Panic Attacks

Do you have any friends or even a family member who has a panic disorder?  This condition can cause serious difficulties in your life or for your loved ones.  Also known as panic attacks, a panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder in which someone has repeated attacks of intense fear that another attack will occur.

Have you observed anyone around you who all of a sudden experiences sudden and intense feelings of fear accompanied by breathlessness and dizziness?

Other Symptoms may include: unexpected and repeated episodes of terror, chest pain, heart palpitations and abdominal stress. You may also faint, feel sweaty, weak, or dizzy.

If you are having a panic attack, your heart pounds and your hands tingle or feel numb. In addition, you might also feel flushed or chilled. Nausea, chest pain or smothering sensations are other impending symptoms. Panic disorder victims generally tend to lose control over sense of reality and constantly fear imminent disaster.

The particular person may be suffering from a panic disorder!

The exact cause of panic disorders is unknown, but some think that genetics may play a role.  Studies suggest that if one in a pair of identical twin has a panic disorder, the other twin will also develop the condition 40% of the time. 

However, it often happens that a panic disorder develops in someone without a family history of it.  Many times the first attack will occur when one is in early adulthood or when a person goes through a period of great physical, mental or emotional stress in their lives.  It’s not uncommon for a gravely embarrassing public event to cause someone to have a phobia for public speaking, for example.

Panic disorders are about twice as common in women as they are in men.  While symptoms usually occur before age 25, they may occur as late as in someone in their mid 30s.  Panic disorders may occur in children, but they’re often not diagnosed until they are older. 

A lot of people with this condition make visits to emergency rooms and health care providers for symptoms related to things like heart attacks, since chest pain is a symptom.  Then they are told they are just having anxiety. Not knowing what to look for, this happens before the person has ever been diagnosed with a panic disorder.

It’s important and not too difficult to learn how to prevent panic attacks from home.

Education is the key.

Overcoming panic attacks is something you can do without medication, but it’s not something you want to try without any help.

Seek the proper education and the proper guidance, and you’ll get the solutions to your panic attacks that you want.