What Is A Panic Attack
Exactly What Is A Panic Attack ?
Exactly What is A Panic Attack ?
And most of all, what are panic attack symptoms ?
You cannot really compare panic attacks to the usual stressful situation that one faces in an ordinary day. They are extremely amplified state of fear accompanied by strong unpleasant side effect along the ride. You should not take this lightly as it is a real medical condition that can appear for no reason without any warning.
Depending on what situation you are facing, what has provked the attack, and what your health condition is, symptoms could differ from one person to another. The typical symptoms are a complete state of fear, faster heart pulsations, chest pain, dizziness and fear of dying. For most people, you can almost never really associate any evident threat at the moment it occurs, as they are mostly triggered by the subconscious part of your brain.
With time, consequences can become very serious and it will affect someon’s life quality a lot. Since most courses are only teaching how to manage your stress and how to cope with it, instead of teaching how to completely stop your panic attacks, it ends up coming back at one point or another. And since the subject is trying to avoid this particular situation, or any single situation that might provoke a panic attack, you begin to fear having another panic attack.
Which is fear of fear.
And at this point, what was a panic attack usually becomes a panic disorder, or anxiety disorder. You body will try to keep you safe and far from any general anxiety. Where do you feel the safest ?
At home.
So automatically, one’s reflex is to stay home as much as possible. This leads to agoraphobia. Fear of people and crowds in general. Some people also end up being afraid of driving, of flying or working.
It can also lead to other serious medical conditions as depression, claustrophobia, alcoholism, drug abuse and agoraphobia as mentioned before.
What Are The Panic Attack Symptoms
Those are the most common panic attack symptoms :
- State of fear
- Hard time breathing
- Feeling that the body doesn’t know how to breathe anymore
- Dizziness
- Hyperventilation
- Numbness in your fingers or in your lips
- Chest pain
- Increased heartbeat
- Sweating
- Hot flushes
- Free falling sensation
- Fear of dying
- Intense fatigue
- Brain fog (feeling of being loose headed)
If you feel like you might have more than one of those symptoms, I suggest you go consult your doctor. This could be very serious. And those symptoms are also often associated to some other serious medical conditions.
A panic attack usually last 10 to 15 minutes. It can be shorter than that, and can definitely last longer too. My first panic attack lasted almost one hour and a half. It might seem long to some people, but once you start hyperventilating, the sensation of non-stopping dizziness generates more stress, which makes you breathe faster, which generates more panic. At this point, when you don’t know what is going on, it is hard to get out of that spinning wheel.
What Are Panic Attacks Causes
There are many active studies around the planet still trying to establish exactly what causes this anxiety disorder, but a combination of many factors could very well be the reason for such anxiety disorder.
- Genetics
- General anxiety
- Stress Accumulation; Work, Personal Life, Financial Situation
- Accumululated fatigue
- Drug and alcohol abuse
- Brain abnormalities
- Liver and digestive system failure
What If A Panic Attack Is Never Treated ?
Well, if you never treat your panic disorder, you might end up with many anti social symptoms, as well as different anxiety related symptoms.
- Agoraphobia : You might try to avoid crowded places as common and ordinary as a supermarket. You might slowly stop seeing your friends, and even family members are you could be affraid of being judged.
- Panic disorder : Which is the fear of having another panic attack
- Paranoia : You might associate every single stressful event in your life to a panic attack
- Avoidance : You will start to avoid most situation where you are not completely in control, as well as most situation where you don’t have an “exit door”. For example you might stop going to the restaurant, even when they are not crowded, because you are affraid of getting an attack in an unknown environment, as well as having to drive back home.
- Depression : As time goes on, it becomes heavier and heavier to bare with your state. It often leads to depression. Lack of motivation at work, lack of energy, constant boredom. This is caused on the long term by a lack of serotonin in your brain.
- Alcohol abuse : Since panic attacks are a close cousin to depression (anxiety disorder) the first escape reaction will often be to drink (alcohol). By avoiding to face the stressful situation, and also because alcohol is a good inhibitor, it is easier into this altered state not to think about stressful situations and avoid those too. Dependance will occur after a certain time.
Who Suffers From Panic Attacks ?
This will probably reassure you. There are almost 10% of the population who suffers a form of anxiety disorder or another.
Teenagers from 15 years old to yound aldults under 35 years old are more likely to develop a chronic panic attack problem. Women under 35 are also twice as likely to suffer attacks.
Here, in Canada, a very complete study was made in 2002. Here is a table showing a few stats regarding the affected population.
Solution & Resolution
Even though 18% of people suffering from panic attacks never consult a doctor in their life (regarding this particular issue), if you are following the right procedures, you can treat your panic attacks in 90% of cases. Also, 75% of people affected could definitely treat any anxiety disorder without the use of medication. Treating your panic attacks as soon as possible is very important though. You don’t want to wait until this stressful state becomes an habit.
There are many very good books that I have come accross at the library and online. The one book with a “out-of-the-box” solution, using unorthodox methods, was very successful for me.
It is Barry McDonagh’s Panic Away. I suggest that you take 5 minutes to watch the video of Barry explaining what his method consist of.
I wish you the best of luck.
And remember to always stay positive!
Jeffrey M.
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