The Ultimate Guide to Panic Disorder Symptoms
Panic disorder is a type of exaggerated anxiety that causes people to worry without any real reason. Patients who suffer from panic disorder will feel stressed when they encounter with the trigger event. According to the statistics, about 1 of every 75 people will suffer from anxiety attack. If the patient keeps undergoing panic attacks, he can eventually suffer from mental illness and become disabled. When you are anxious, your mind will be filled with doubts about the future. You may not be able to control your thoughts. When the patient has excessive worry, he will feel easily irritated and be look depressed. He will have bad temper and show tantrum.
For some people, they find that it is difficult to go to sleep. You will keep thinking about the problem and stay awake throughout the night. When anxiety attack triggers, your heart will start to beat at a fast rate. It will beat so fast that your body will become wet with sweat. In addition, your body will tremble and shake. The patient may also experience shortness of breath, just like people who suffer from asthma. Chest pain is another symptom of anxiety.
The patient can even feel like vomiting. Sometimes, the symptom disables the person from telling other people about his anxiety problem. The patient can suffer from hyperventilating problem as well. Hyperventilating is a symptom where the patient breathes at an extremely fast rate. When the patient breathes at a rapid rate, he will feel dizzy and his mind will become in an unclear state. Other symptoms of anxiety attack include fear of death, numbness, dizziness and de-realization.
Anxiety Attack: When it happens?
Anxiety attack can happen during the day time and at night. If the anxiety attack occurs during at night, it will be called nocturnal panic attack. Nocturnal panic attack is rare and occurs less often than the daytime panic attack. It is estimated that about 40 – 70% of the population in America have daytime anxiety attack problem.
Patients who suffer from panic attacks at night are likely to have respiratory problems. These patients can also have depressions and psychiatric problems. Patients with nocturnal panic disorder can wake up suddenly from their sleep at night without any obvious cause. The duration of the nocturnal anxiety attack is 10 – 20 minutes. In some cases, it can take a much longer time to recover from the anxiety attack.
How can I tell if I have anxiety?
Not everyone will experience the same anxiety symptoms. This happens because everyone has a different body. In addition, every patient suffers from a different type of anxiety. If you are frequently worrying about something and your body is showing some symptoms, you should schedule an appointment with the doctor.
- Panic, fear, and dread
- Panic, foreboding, or perilous feelings
- Sleep issues
- being unable to remain quiet and still
- Hands or feet that are cold, sweaty, numb, or tingling
- Breathing difficulty
- Breathing more swiftly and deeply than usual (hyperventilation)
- Palpitations in the heart
- Mouth dryness
- Nausea
- Muscle tension
- Dizziness
- Thinking about a problem incessantly and being unable to quit (rumination)
- unable to focus
- avoiding dreaded items or places with zeal or obsessiveness
You should not think that it is a waste of your time to visit the panic attack doctor. It is better to get diagnosed than ignoring it. Mild anxiety symptom can develop into severe anxiety symptom so you must always take precaution.
Who will get affected with panic attack?
Panic attack can happen to anyone. Some people only experience panic attack once. However, most people will experience the panic attack repetitively. Normally, the panic attack is tied to a situation that gives you fear. The panic attack can reoccur if you are afraid that the panic attack will occur again. If you find yourself behave differently following the panic attack, you are likely to suffer from the panic disorder. The panic attack can leave a devastating memory to the victim. He will always experience how dreadful the situation is. The feelings of terror will fill the mind of the victim and cause him to have lesser confidence to face it.
This can eventually cause disruption to the life of the person. Patients will have anticipatory anxiety when facing the situation. Normal people will not feel anxious in the situation but the victim will feel anxious about it. The fear will present in the victim for the most part of his time. The fear can disable the victim from carrying out the daily activities. Phobic avoidance is another symptom of panic attack victims. You will always try o avoid the situation. You believe that the situation will cause the panic attack so you will avoid it. You will attempt to escape too a place that is far away from the situation so that you can get relief from the panic attack.
There is no researcher that manages to find the real cause behind panic disorder. A person can suffer from panic disorder if he suffers from other illnesses. Examples of illnesses that can cause panic attack are hypoglycemia, mitral valve prolapse, use of abusive drugs and etc. If you are experiencing an important life transition, you will have stress. Stress can trigger the panic attack symptom. Some of the major life transitions include college graduation, interviewing for a new job, divorce and etc.
Patients can receive treatment for the panic attack disorder through a variety of methods including cognitive behavioral therapy. In cognitive behavioral therapy, the patients will receive education on how to control their thoughts and behaviors. They will learn how to sustain the consequence of the panic attack. Undergoing the cognitive behavioral therapy allows you to see your fear more realistically. Besides cognitive behavioral therapy, you can undergo the exposure therapy. The exposure therapy allows you to become exposed to the panic sensations. You will have the opportunity to cope with the anxiety via healthier ways. During the exposure therapy, you will be asked to perform exercises that help you to calm down from the panic attack. When you are confidence of facing the situation, you will have lesser fear.
If you need help to cope with the panic disorder, you need to learn more about the panic. You can visit websites to learn about the panic disorder including feelings of panic, tips on coping it and etc. If you have a bad lifestyle, you should change it now. Foods that can provoke panic attack include coffee, carbonated drinks and etc. You should quit smoking because the nicotine can aggravate your panic attack condition. In addition, you should avoid medications that use stimulants. It is necessary that you learn deep breathing exercise. Deep breathing can ease the dizziness and loosen the muscles during the panic attack. If you know how to breathe properly, you will be able to control the fear sensations. You can learn how to relax the muscles. By learning how to relax the muscles, you can increase the relaxation response of the body.
While receiving the therapy, you can take medications such as antidepressant and benzodiazepines. The antidepressant will not produce the full effect until several days. You must follow the doctor when taking the antidepressants because it can cause fatal death if it is administered in the wrong way. Benzodiazepine can give you much faster relief from the panic attack. Normally, it takes 30 minutes to get relief if you use the benzodiazepine. The disadvantage of benzodiazepines is that it can cause addiction. Once you stop using the benzodiazepine, you will have benzo withdrawal symptoms.