How to Stop and Prevent Panic Attacks

All of a sudden, your world begins to spin. You find yourself breathing nothing as if the air has suddenly disappeared. You feel too cold, yet around you it’s a hot summer day. To make the situation worse, you’re feeling so afraid, yet you can’t determine very reason for your fear. Yes, you’re in a state of panic attack.

How to Stop and Prevent Panic Attacks

Panic attacks can be as short as a single minute but they can also extend to very long hours. No one can be sure when he or she may encounter yet another panic attack, but there are Ways to Stop and Prevent Panic Attacks.

Panic Attack and Panic Disorder: An Overview and Facts

Panic disorder is distinguished by repeated episodes of intense fear. It’s accompanied with symptoms such as chest pain and increased heart rate palpitations. The sufferer may also experience chills, hot flashes, trembling, sweating, light headedness and dizziness. Sometimes, a patient may also feel nausea, vomiting and abdominal distress.

In severe cases, patients may feel difficulty in breathing, choking, smothering and shortness of breath. Numbness and tingling sensations may also be felt. During a panic attack, a patient may experience the feeling of losing control or going crazy and in some cases they feel like dying. Derealization and depersonalization is sometimes noted.

  
A person suffering from panic attack should not be exposed to too much happiness or misery.

An attack can last for a few minutes to hours at a time. Usually, the attack is triggered by some stressors, for example, a patient may develop agoraphobia where panic attack occurs in places they fear.

There are obviously many causes of panic attacks. Usually, panic attacks are triggered by stressor such as public places, feared object and unsecured feelings. Physical illness/condition can also trigger a panic attack. For example, if a patient has undergone surgery, such as hysterectomy or surgically induced menopause, they can develop a panic disorder.

A person suffering from panic attack should not be exposed to too much happiness or misery.

Moreover, signs that are manifested by panic attack often imitate the symptoms caused by heart failures and heart attack. This is the reason why some doctors frequently find it difficult to determine whether a person had a panic attack or heart failure.

A person who experiences a panic attack develops a phobia with several factors. Most often, he encounters fear of crowded places, such as shopping malls and supermarkets, because the person may think there’s no way for help to come.

Here are some of the facts that you should know about panic attack:

1. Panic attacks frequently occur between the ages of 18 to 54. This is the stage when people are most prone to suffer from panic attack and the majority of the patients sent to the hospital every year are in this age bracket.

2. Women are more prone to panic disorder than men. Men seem to have a stronger character because they tend to appear more courageous regarding fearful things.

3. Heredity is considered a factor in panic disorder. It runs in the genes, as they say, similar to high blood pressure cases. Moreover, other factors that contribute to the development of this disorder are the stressful events in your everyday life and other biological influences.

4. Vices, such as alcoholism and drug addiction/abuse and especially the use of marijuana and other depressant drugs, also contribute as factors in the development of panic disorder.

5. The fear response causing panic disorder is also caused because of the small structure that can be found inside a person’s brain. This very complicated structure is called amygdala.

6. There are available treatments for panic disorder. One is medication and the other is a form of psychotherapy that will aid a person with panic attack to view their fears in a positive outlook and later on, overcome it.

7. People who are undertaking the therapy can experience some sudden changes in their behavior and will gradually notice its effect as the therapy goes on.

8. People with panic disorder have a major possibility of encountering other illnesses. Thus, the panic disorder can coexist with other diseases such as intense depression.

Panic disorder can harm the life of any individual. It’s very important to have a proper diagnosis regarding the presence of indicators of panic attack to avoid repetitive attacks. It can also ruin the lifestyle of a person even in the manner of how he or she socializes with other people.

Panic attack is indeed a problem to be solved by patients tormented with the disorder to live a happy and normal life.

Signs of a Panic Attack

Go through this link (Click here) to know about Panic Attack Symptoms.

