Part of being human is that it is perfectly normal to feel anxious, worried, and fearful from time to time due to the things that our ever more complicated lives bring. Feeling anxious is just a part of life. It ‘ups the ante’ and actually helps us cope with the stresses we may encounter. However if you are constantly in an anxious state, it is likely that you will eventually experience anxiety & panic disorder attacks.

An anxiety panic disorder attack is a sudden tidal wave of overwhelming fear that comes without warning and without any particular cause and this will usually be short lived lasting for no more than 10 minutes. It is an intensive feeling, far more overwhelming than just feeling anxious or the feeling of being stressed out. Apparently almost one in 75 people worldwide will experience such an attack at one point in their life.

Most sufferers report fear that they are actually dying, going mad or having some sort of breakdown and losing control of both their emotions and behavior. These events generally initiate a very strong urge to flee and to escape from the place where the anxiety panic disorder begins. It is common to experience chest pain or shortness of breath, and a feeling of impending demise.

A person with phobias will often experience an anxiety or panic disorder attack directly due to the phobic trigger. These kind of attacks are brief and quickly cease once the trigger is removed from sight or the sufferer has escaped. In the conditions of chronic anxiety panic disorder, attacks can lead to another and another, leading to nervous exhaustion or chronic nervous fatigue over a short period.

As mentioned, anxiety panic disorder can have symptoms that often occur suddenly, seemingly without any apparent cause. The symptoms can be as follows:-

1. A pounding heart, generally faster in nature
2. Increased perspiration
3. Dizziness and lightheadedness, nausea
4. Shortage of breath
5. Tingling and/or numbness to the face
6. Dreamlike sensations or perceptual distortions (de-realizing)
7. Disassociation, the perception that you are not connected to your body and time.
8. Fear of losing control of yourself and doing something embarrassing
9. Fear of dying, impending doom and misery
10. Crying and weeping, in reaction to the above symptoms

An anxiety attack can last for several minutes, although it seems much longer and is actually one of the most disturbing events that anyone can live through in everyday life. Learning how the different symptoms of anxiety panic disorder affect you with that first sudden jolt of fear is to understand what is going on in the body. So, following a slight or no trigger motivation or situation, this will lead to a release of adrenaline (epinephrine), which causes the supposed stay-and-fight-or-take-flight response, where the body prepares for major physical activity.

This results in a raised heart rate, labored breathing or hyperventilation, and sweating. The diaphragm, which aides breathing, is also a muscle and it can become overly tight and uncomfortable. When there is continuous, interior nervous tension, a person frequently labors too hard when breathing. However, if a person is hyper-anxious, there is overwhelming unpleasant excitement, and a person may hyperventilate.

Because strenuous activity hardly ever follows, this hyperventilation leads to CO2 levels lowering in the lungs and then the blood, resulting in sudden dramatic changes in the alkalinity of the blood, which will then lead to many of the other symptoms, such as the tingling or numbness, dizziness, and lightheadedness mentioned before.

Anxiety panic disorder can be a serious condition, but before you start thinking you have this condition and go running off hotfoot to see a doctor, stop and take a deep breath!

It may be hard to do but relax. Don’t make this into too much of a problem immediately or it may lead to something serious and may affect your daily routine. Take things lightly.? If after examining your thoughts and body response for a while you think you really do have the symptoms of this condition, then you should consult your doctor. If you are diagnosed with anxiety panic disorder,? good counseling and if absolutely necessary, appropriate medication can bring your life to normal again. Otherwise, tell yourself gently over and over ‘be calm’? let go, relax and continue to live your life to the fullest.

Anxiety or panic attacks are generally very disabling as any sufferer would know firsthand when they suddenly find themselves in an inoperative state of mind which simply takes over their normally rational existence. What happens during a panic attack? Why do people that generally have it all together, suddenly find they react to situations in such a way that cause a total breakdown? Symptoms such as nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating and trembling, fear of losing control, heart palpitations and other such signs that resemble a heart attack are a common occurrence for sufferers of anxiety disorder.

What can you do to relieve the unpleasant symptoms? Is it enough to take medication which will merely mask the symptoms but not treat the actual underlying cause of the disorder? Anxiety disorder can be difficult to diagnose, but for those that do suffer finding a cure is important, as if the turmoil is left untreated depression, addictions, various behavioral problems and a serious dose of stress as well as the original anxiety disorder is a common consequence of ignoring the problem.

There usually is an indication that an attack is imminent, and it is a matter of knowing the signs that often precede a session of utter panic attack disintegration. Once you reach the stage of your heart pounding ferociously in your chest, constricted airways and feeling as though you are receding into a one way tunnel; you are in serious trouble as it means that a full blown panic attack has you in a strong hold and chances are it won’t let go! A first attack often sees the victim undergoing countless medical tests in the ER of their local hospital to rule out any possible illnesses that have similar symptoms. ECG, EEG and blood tests and then the doctor will diagnose you with a…sorry but we can’t find anything wrong perhaps it’s just a panic attack!

You soon come to realize that there is no such conclusion as just a panic attack. These attacks totally deliberate you to the extent of experiencing the above mentioned symptoms. It is also a fact that panic attacks are indeed a serious medical condition and an indicator of the likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke within a few years. The good news is that panic attacks are basically patterns, and can be altered through counseling and breathing exercises rather than drugs or medication.

Are you living with anxiety attacks also known, more descriptively, as panic attacks? The following are the most common physical symptoms of these attacks:

• Heart racing or pounding
• Difficulty breathing
• Choking feeling
• Feeling tightness across the chest
• Dizziness and nausea
• Stomach cramps
• Headache with shooting pains
• Sweating and hot flashes
• Chills
• Trembling or shaking
• Tingling sensations
• Feeling light-headed
• Feeling detached from reality

But that’s not all. There are also the emotional symptoms:

• A surge of uncontrollable panic
• A fear of losing control
• A feeling of great dread
• A fear of dying
• A fear of going crazy

If you only experienced anxiety attacks physically then once you had had a few you might conceivably think you could cope with them. It is the overwhelming fear and panic that makes these attacks such awful episodes for each sufferer. It is no wonder that people living with anxiety attacks are in a constant state of worry about where and when the next attack will strike. I say strike rather than happen because for many sufferers these attacks come out of the blue.

The usual treatments are a combination of medication and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The medication is either benzodiazepines or antidepressants and perhaps beta blockers. The downside to these medications is that they often produce unpleasant side effects and they aren’t a cure. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is claimed to be very helpful for anxiety attacks sufferers. The approach is to explore your negative thought patterns and irrational beliefs that are the hidden causes of your anxiety. Once you’ve discovered them the next thing to do is to challenge them. This is known as exposure therapy. You confront whatever it is that you fear from a safe place such as in your imagination or at a safe distance. The effect is to reduce your anxiety each time you do this.

There are other things you can do to back up the treatment:

Exercise is known to be great for reducing stress and anxiety and you should aim for at least half an hour’s aerobic exercise three to five times a week. If you can, do an hour’s exercise on most days.

Hypnosis can help when used alongside Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. While you are deeply relaxed the therapist helps you face your fears and look at them in a different way.

Relaxation and breathing techniques can also help reduce the stress and tension which feed your anxiety. If you are so inclined you could try meditation too.

It is said that sufferers being treated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can start to get relief from their anxiety in anything between five and twenty weeks. Obviously it depends on the individual as to just how long they need.