Do these things happen to you too?
Do you feel sudden intense fear or anxiety without any apparent reason around you? Do you feel intense anxiety with the feeling of fear of dying? Do you suddenly feel sweaty in an air conditioned room? Suddenly your heart starts beating fast and you feel like your body is shaking? Suddenly you feel like you are having nausea or abdominal discomfort with anxiety? You suddenly start feeling that you are not able to breathe and have chest pain? At that particular time you feel dizzy and numbness in hands? You feel like the world is not real and you are not the same person for some time? Suddenly a thought comes across your mind that you are “going crazy” with intense ghabrahat with the feeling of losing of control of your body?
Then you need to know about panic attacks and panic disorder as well.
Panic disorder-
Firstly, we need to understand panic attacks. In panic attack there is a sudden surge of fear or discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes. In panic disorder, there is presence of multiple panic attacks.
In a lifetime 1 to 4% persons have panic disorder and it is more common in women. 91% patients with panic disorder have other psychiatric illness along with this illness.
Why a person suffers from panic disorder?
- Chemical imbalance in brain
- Excessive use of caffeine
- Family history of panic disorder
- Psychological factors-
- Difficulty in tolerating anger
- Separation from caretaker
- Sometimes triggers in increased work responsibilities
- Feelings like parents are controlling and critical
- In the presence of physical or sexual abuse
- Sense of feeling trapped
- Misinterpretation of bodily functions
Symptoms-
Recurrent unexpected panic attacks and –
1. Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate.
2. Sweating.
3. Trembling or shaking.
4. Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering.
5. Feelings of choking.
6. Chest pain or discomfort.
7. Nausea or abdominal distress.
8. Feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint.
9. Chills or heat sensations.
10. Paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations).
11. Derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself).
12. Fear of losing control or “going crazy.”
13. Fear of dying.
Know whether you are suffering from panic disorder or not?
In the panic attacks four of the symptoms (from 1 to 13) should be present along with intense anxiety. In the panic disorder, there is the presence of multiple panic attacks along with lots of distress about panic attacks and similar future events.
Treatment- Therapies and medicines.
This site is just for the awareness of mental illnesses not for diagnosis. If someone finds himself/herself or their loved one having symptoms kindly consult a psychiatrist.