Anxiety attack symptoms

Baffling discoveries

The recent confirmation of the National Institute of Mental Health states that more than 6 million people in America have difficulties in coping with panic disorder. One important thing to be mentioned however that is not each person who experiences an anxiety attack will necessary come down with a panic, i.e. anxiety disorder. When it comes to these attacks, they represent extremely short bouts of strong fear. But this varies from one individual to another, with every person exhibiting specific symptoms. Despite this, there is a list of consistent manifestations that occur in the greatest majority of anxiety stricken people. Some of them are excessive sweating, shortness of breath, pain in the chest region, shaking, giddiness, nausea, tingling sensations and numbness in person’s hands, faster than normal heart rate, overwhelming thoughts of death and fear of dying, bouts of hot or cold sensation, extreme fear of losing control or going mad.

Manifestations and implications

Due to such severe manifestations, quite a lot of people who experience panic and anxiety bouts for the first time, in the end do find themselves in emergency rooms. One extremely dangerous fact is that such people, due to the fact that the pain they feel is so intense and severe, often have the impression and are also convinced that they are experiencing a condition as serious as a heart attack. But this is not unfounded, since the attacks in question are in certain cases tale telling signs of a genuine heart attack, as well as indicators of low blood sugar levels and poisoning by nicotine. It needs to be emphasized that, in the greatest majority of cases, manifestations have no physical grounds.

Severity

Despite the fact that the attacks in question are of a rather unpleasant and sometimes unbearable nature, they themselves are not perilous to that extent. Of course, it is a common feeling that, during an attack, a person is going to die, but in reality, that person is quite safe from harm. Less than one such attack, the person’s body, rather mistakenly, regards this as a panic situation and thus switches on the fight in order to defend from the possible danger.

In addition, it is a fairly common occurrence that a person who has, at one time or another, suffered from a panic attack will in the course of time develop intense fear from any recurring attack. This is extremely dangerous given the fact that the fear of experiencing another attack can be the main inducing factor of another panic attack, or a series of attacks. In spite of the severity and unpleasantness they bear, the panic attacks can be treated. The most effective method is considered to be the cognitive behavioral therapy, often combined with an anti-anxiety therapy short in duration.