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If you have any of the symptoms below, please discuss it with your doctor.
Panic attacks can occur at anytime, anywhere, during the day or night, waking someone up from a sound sleep. This onset of a fight or flight response is usually sudden; taking a person often times by complete surprised. One may feel as if they are losing control, losing their mind, or feel as if they are going to do something stupid, such as yelling, or acting out in strange ways. Some because of the associated physical symptoms may even think they are dying, or having a heart attack.
If these panic attacks should happen in close quarters, then the need to escape from these areas and the associated feelings becomes more intensified.
Basically, this fight or flight response is a primitive reaction or response in order to get out of what might be conceived a dangerous or threatening situation. But when this fight or flight response occurs in an individual for no apparent reason, this is what is known as the occurrence of a panic attack. The resulting sensation of profound fear that usually follows will then trigger what is known as a panic episode. And it is these panic episodes that can be triggered repeatedly so that the person suffering from them will begin to feel trapped. As the disorder progresses, the afflicted person may be unable to leave his/her home, then becoming essentially housebound. This can result in a phobic reaction known as agoraphobia (fear of the market place) that essentially prevents a person from leaving their house.
When a person experiences a panic attack say on an elevator, or a bus, or an airplane, then that person may ultimately avoid those places in the future. Even thinking about those situations will produce an irrational fear that will in turn bring about an avoidance reaction, which becomes a stronger factor in how the person copes with future similar situations. He/she may not be able to get inside an elevator, but will take the stairs instead. Or be unable to get on a bus or an airplane, and choose to drive if they are able to drive a car, or have someone else drive them to their destinations. Unfortunately, with each resulting panic episode, again as stated previously, that person may start to live a very limited lifestyle.
Panic attacks can be successfully treated through psychotherapy and certain medications. Tranquilizers, antidepressants can provide relatively immediate relief by helping the afflicted person relax, but should be used in conjunction with a program of psychotherapeutic treatment.
Medications alone may simply cover up those feelings that are causing these attacks, and as a result may not be as an effective treatment in bringing about a complete cure. It is when one begins to understand why these attacks are becoming triggered that provides the first step to recovery.
Also by adopting certain cognitive (thinking) techniques to overcome these panic attacks has proven successful in those individuals who suffer from them.
To reiterate, it is important to understand why the body reacts in the way it does in what it perceives to be a fearful or a threatening situation that will help a person be better able to cope with his/her panic disorder.
Realizing that a racing heart does not mean eventual death, or that certain surroundings are not in and of themselves unsafe, understanding what is going on inside the body and why the mind reacts to certain surroundings in the way it does may help a person feel they are more in control.
Also becoming aware of the cause of the anxiety associated with panic attacks, as this anticipating anxiety will often occur between intervals of a panic episode, may lessen the onset of the next attack.
Most panic situations occur in those places where one may feel trapped, i.e. in a classroom, on a bus or airplane, in a dark movie theatre, or a play, or even inside a church. Usually these are places where we do not feel free to move about. And why often times people with this disorder will need to sit in an aisle seat or near the “exit” in case they feel the overwhelming need to leave (flee.)
Again, recognizing and understanding the symptoms is important in dealing with the disorder. Common ones are a racing heart, or palpitations, some discomfort or tightening in the chest area, a feeling of being unable to breathe, or shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating, and shakiness in the limbs. It is often recommended to have a paper bag on hand in cases where hyperventilation may occur. The person breathes into the paper bag and in doing so cuts down on the quick intake of oxygen by breathing back in the carbon dioxide, which will help to alleviate that lightheaded feeling that will often accompany and aggravate a panic attack.
Desensitization has proven to be an effective technique that can help someone deal with his/her panic disorder. Facing their irrational fears, experiencing and working through the anxiety rather than avoiding those places that trigger these panic attack has benefited many in dealing with this disorder.
Avoidance of situations that are known triggers will only serve to strengthen the effect of the fear that is associated with a particular situation. By getting on that bus, or that airplane, sitting inside a classroom or dark theatre over and over may and often does eventually desensitize a person enough so that the anxiety that was once associated with doing these things is lessened. Eventually, the person no longer experiences the panic. No longer feels a lost of control. As a result their world begins to widen, opening up to them once again.
Confiding in family and friends will also help a person deal with this disorder. The very act of keeping this from others can and often does produce its own inherent anxiety, which again will only aggravate the panic episode when it does occur. Someone close may be willing to help by accompanying the person suffering from this disorder to those places that may trigger a panic episode, i.e. a supermarket, or an elevator, a bus, or a movie theatre, any place that has been known to trigger a panic attack. Again, this process of desensitization is one that should be repeated until the person no longer feels anxious about going to any of these places. It is important that friends, family, even co-workers be informed of this condition, and helped to understand it so that the afflicted person can feel open enough to discuss his/her fears. This in and of itself will greatly lessen the anxieties associated with trying to keep the condition a secret from others.
The cure for this psychological disorder does not happen overnight, as the process for cure is an ongoing one, and can take a long time. There will be setbacks, but with each setback, there will be improvement, and a means of progress. But by becoming educated about this disorder, becoming involved in a treatment of psychotherapy devoted to managing this disorder, anyone suffering from this debilitating condition can and usually do go on to live relatively fulfilling lives.
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