Surprisingly Simple Explanation Of Your Panic Attack
Tags: coping with panic acks, panic attack treatment, panic away, symptoms of panic attacks
Understanding your panic attack
Understanding your panic attack
Your heart starts to race, you begin to sweat, your breathing becomes labored and the room begins to close in; sound familiar, it may if you have ever suffered a panic attack. This extreme form of anxiety requires the help and diagnosis by a physician and today, I’ll be describing the common signs and symptoms that many people experience.
Classic Definition of a Panic Attack
Described as a brief period of intense fear and/or apprehension that starts quickly, reaches its peak within about 10 minutes and usually subsides over the course of several hours, a panic attack is often described by those experiencing it for the first time as a heart attack or nervous breakdown. Often people who suffer from these attacks find themselves caught in a kind of positive feedback loop where the anticipation of the next attack brings on a mini attack and making it hard for them to live and function normally.
Physical Symptoms
The sympathetic nervous system is often activated during a panic attack and the “fight or flight” sensations may become very prominent. At the onset of an attack, sufferers will begin to tremble, become short of breath and their heart will begin to beat rapidly causing chest pains. Hot flashes, cold flashes, facial flushing and burning, sweating, nausea, and tingling sensations in the arms, legs and hands often occur as well.
The sudden onset of symptoms often leads to people seeking treatment in the emergency room. Unable to control the physical responses, patient often feel embarrassed and unable to seek treatment for the underlying causes. A panic attack is a psychological condition and not a mental illness. There are many people who suffer from these attacks as a result of intense emotional stress but there are a number of predisposing long term causes such as heredity and certain illnesses.
Current Treatment Practices
Most treatment today includes psychological therapy and medication to reduce attacks and cognitive behavior therapy to produce the best results. Recognizing physical conditions that bring on attacks is the base of this type of therapy so that these type situations can be avoided. Psychological therapy has been proven time and again to provide the best treatment for this condition. Breathing exercises have also been used with some success to reduce the frequency of attacks and make them less debilitating when they do occur.
There are certain diagnostic criteria that must be noted by your physician in order to adequately diagnosis a panic attack and consulting your health professional is a requirement. As noted earlier, this disorder can often have an underlying physical cause that must be treated as well. Without treatment, some people come to fear leaving the safety of their home and the safe conditions that it presents and makes it hard for them to function in the world.
These situations can be extremely distressing when they occur and can lead to other types of problems; therefore, it is extremely important to seek treatment when they occur.
