Help! Am I Having a Panic Attack?

Panic attacks are sudden surges of overwhelming fear that come without warning and without any obvious reason. It is far more intense than having anxiety or the feeling of being 'stressed out' that most people experience. One out of every 75 people worldwide will experience a panic attack at one time in their lives.

In any given year, about 1/3 of American adults have at least one panic attack; most of these adults never develop repeated panic attacks. This means that anxiety attacks and panic attacks are the most common emotional disorders yet only about 21% of those who suffer seek help and find it.

One of the problems is that many of the signs and symptoms:

* Rapid heart rate

* Sweating

* Trembling

* Shortness of breath and hyperventilation

* Chills

* Hot flashes

* Nausea

* Abdominal cramping

* Chest pain

* Headache

* Dizziness

* Faintness

* Tightness in your throat

* Trouble swallowing

* A sense of impending death

Other health problems, an impending heart attack, an overactive thyroid gland, or drug withdrawal can cause similar signs and symptoms. If you found yourself in a life-threatening situation your bodies natural fight or flight response would cause your heart rate and breathing to speed up, the same as occurs in a panic attack. However, during a panic attack, these symptoms seem to rise out of nowhere. They tend to occur in seemingly harmless situations, even when asleep.

Another reason people don't seek help for panic attacks is that they were once dismissed as nerves or stress, and not treated very sympathetically. "Pull yourself together" being the normal response given to a sufferer. Fortunately they're now recognized as a potentially disabling, but treatable condition. A panic attack is not dangerous, but it can be terrifying. Many people experience occasional panic attacks, and if you have had one or two such attacks, there probably isn't any reason to worry. In most cases an anxiety panic attack can be controlled which is a good thing.

To help control panics you should learn exercise, controlled breathing, healthy diet, relaxation techniques and even just have someone to be there and listen. Finding out what causes the panic and reducing this factor in your life is often the key to helping panic attacks. If you suffer from repeated (four or more) panic attacks, and especially if you have had a panic attack and are in continued fear of having another, these are signs that you should consider finding a professional who specializes in panic or anxiety disorders.

If you are worried that you may be having panic attacks, or you want to find out more about anxiety and panic attacks then continue to http://anxietyandpanicattackinformation.com/ for more information.

How To Relieve Your Stress & Anxiety

There's a lot of debate and theories about what it is (stress) and what it does to us. We all have an idea of what stress is because we all experience it from time to time (some persons more often than they would like to experience it).

Hans Selye one of the fathers of stress research teached us that stress is not necessarily something bad, that it's part of the natural experience of living and that even the animals have stress. And Selye stated that the biochemical effects of stress would be experienced whether the situation that originated was a positive or a negative one.

But although all of us suffer stress, there's not an unique response to stressful events, because stress is greatly influenced by what we think about the stressing situation.

The first thing that we need to learn about stress is that's a natural response of our body and that stress does not need to be all bad. Sometimes we need a bit of stress in our daily lives as a challenge that can help us reach higher heights.

So the big secret is that we do not need to lean how not to have stress, but we need to learn how to channel that energy into something beneficial and positive.

IDENTIFYING THE CAUSES OF STRESS

Walter Cannon studies in 1932 is the father of the "fight or flight" response that says that when an living being perceives something as as threat, it reacts instantly by releasing hormones that help him survive either fighting either running away from the threat.

What do that hormones do in our bodies?

They increase the heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to major muscles, which allow us for greater speed and strength. We can also trigger the same response when we face something unexpected or frustrating, although we might not notice the changes in our bodies.

But all these changes in our bodies that spring into survival mode have also a negative consequence, because we become excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable, and this may difficult us to carry out controlled skills, and turn us more accident-prone and less able to make good decisions. And on the long term it can also affect our health.

So we need to be able to control our fight or flight response, and for that we need to identify stress in our life.

Many people think that because they are not aware of how much stress they are carrying it can't be so serious to have it. But regardless of how much harm can do you, if you learn to identify it, you can learn how to deal more effectively with stress.

Author of THE SECRET of The Magic Lamp and it's 42 Self Help CD with Subliminal Messages, that can be found at http://www.drbonomi.com and also author of The Easy Home Business Web Site at http://www.easy-home-business.com

Barbara Marciniak
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