Panic attacks can start without a specific event to trigger them, or can also be linked to certain situations, such as being in large crowds of people in restaurants or stadiums. Depending on the person and their personality makeup, sometimes just the anticipation of being in a certain situation can cause severe anxiety.
Panic attacks, sometimes also known as anxiety attacks, can also occur in other anxiety disorders such as phobias, in which case the more specific diagnosis is probably not actually panic disorder. Panic attacks can often result in a significant disruption of normal activities and behavior because of their disruptive nature. Sometimes, the person who has experienced the attack will visit the emergency room at the hospital because they are convinced that they are having a medical emergency. In reality, many of the symptoms of a panic attack can be very similar to the symptoms that precede a heart attack or cardiac arrest, depending on the severity of it.
Various medical studies have shown that panic attacks seem to occur when the brain’s normal mechanism for reacting to fear or a threat becomes inappropriately aroused. They are triggered by stimulation of areas in the brain stem that control the release of adrenalin. Panic attacks are frequently experienced by sufferers of anxiety disorders and other psychological conditions involving anxiety, though panic attacks are not always a sign of a mental disorder, nor are they uncommon. In fact, some sufferers are not under any fear or any psychological illness but are under intense amounts of stress and anxiety resulting in a panic attack or an anxiety attack.
Panic attacks are not limited to the syndrome known as panic disorder. They commonly occur in the course of social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder. Panic attack symptoms are sometimes mistaken for a heart attack in more severe cases because of the similarity of the symptoms. Panic attacks usually produce a sense of unreality, a fear of impending doom, or a fear of losing control. One of the most common characteristics of a panic attack is that the fear or threat may be indeed real, whereas the counterpart anxiety attack is usually very similar but is a reaction to conditions that do not warrant the extreme reaction.
Panic attacks may also be accompanied by a rapid or irregular heartbeat, sweating, hot flashes, chills, chest pain, difficulty breathing, shaking, dizziness and a feeling that you might die. About one out of every ten post-menopausal women have had at least one panic attack or are prone to anxiety attacks which are very similar.
Panic attacks can be treated. The person who is prone to suffering from these should be aware of how much caffeine that they take in, since large amounts of caffeine have been known to trigger attacks without warning. People afflicted with panic attacks should also be sure to get proper amounts of restful sleep every night. Panic attacks reach utmost intensity within a minute or two once they begin. It is common for the first attack to make a person to go to an emergency clinical facility.
Panic attacks can be controlled, and for many people eliminated with some work and effort. It is a very uncomfortable feeling for the person going through it, but such a person can find great relief in finding the mechanisms that will allow them to control and even eliminate their tendency for panic attacks and anxiety attacks.