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What is Panic Disorder? Panic Attack Causes, Symptoms, Treatment
What is a Panic Attack?
A panic attack is a sudden, out of the blue feeling of extreme fear and discomfort. It comes most unexpectedly and without any warning and you can feel your heart beating fast, feel dizzy, breathless, choked or as if you are going crazy or going to die.
What is Panic Disorder?
A person is diagnosed as having panic disorder if he has recurrent episodes of panic attacks and develops a fear of having another attack. Many times the patient will convince himself/herself so fervently that they are dying that many sufferers often feel the need to go to the emergency room and get tested. Even though this disorder is easily as well as successfully treatable, if it is not diagnosed it can become very debilitating to the individual.
Learn more on panic attacks and Panic Disorders
Panic disorder strikes between 3 and 6 million Americans, and is twice as common in women as in men. It can appear at any age in children or in the elderly but most often it begins in young adults.
Symptoms of a Panic Attack
In a panic attack symptoms develop abruptly and usually reach their peak within 10 minutes. Some of the common symptoms include:
a) Palpitations
b) Sweating
c) Trembling
d) Shortness of breath
e) Chest pain or discomfort
f) Nausea
g) Dizziness
h) Fear of losing control
i) Fear of dying
Treatment for Panic Disorder
Panic disorder often responds to treatment with medication, therapy, or a combination of both.
Cognitive/behavioral therapy is a relatively new treatment for panic that has been shown to be successful. Instead of using old-fashioned analysis-based techniques, therapists employing new CBT methods focus on the present panic -- and how to eliminate it.
People who experience panic are not "crazy" and do not need to be in therapy for extended periods of time.
Some people find the greatest relief from panic disorder symptoms when they take certain prescription medications.Two types of medications that have been shown to be safe and effective in the treatment of panic disorder are Antidepressants and Benzodiazepines.
In addition, people with panic disorder may need treatment for other emotional problems. Depression has often been associated with panic disorder, as have alcohol and drug abuse.
Click Here for more information on Anxiety Attack Cures
What Causes Panic Disorder?
There are several theories about the causes of panic disorder and since every individual has a different predisposition, zeroing in on a specific cause can be quite an arduous task. Although treatable, this disorder can be very devastating and debilitating to the person if it goes untreated and may result in specific phobias like fear of driving the car or fear of leaving the house. It can result in the loss of a job or even relationship problems.
Fortunately, even with this disorder's rather undefined nature of causality, there is much treatment available that has helped majority of people suffering from panic disorder to cope with this problem.
Cathy M. Ross
The website on Anxiety Disorders and Panic Attacks talks about how to deal with panic and anxiety attacks. It outlines the causes, symptoms and the different ways to Cure Anxiety and Panic Disorders.
Doctor, Pharmacist, or DBA?
I am currently a sophomore in high school and I have been looking into possible careers for my future. I have decided to become either a doctor, pharmacist, or database administrator.
I am great at math (currently taking pre-calculus), though I haven't taken any science classes yet (besides Earth Science which I got an A in... pretty easy). I took Life Science in 7th grade, and I also got an A -- we memorized a lot of terminology too, though I was never particularly interested in what we learned at the time.
I enjoy reading and learning about medical conditions and even go to the extent of memorizing certain conditions and their symptoms and treatments.
Besides wanting to be a doctor, I have also considered being a database administrator or system administrator. I am naturally good at using computers and can usually find a way to make something work. But I am not sure if I want to turn a hobby into a future job -- I actually own a website that profits ~$600 a month -- of course, I wouldn't want to do web marketing in the future because it's more work than it's worth.
I've considered becoming a medical doctor (primary care doctor or a radiologist) or a pharmacist. I'm not sure I'd enjoying pharmaceutical studies though, as I enjoy learning more about certain conditions rather than counting pills.
I also suffer from anxiety (GAD->General Anxiety Disorder), panic disorder, ocd, and I have asperger's syndrome. I have a high-functioning form of autism, so I am fairly smart but I lack communication skills and have few friends. I believe I could get over this though, what do you think? I am not treated with medications, because my parents object to the use of antidepressants to cure "mental" disorders.
