Anxiety Attack Treatment

What is a panic attack?

A panic attack (or anxiety attack) is a severe attack of anxiety and fear which occurs suddenly, often without warning, and for no apparent reason. There are many documented symptoms of anxiety attack. These include one or more of the following:

•    Palpitations or a thumping heart.
•    Sweating and trembling.
•    Hot flushes or chills.
•    Feeling short of breath, sometimes with choking sensations.
•    Chest pains.
•    Feeling sick.
•    Feeling dizzy, or faint.
•    Fear of dying or going crazy.
•    Numbness, or pins and needles.
•    Feelings of unreality, or being detached from yourself.

The physical symptoms that occur with panic attacks do not necessarily mean there is a physical problem with the heart, chest, etc. The symptoms mainly occur because of an ‘overdrive’ of nervous impulses from the brain to various parts of the body during a panic attack.

During a panic attack you tend to over-breathe (hyperventilate). If you over-breathe you ‘blow out’ too much carbon dioxide which changes the acidity in the blood. This can then cause more symptoms such as confusion and cramps, and make palpitations, dizziness, and pins and needles worse. This can make the attack seem even more frightening, and make you over-breathe even more, and so on. A panic attack usually lasts 5-10 minutes, but sometimes they come in ‘waves’ for up to two hours.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago a panic attack was a very useful thing. We led much more physically challenging and dangerous lives then. We didn’t have sharp teeth or claws and so we had to be able to react very quickly to a threat. And in those days there were two simple choices. We could either run or, if desperate enough, we could fight. In this case, a panic attack is called the ‘fight or flight response’. You may well have heard of it.

The fight or flight response can be seen as one of the most important parts of our make-up – a highly efficient survival response for dangerous times. Back then, threats were simple and straight forward but often very dangerous – a wild animal, or member of an enemy tribe for instance.

That is why the mind of a human being can trigger a panic attack fast and unconsciously. This is highly important. People who suffer panic attacks often report that "they come from nowhere" and this is an essential part of the fight or flight response.

At least 1 in 10 people have occasional panic attacks. They tend to occur most in young adults. Twice as many women than men have panic attacks. Anyone can have a panic attack, but they also tend to run in some families.

Managing Panic Attacks

To ease a panic attack, or to prevent one from getting worse:
•    breathe as slowly and as deeply as you can. Concentrate on breathing.
•    breathe into a paper bag. By doing this you re-breathe your own carbon dioxide. This helps to correct the blood acid level that had been upset by over-breathing which makes symptoms worse.

Anxiety Attack Treatment 

No regular panic disorder treatment is necessarily needed if you have just an occasional panic attack. You may, however, find it helpful to:

•    understand about panic attacks, and the cause of the symptoms.
•    know that any physical symptoms which occur do not mean that you have a serious disease. For example, some people find it helpful to know that the palpitations or chest pains they had during a panic attack were not due to a heart or chest problem.
•    know how to deal with a panic attack (see above under “managing panic attacks”)

If, however, you have frequent, persistent, or recurring panic attacks, this is often called panic disorder. There are a number of panic disorder treatments available.

Whilst various medicines do exist to help prevent an attack, or calm a person down during an attack; dependency on such medicines is usually not encouraged, especially since some of the side effects of the medicines can be very undesirable.

Try our Recommended Completely Natural Method for Dealing with Panic Attacks:

Further articles relating to Panic and Anxiety Disorder:

 Reducing Anxiety and Panic Attacks Through Better Nutrition

Anxiety and panic attacks can be reduced by changing your diet. Caffeine,MSG,deficience of nutrients,adversely affect your nervous system. … Try switching to natural meats, that is, from animals that have not been fed growth hormones. Reduce your intake of sweets, as spikes in your blood sugar can lead to that racing sensation which is often a precursor to anxiety and the dreaded panic attacks. 

Breathing Techniques for Panic Attacks 

Panic Attack Treatments | Lifetime fitness

A situation of panic attack could occur as you’re at home, sitting on your couch, observing TV, while driving, shopping or walking, while at your office, etc., and could actually occur while you’re sleeping. 

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