What Is Anxiety Disorder?

When we suddenly experience our first anxiety attack, it comes like a bolt out of the blue. We have fears we are experiencing a heart attack. Our heart is pounding. We feel light headed, often off balance. Our throat constricts and we have problems swallowing. Our breathing becomes erratic and a state of panic ensues, only further fueling the distress and fear from the attack. After the first or second attack without understanding what is happening, one begins to fear when the next attack is going to come, further worsening the situation.

If someone has never experienced such a panic attack it is impossible to imagine that our smooth running mind and body can suddenly react in this way. I wish this situation on no one but if it does occur, the quicker we can understand what is happening with our body and why, the the quicker the fear and panic will not seem so severe. It won't stop the attacks, but it will be the first step on the path to recovery.

This process of learning what is happening in one's life is important to understand why panic attacks happen in the first place. Once you understand then you can start to correct your lifestyle, or learn to cope with the problem that triggered the attacks. We must also learn how to gain control of our minds and bodies which is easier said than done but a lesson for a better lifestyle once mastered. This can come in handy on so many occasions and situations later in life.

We must learn to be able to relax our minds and bodies and be able to adapt our thought pattern to any situation. This can be best learnt from an expert who can teach you and guide you. Some people find the answer in Yoga, which teaches you about your body and also teaches you about controlling your breathing, which is instrumental in creating the panic attack.

You should certainly contact your doctor, who will check you out physically, in case it is something other than a panic attack. If you are suffering from panic attacks, he will probably prescribe some beta blocker tablets and some tranquilizers, which will help, but not cure the cause. Neither will it assist you in setting up your own way of dealing with the situation should it occur again. The doctor would love to spend all the time needed but he will have other patients to deal with and following the steps is a lengthy process. So hear is the first step:- Understanding what is happening and how it is natural.

Anxiety is one of the body's natural defense mechanisms to prepare it for a sudden burst of action, and prepared our caveman ancestors for fighting or running. Modern life does not produce the same release but anxiety still produces the same effects on the body. Modern day anxiety is usually self-inflicted by the way we think about situations or have learned to react to them and to reduce anxiety we need to unlearn the bad ways of reacting to situations and thinking about them. Anxiety wears your energy and your health down, and this downward spiral can also lead to depression.

Panic attacks are a form of anxiety attack. For the person suffering the attack the pounding of the heart, the dizziness, the feeling that one is having a heart attack is a terrible experience, this then creates the fear of further attacks, which intensifies the frequency and can start a chain or even an agoraphobic reaction. One must first understand that one is not going to have a heart attack or something terrible is not happening to you, and also understand what is happening to one's mind and body. One must also look at one's life style and the cause of the attacks and make the necessary changes, then one should seek assistance from a doctor or a specialist in the field of finding a remedy to stop the sequence of events. This is not as easy as it sounds and there are a number of ways to tackle this problem which can be used either together or in isolation and can take considerable time.

There are no short cuts and one should, if following all the measures needed, come out of the illness more able to cope with stressful situations and also try and avoid them in the future. One should also come out of the illness with a much greater understanding of how one's mind and body works in unison. Also it should encourage one to look after one's health in the future, and possibly give some advice to other sufferers.

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