Pulverizing Panic Attacks
Your heart is racing. It feels as though it will pound right out of your chest. You feel sweaty, especially the palms of your hands. Your arms and leg start to tremble. You feel slightly lightheaded. You could be having a panic attack.
A panic attack is an episode where you experience sudden, unreasonable fear that manifests into physical symptoms like a racing heart, sweating, heart palpitations, fear of dying, going crazy, or losing control, chest pain, faintness, dizziness, trembling, and fast breathing.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 4.7 percent of American adults experience panic disorder at some point in their lives. This condition is more prevalent among women than men. Panic disorder seems to run in families. Studies of twins have shown that there may be a genetic predisposition.
Although the exact causes aren’t completely understood, researchers speculate panic attacks are triggered mainly by psychological factors, along with some intertwined biological influences. The problem often is associated with stressful major life changes such as marriage, college graduation, having a first child or a death in the family.
It typically strikes during young adulthood. Roughly half of all people who have a panic disorder develop the condition before age 24. But panic attacks can happen to anyone at any age. An imbalance of brain-messenger chemicals is another element in their occurrence. A panic attack can last anywhere from one minute to 30 minutes, sometimes even longer. Many of those who seek treatment will often attend an emergency room because panic attacks can resemble heart attacks.
About a third of those with panic disorder also develop agoraphobia, where you don’t leave the house because of the irrational fear of having a panic attack in different situations.
There are three types of panic attacks. Unexpected panic attacks occur out of the blue and aren’t associated with anything causing immediate stress. Situationally disposed panic attacks are likely to occur as a result of certain stressful events but may manifest themselves hours or days later. Situationally bound attacks occur almost immediately after a stressful event.
When attempting to diagnose panic attacks or panic disorder (when you have several panic attacks), your doctor may consider whether you worry about having another panic attack consistently, obsess about losing control during a panic attack, or change behaviors to avoid situations that may trigger another panic attack. Your doctor may run tests to rule out other medical conditions like thyroid disease, heart disease, and respiratory problems.
Two main treatment options exist for those who suffer from panic attacks:
· Medications. A class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI), which includes the widely known drug Prozac, is often first-line treatment for panic attacks. Although panic attacks aren’t the same thing as depression, these drugs seem effective with those who suffer from them. Usually the drugs must be taken for six to 12 months. Panic attacks may resume once medication is stopped. However, many physicians believe that panic attacks strike during a particular time in a patient’s life, and the medications can help a person through it.
· Therapy. Often referred to as cognitive behavioral therapy, the term is simply a medical way to describe sessions with a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health professional. The sessions focus on educating the patient about panic attacks, determining what could be causing them and how to deal with the problem and learning stress reduction techniques.
Many physicians believe medication and therapy are equally effective in treating panic attacks. The success rate is highest when both methods are used. But it is important to note that panic attacks are treatable and for some people, the condition will run its course with the attacks stopping altogether.
