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Learn The Symptoms Anxiety And Panic Attacks

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Symptoms of Anxiety Attacks

Everyone worries, gets nervous and concerned, feels certain fears, and experiences apprehensions.

To a certain degree, anxiousness is healthy as it enables the body to react to certain stimuli and take into action or perform better. As long as the feeling is relative to the situation or problem at hand, it is normal.

However, when anxiety gets severe, chronic and irrational, you might already have an anxiety disorder and experience episodes of anxiety attacks.

Common symptoms include:


Fear of going crazy - When under tremendous pressure, a person may feel that he is going crazy. This, however, is more evident during anxiety attack, but rest assured that you are not going crazy. This is because going crazy is not a conscious act; people who are suffering from mental illnesses do not even know that they have one. Again, if you are experiencing excessive fear or irrational thoughts, you are not going crazy.

Dry mouth - This is a natural occurrence during anxiety attack as fluids are diverted to other parts of the body. To counter dry mouth, sip water or suck sweets to stimulate the production of saliva. In severe cases, doctors may prescribe you with liquid.

Shaking and shivering - These two are necessary functions of the body as it constantly tries to keep the body temperature normal. When the body temperature drops from normal, the muscles spasmodically contract, creating friction between muscles and body tissues, thus increasing the body temperature. During anxiety attacks, shaking and shivering are normal.

Heart palpitation - or the feeling that the heart is missing beats is caused by the release of adrenaline into the bloodstream during an attack. This is perfectly normal and cannot harm you in any way. However, it can cause discomfort.

Body pain - such as neck, shoulder, jaw, mouth and stomach pains, as well as head headaches. When the body is under stress, parts of the body usually get tensed, which results to pain.

Chest pain - is a normal body reaction to anxiety attack because of muscle tension. Sometimes, chest pain is misinterpreted as a heart attack, but it is important to identify from one another as the latter can be deadly.

Shortness of breath - is the most distressing symptom of anxiety attack as it almost feels that the chest cannot expand to accommodate the necessary air that the body needs. Sometimes, it feels that someone is pushing a pillow into your face. Three important points to remember are you will not suffocate, stop breathing or pass out.

Feeling detach or unreal - is a symptom of anxiety attack which alters the way you experience yourself or see reality. It makes you feel that everything around you is like a dream, foggy and unreal.


Recognizing the symptoms of anxiety attacks need not require you to understand the physiology of the human body. What is required is your awareness on each symptoms and the danger they have when ignored.

Different people manifest different behaviors when experiencing anxiety. The intensity of prevailing symptoms differs either. And since the term "anxiety disorders" is coined to refer a group of related conditions rather than a single disorder, symptoms may look different on every anxiety attack. It is important, therefore, to consult a health professional so that it will out any possible condition apart from anxiety.

Panic Attack Symptoms

Was there a time when you thought the floor you were standing on was going to open up and swallow you whole?

What about when you felt a sudden shortness of breath and your surroundings begun to spin around you? The world isn't coming to an end. You may be just encountering a Panic Attack.

Millions of people experience similar episodes like yours and if left untreated may pose as a health hazard to the person and the people they love.

Spotting a person who is undergoing an attack may or may not be easy to distinguish.

These feelings or manifestations usually last for 10 minutes or so.

Here are some Panic Attack Symptoms and see if you do share some of these:


* Hyperventilation
* Heart Palpitations
* Chest Pain
* Sweating
* Nausea
* Intense feeling of Fear


Informing your family of such attacks would be a good thing to do too. At one glance, they may think you have Epilepsy. There are times when all you have is just yourself and a trusted piece of reading.

A self-help book would be a great help for you since reading can really evoke a calming and soothing effect. Educating yourself is a great way to make you feel protected and safe.

Isn't it that you avoid the places where you usually get these attacks? Research more about the benefits you can get from it, practice ways to prevent it from resurfacing or even what to do when it happens.

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Physical Signs of Anxiety Attack

Anxiety is a feeling of fear, apprehension and discomfort over a situation.

This is actually a good and healthy feeling since the body is able to recognize something that it needs to address.

This "flight or fight" response enables the body to get that much needed boost of energy to react to the specific situation. In this case, anxiety is helpful.

However, if it gets intense, recurring and exaggerated, it may already be considered as an anxiety attack.

The exact cause of an anxiety attack is not fully understood, but research suggests that genetics, life experiences and brain chemistry contribute to the onset of the attack. What is known is that during the attack, a person shows signs and changes in the body.

The immediate sign of anxiety attack is increased heartbeat or palpitation. This is the most distressing among anxiety symptoms. But this is generally a good thing since the heart works harder to pump more blood to your body, especially to your legs and your arms, enabling you to have a surge of energy to respond quicker than normal to any emergency.

The chest feels tight as if it refuses to expand to accommodate air the body needs. Sometimes, the feeling is like someone is pushing a pillow into your face.

The additional oxygen requirement of the body must be compensated by breathing. Thus, during an anxiety attack, you breathe faster. As your arms and legs receive more oxygen and energy, your muscles tend to get tensed, which is important when abrupt movement is needed.

As your arms and legs receive more supply of oxygen through the blood, other parts of the body receive less than normal supply of oxygen (the stomach and the brain can survive with less oxygen during emergency situations). In other words, the oxygen that is supposed to go to the stomach is redirected to the arms and legs.

This explains why a person who is undergoing an anxiety attack experiences churning feeling in the stomach. Because the brain receives less amount of oxygen for a short period of time, the person experiences light-headedness and dizziness. (Take note, however, that the reduced supply of oxygen in the brain is just enough to produce these symptoms and doesn't cause any permanent brain damage.)

Because your heart pumps more blood to your muscles, your body temperature increases. So to keep a relatively normal temperature, you begin to sweat.

Aside from these signs, you can also experience weakness or fatigue, tingling sensation, and dry mouth. Also, side-effects of these signs may include diarrhea and constant urination.

These body responses are automatic. Meaning, there is no "switch" to turn it on. Thus, there is also no way you can turn it off by simply thinking that you should not feel any of these symptoms.

What you should do, especially if the attack is chronic, recurring and it already affects your life, is to seek medical help.

This way, your doctor will be able to identify and rule out any other possible causes of these signs which are unrelated to anxiety.

Allow your doctor to conduct a physical exam. He may prescribe you a drug or may refer you to a psychologist or a therapist. Following your doctor is important so do not ignore any advice and believe that you are totally okay.

 

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TerrieSoberg

I've suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for years. Learn what I have discovered about the symptoms of these attacks and how to overcome them!

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