Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect
about 19 million American children and adults. These disorders
leave people’s lives with a feeling of overwhelming anxiety and
fear.
Title: Anxiety Disorder - Are You Having A Panic Attack?
Author: Fern Kuhn, RN
Article:
Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect
about 19 million American children and adults. These disorders
leave people’s lives with a feeling of overwhelming anxiety and
fear. Acute anxiety is caused by a stressful event such as a
business presentation or a first date. Anxiety disorders are
chronic, relentless, and can grow progressively worse if not
treated.
Effective treatments for anxiety disorders are available, and
research is always finding new and improved therapeutic methods
of treatment that can help most people with anxiety disorders
lead productive, fulfilling lives.
If you think you have an anxiety disorder, you should seek
information and treatment.
Panic Disorder is an anxiety disorder.
Here we will:
**help you identify the symptoms of anxiety disorders,
**explain the role of research in understanding the causes of
these conditions,
**describe effective treatments,
**help you learn how to obtain treatment and work with a doctor
or therapist, and
**suggest ways to make treatment more effective.
Panic disorder affects about 2.4 million adult Americans and is
twice as common in women as in men. It most often begins during
late adolescence or early adulthood.
Risk of developing panic disorder appears to be inherited. Not
everyone who experiences panic attacks will develop panic
disorder—for example, many people have one attack but never have
another. For those who do have panic disorder, though, it's
important to seek treatment. Untreated, the disorder can become
very disabling.
Here is an example of a Panic Disorder story:
"It started 10 years ago, when I had just graduated from college
and started a new job. I was sitting in a business seminar in a
hotel and this thing came out of the blue. I felt like I was
dying.
"For me, a panic attack is almost a violent experience. I feel
disconnected from reality. I feel like I'm losing control in a
very extreme way. My heart pounds really hard, I feel like I
can't get my breath, and there's an overwhelming feeling that
things are crashing in on me.
"In between attacks there is this dread and anxiety that it's
going to happen again. I'm afraid to go back to places where
I've had an attack. Unless I get help, there soon won't be
anyplace where I can go and feel safe from panic."
My cousin is also an example of the fear of a panic. He cannot
drive in a car by himself for more than 45 minutes, otherwise he
feels he may have a panic attack. If he had to drive for at
least 1 hour, he would take one of the drugs he has on hand to
prevent a panic attack. It is too bad because he doesn’t get to
see his relatives in another state where he may have to drive
for 2 hours.
People with panic disorder have feelings of terror that strike
suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. They can't predict when
an attack will occur, and many develop intense anxiety between
episodes, worrying when and where the next one will strike.
If you are having a panic attack, most likely your heart will
pound and you may feel sweaty, weak, faint, or dizzy. Your hands
may tingle or feel numb, and you might feel flushed or chilled.
You may have nausea, chest pain or smothering sensations, a
sense of unreality, or fear of impending doom or loss of
control.
You may genuinely believe you're having a heart attack or losing
your mind, or on the verge of death.
Panic attacks can occur at any time, even during sleep. An
attack generally peaks within 10 minutes, but some symptoms may
last much longer.
Many people with panic disorder visit the hospital emergency
room repeatedly or see a number of doctors before they obtain a
correct diagnosis. Some people with panic disorder may go for
years without learning that they have a real, treatable illness.
Panic disorder is often accompanied by other serious conditions
such as depression, drug abuse, or alcoholism and may lead to a
pattern of avoidance of places or situations where panic attacks
have occurred.
For example, if a panic attack strikes while you're riding in an
elevator, you may develop a fear of elevators. If you start
avoiding them, that could affect your choice of a job or
apartment and greatly restrict other parts of your life.
Some people's lives become so restricted that they avoid normal,
everyday activities such as grocery shopping or driving. In some
cases they become housebound. Or, they may be able to confront a
feared situation only if accompanied by a spouse or other
trusted person.
Basically, these people avoid any situation in which they would
feel helpless if a panic attack were to occur. When people's
lives become so restricted, as happens in about one-third of
people with panic disorder, the condition is called agoraphobia.
Early treatment of panic disorder can often prevent agoraphobia.
Panic disorder is one of the most treatable of the anxiety
disorders, responding in most cases to medications or carefully
targeted psychotherapy.
If you saw the movie “Analyze This”, Robert Dinero is a mobster.
Funny movie by the way. After he saw one of his close friends
killed, he started having chest pains, sweating, heavy breathing
and he was brought to the Emergency Room.
When the doctor in the hospital checked him out, he told him he
had a panic attack. Of course, Robert Diner, being a mobster,
told him “I had a heart attack”, not a “Panic Attack and some
comedy scenes followed after that to make it a point that in his
chart he had a Panic Attack.
You may genuinely believe you're having a heart attack, losing
your mind, or are on the verge of death. Attacks can occur at
any time, even during sleep.
Depression often accompanies anxiety disorders and, when it
does, it needs to be treated as well. Symptoms of depression
include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, changes in appetite
or sleep, low energy, and difficulty concentrating. Most people
with depression can be effectively treated with antidepressant
medications, certain types of psychotherapy, or a combination of
both.
If you are having symptoms of a panic attack, please go to the
Emergency Room so they can decide if it really is a panic attack
or a heart related disease. Please note we are not diagnosing
any disease and it is up to you to follow up in the hospital or
with your doctor to determine what you may be experiencing.
About the author:
Fern Kuhn, RN Specializing in Diabetes and Mental Health
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