What Causes Panic Attacks

Panic attacks can occur for several reasons. Usually, a panic attack will last for about ten minutes. Your body will react with increased blood pressure, as well as dizziness and fear overtaking you. If you believe you’re having a panic attack, then it’s important to look at the causes behind it. By doing so, you’ll be able to prevent panic attacks from continuously occurring.

Some believe that panic attacks are an inherited trait. It’s been shown that there are certain genes that are related to panic attacks occurring. These genes have mutated and caused the brain to not respond properly in certain situations.

However, panic attacks aren’t likely to occur because of genetics, but from other situations. These situations are known to be a response to either external happenings or from internal problems that are being compensated for in the body.

Panic attacks may also be because of the body’s response to a certain environment. If there is shallow chest breathing happening, then the body will respond by trying to speed up the heart rate. It also causes an imbalance between oxygen and carbon dioxide. As a result, it causes fear and terror to overtake a person.

If shallow chest breathing isn’t happening, the brain may be responding anyway. There’s a nerve in the brain that responds to feeling when a lack of oxygen is occurring in the body. It causes the body to respond by making it feel like it’s suffocating. Often times, this brain is triggered in error.

Severe stress is one of the major factors behind panic attacks. If you’re coping with a major change in your life, such as loss of a loved one, or a tragedy, then it causes extra stress to be added to your life. If this becomes difficult for you to handle, the body may try to relieve this stress physically.

Anxiety and phobias may also trigger a panic attack. The most well-known phobia related to panic attacks is agoraphobia. This is a fear of places. When one is in these situations, they will mentally trigger something in their brain that makes them feel as though they’re suffocating or in a situation they can’t get out of. As a result, they’ll begin to have a panic attack.

Many times, panic attacks are not defined by a particular event that happens at that exact time. Most who have panic attacks say they come out of nowhere and they’re uncertain why. The event doesn’t have to be a present one.

Often times, the memory triggers something that was tragic or stressful. This can be the cause of a panic attack happening. If this certain situation hasn’t been handled or overcome mentally, then it will result in a panic attack.

If you’re in a traumatic situation, it may also cause a panic attack. Part of the mental responses to panic attacks is that there’s a fear of dying that is stimulated in the brain as a result. If you’re in a situation where a traumatic event is occurring, it may cause your body to react to the fear you have.

Panic attacks, no matter what the situation, are important to recognize and begin to handle. If you don’t look into the reasoning behind the panic attacks, it may lead to more serious complications. Panic disorders start to become a part of your life. This may lead to more phobias and problems that occur on more consistent basis. As a result, it may become harder for you to function normally in everyday life.

Panic attacks have both physical and mental attachments to them. By understanding what these are and knowing how they affect you, it can help you to overcome them much easier. For some, panic attacks occur several times during their life, for others, a panic attack will occur once and will never happen again.

By understanding what a panic attack is and does, you’ll be able to make sure that panic attacks become more infrequent or completely absent from your life.

Effects of Panic Attacks

A panic attack is an abrupt rush of an intense fear that happens unexpectedly and without any warning. It’s greater than the feeling of anxiety or the feeling of being stressed out, commonly ailments experienced by most people. In fact according to some findings, at least one out of 75 people experiences a panic attack at some point in their life.

In U.S. an average of 1/3 of adults have experienced at least one panic attack, however, the good news is most of these adults haven’t been able to experience the same attack twice.

Panic attack together with anxiety attack are the two most common emotional disorders compared to other disorders such as schizophrenia, PTSD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, depression and others. Among these disorders, panic attack and anxiety attack shows the rate of people seeking help is the lowest.

The number of cases of people experiencing panic and anxiety attacks is increasing every day. It’s very important to become aware of what panic attack is all about. The most important thing about panic attacks is in terms of experiencing the horror that goes with panicking. Individuals who have experienced this type of disorder can attest to the changes it caused them, not only in the way they perceive life, but also the impact is more noticeable on their everyday activities.

