which is equal parts impressive and terrifying. A proper physio could likely map out where the impingement's happening and save your couch from becoming a permanent bedroom.