We suffer from psychological wounds just as much as we suffer from physical ones. Just think about it, If we play some kind of sport and get hit hard on the knee, we could get hospitalized, have surgery, and it might even take months to heal because it’s that dangerous and it needs our attention.
Well guess what, our mental health is just as important. We can’t keep pushing everything aside and sweeping it under the rug, pretending that everything is alright because it isn’t. You won’t be able to live life normally without firsthand facing your problems and taking some time to heal.
Panic attacks
One of these mental health problems is panic attacks, and that is our subject for today.
People often mistake a panic attack for a physical condition because of its physiological symptoms. We’ll get to that in a bit, but short to say panic attacks are as real and as stressful as it gets.
At one point you might even start questioning your health satus, that you might be experiencing some kind of heart problems.
Even though panick attacks mimic some serious organic conditions such as heart disease and even though your heart is most likely perfectly fine, if you feel suspicious, you should see your doctor.
Once you’re positive that what you’re actually dealing with is a panic attack, then here is what you should know, this irrational fear you’re struggling with is most likely going to stop you from living your life normally, and you might even stay home for days paralyzed with fear.
At that point you’ll be aware that all your fears are irrational and uncalled for, but it won’t stop your brain from processing small life activities as actual threats.
Sadly, it isn’t discussed enough how difficult it is to deal and live with a mental illness. But I’m here to try and change that, to tell you that yes, your problem is real. Yes, you’re struggling even if everyone else doesn’t realize that. But there’s still hope; you can still turn the tables around.
What are panic attacks exactly?
Panic attacks are a sudden urge of overwhelming fear, intense and at times extreme to the point of blacking out and suffocating.
They usually come up at random times, out of the blue and without a definitive reason causing you to embarrass yourself. But yes, at times they can be expected if you’re dealing with some kind of phobia.
It can reach its peak within minutes, or it can last longer. You really can’t determine when it’ll happen and how long it’ll last but you can try to control it, during all of which was said four or more following symptoms might occur:
- Pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Shortness of breath and feelings of suffocation
- Numbness and tingling sensations
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea and dizziness
- Faint
- Chills
- Fear of losing control, going crazy, and even dying
Care to notice that from a medical point of view, nothing is wrong with you. You might feel like you’re having a heart attack, a stroke, or that you’re even dying.
All of this would cause you to concern yourself and others by making repeated trips to the doctor or the emergency room in an attempt to get treatment for what you believe is a life-threatening medical problem, but in reality it is still a panic attack.
How dangerous are they?
You know when it gets serious and really dangerous?
When you allow it to be, when it affects your life so deeply that you detach yourself from everything, losing all sorts of communication with people, failing friendships and personal relationships because you can’t go out and meet them for a minor thing like a cup of coffee, too afraid you’ll have another episode of your panic attacks, that they’ll notice how your’re not doing well, how you can’t stay in one area for too long, and in that moment you fear that they will judge you, they’ll think that something is wrong with you.
But no, that’s not the case, you’re just convinced that it is. To the point where you, furthermore, start avoiding places because that’s where you had your break down last. Am I right? Am I getting close? I probably am but if you haven’t started any treatment then you’re not ready yet to admit that I am and that you are in fact, suffering in silence.
Panic attacks causes
While many people often struggle with just one or two panic attacks without it ever occurring again, some go on to having them repeatedly, developing a panic disorder, you’ll constantly be worrying about having another one, and yes, you’ll be having them unexpectedly without them having tied to a specific place or time.
In between these panic attacks you’ll be busy thinking about the next time, anxious and tense, fearful of the incoming fear you’re going to battle.
The causes of such unexpected repeated fear is overall unclear, but it can happen when you’re going through a major transition in your life such as graduation, marriage, starting a job and such.
The difference between a panic attack and an anxiety attack
Panic attacks come from anxiety, and anxiety is worsened by stress.
As previously mentioned panic attacks are sudden, unexpected, and most of the time irrational, however; anxiety attacks intensify over time with symptoms that are close to panic but less intense and more lasting for days, weeks and sometimes even years. Some of them are: fatigue, irritability, increased heart beat and increased startle response.
Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety and panic at times, you shouldn’t feel that you’re abnormal. This is a natural response to stressful or dangerous situations. Yes, if your case is a panic disorder then you’ll be struggling regularly and without an apparent reason like it was previously stated.