Something else that happens to people with panic attack disorder is mostly mental. For instance, they feel an overwhelming and almost uncontrollable dread that can be likened to losing one’s mind or perceiving oneself as terribly ill or worst, thinking of oneself as dying.

Aside from mental, panic attack also has major effects on the body’s main functioning glands, the heart, lungs, stomach, pancreas, intestines, kidneys, eyes, bladder and even some of the largest muscle groups.

You must be wondering why panic attack can cause such dreadful effect on people. You see, when someone is experiencing panic attack, there’s a surge of stimulants and hormones (such as adrenaline, epinephrine, glycogen, cortical, norepinephrine and others) that flood the cells of the body through the bloodstream. This is also the reason why a person having a panic attack will usually run, hide or get out.

And since a panic attack can cause an individual to become delusional, he or she will also have the feeling of being trapped afterwards and a feeling of helplessness and a combination of an overwhelming feeling of threat will follow.

Panic attack can develop in any situation, as an outcome of a crime or disaster. For someone who has this disorder, it really doesn’t matter whether the threat is real or not. What the person knows is that the fear he or she is feeling is real.

Panic attack may also be caused by too much stress due to worries at home or at work. It may also be caused by having an uptight personality or it may also be the outcome of an abusive experience from childhood. Panic attack disorder might also be inherited. The best way to control panic attack is to stop excessive worrying. It would be ideal also to avoid situations that may cause you to panic.

There are actually symptoms and signs associated with panic attack disorders and these are: stress sensations, rapid heartbeat, chest pain/tightness, tension headaches, light headedness, sweaty palms, fatigue and low energy, as well as sleep disturbance. If you’re showing any of the signs, it would likely be best to seek help the as soon as possible find a remedy at its early stage.

How to Stop Panic Attacks

Panic attacks can really make you go crazy. However, if you are searching for an answer to the question how to stop panic attacks, you will be glad to know that there are easy panic management methods you can use to stop panic attacks and avoid having future attacks.

It’s important that you understand first what a panic attack is and what’s behind them that causes suffering for so many people. It’s not surprising why most people experience troubles while on the road or in any other stress inductive place.

The main factor of a panic attack is a person’s thoughts. For instance, most panic disorder patients ask:

What if I go the wrong way?

Will I lose control? while on the road.

These questions become deadlier than hitting a truck or driving your car towards a cement wall.

So, what can you do to stop panic attack from occurring over and over again? The answer is... it only takes three minutes of your time to do these methods. If you’re able to stop a panic attack immediately before it starts, the reaction of your adrenaline will only last for about three minutes.

To stop a panic what you should do is to stop sending emergency messages to your adrenaline glands. You can learn this by following the four easy steps below and your panic attack will only last for minutes or better yet, prevent it from happening all together. At the time, you’ll already have an understanding of how it works; you’ll surely never experience a panic attack again. The Four Steps are:

1. Accept What You Feel

It’s very important to accept what you feel. You can begin by knowing what kind of emotion you’re feeling. You should know that most panic attacks are caused by emotions, such as the feeling of fear. Know your emotions and know the reasons why you feel them.

2. Relax

You can do this by breathing slowly, deeply and completely. Calm yourself by thinking that panic attacks will not cause you any serious problems. Then, continue breathing slowly, deeply and completely. This will help relax your body.

3. Pessimistic... Never!

Tell yourself to STOP when you are starting to think negatively. By doing this, you’re disrupting the emergency messages that are about to be sent to your adrenaline glands. Usually, people who experience constant panic attacks are the ones who are fond of thinking negatively about themselves. By refraining from doing this, you’re also stopping your chances of another attack.

4. Use Positive Statements

Positive statements will encourage you to stop what you’re scared of most of the time. Change your negative thinking with positive ones. In addition, choose a statement that speaks about your negative thoughts.

Some of these positive statements are:

I DO NOT have to worry anymore, I’m fine! Or

I’m through with my burden so, if it happens to me again, I’m sure I’ll be able to resolve it.

