Panic attacks are defined as sudden intense episodes of extreme physical, emotional and mental panic or terror, usually focused around an abnormal fear. Panic attacks are usually brief, and may last less than ten minutes, although some of the symptoms may persist for a longer time. Despite their frightening nature, sufferers need to be reassured that panic attacks themselves do not lead to heart attacks, loss of control, mental illness or death.
Some of the symptoms that you may experience when having a panic attack include:
Chest pain
Fainting
Choking
Stomach pain, often accompanied by nausea
In addition to the physical symptoms, other effects might be feeling detached from the world and a feeling of light headedness.
Shortness of breath usually occurs in panic attacks. There is nothing to be scared of, you may feel like suffocating, it is just a normal symptom of general anxiety disorder.
You feel like going crazy or totally losing control. Often in anxiety attacks you may feel like losing control, or have the feeling that you might faint in any minute. It most likely that this will not happen, if you try to control your thoughts. The conditions of the attack can generate significant levels of fear, that usually perpetuates the sensation that one is losing control.
Dizziness. It usually occurs because the anxiety sufferer feel overwhelmed. One good fast relief for dizziness is to relax your body and try to eliminate your fear, by inducing positive thoughts. A fresh orange juice or a mint tea will help you reduce the levels of dizziness easily.
The symptoms include a very fast heartbeat, difficulty in breathing, numbness of the hands and feet, fever-like sensations and a feeling that one is experiencing a heart attack. Often, people who suffer from panic attacks are seized with terror that they think they are already on the brink of death. The whole attack can happen in just a few minutes but the episode can leave a person feeling weak and terrified.
Mental Symptoms of a Panic Attack
People who have a panic attack usually experience severe mental symptoms. You will experience irrational thinking or having racing thoughts, which leaves you feeling like things around you aren't real, feeling like you're going insane, and feeling like something bad is going to happen to you.
These are the symptoms of a panic attack. If you notice that you are having these symptoms, you should to do something about it. Not doing anything about it will cause your attacks to get worse.
Your panic attack symptoms won't kill you, but that doesn't mean that everything is OK. When you are experiencing anxiety and panic attack, your body is no longer just trying to tell you something; it is screaming at you! Do an inventory of your situation and try to figure out what you can change to relive emotional and physical stress, and then make the changes. Knowing what the problem is only helps if you are not willing to do something about it. If you change what you are doing today, chances are you won't experience panic attack symptoms in the future.
