Healthy living analyses panic attacks

Do you know what is considered one of the most intensely frightening, upsetting and uncomfortable experiences of a person’s life? The symptoms include sudden periods of intense anxiety, mounting physiological arousal, fear, stomach problems and discomfort. If you haven’t figured it out, it’s called a panic attack. This week Healthy Living looks at panic attacks and panic disorders.

Marleni Cuellar, Reporting
Fear is a factor in life. Many of us have learned how to deal with it by exercising a certain level of control. And in many instances we understand where the fear is coming from. When a person has a panic attack, they experience a sudden and intense surge of fear. Psychiatric Nurse, Nurse Eleanor Bennett, explains that this fear is accompanied with a feeling that death is near.

Nurse Eleanor Bennett, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
“A panic attack is very discreet period of intense fear and it’s very paralyzing for the person who suffers from panic attack. It’s accompanied by a lot of physical symptoms as well as by cognitive symptoms. People, their chest starts to feel very tight their heart beast fast they start to sweat they feel as if they have top escape from whatever situation they are in. Most and very importantly they feel as if they are going to die. As if they are going crazy as if they are going to have a stroke or as if they are going to have a heart attack.”

While a panic attack may be a symptom for other anxiety disorders; when they occur frequently without any known triggers, it could be the chronic anxiety disorder, panic disorder. Nurse Bennett explains.

Nurse Eleanor Bennett
“To have panic disorder, you would have to have recurrent panic attacks and not just recurrent panic attacks but the person is worried about the consequences of having a panic attack and the person is worried that they are going to die. Those criteria are very important in being distinguish between a panic attack by itself and panic disorder.”

The difference is in the way the reaction is triggered.

Nurse Eleanor Bennett
“Our bodies are designed to protect us when we encounter a fearful situation. For example, if you are faced with a dog that you’re scared of, your body would naturally go into, stimulate what we would call a flight or fight response and in that response it prepares you to defend yourself, to deal with the crisis that you are in and the similar symptoms of panic happen. Your heart starts to beat fast, you get really scared but in that case you know what the threat is, what the trigger is. For a lot of people with panic attack there are no triggers; so they could be driving in the car on the highway and they would have a panic attack. They would be waiting on the bus, in class doing whatever, while shopping. For some people it even happens in their sleep. They would be sleeping and wake up real frightened not knowing why.”

The symptoms of a panic attack can include: rapid heart rate; sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, hyperventilation, chills, hot flashes, nausea, abdominal cramping, chest pain, headache, dizziness, faintness, tightness in your throat, trouble swallowing and most importantly a sense of impending death.

Nurse Eleanor Bennett
“You will not die from the feelings that you get when you have a panic attack it is very serious and it is very real to that person who is suffering at that time but the thing is to remember that they won’t die at that moment. The nature of panic attacks itself is that it starts gradually then it peaks after about ten minutes and then it subsides after an hour because the body cannot tolerate that. It’s not something that’s going to kill you immediately.”

Because the symptoms associated with panic attacks resemble life-threatening symptoms; it is very important to seek a professional for a proper diagnosis and treatment.

Nurse Eleanor Bennett
“The diagnosis of panic disorder is usually done by a mental health professional but it’s usually done at the end or at the point where they have already seen several medical doctors because of the symptoms.”

The treatment options include talk therapy to correct irrational thoughts and some patients require short term and in some cases long term medication.

Nurse Eleanor Bennett
“If you don’t treat it you could develop what is a real sever panic disorder with a condition we call agoraphobia. A lot of people have this that they are really afraid to go outside because they are afraid that if they are placed in a certain condition outside of their house, they are going to have another panic attack.”

The cause of panic disorder is essentially unknown, although, it shows a strong genetic link. Panic attack itself could also be a symptom of other medical conditions like hyperthyroidism. This can only be diagnosed by professionals so if you exhibit the symptoms, be sure to discuss with your health professional.