Am I Having a Panic Attack?

When a panic attack occurs, its symptoms are manifested through the three primary systems of the human body: the mental system, the physical system, and the behavioral system. In the mental system, the fight or flight response shifts an individual’s brain to begin scanning their surroundings for perceived threats. This high state of alert impedes on an individual’s ability to concentrate, focus, and remember certain items. If a perceived stimulus cannot be found, the trail of one’s thoughts can often turn inward. A person begins to blame themselves for their condition. These detrimental thoughts form a perpetuating cycle. As a person becomes more anxious due to their self blame, they are placed at a higher risk for incurring another panic attack.

When danger is perceived by the human brain, it begins sending signals to the autonomic nerve system, which forms physical system’s response during a panic attack. As the body prepares itself for “fight or flight”, it affects the normal operations of many prominent systems of the human body. For example, an individual’s heart rate begins to increase, which increases their rate of respiration. Because the body’s metabolism is increasing rapidly, copious amounts of fatty acids and sugars are released into the bloodstream as well. Because the brain and the nerve cells of the autonomic system are firing messages rapidly to one another, a tingling sensation or numbness may occur in the outer extremities. These symptoms mimic those of a heart attack or stroke, and they are often identified incorrectly.

Because the aforementioned systems in the body are preparing the body to fight or run, the behavioral system reacts by producing overwhelming urges of aggression or the need to escape. In social settings where such responses are not permissible, an individual can often feel trapped, which intensifies their feelings. As a coping mechanism, many individuals begin to avoid setting foot into public places where these feelings may occur. Far from being beneficial, this type of avoidance can condition unhealthy behavioral responses and affect the quality of a person’s life. Understanding how these three systems work in conjunction with one another during a panic attack will allow an individual to take an active part in devising a treatment regimen that will deal with their symptoms. If the symptoms are severe enough, the help of medical professional is recommended.

Am I Having a Panic Attack?: If you believe you may be suffering from panic or anxiety attacks – there is no need to be embarrassed. Nearly 2.4million Americans ages 18-54 suffer from anxiety attacks – you are not alone.

The feelings of anxiety are a normal reaction to stress and emotional discomfort. In fact, everyone feels varying levels of anxiousness at some point in their lives. These feelings can be brought on by tense situations in the work place, stress over an exam, public speaking – or anything that causes uncomfortability. Anxiety in itself is not a direct symptom of a pending panic attack, though how you deal with your feelings of anxiety can lessen or increase the chance of a panic attack happening.

Panic attacks are defined as sudden urges of overwhelming fear that usually comes without warning and without any obvious reason. Panic attacks are far more intense than your run of the mill anxiety attack. Though the build up of anxiety can lead to full blown panic attacks, the latter can be physically disabling and emotionally painful.Panic attacks can also be directly related to phobias,depression, and substance abuse.

Symptoms of anxiety:

The most common external signs of anxiety include sweating, pale skin, stomach aches, shortness of breath,
increase heart rates, and headaches.

Symptoms of panic attacks:

The external symptoms of panic attacks include all those of anxiety, however where they differ is really found in the emotional impact. Sufferers of panic disorder may have bouts of feeling like they are losing control or going crazy and inappropriate or disturbing thoughts aren’t uncommon. The sense of derealization (feeling unreal/dreamy) and depersonalization (feeling like you don’t exist/out of body) are also common. In this state you may also report paresthesias – numbing and tingling sensations in your face or extremities. If your panic attacks are brought on by phobias and fears, you may also experience moments of physical paralyzation. For example – if you have a phobia of elevators, the mere thought of getting on one may cause your body to freeze in fear.

Panic attack symptoms are caused by a number of biological changes that occur during times of stress and anxiety. The human body is very resilient, even in times of anxiety we are strong, although we may not feel it. It’s also very true that some people might be scared that their heart will stop, or give up, through the constant racing, thumping or chest pain, this is simply not true; again these
are very common symptoms of panic attacks.

Panic attacks are emotionally frightening, the emotions themselves won’t cause you harm – how you physically react may. For example, if dogs are the stimuli to your panic attacks, and your first reaction is to run away – this reaction may make the situation a lot worse than need be.

Anxiety and panic attacks should not rule your life nor should they cause you to live in fear. It is absolutely possible to manage and fully overcome this disorder naturally and on your own conditions. Panic Away is one of the most succesful Panic Disorder treatment programs available.The program dispels many myths  about panic disorder in it’s easy to follow steps to a live without attacks.