Make a list of positive statements you can use to encourage yourself every time you feel down and when you think help is unavailable.

Many panic disorder patients have stopped having attacks because they’ve learned how to stop panic attacks through these four steps. But, there’s a deeper answer to permanently stop panic attacks and finally offer you freedom and happiness.

Your mind has the power to influence all your negative thoughts, so, if possible, avoid them. Instead, think of positive and beautiful thoughts. In this way, you’re able to attain your objective and a solution to your problem having an answer to how to stop panic attacks.

In addition, you can become the kind of person you want to be positive, care-free and productive. 

How to Help Someone with Panic Attacks: Effective Panic Attack Interventions

People who suffer from panic attacks are always worried about having more attacks. Panic attacks are accompanied by fear or discomfort that last for minutes or in severe cases, for hours. Symptoms of anxiety appear a few hours after the attack. The attack is severe, frightening and incapacitating to the person who experiences it.

A panic attack can appear at almost any time with no warning and reach the peak and last up to 10 minutes. Usually, patients who experiences panic attacks feel as if they’re losing control, going crazy, or having a heart attack or dying. It can also attack during sleep which may cause exhaustion.

Panic attacks can happen spontaneously at almost any time. They also appear when a person is exposed to situations that trigger the attack. Panic attack also occurs when exposed to a feared object, socially or to a specific phobia.

Patients are preoccupied with the experience they had during the panic attack. The fear of being attacked sometimes triggers the panic attack symptoms to appear. Patients may think they have problems regarding the cardiac, neurological and gastrointestinal system. They will consult their doctors and will discover that panic attack is what their real condition is.

Panic attack sometimes leads to a more severe phobia called agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of public places. Patients may develop a fear to places where the panic attack is triggered, especially to places where help isn’t available and intervention is impossible. This is why patients with panic disorder often stay at home and let other people do their activities outside the home.

This is also why patients with panic disorder need to be watched closely. However, there are different effective interventions for patients suffering from panic attacks. Here are a few:

• You should make yourself available to the patient so you can help during panic attack. You’ll have more knowledge about the patient’s discomforts.

• Maintain an environment that is calm and has few stressors.

• Avoid using rude words and avoid shouting. Use languages that are easy to understand and use a calm voice when talking to them.

• If the patient is hyperventilating, provide him or her with a brown bag and focus your attention on the breathing pattern of the patient.

• Allow the patient to release their tension by letting them cry, pace or shout. In this way the patient will be able to express the emotion that is stuck within.

• Talk to the patient about how he or she feels and let him or her know that you are in control of the situation.

• Bring the patient to places where stressors are not present. Avoid touching the patient as it can trigger the attack. Usually, patients suffering from panic disorder don’t like being touched as it can increase the feeling of fear and panic.

• Ask the patient about how he or she feels and let him or her express his or her perceptions of the feared objects. Let him or her tell you about what they have in their mind.

• Contact the people concerned about the situation.

These are examples of simple, yet effective, interventions you can do to help a patient with panic disorder. Ask your psychiatrist about how to handle a patient with panic disorders for more tips. It’s very important to consult your doctor about this. Never feel awkward when asking questions that concern panic disorder. They will be more than willing to answer any questions about your concerns.

How to Prevent Panic Attacks

If you’ve been diagnosed as having panic attacks, it’s best to be familiar with ways on how to prevent panic attacks so you can live a normal, happy life.

To begin with, it’s best to educate yourself along with your specialist as to the signs and symptoms of panic attacks, their causes and cure. Ignorance of the illness will never give you the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle.

Yes, a healthy lifestyle... if you think you have lived a destitute way of living before your panic attacks, it’s best to make a decision to start managing a healthy lifestyle. Others look into the ways they can keep their bodies fit. Some people begin by assessing the foods they eat. They also try to learn the proper ways to prepare their foods.

