Panic Attack: A Real Illness With A Sense Of Unreality

Panic attacks are symptoms of panic disorder, a type of anxiety disorder affecting millions of adults in the U.S. While the exact cause of panic disorder is yet to be known, researchers suspect a combination of biological and environmental factors may contribute to the development of the condition.

It's like having a heart attack. Your hands feel numb, your heart is racing that you have difficulty breathing, and a feeling of terror strike suddenly and repeatedly without any warning. A panic attack is almost like a violent experience. You may feel disconnected from reality. In between attacks, there is dread and anxiety that it's going to happen again.

Panic attacks are symptoms of panic disorder, a type of anxiety disorder affecting millions of adults in the U.S. today. It usually develops during the late teens and early adulthood, and may afflict twice as many women as men. However, not everyone who experiences panic attacks will develop panic disorder. While the exact cause of panic disorder is yet to be known, researchers suspect a combination of biological and environmental factors may contribute to the development of the condition. It includes family history, stressful life events, drug and alcohol abuse, and thinking patterns that exaggerated normal physical reactions.

Though panic attacks usually produce a sense of unreality, it is a real illness that can be treated successfully. It can be a truly terrifying experience and may occur at any time, even during sleep. An attack usually peaks within 10 minutes, but some symptoms may last much longer. During a panic attack, your heart will pound and you may feel sweaty, weak, faint, or dizzy. Your hands may tingle or feel numb, and you might feel flushed or chilled. You may have nausea, chest pain or smothering sensations, a sense of unreality, or fear of impending doom or loss of control.
When faced with a problem or a situation, people experience anxiety. It's quite normal to be anxious about stressful situations. However, someone who is suffering from panic disorder may react to the same pressures with an exaggerated physical reaction. This makes panic attack even more frightening because despite of the absence of real danger, episodes can still happen anytime, anywhere. It can occur while strolling in the park, chilling out with friends, shopping at the mall, and even in the middle of the night while you are sound asleep.

Fear of having another attack usually haunts a person suffering from panic disorder. Such fear can severely affect daily activities. There are people who would refuse to leave their houses for fear of becoming vulnerable to such attacks, or they try to avoid being reminded of previous attacks. Over time, they may develop other mental disorders or phobia, such as agoraphobia or the fear of being outside of known and safe surroundings.

Panic disorder is often accompanied by other serious problems, such as depression, drug abuse, or alcoholism. The good news is that there is a wide variety of effective treatments for panic disorder available. Some of the better known treatments are called psychotherapy or talk therapy, cognitive, or biofeedback therapy. These methods were developed to help alter a person's response to triggers. Other treatment options include the use of antidepressant medications and beta-blockers. A change in lifestyle, such as limiting caffeine and having a daily fitness regimen, can also help reduce symptoms of panic disorder.

How to Avoid Panic Attacks

Anyone who has ever had a panic attack knows how life stopping these events can feel. A panic attack can seriously hurt your quality of life by causing you become terrified of a repeat episode. This terror is just another negative side effect of panic attacks, and you should learn to think of it as such so that you can get on with your life without the constant fear of a panic attack hanging over your head. Worrying about having a panic attack all the time might even cause you to trigger panic attacks later.

Panic attacks feel a lot like heart attacks. A panic attack might cause your heart to race, and it might cause you to become short of breath. You might find that you feel dizzy or light headed, and they are characterized with the feeling of life or death importance. It is not uncommon to believe that you are dying or about to die when you are having a panic attack. Fortunately for sufferers, they are usually not of a long duration, and will stop when they have run their course, usually a few minutes, or when the cause of the panic is removed.

If you are terrified that you might have another panic attack, you may just end up cutting yourself off from everything in order to avoid having another. You might hide from the world, or otherwise separate yourself from the friends and family who might otherwise be able to help you. If this sounds familiar to you, then you need to consider seeking professional help to empower you to dispel the threat of panic attacks that hangs over your head.

You may also be able to help yourself by avoiding the situations that cause you to have your panic attacks in the first place. One of the biggest causes of panic attacks is stress, and if you are constantly in stressful situation, then you will be at a much higher risk for panic attacks in the future. This stress is not necessarily the stress that comes over a few days over a particular event; panic attacks are triggered by constant stress over a period of months or sometimes even longer. This stress is often too much for people to bear, and even if we do not realize that, our bodies do, and they rebel.

Panic attacks can also be caused by certain situations. If you get a panic attack every time you are running late, or stuck in traffic, or going over a bridge, then you need to make sure to avoid those situations to prevent these same events from triggering more panic attacks in the future. You can take a different route to work, leave early, and avoid roads that you know will be snarled with traffic or even head to a local place for dinner after work before facing the drive home.

If you practice avoiding panic attacks and chart where you were, what you were doing, and how you felt immediately prior to each panic attack, then you can use this information to avoid the things that trigger you. You may be able to save yourself a lot of trouble with your mental and even your physical health later down the road.

Panic attacks do not just feel remarkably like heart attacks; recent studies have linked experiencing panic attacks with an increased likelihood of actually having a heart attack later. Keep your odds low and keep your stress levels down to avoid panic attacks and to remain as healthy as possible. No one likes to suffer, and panic attacks certainly fall into the category of suffering.

If you are at risk for panic attacks or you have had them in the past, then you should examine the past causes of your panic attacks so that you can help yourself to avoid similar situations in the future. You should also get in contact with your doctor to find out if you may need medication or therapy to help you take charge of your life and get away from the panic attacks. It can be difficult to determine exactly the best means of preventing panic attacks, but you may get better results when pairing the practice of avoiding triggers with medication to help you feel calmer. A therapist can also help you learn mental tricks to help you ride through the panic attacks without completely losing your cool the next time you feel one coming on.