Anxiety Disorder - Are You Having A Panic Attack?

Author: Fern Kuhn, RN

Article:
Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect about 19 million American children and adults. These disorders leave people’s lives with a feeling of overwhelming anxiety and fear. Acute anxiety is caused by a stressful event such as a business presentation or a first date. Anxiety disorders are chronic, relentless, and can grow progressively worse if not treated.

Effective treatments for anxiety disorders are available, and research is always finding new and improved therapeutic methods of treatment that can help most people with anxiety disorders lead productive, fulfilling lives.

If you think you have an anxiety disorder, you should seek information and treatment.

Panic Disorder is an anxiety disorder.

Here we will:

**help you identify the symptoms of anxiety disorders,

**explain the role of research in understanding the causes of these conditions,

**describe effective treatments,

**help you learn how to obtain treatment and work with a doctor or therapist, and

**suggest ways to make treatment more effective.

Panic disorder affects about 2.4 million adult Americans and is twice as common in women as in men. It most often begins during late adolescence or early adulthood.

Risk of developing panic disorder appears to be inherited. Not everyone who experiences panic attacks will develop panic disorder—for example, many people have one attack but never have another. For those who do have panic disorder, though, it's important to seek treatment. Untreated, the disorder can become very disabling.

Here is an example of a Panic Disorder story:

"It started 10 years ago, when I had just graduated from college and started a new job. I was sitting in a business seminar in a hotel and this thing came out of the blue. I felt like I was dying.

"For me, a panic attack is almost a violent experience. I feel disconnected from reality. I feel like I'm losing control in a very extreme way. My heart pounds really hard, I feel like I can't get my breath, and there's an overwhelming feeling that things are crashing in on me.

"In between attacks there is this dread and anxiety that it's going to happen again. I'm afraid to go back to places where I've had an attack. Unless I get help, there soon won't be anyplace where I can go and feel safe from panic."

My cousin is also an example of the fear of a panic. He cannot drive in a car by himself for more than 45 minutes, otherwise he feels he may have a panic attack. If he had to drive for at least 1 hour, he would take one of the drugs he has on hand to prevent a panic attack. It is too bad because he doesn’t get to see his relatives in another state where he may have to drive for 2 hours.

People with panic disorder have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. They can't predict when an attack will occur, and many develop intense anxiety between episodes, worrying when and where the next one will strike.

If you are having a panic attack, most likely your heart will pound and you may feel sweaty, weak, faint, or dizzy. Your hands may tingle or feel numb, and you might feel flushed or chilled.
You may have nausea, chest pain or smothering sensations, a sense of unreality, or fear of impending doom or loss of control.

You may genuinely believe you're having a heart attack or losing your mind, or on the verge of death.

Panic attacks can occur at any time, even during sleep. An attack generally peaks within 10 minutes, but some symptoms may last much longer.

Many people with panic disorder visit the hospital emergency room repeatedly or see a number of doctors before they obtain a correct diagnosis. Some people with panic disorder may go for years without learning that they have a real, treatable illness.

Panic disorder is often accompanied by other serious conditions such as depression, drug abuse, or alcoholism and may lead to a pattern of avoidance of places or situations where panic attacks have occurred.

For example, if a panic attack strikes while you're riding in an elevator, you may develop a fear of elevators. If you start avoiding them, that could affect your choice of a job or apartment and greatly restrict other parts of your life.

Some people's lives become so restricted that they avoid normal, everyday activities such as grocery shopping or driving. In some cases they become housebound. Or, they may be able to confront a feared situation only if accompanied by a spouse or other trusted person.

Basically, these people avoid any situation in which they would feel helpless if a panic attack were to occur. When people's lives become so restricted, as happens in about one-third of people with panic disorder, the condition is called agoraphobia.
Early treatment of panic disorder can often prevent agoraphobia.

Panic disorder is one of the most treatable of the anxiety disorders, responding in most cases to medications or carefully targeted psychotherapy.

If you saw the movie “Analyze This”, Robert Dinero is a mobster.
Funny movie by the way. After he saw one of his close friends killed, he started having chest pains, sweating, heavy breathing and he was brought to the Emergency Room.

When the doctor in the hospital checked him out, he told him he had a panic attack. Of course, Robert Diner, being a mobster, told him “I had a heart attack”, not a “Panic Attack and some comedy scenes followed after that to make it a point that in his chart he had a Panic Attack.

You may genuinely believe you're having a heart attack, losing your mind, or are on the verge of death. Attacks can occur at any time, even during sleep.

Depression often accompanies anxiety disorders and, when it does, it needs to be treated as well. Symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, changes in appetite or sleep, low energy, and difficulty concentrating. Most people with depression can be effectively treated with antidepressant medications, certain types of psychotherapy, or a combination of both.

If you are having symptoms of a panic attack, please go to the Emergency Room so they can decide if it really is a panic attack or a heart related disease. Please note we are not diagnosing any disease and it is up to you to follow up in the hospital or with your doctor to determine what you may be experiencing.

About the author:
Fern Kuhn, RN Specializing in Diabetes and Mental Health

http://www.anxietydisordernews.info

http://www.diabetestestingcenter.com