Help for Panic Attacks
Panic Attacks can be scary. Your heart pounds, you sweat, and your breathing feels like it’s cut off as these moments of terror take over with no warning or obvious trigger. You start to worry that the next attack might happen at any time without notice; what if one should strike while I am driving? What about when my child is playing in another room? For some people, the terror that accompanies a panic attack is debilitating. Left untreated and unchecked, this fear could lead to other fears or mental health disorders such as agoraphobia, which can in turn affect your quality of life by limiting social contact with others when they may be vital for your recovery process.
The word “panic” carries an innate sense of frightfulness because it’s linked so closely to our fight-or- flight instinct–we’re all hardwired from birth to know what we should do if faced with sudden deadly danger: either confront said threat head on (fight) or run away like hell (flight). But what happens after you find yourself paralyzed by a thought? A person with panic disorder will have sudden and repeated attacks of fear that lasts for several minutes or longer. These are called a “panic attack.” Panic attacks can be characterized by an intense feeling that something bad is about to happen, even when there is no real danger at hand. People who suffer from this illness often feel the need to escape in order to regain control over their feelings; however, they may not know how – as some people become so frightened during these bouts it becomes impossible for them think logically enough to run anywhere without risking injury. This results in many sufferers remaining trapped inside themselves until the episode subsides on its own within 10-15 minutes.
Attacks will eventually dissipate on their own but sometimes the fear lingers long after an episode has ended – causing some people who suffer from anxiety disorders to experience debilitating symptoms every day including nausea, hot flashes, and dizziness, which are collectively known as “reactivity.” It can be hard to explain what a person with anxiety feels like when they are having an outright panic attack because everyone experiences different symptoms due to their own personal history of trauma or abuse. Panic attacks happen suddenly without warning – some people start crying out while others find themselves struggling for breath. Some participate in compulsive behaviors such as picking at skin on hands. The sudden fear that can overtake an individual can dramatically worsen the sensations of your body by making physical sensations feel even more sensitive than normal. This can also occur during periods where chronic stress levels reach maximum overloads causing constant feelings of dizziness, lightheadedness and other related side effects of anxiety, which may include nausea as well.
As sufferers know all too well, this highly debilitating condition doesn’t just happen for no reason: it’s likely that biological processes are at work here to varying degrees. The brain is a key player in fear and anxiety reactions; if certain parts of the brain or chemical balances aren’t working correctly then there may be an opportunity for neurological changes during high-stress periods which result in these frightening symptoms, including palpitations and rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, and confusion. Researchers have theorized about what causes panic disorders – whether it’s genetic from a gene mutation inherited from one parent or family member, or environmental influences.
Talk to your doctor about symptoms. Your doc will perform an exam and ask you about health history in order to rule out any physical factors that may be causing the attacks. If no diagnosis can be found after all other possibilities are eliminated based on examination, the patient will likely need follow-up with mental health specialists like psychiatrists or psychologists who specialize in diagnosing various psychological disorders from depression to anxiety disorder.
