What is an Anxiety Disorder Panic Attack?

An anxiety disorder panic attack can change your life and the way you live it forever because of the way panic and anxiety simply “take over” the body. This brief article will take a closer look at the anxiety disorder panic attack and what effect it has on our lives, how we can handle it, and what it means in the long term.

The basics of an anxiety disorder panic attack

Anxiety disorder affects about 14% of the world’s population, according to most objective world health sources. Anxiety disorders include panic attacks, fear disorders, and sleep disorders. Stress disorders affect more women than men by a difference of about 2 or 3 percent. Anxiety attacks appear for a reason, generally that the handling of life’s stressful situations is not adequate to help the body adjust. They appear to be random but normally are not. They appear to be without cause but normally have a very clear cause: stress.

An anxiety disorder panic attack will continue to occur only because the sufferer has not done enough to prevent it by not handling the stress properly and allowing other factors to interfere with normal stress management. Factors like a poor diet, little to no exercise, and insufficient stress relief can all add up to bigger problems. In a general sense, anxiety attacks can be treated only through treating the individual symptoms. The essence of a stress-related attack is deeper than the symptoms, however.

Cures

There are many ways to cure the panic attacks in your life and all of them are related to eliminating or handling the stress that you have. First, getting a proper sleep on a regular basis is a key component to resting the body and helping it recover from the day’s events. Second, a proper diet gives the body the nourishment it needs to continue through the day and repair the cells, organisms and tissues that need to be repaired. Third, taking private time to yourself helps rejuvenate your spirit and quiet your heart. This is generally a philosophical point of view but it is known to help several people with their anxiety disorder panic attack and its symptoms.

Long-term

The long term stress related problems that a panic attack can generate can be quite severe. If an anxiety attack is not handled properly, the heart takes punishment first and other bodily organs follow. The brain dedicates its energy elsewhere, the lungs work harder, the heart pumps faster, and the blood thins due to lack of cellular support. Effectively a panic attack is a multi-system attacker as oppose to being just about one organ or bodily system. With such broad symptoms, the body definitely takes a lot of punishment from a panic attack.

Take care to live a low stress, healthy, balanced life and panic attacks will be a thing of the past for you and your family.

What is a Panic Attack Disorder?

A panic attack disorder is a disorder that involves sudden surges of fear, often overwhelming surges. The difference between a simple attack and a full-on panic attack disorder is the length of time the symptoms persist and the gravity of the symptoms. Essentially, a panic attack disorder disrupts your life and causes you to completely revamp the way in which you go about your daily work, home life, and social life.

A panic disorder is a fairly common condition, however. Generally without warning the symptoms arrive and cause the sufferer to feel fearful, nervous, and frightened without reason. These episodes can last minutes, sometimes even hours, and can be very disabling to most people as they essentially can freeze a person like a “deer in the headlights”. Being paralyzed by fear is a very real notion to those that suffer with panic attacks on a regular basis.

The Cause

The cause for a panic attack is not usually obvious, but it is something that is generally “normal” as a part of a regular stressful modern life. The development of a panic attack disorder is usually associated with a lack of proper coping skills more than it is a brain function or a biological illness as the idea behind panic is a poor management of stressful situations.

Mental health professionals often prescribe a variety of types of therapy. These include color therapy and hypnosis but in general result in a discussion of the fears or anxiety triggers to comprise a proper coping plan that will ease the effects of the stressors. However, in some of the more serious cases various medications can also be prescribed to aide in the balancing of brain chemicals that the stress and the poor reactions to it may have unbalanced.

Symptoms

Panic attacks usually come with a set of symptoms that include: shaking, trembling, heart palpitations, sweating, chest pains, shortness of breath, choking or feeling like you may be choking, nausea, dizziness, cramping, tingling, numbness, chills, hot flashes, and even “out of body” experiences or feelings related to that experience. There are other symptoms as well, but many of these are dependent on the individual panic attack sufferer.

Once again, the difference between a panic attack and a panic attack disorder is the frequency and the overall gravity of the anxiety and the symptoms. Many of those with an attack disorder seek counseling and are prescribed medication as well to combat the effects of the symptoms. As anyone with a panic disorder will tell you, anxiety can be very crippling and without professional medical help can cause serious problems.

Anxiety Attack Heart Problems

Anxiety attack heart problems are any problems related to the cardiovascular system of your body that are caused by anxiety or panic attacks. Due to the very nature of a panic attack, it is not surprising that anxiety attack heart problems are among the leading causes of heart attacks or other cardiovascular issues among North Americans today. This is not to say that an anxiety or panic attack does not have a heavy effect on other systems of the body as well, but it’s effect on the heart and blood flow is easily measured and quite noticeably dangerous.

