10 Frequently Asked Questions On How To Stop Panic Attacks

1. What is a panic attack?

A question that is asked quiet a lot is 'what is a panic attack?' It is a brief period of extreme anxiety, fear or apprehension. Most people experiencing their first attack say each attack feels like a heart attack or nervous breakdown. like a heart attack the physical symptoms are not fact harmful.



2. How do I know I am having a panic attack? What are the symptoms?



As mentioned earlier, these attacks often feel like heart attacks or nervous breakdowns. Most of the time they strike for the first time between the age of 15 - 20 and are often a symptom of a bigger anxiety disorder.



While your panic attack may seem to be similar feeling to a heart attack, they are two very different things. The most common symptoms of panic attacks are heart palpitations – a fancy way of saying the heart rate speeds up rapidly – dizziness or nausea, difficulty breathing or a sense of being smothered or claustrophobic, and shaking. Feeling numb in your hands, as well as chest and tummy pains, are also common. The most common symptom is a feeling of needing to escape, or of an extreme fear. Most of the time people who experience these attacks are highly fearful of something, but they can't say what it is they are so scared of.



When these symptoms flare up it feels like it will be very difficult to stop panic attacks.





3. How long does a panic attack last?



Everybody is different, and will react in different ways to panic attacks. Occasionally the initial attack can last for up to 10 minutes before the person feels the anxiety flooding out of them, but other people say while their panic attack decreases after a relatively short time they still feel anxiety and apprehension for a couple of days afterwards.



Between 40 to 70 per cent of suffers who go through panic attacks during the day will also experience nighttime attacks. All panic attacks are scary experiences but nighttime attacks are particularly distressing, as they have the potential to have more intense or recognizable impact on the respiratory (breathing) systems of whoever is suffering from the problem.





4. How common is this problem?



Believe it or not, these attacks are actually reasonably common – although to sufferers it certainly does not feel that way at the time! Experts say that panic attacks are a serious health problem amongst adults worldwide, with evidence suggesting at least 20 per cent of American adults – around 60 million people – will experience the problem at some point in their lives.



Women are twice as likely to suffer from panic attacks as men, although in childhood cases boys are just as likely to suffer from panic attacks as girls.





5. What causes panic attacks?



It is hard to pinpoint causes or triggers of these attacks, because so many experience them. The main cause of panic attacks appears to be genes. Panic disorders are often hereditary and mean some people have a greater predisposition or chance of suffering from attacks themselves if the problem runs in the family. Other biological causes of panic attacks are not hereditary.



People with medical conditions such as larger panic disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder can suffer from panic attacks, as can people with other medical conditions such as hypoglycaemia, mitral valve prolapse, hyper-ventilation syndrome and even inner-ear problems. Some medications are also known to set off attacks. Alcohol and drug withdrawl – including caffeine – can also spark off attacks. The problem is also believed to be more common in those with a negative self-image or a proneness to be passive. Last but not least, significant personal trauma such as loosing a loved one can also spark the attacks.





6. Why do these triggers mean I have a panic attack?



Believe it or not, from a physiological point of view a panic attack is the body trying to save itself from harm. A unexpected spike in being scared also results in a unexpected spike in adrenaline, which in turn prompts the "fight-or-flight response".



The fight or flight response is a well-documented scientific theory, which basically suggests when a person feels threatened their body prepares them for extreme physical activity – either the need to escape from a situation really quickly, or the need to defend themselves against a threat. When your body goes into fight or flight mode, your heart rate accelerates, you start breathing rapidly, and you may also begin to sweat. Because you’re not actually about to fight or run away, the hyperventilation (difficulty breathing) increases the level of carbon dioxide in the body (in the lungs first, then in the bloodstream). This pushes all the blood around your body, which can result in other other symptoms like dizziness or nausea. The escape of the extra adrenaline causes dizziness too.



Unfortunately it is sometimes a catch-22: Because you feel yourself getting short of breath, you try to take deeper swallows of air, which means more carbon dioxide, which increases the feeling of not being able to breathe properly. In the face of these processes happening in your body it is really hard to stop panic attacks.





7. How is the problem different between men and women, and children and adults?



For everybody it is difficult to stop panic attacks. Despite that same feeling of being overpowered by the attack, which causes people to feel like the attack is disadvantaging them or preventing them from being able to do anything to try and stop the attack, there are some unlikeness in how the attack feels for men and women and children. For starters, panic attacks are more common in women. They also tend to be more constant, and more often result in the use of medication to try to end the these attacks. Women also tend to display more anxiety-avoidance – that is, they will try to stay away from situations where they have experienced an attack before.



Anxiety avoidance often ends up in a phobia – an irrational fear of particular situations – and after awhile the mere thought of that situation is enough to start off an attack. In children or young adults attacks can end up causing a drop in marks or grades at school, or even wagging school, substance abuse, keeping themselves from parents or other important people around them, and even depression or suicidal thoughts.



While symptoms in adolescents often mimic those experienced by adults, panic attacks are sometimes different for younger children. Teenagers often report panic attacks as feeling like nightmares and are more dream-like than an overpowering fear of going crazy or dying (which is sometimes what it feels like for adults), while young children seem not to have any cognitive or conscious thoughts at all.





8. Are panic attacks serious?



Yes – people going through these attacks know they are real and also know they can be emotionally destroying. It is important to try to stop panic attacks as they can have a significant lasting effect on those experiencing them – if left untreated it can become a serious panic or emotional disorder, such as agoraphobia, which is the crippling fear of all social situations and interactions.





9. How do I stop panic attacks?



One of the most known treatment designed to stop these attacks is a combination of cognitive-behavioural therapy and a prescription of anti-depressant medication.



CBT sometimes involves up to 20 visits with a mental health professional over a number of weeks, and it is created to try and make better the thought processes that cause your condition. The therapy will help you get an understanding and a sense of control over distorted emotions you have related to stressful situations, help you learn to recognize and replace panic-causing thoughts, show you some relaxation techniques and expose you to stress-management techniques, and will too involve some desensitisation and exposure therapy. While that is a really big, confusing title for the process, the therapy itself is very easy. The professional you work with will ask you to relax and then imagine the things that make you most fearful or apprehensive, from the least-stressful to the most-stressful. This therapy, combined with antidepressant medication – usually selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – is the most common way to stop panic attacks. It might sound silly, but trying to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle is also highly important. Many studies show the impact eating right and getting enough exercise can have on emotional disorders, including depression, anxiety and panic disorders. At the end of the day the most important thing is to remember the goal of treatment is to help you get better.



If you feel something is not going right for you, be open and discuss your problems with your doctor or mental health professional. They are there to help.





10. What else do I need to remember?



First and foremost, remember you are not alone. A lot of people of all ages throughout the world suffer from the same thing. Panic attacks are serious, and they are terrifying, but fortunately this can be treated. With the correct treatment designed to stop panic attacks people who experience this problem can live completely normal lives.



Also remember there is endless information out there about the problem and how to prevent it from happening – check out your local library, join support groups online, and most of all be honest with the people around you. Tell a trusted friend or adult about what you are experiencing. Make sure you are honest with your doctor. It is their job to help you, so speak to them about the concerns you have. Doctors are trained in the medical field so grab hold of their knowledge. They may also be able to recommend a specialist in your area with plenty of expertise in the treatment of panic attacks.



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