PANIC ATTACKS

Panic attacks are estimated to affect as many as 6 million Americans every year, and that's generally considered to be a fairly conservative estimate.

So what is a panic attack? Unsurprisingly panic attacks are caused by anxiety and are given the overall term of panic disorders. Attacks are generally more prevalent in women that men.They can occur in one of two forms either a spontaneous, also known as a uncued attack, or as situational, or cued, attack.

The situational attacks are a result of anticipating something which causes anxiety or entering a situation which has previously caused an attack.

Spontaneous attacks do not have the same situational trigger and can happen any time, any where and without any warning appearing to just strike completely out of the blue. They can even occur when the sufferer is relaxing or sleeping.

Panic disorder usually begins when people are in their teenage years or early adulthood although it can begin when someone is under a lot of stress in their life. For many people fear of these attacks can take over their lives unless they seek out help to overcome the problem.

In the past treatment for someone suffering from any panic disorder was generally down to being given a mild sedative if their doctor felt they were being seriously affected by the situation. However nowadays more and more people are seeking relief by using natural remedies for their panic attacks and are getting great results.

Here are just some of the symptoms of panic attacks which can generally be split into either physical or psychological symptoms.

Physical Symptoms:

Fast beating heart
Chest pains discomfort
Light headedness or dizziness
Trembling or shaking
Pins and needles
Insomnia
Palpitations
Breathing difficulties including shortness of breath
Headaches
Dry mouth
Diarrhea
Nausea
Butterflies in the stomach
Sweating or hot flushes

Perhaps even worse are some of the psychological symptoms that can go with the attacks:

Feelings of losing control or going mad
Sudden feelings of panic
Irritability
Social phobia or nervousness
Agoraphobia
Feeling alone and out of place
Believing there is no hope of normality
Disturbing thoughts or dreams
De-personalization or de-realization
Depression
Fear of impending doom

Both anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications can be used to treat someone suffering from panic attacks. Probably the most frequently prescribed anti-anxiety medication are the benzodiazepines, which can often relieve the symptoms in a short time. They have very few side effects though drowsiness and/or a loss of coordination are fairly most common place. There can also be some signs of fatigue, mental slowing or confusion occur.

As mentioned above there is a growing movement towards using more natural remedies for panic attack treatment. This can often be a case of working with the sufferer to change their thinking process and may involve using hypnotherapy due to it's high success rate.

Also anti-anxiety herbs could be considered as an aid in resolving panic attacks. Nervines, a class of herbs which are thought to turn off the sympathetic nervous system by gently helping the parasympathetic nervous system - this is the part of the nervous system which allows relaxation.

It would be good to experiment with different anti-anxiety herbs to see how they affect you before you need to use them.

Some herbs to consider would be:

1. Oatstraw This herb is soothing and helps with exhaustion depression and fatigue.
2. Chamomile Very effective-it relaxes muscles and has mild sedative properties. This is good to drink as tea if you have trouble sleeping.
3. Lemon Balm This will lift your spirits and it is known to quiet a racing heart.
4. Valerian It is one of the best known anti-anxiety herbs. It has a very calming effect much like Valium but without the dependency issues.

Experiment with different combinations of these herbs, make a tea of some of them, see what works for your body so that you will know which to take when you are faced with anxiety issues.

One of the most successful ways of treating the disorder was discovered by someone who was a sufferer himself, Charles Linden, and is not only a natural remedy for panic attacks but was described by one psychologist as "THE most powerful therapeutic device" she had ever come across. Praise indeed! You can read more about The Linden Method either by clicking this link here or in the section below.

Another former sufferer, Joe Barry, has also gone on to develop a natural remedy and become a reknowned expert due to his "Panic Away" course. His site is packed full of testimonials (both written and audio) giving him credit for curing people who's lives were being blighted by attacks. Joe says "The key ingredient is not medication, lifestyle changes, or relaxation exercises. It is when the individual no longer fears the thought of having a panic attack."

For anyone looking to avoid using drugs to overcome their illness I'd suggest taking a look at both Joe Barry's "Panic Away" and Charles Linden's "The Linden Method".