A panic attack is a sudden onset of fear or other terror that causes frightening symptoms that can paralyze a person in the mood of the moment. Many people report the notion of being “frozen by fear” and an anxiety attack definitely resembles that to a large degree. Patients discuss shaking, trembling, chills, numbness in extremities, heart palpitations, and trouble breathing among other things that are caused by the great difficulty of a panic attack.

Anxiety attack heart problems are common because of the close association stress has with other heart problems. Anxiety can accompany any heart disease or cardiac condition that causes a drop in blood pressure because of this close relationship in systems and bodily functions. This, in fact, causes a sudden decrease in cardiac output, which is the amount of blood being pumped by the heart. Anxiety is also closely related to (but not the cause of) a condition called mitral valve prolapsed or MVP.

Panic attacks generate a common human response to danger: the “fight or flight” response. This was said to evolve from early human types that either fled danger or took it on if they could. Fight or flight generates a lot of biological processes because of the energy the body needs to perform either task. The heart races, the blood quickens, the eyes function differently, senses are heightened, and other parts of the body begin to react in other ways such as muscles tightening, etc.

Anxiety attack heart difficulties can arise from the heart being told to work too fast by the brain, which is in charge of the “fight or flight” mechanism. At this point, the body often decides to simply shut down because it’s easier on the systems involved. For this reason, the heart once again runs the virtual gamut of both beating faster and beating slower; calming the body down and slowing blood flow one moment and then speeding the body up and creating more blood flow the next minute.

Finding Anxiety Attack Help

Getting good anxiety attack help is as easy as consulting your medical professional and taking their advice. It can also be complex, however, as some of that advice may require serious lifestyle changes and a difference in the choices you make in your daily life. There are several types of anxiety attack help that may be prescribed from group therapy to medication to color therapy to hypnosis. Any number or combination of a number of things can help anxiety attacks from taking over your life.

An anxiety attack is a sudden rush of physical and mental discomfort or trauma caused by unknown or known sources. Panic attacks could be generated through bad traffic, a stressful morning, or nothing at all. Generally, there are a series of symptoms that are experienced that typically signal the onslaught of an anxiety or panic attack. The symptoms can include anything from sweating profusely to having extreme heart palpitations. Getting anxiety attack help can be hard because of the unpredictability of these attacks.

Random or Planned?

Although panic attacks may seem to be random to some, there are actually a great number of factors and biochemical processes that occur during a panic attack that make it anything but chaotic at the outset. The human body actually reacts in a set number of stages, all of which help prepare the body and train it how to react. So, it stands to reason that if your body is trained to react poorly through a number of factors the likelihood that you will experience a panic attack is significantly greater than a healthier person.

For example, the likelihood of a generally out of shape individual with poor time management skills and poor stress management skills of experiencing a panic attack in a stressful situation is significantly higher than that of a well adjusted person that is confident with their time and stress management skills. This is because their bodies are trained to handle the situations while conversely the body types that are not will inevitably react poorly.

Get Help

Getting anxiety attack help can, therefore, be as simple as eating properly and taking good care of yourself. Having a good diet and feeding your body the nourishment it needs from day to day is an important step to equipping the organs and blood with the enzymes it needs to perform its job. Regular exercise is also integral to this goal, as well as regular rest and relaxation. Taking the time to enjoy life is some of the best anxiety attack help you can give yourself.

 

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Anxiety Attack or is it something Else?

Many people don't realize they are actually having an anxiety attack until they know what the definition of one is. An anxiety attack is a strong sensation that creates fear in oneself, as the symptoms can seem like you are actually dying. If you are someone who suffers from these kinds of attacks, it is important to know as much as you can about them as to help control them.

Causes of Anxiety Attacks

The cause of an anxiety attack can vary from person to person. They may be caused by an upsetting event in someone's life or a fear of something they have experienced growing up. Stress is a big contributor to anxiety attacks, but the possibilities are truthfully endless. Medication is a known trigger of an anxiety attack, and being less than active is known to be a contributor as well. In reality, there is not a particular known reason for people who experience these attacks; they are in short a body’s way of dealing with an overwhelming feeling in one way or another.

Some Symptoms of an Anxiety Attack

One of the main symptoms of an anxiety attack is extreme fear. Now, fear may be acknowledged as a symptom of anxiety, but in reality it is just the end result of the real symptoms. Before fear sets in, you are likely to experience one or more symptoms of anxiety which lead you to the fear. Chest pain due to a racing heart, shortness of breath, and dizziness are all symptoms you may experience before the fear sets in. In the end, any uncomfortable sensation that is realized which makes you become fearful for your life is considered a symptom of anxiety, and therefore should be treated as such until you can confirm your suspicions.