Additionally, it’s best to avoid food or fluid triggers. Chocolate is one example of a food trigger since it contains caffeine. Other examples of fluid triggers are coffee, tea and soft drinks. Caffeine, as we all know, is a very dominant stimulant of our nervous system. Excessive intake of food or fluids with caffeine can cause anxiety and other psychological and physical exhaustion.

Along with food or fluid trigger avoidance, it’s advisable for you to keep away from alcohol and drugs. Some use alcohol and drugs to loosen them up, but it’s only temporary relief they’re feeling. If consumed continuously, it will result in more bothersome situations... anxiety may be even greater.

    Read more: Diet for Panic Attacks: What Foods are Good and What Foods to Avoid

Another way to reduce panic attacks is learning to manage one’s anxiety. Learn to have power over your worries. Focus completely on what’s happening this very moment... this very day. Let go of the future. Take every event in your life one-step at a time.

You therefore have to let go of your worries. Now, aim to identify different approaches to relax and get plenty of exercise. Some enroll in yoga. Others learn to relax their muscles or perform breathing exercises. Being able to relax and exercise rejuvenates people’s minds, emotions and sometimes their soul. The following article will be helpful to find a relaxation technique appropriate for you -

  Relaxation Techniques and other Natural Remedies for Anxiety and Stress  

Individuals who suffer from recurrent panic attacks should get the right amount of sleep along with getting ample amounts of relaxation and exercise. Set your body clock. If you’re feeling good after getting less or more than eight hours of sleep, establish that routine. Obtaining less or more than your regular sleeping habits can lead to your disturbance. The following article will be helpful in this regard -

  How to Fall Asleep with Anxiety: 5 Tips to Calm Anxiety at Night

Most importantly, to complete the process of managing one’s anxiety, confrontation of events in your past that made you apprehensive is a good idea. Learn to overcome hesitancy and fear. Try to evaluate probable events in your past you’ve experienced that may have triggered panic attacks. Afterwards, learn from it.

It’s advisable to consult a trusted counselor to discuss your fears and other unconstructive thoughts. A counselor can attend to your needs by preventing panic attacks if you have fully disclosed yourself and your illness.

Next to a counselor, you should continue to visit your doctor. By doing so, you’ll be able to know exactly the degree of your treatment.

Panic attack. It may happen again. Nevertheless, you now know how to prevent panic attacks – you’re now equipped and ever ready to get over it.

More Ways to Prevent Panic Attacks

- Get informed about anxiety symptoms, its causes and treatments. The more information you know about your sickness the better you’ll be able to deal with it.

- Try to live a healthy lifestyle. It also helps to develop hobbies that can help you divert your attention.

- Also try to find ways that will help you reduce the stress, depression and anxiety that usually triggers panic attacks.

- Don’t be afraid to seek out the help of a counselor or a therapist. They are experts in dealing with various emotional disorders. They’re also bound by the patient privacy oath, so you don’t have to be afraid your secrets will be revealed to others. You can tell them all about the fears you keep inside as well as those things that stress you and depress you. You can tell them absolutely everything. 

Sometimes it also helps the healing process to confide in people who you know will be able to understand what you’re going through. People you know won’t ridicule you or judge you for what you’re going through.

- It also helps control panic attacks if you assess yourself and then change your attitude towards life.

- It’s best to also avoid vices such as smoking, excessive drinking and others since these will greatly affect your health.

- A regular checkup with your doctor will also help to get yourself reassured that you’re fine. That will lessen stress and depression. Aside from that, you can keep track of your progress.

Properly dealing and coping with panic attacks can lessen its frequency. It can also help patients with panic disorders to prevent panic attacks and live a normal life.

How to Control Panic Attacks

Panic attacks are curable and controllable. It’s not something that should really cause great alarm as long as it doesn’t get out of hand. This section will discuss some helpful tips on how to control panic attacks.

