Panic attacks come in many shapes and sizes. They can last a few seconds or several days. The attack can have a sudden onset or build over several hours. We may experience acceptable discomfort or feel like our body and head are in the grip of a vice that's getting tighter and tighter. For some of us, panic is triggered by a specific fear or phobia and Overcoming Fear and Phobia may help. For others, there is no apparent trigger, panic just happens out of the blue in a variety of circumstances and with varying degrees of embarrassment and pain. Panic is sometimes an occasional acute episode of an ongoing anxiety problem and Anxiety Management Help-Natural may be of more use to you. Regardless of how you get them, panic attacks are manageable and treatable. It's possible for you to live a normal life. This article is designed to get you started down that road. To help understand what's happening and how to get control, try these recent top-selling books on panic attacks.
Signs-Symptoms Of Panic Attacks: At age 29, I'd just been given an important project with more "visibility." It was easy for me to do good work at my desk and discuss things with my boss, but this job required I brief management! The first time I had to brief the director of the supervisor of my boss, it hit me. The closer it came to my turn, the more I felt it. A sense of uneasiness, then trouble breathing, I felt I was in great danger, I could hear...and feel my heart beating, the sweat on my forehead and hands. When my turn came, the room turned to a spinning blur. I couldn't see the director's face and could barely see the briefing charts in front of me. I was having a panic attack. Somehow I struggled through it and survived.
I now know this was a relatively mild attack, brought on by performance anxiety. There was no danger, except in my imagination. Though the danger is imaginary, panic attacks can cause hot flashes, headaches, heart attacks, strokes, asthma, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and unconsciousness. You can become verbally and even physically abusive. Some try to compensate for their fear by bullying others in some way. Some develop addictions. Often, panic sufferers try to hide and avoid situations where others might see their panic. Unless overcome, panic causes most people to twist their life into a grotesque shadow of what it could be.
Causes Of Panic Attacks: You've already seen how a phobia or anxiety disorder can bring on panic attacks. It's a fairly common assumption that panic attacks are rooted in a person's psychological disposition. While it's true that there may be past events that consciously or sub-consciously contribute to panic attacks, most people ignore the whole area of physical problems. For years, decades...maybe centuries, we thought bipolar affective disorder was a behavioral issue rooted in psychology. But, unless we compensate for a brain chemical imbalance, no amount of therapy will solve the problem. In many, if not most cases, panic attacks have a physical trigger, and the panic is merely a symptom of a physical illness or condition. Here is a short list of physical conditions that can cause or trigger Panic attacks: Diabetes, hypoglycemia, hypertension, puberty, menopause, pregnancy, lack of aerobic exercise, poor diet/nutritional imbalances, too much coffee, alcoholism and drug addiction. This is the first and easiest place to check for an underlying cause...just get a complete physical.
The next step is to analyze your Panic events: What symptoms are present first? Are there certain types of circumstances present most of the time you have an attack? Like briefing my boss...getting ready to visit in-laws, eating a certain food, going more than 3 or 4 hours without food, the mailman is coming? If so, your panic may be triggered by a phobia or chronic anxiety. Sometimes it helps to get feedback from family and friends as to when you regularly do this, because you may be so overwhelmed with the feeling you can't easily analyze anything.
Tips To Prevent Panic Attacks: If we can get to a cause, preventing attacks is fairly simple...just treat the condition or avoid the circumstance that triggers the attacks. This may not be easy depending on the cause. You still have to visit your in-laws, for instance. If we can't find the cause, we may still have some tricks to prevent a full-scale attack. Sometimes, if you change your circumstances right at the beginning of the attack, it will subside. Sometimes, an attack can be stopped if you hyperventilate on purpose, drink a cup of hot tea, drink a cold glass of water, shut your eyes, lay down, run 100 yards, sing a song, whistle, think of something funny (don't try all these at the same time). When you find something that works for you, write it down and use it the next time. These tips may help you prevent and control your panic attacks, but curing the condition is possible in most cases.
Panic Attack Cure: The cure of panic attacks often depends on the cause. If your attacks are triggered by a physical condition, they should be eliminated by treating the physical cause. If you can't find the cause, continue looking and using the above tips to control the attacks. If the cause is a specific anxiety or phobia, attack the anxiety or phobia. This involves baby steps building up to confronting the thing you fear regularly enough that it becomes almost routine. Can you imagine the guy who couldn't talk to his management, eventually briefing Colonels and Generals, Corporate VP's, speaking to crowds of over a thousand, singing solo's? Can you imagine someone who was afraid of people becoming a minister to help people with their problems? That's me. I couldn't imagine it either, until God helped me to confront the things I feared. He will help you, too. If you want His help, just click on God Help Me.
Mental Health
Acrophobia-Fear Of Heights
ADD Signs And Symptoms
ADHD Natural Remedies
Anxiety Management Help
Anxiety Recovery Cycle
Asperger's
Syndrome
Autism Symptoms Check.
BAR Cycle And Behavior
Borderline
Personality
Depression-Treating
Depression
Self-Test
Dyslexia Symptoms
Eating Disorders
Fear-Anxiety
Story
Fear-Phobia-Overcoming
Fear Of Closed Spaces
Fear Of Clowns
Fear Of The Dark
Fear Of Death
Fear Of Failure
Fear Of Flying
Fear Of Open Spaces
Fear Of Public Speaking
Fear Of Snakes
Fear Of Water
Grief and Loss-5 Stages
Insecurities-Nervousness
Narcissistic
Personality
OCD Self-Test
Panic Attacks-Tips
Panic Disorder Symptoms
Pedophilia Recovery
Pedophile Therapy
Phobia Recovery Cycle
What Is Schizophrenia?