Anxiety

You’re shopping and having a good time. But suddenly, you find it difficult to breathe, you feel nauseous and dizzy. Your heart is beating very fast and you are having chest pains. You feel extremely scared, and you are worried you might be having a heart attack. You’re afraid you are going to die.

While many individuals who experience these symptoms for the first time think they may be dying, they may actually be experiencing a panic attack. Panic attacks are fairly common today, with approximately 1.7% of adult Americans being affected, and while panic attacks occur more often in women, men do experience them as well. Individuals are typically between the ages of 15-19 when they experience their first panic attack.

What are the symptoms of panic attacks?

Symptoms of a panic attack include:
-Nausea, dizziness, and/or lightheadedness
-Pounding or racing heart
-Chills or hot flashes
-Terror or feeling as if something very bad is about to happen and you are powerless to stop it
-Difficulty breathing or feeling as if you were being smothered
-Chest pains
-Feeling as if you are dying
-Feeling a need to escape
-Numbness or tingling in the hands
-Distorted perceptions or a dreamlike sensation
-Fearing you might do something to embarrass yourself or fearing you might lose control
-Upset stomach

Panic attacks generally come on suddenly and for no apparent reason. Panic attacks typically last for about ten minutes and are very distressing. If you have one panic attack, you will probably have others at some point in your lifetime.

Panic Disorder occurs when there is no emotional or physical cause of repeated panic attacks, and an individual feels a lot of anxiety about having panic attacks in the future. I plan to talk more about Panic Disorder in the future.

At other times, panic attacks are symptoms of other anxiety disorders, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or other mental illnesses, such as Schizophrenia or substance abuse.

Panic attacks are very scary experiences to have. I plan to discuss the ways in which you can help yourself through a panic attack as well as the causes of panic attacks in the near future.

Wishing you a worry-free day!

Source: Medicine.net: Panic Attacks (Panic Disorder)

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