So, is it an Anxiety Attack?

Because so many symptoms that are realized during an anxiety attack are similar if not exactly like those of some other kind of condition, it is almost impossible to determine if what you have been feeling is due to an anxiety attack, or another condition. This is why it’s important to see a doctor and explain your symptoms, so that your physician can run the necessary tests in determining whether you have an underlying medical condition.

That needs to be dealt with or whether it is more than likely anxiety you are dealing with, at which point you can work with your doctor in finding ways to control it.

Panic Attack Treatment for Everyone!

First and foremost for any panic attack treatment, one must consult a doctor. Only under an expert in the domain supervision, should you proceed to conduct any panic attack treatment. While there are many therapies and medications available on the market, here are a few common options for panic attack treatment:

Behavior Therapy

This therapy helps to gain control over an individual behavior. Here the individual learn to cope with difficult situations through controlled exposure to the problems. So that you can get back in charge and take control once again of your life.

Cognitive Therapy

This therapy works with changing unproductive or harmful thoughts to positive and constructive thinking... One learns to examine and distinguish realistic from unrealistic thoughts. Once again, as with the Behavior Therapy, the result achieved is that one gets back to controlling one’s life.

Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT)

This therapy is widely used by therapists, often referred as CBT. The benefit of combining these two panic attack treatments is that the patient learns recovery skills useful for a lifetime. Relaxation technique is another panic attack treatment that helps the patient to cope with stress – stress being one of the main causes of panic attacks. Some such relaxation techniques include breathing training and exercise, such as yoga and Pilates.

There is always specific medication for panic attack treatment.

Medication is very effective and is often used in combination with some of the above mentioned treatments. However, always keep in mind to consult your doctor for any panic attack treatment

Panic attack treatment is conducted over a period of a few months. It is almost always effective, but, do not expect results overnight. Also, get your family involved, you will need all the support and love you can get. Love cures most any illnesses or so they say!

Like any other treatment – panic attack treatment, requires commitment and perseverance. Positive thinking; the will to succeed; the love for life are any time a good approach

Panic attacks are caused by stress and excessive worries which are a part of our day to day life unfortunately; so, do not neglect yourself or your dear ones. Leave your work at your work place and time to relax.

Panic attacks can be treated, just like any other disorder/illness. It is important to acknowledge and seek for help. Also if you see the symptoms in others, do not hesitate to inform them or their next of kin. Take charge of yourself, take charge of life!

The Relationship between Alcohol and Panic Attacks

Alcohol and panic attack experiences; when it comes to chronic panic attack disorder, drinking is perhaps the worst thing a person could do. Alcohol is considered a depressant, and most panic attack sufferers tend to be more susceptible to the effect of such chemicals. Drinking during a panic attack will not help calm a person down, nor will it help relax them and prevent an attack.

Most doctors will agree that alcohol and panic attack experiences do not mix. In fact one of the things a doctor will suggest to any newly diagnosed panic sufferer will be that they cut down on their alcohol consumption.  The depressing effect of alcohol can lead to more frequent occurrences of panic.  It can also lead to an increased chance of causing depression, which can just cause more problems for any panic sufferer.

In some cases the excess consumption of alcohol can be one of the main causes of frequent panic attacks. The depressing effect of the alcohol can cause a person to dwell on the unwanted stressors that trigger their panics.  This only increases the likelihood of stronger, more frequent attacks; something most panic attack sufferers would prefer to do without.

Will just one Drink Hurt?

So now that we know the basic relationship between alcohol and panic attack experiences, does that mean that a panic attack sufferer is not allowed to drink?  The answer is surprisingly, no. A person who experiences panic, even frequent panic, is not disallowed to drink. What is considered a no-no is the excessive use and abuse of alcohol.  A drink or two to just relax yourself is not a bad idea; it’s when a person takes their drinking too far that the real problems begin to arise.  This excessive abuse of alcohol is what will trigger these increased panic problems, so the simple solution to this problem? Don’t drink too much.

Panic attacks are not fun, and once the relationship between alcohol and panic attack experiences are truly understood by a person, it will become apparent what they must do.  Everyone has different limits, and different alcoholic thresholds. The key is to understand where your limit is and to not step over it. For most people suffering from chronic panic attacks, this limit will begin to become natural. Because as any panic sufferers can tell you, a panic attack is extremely unpleasant and it isn’t worth having even if it means passing up that extra drink.