But take into account that this attack won’t cause you any physical harm, and it’s unlikely that you’ll be admitted to hospital if you have one, you’ll more likely just be diagnosed with panic disorder if you experience recurrent and unexpected panic attacks followed by at least a month of continuous worry or concern about having further attacks.
How to deal with Panic attacks/anxiety/panic disorder
You’re all mostly familiar with the old saying “time heals everything”, but that belief is as damaging as it gets.
In reality time heals nothing and the notion that time equals medicine is wrong on so many levels. Why? Because simply it’s what you choose to do with that time that makes all the difference.
No one is expecting you to bounce right back after a panic attack, no one is expecting you to act tough because no one is born mentally strong. But everyone has the ability to develop mental strength.
Just like you can develop physical strength, you can also try and build your mental strength and the stronger you become; the more resilient you’ll be to life’s stressors, both big and small.
If you’re struggling with panic attacks whether severe or mild, it worsened into a disorder or not. Here are some steps you should think about following if you ever do want to go back to living your life normally:
Self help steps
1.Identify that you have a problem:
learn to accept it. That right there is your first step towards recovery, acknowledging that you are someone who is surviving, someone who is fighting back.
And that is far more important than being someone who is struggling. Educate yourself about everything related to panic attacks.
2.Inform your friends:
Whether it’s family or close people around you, they should know that you’re dealing with an issue, you should tell them because you’ll need their support, you’ll need them to accept that sometimes you won’t be able to go out with them, that some places give you unease, might trigger your panic attack.
Don’t isolate yourself because that will only worsen the attack. Be sure that they aren’t there to judge you; they aren’t there to pity you. They’re there for you, as simple as that.
3.Avoid smoking, alcohol, and caffeine:
Cut it all off.
Caffeine is what usually worsens anxiety. Some people can’t bear to go without their coffee; if this is you, I suggest you do a two-week experiment: slowly deprive yourself from caffeine (to prevent symptoms of withdrawal) and remain off of it for two weeks to see if this changes your anxiety, sleep, and irritability.
If you don’t notice any change, you may just be a person who isn’t that sensitive to caffeine, and you can slowly re-introduce it into your life, paying close attention to any changes as you do. If you do notice a difference, you know you’re more sensitive and should make this a permanent change.
4.Join a support group:
Joining a group for people with panic attacks or anxiety disorders can connect you with others facing the same problem
5.Practice stress management and relaxation techniques:
Exercising, eating well, practicing yoga, deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation (tensing one muscle at a time, and then completely releasing the tension until every muscle in the body is relaxed), All of these can be of great help.
Mental Health Services
The mental health professional you’re going to seek when you’re ready for treatment will ask you some questions to know more about your case. These questions may include:
- What are your symptoms, and when did you first have them?
- How often do your attacks happen, and how long do they last?
- Does anything in particular seem to trigger them?
- How often do you experience fear of a potential attack?
- Have you been diagnosed with any medical condition?
- Do you use caffeine, alcohol and how often?
- How do the symptoms affect your life?
Based on your answers, the mental health professional will use some of these positive psychological response treatments for panic attacks/disorder such as:
1.Cognitive exposure:
Mentally facing your fear by looking at it from a realistic point of view, focusing on the behaviors that might be triggering your panic attacks, and making sure you know that they aren’t as life-threatening as they seem.
2.Physical exposure:
Physically facing the fear by allowing yourself to experience the physical sensations of panic in a safe and controlled environment, giving yourself the opportunity to learn healthier ways of coping.
You may be asked to hyperventilate, shake your head from side to side, or even hold your breath. This will help you create the sensation of a panic attack, expose yourself to it and control it.
3.Correcting maladaptive coping:
Changing your negative thinking and eliminating the superstitious behaviors associated with whatever fear you have.
4.Reducing stressors:
Reducing health, economic, occupational, social stressors using a problem-solving approach.
5.Medication:
This is used in severe cases and along with the other treatments, only for the sake of helping you temporarily reduce the symptoms.
The primary class of medication used for panic attacks are the benzodiazepine.
The primary class of medication used for panic disorder are the SSRIs (Selective Sertonin Reuptake Inhibitors).
Conclusion:
As a last word, you should know that you will survive this, you’ll control your fear and you’ll be much stronger. This is hard but it’ll pass if you decide to take control of the situation and try self help or seek professional one.