Symptoms Of An Anxiety Attack
Feeling anxious is perfectly normal, and something we will all experience from time to time. However an anxiety attack, which is an overwhelming fear that can hit with no warning and for no obvious reason, isn’t.
An anxiety attack will normally last for around ten minutes, but some people seem to suffer them for as long as an hour at a time. You would probably be surprised to know that research indicates that as high as oneout of every 75 of the population worldwide has or will suffer an anxiety attack at some time in their lives.
Anxiety attacks can provoke a really strong urge in the person who is suffering, to run away or escape from where the attack began – it can be linked with chest pain, shortness of breath, and even a feeling of impending doom. Many people that suffer with anxiety attacks say that they feel as though they are dying, losing control of their emotions and their behavior, or going crazy.
If a person has a particular phobia, then they will often experience anxiety and/or panic attacks. These will usually be over quickly, as soon as whatever triggered it is removed.
When suffering with chronic anxiety, then one anxiety attack can quickly follow another which will lead to nervous fatigue over a short period of time.
Anxiety attack symptoms include:
Heartbeat pounding and fast,
Dizziness, nausea and general lightheadedness,
Excessive sweating,
Breathing Difficulties,
Numbness or tingling around the face,
Dreamlike sensations,
A feeling of not being connected to your body and time.
Fear that you are losing control and are doing something that would embarrass you.
Strong feeling of impending doom,
Tearfullness associated with some or all of the above symptoms.
An anxiety attack will often follow a pattern, with a sudden onset of fear, which leads to a release of adrenaline and causes the want to run (your body prepares for some major physical activity with the release of adrenaline). The effect of this is to give you an increased heart rate, hyperventilation or labored breathing and sweating.
As the physical activity your body was expecting does not happen, the hyperventilation will lead to the carbon dioxide levels lowering in your lungs, then in your blood. This will in turn lead to the shift in the pH of your blood, leading to many of the other anxiety attack symptoms such as lightheadedness, dizziness and tingling.
Anxiety attacks can cause a real problem for the person that suffers with them and it is always worth a visit to your doctor, firstly to confirm that you are in fact having anxiety attacks, and secondly to obtain medication and/or cournselling to help you.
One great program for learning to deal with anxiety attacks, can be found here. This combines several ways of dealing with anxiety and panic and at the moment is available with a 50% discount.
