Cure Anxiety And Panic Attacks – Panic Disorder

Panic disorder or panic attack is described as sudden intense fear which comes completely out of the blue and has no apparent cause. This intense fear usually subsides fairly quickly, sometimes lasting only a couple of minutes (it will seem to be a lot longer) although an attack can return in waves during the couple of hours following the initial attack.

Here is a list of possible symptoms which may occur during the actual panic attack:
• Feeling faint or dizzy
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating
• Shaking or trembling
• Pain in the chest
• Pounding heart
• Nausea/sickness
• Fear of losing control
• Thoughts of dying
• Tingling or numbness of the extremities
• Feeling hot/cold alternatively
• Choking
• Feeling unreal

In a full blown panic attack you would experience at least four, usually more, of the above symptoms. If you only experience one or two of these symptoms then a doctor may say you have had a limited symptom panic attack which may or may not lead on to a full blown attack.

A diagnosis of panic disorder would be given if you have two or more panic attacks followed by constant worry of experiencing another attack.

There is no way to predict when an attack will next occur, you may have one or two attacks and then be panic free for months or even years or the initial attacks may be followed by recurring attacks which are sufficiently severe and happen consistently enough to push you into seeking treatment for the condition from your doctor/physician.

A diagnosis of panic disorder is only made after a number of tests and investigations rule out medical causes. If you complain of palpitations and shortness of breath then an EKG and other tests may be carried out to make certain that you are not suffering a cardiac illness. Other possible medical causes may be hyperthyroidism, hypoglycaemia, perhaps a reaction to an excess intake of caffeine or maybe withdrawal from alcohol or drugs.

The cause of your panic disorder could be due to a number of things, either a single reason or a combination of situations occurring together. Panic disorder can be due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, personal stress issues or heredity.

Current treatment for panic disorder is a combination of the following:

• Medication: commonly SSRI’s (such as Paxil and Zoloft) and benzodiazepines (Ativan and Valium)

• Lifestyle changes: i.e. regular exercise, cutting down/out stimulants and sugar etc

• Relaxation: abdominal breathing exercises and total muscle relaxation

• Panic-control: eliminate disastrous thoughts

• Desensitization: exposure to unpleasant symptoms

Panic disorder tends to develop during the teenage years or early twenties and can in extreme cases be a lifelong condition. We should not be discouraged though as often it will leave us as quickly as it came and as shown above there are many ways of treating and living with panic disorder.

It does not have to control our lives

Andrew Tudor Jones is the owner of Cure Anxiety And Panic Attacks, a website dedicated to helping people who suffer from anxiety and depression. The website offers valuable information on these conditions as well as 2 e-books which can be downloaded for free and a Blog updated on a regular basis with relevant information. You can connect with Andrew on Facebook.

2 Comments

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  By zingalvs, April 20, 2011 @ 12:50 am

  good to know that..

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  By Sissy, May 5, 2011 @ 7:29 am

  I saw this post by chance when surfing at BlogClicker, nice reading it!

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