Panic attacks are pretty hard to detect as it can be confused with anger management and stress and even other mental disorders.
According to medical experts, the average person could experience at least one panic attack throughout their lifetime.
These experiences can be rated from mild to severe with the severe cases altering someone physically, emotionally and socially for the rest of their lives.
With science and technology plus a lot of research in this area, anxiety medication has improved a great deal over the years and has reduced if not eliminated the disorder from the sufferer.
In general, panic is body's reaction to threat.
When we feel threatened, the defense mechanism in our body triggers the 'fight or flight' syndrome.
This prepares are body either to fight or for flight.
There is a rush of adrenaline and blood rushes to muscles.
As a result, we feel physical discomfort ranging from shortness of breathe and chest pain to feeling of nausea, shaking and trembling.
However, when there is no real threat, but the body prepares itself for flight or fight syndrome due to some wrong perception, we call it panic attack.
Several panic attacks, coupled with a constant fear of another impending panic attack is diagnosed as panic disorder.
If you or any of your family members are suffering from panic disorder, you should learn as much as you can about it to provide anxiety help in time.
As we have said, the malfunctioning of defense mechanism of our body leads to panic attacks.
Under ordinary circumstances, the defense mechanism prepares the body to fight or to fly, as it perceives threats.
This is known as 'fight or flight' syndrome.
The body secretes adrenaline and the heart starts to pump faster to rush blood to the muscles to prepare the body to face the threat.
It is all right when there is some actual threat.
When there is none and the body still experiences the same discomforts due to the wrong perception much too often we call it panic disorder.
Such people need help from us and we can provide the anxiety help only when we can diagnose it as such.
It often happens that a patient of panic attack lands up at the emergency department with all symptoms of a heart attack.
They are however, discharged without treatment because they do not have any cardiac problem.
It is only after few such futile trips that the doctors look else where for the problem and ultimately diagnoses it as panic attacks.
Some of the common symptoms of panic attacks include shortness of breadth, tightness of chest, heart palpitation, hot and cold flashes, overwhelming feeling of dread and fear.
However, the list of symptom does not end here.
The symptoms of panic attacks are strikingly similar to those of heart attacks.
In fact, people suffering from panic attacks often think they are going to die soon and rush to the emergency department for check up and treatment.
What will you do if some body you know starts having symptoms like shortness of breadth, tightness of chest, heart palpitation, hot and cold flashes along with overwhelming feeling of dread and fear? Will you not take him to the emergency room? What will you think when they release him after a check up that shows that he does not have any cardiac problem at all? If this pattern continues, will you not start taking him for a hypochondriac? Such is the fate of panic disorder patients.
Panic attack symptoms also include tingling or numbness of hands, chest pain stomach upset, dizziness and nausea, sweating, shaking and trembling.
The physical impact of these symptoms is devastating.
However, the psychological impact of panic attack is much greater.
The patient undergoes a perceptual distortion and goes through a dream like sensation.
He feels he is losing is sanity and is going to do something that may embarrass him.
He feels a need to escape from the situation and yet cannot do so.
A perpetual terror takes hold of him.
He feels something terrible is going to happen to him and nobody can stop that from happening.
He feels sure he is going to die.
All these symptoms are not present in one person, but vary from person to person.
You need to have at least four such symptoms to be diagnosed as panic attack sufferer.
There are several other symptoms of panic attack and you must be aware of them if you want to help your patient.
However, one single patient does not have all the symptoms.
A patient who has at least four of the following symptoms can be diagnosed as suffering from panic attack.
Apart from shortness of breadth, tightness of chest, heart palpitation, hot and cold flashes, overwhelming feeling of dread and fear, there can also be tingling or numbness of hands, chest pain, stomach upset, dizziness and nausea, sweating, shaking and trembling.
If they are bad, the psychological symptoms are worse.
They experience dream like sensation and feels that they either are going crazy or are going to die soon.
They feel that something terrible is going to happen to him and nobody can stop it.
They are much too afraid of doing something embarrassing and soon become socially unfit.
Apart from experiencing any of the combination of symptoms explained above, there are also a few traits that are very recognizable to the untrained eye.
For one, panic attacks are very limited in time.
The body can only maintain this reaction for, at most, 15 minutes.
With the symptoms explained above, a person who experiences both is advised to remember that the feelings will not last very long.
After an attack, the feeling of anxiety often follows thereafter.
This is also a common symptom as those who have experienced a panic attack tend to worry about attacks that will follow.
With proper help with anxiety with your medical physician, you will be able to avoid or lessen these symptoms in order for you to lead a more normal life.