Get the answers...
Do anxiety disorders ever go away?
Recently I discovered that I have GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), Panic Disorder, a little bit of OCD, and Social Anxiety Disorder. I haven't gone to a doctor but I have had the symptoms for over a year and I know this is it. Six months ago or so I went to a psychiatrist but she only diagnosed me with Panic Disorder. Since you probably don't know much about these disorders, I'll give you some info on what I'm experiencing:
GAD- I constantly feel worried for no reason and can't seem to relax. Even when I'm just sitting on the couch or lying in bed, all of a sudden my heart will start racing really fast and it freaks me out. Most of the time, I have this weird feeling inside of me, I don't really know how to describe it, but it makes me feel uncomfortable all the time to the point where I can't enjoy simple things like sitting outside eating my lunch or walking my dogs.
Panic Disorder- This happens less often. The first time it happened I was watching a movie and at that moment, a character died, and that seemed to trigger something in my brain that made me start panicking. I felt like I was going to die. My heart beat extremely loud and fast and I kept feeling like I was about to die and there was no way to escape. It was the scariest thing ever. Most of the time it's not that severe, but at school where it's really loud and crowded, especially in the hallways, I often have mini-panic attacks. I usually think I'm going to throw up and embarrass myself which is kind of similar to social anxiety disorder. Other times I feel like I am losing control of myself and am going to scream uncontrollably or have a mental breakdown (I never actually have thrown up or had a nervous breakdown or anything, so that proves how unrealistic my panic is. Even though I know it's fake, I can't get rid of it.) Also, the symptoms I experience are nausea, pounding heart, sweatiness, weakness/faintness/dizziness, hot flashes, chest pain, smothering sensations, a sense of unreality, a fear of impending doom, and a fear of losing control. I am afraid of stupid, random things like becoming pregnant(which is impossible), dying, developing other disorders like bipolar and schizophrenia, getting cancer, etc.
OCD- My OCD is more minor and I am very lucky for that. There are some routines I have to do like clicking my mouse every once in a while for no particular reason, cracking my knuckles, pulling at my clothes or sticking my hands in my pocket in public, and arranging things to face a certain direction. For example, I always put my iPod remote in the same spot on my desk, the computer has to be centered almost perfectly, the mouse has to be in the middle of the mousepad facing straight, and my chair always has to be facing straight as well.
Social Anxiety Disorder- I feel like everyone is watching and judging my every move, especially at school, and I can't get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. My mouth starts feeling really weird and I have to keep swallowing because there is a lot of spit in my mouth (I know, it's disgusting -__-). I feel like an idiot talking to people because I keep swallowing and I can't carry on a normal conversation, even though I can with my family and close friends.
Also, I might have something like hypochondria where I think every little thing that happens to me is way worse than it is. Like, a stomach pain means I have a tumor, and when I'm playing sports, my heart will be pounding naturally because I am exercising, and I'll think I'm about to have a heart attack.
If you haven't experienced any of these disorders, please understand that the words "uncomfortable" and "panic" have a whole 'nother meaning for me. Because my panic and worrying has no real reason, it rarely goes away and I feel like I am trapped forever in sadness. It's not like getting an adrenaline rush, in-the-moment when something exciting happens. It's the worst thing I've ever felt. I don't know how else to describe it but please understand that this stuff really sucks and I would appreciate anything that you have to say that you think can help me. I know I should tell my parents and ask to see a psychiatrist, but I don't know if that makes a difference. I am definitely NOT taking any drugs/medications.
Thank you for reading this. Everything was awesome until this happened, my life was perfect, I was happy, and rarely worried about a thing. Now I mostly sit around at home, alone, because I can't be around other people. I moved away from everyone I care about too, and I feel like I am just going through the motions with no purpose. So I guess my real question is, if you have gone through something like this, does it ever get better? Are you able to live a fulfilling life or are you stuck with it forever? And if it can be cured, does that mean it still comes back every now
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