Panic attack is a form of emotional disorder, so the remedy or the cure should target the emotions. So how can you to do this? Here are some ways of controlling panic attacks:

1. It’s very important for a person experiencing panic attack to accept the fear and then reassure oneself that the feeling will simply pass. It will also help to gain a positive view of the situation by telling yourself that it’s just normal to be afraid from time to time. Fear is one of the emotions that makes you human.

2. Allow yourself to feel anxious and simply go with the feeling. Again, it will help to think that the feeling will just pass.

3. Don’t forget to breathe. Breathing helps calm you down. Try to focus on your breathing. Feel the air as in enter your body. Inhale slowly and hold it for two seconds before releasing the air out from your lungs. Repeat this until you finally calm down and relax.

4. Try talking to yourself or practice inner dialogue. Always reassure yourself that you’re going to be alright and what you’re feeling is completely normal. The fear will just pass and you’ll be okay afterwards. It’s best to also do something that will divert your attention.

5. Sometimes a new environment can help relax and calm you down. This will also keep panic attacks at bay. Try to explore, go out, smell the flowers enjoy the scenery and marvel at how beautiful life is and how lucky you are to be experiencing such beauty.

6. If panic attack still invades, just give yourself time to relax. You have all the time in the world. So don’t rush. Take your time to calm down and let all the fear inside you subside.

At least 3% of Americans suffer from panic attacks and a great number of them have their first taste of panic attack as early as their twenties. However this doesn’t mean that anyone younger than twenty is free from panic attack. In fact, panic attack disorder is known to affect various age groups, so nobody can say that he or she is completely safe from this disorder.

Most panic attack disorder patients claim that it’s usually the first attack they can truly describe as extremely traumatic. It’s usually too much stress or depression brought about by certain situations which are the factors that triggers the first attack of panic disorder. However, the good news is the fact that it’s usually not dangerous and doesn’t cause great harm. On the other hand, full blown attacks only last for a few minutes and are also not life-threatening.

Although the attacks aren’t that alarming, a panic disorder is still a scary experience. Just imagine feeling like you’re having a heart attack, you can’t breathe and feel as if you’re going crazy. These are just some of the nightmares panic disorder patients have to go through. Others also feel as if something is wrong with their body and this causes them to panic even more.

There are certain clues that determine whether a person is experiencing a panic attack, such as uncontrollable sweating as well as fast beating of the heart. Most people who experience this often end up in the hospital. Panic disorder patients usually calm down after they’re told there’s nothing wrong with them and that they’re perfectly fine.

Reassuring panic disorder patients is actually one way of controlling the attack. Fortunately, panic attacks usually disappear quickly which really puts the patients mind at peace knowing that the attack is just temporary.

The only problem with experiencing a panic attack is in terms of its effect on the body. The problem is, after the body has experience a panic attack, it will become more sensitive, which causes the body to become overly receptive or too alert, which increases the risk of a second panic attack. A continuous attack can soon advances to the condition known as a panic disorder.

The impact of the panic attack to a patient usually lessens with the succeeding attacks, but they’re still scary. There are some patients who suffer everyday panic attacks and most of them are unpredictable and are usually triggered by situations that cause the first attack.

Panic Attacks Medication

A panic disorder is still curable and certain medications have proven effective in controlling this type of disorder. Most of the medications given to panic disorder patients usually lessen the occurrence of panic attacks. In the past doctors usually prescribed antidepressants to hinder panic disorder from attacking.

Sample of the antidepressants prescribed include Tricyclic Antidepressant which is like Imipramine or Tofranil. Another new type of antidepressant being given to patients is called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or SSRIs which is also known for its effectiveness in controlling panic attacks.

The only problem with medication is that it usually takes several weeks to take effect, which is often too slow to help patients return to their everyday life. Not all patients cope well with medications. Some just can’t tolerate the side effects, which is also the reason why some patients relapse, since they often stop taking their medicines.