Everything You Need To Know About Panic Attack Symptoms And Causes
Picture this: A typical day in your life and everything is seemingly fine. Nothing seems to be going wrong with the world. Then, out of nowhere, in the blink of an eye, you start feeling lightheaded. The other minute finds you having breathing difficultness. You feel there is not enough air in the room. Your hands feel numb and tingling, and your heart is pounding hard enough to climb out of your chest. Your lungs are gasping for air, but the more you inhale, the dizzier you feel. You feel like you are going to scream and sob and die, all at once. You don’t even know what is causing this. Is it a heart attack? Should you try to suppress so no one gets alarmed, or dart out of the room as fast as possible?
Well, if you have experienced this, but you are still alive and there was nothing wrong with your heart, chances are you might have experienced a panic attack.
“Panic attack” is a term being interchangeably used with “anxious reaction.” Often, people utilize this term even when all they are experiencing is being panicky and anxious. But, a real panic attack is a much more intense experience and has a broader meaning than that. It is an outburst of sudden feelings of terror, apprehension, fear, and anxiety that strike out of the blue. It is accompanied by intense physical symptoms that are similar to having heart attack symptoms, and emotional symptoms related to fear and terror, which are not in proportion to the true situation. In a nutshell, it can happen without the presence of actual danger.
Such episodes occur suddenly at any time, even while you are sleeping. “All of a sudden, you have this explosion of physical symptoms that are really uncomfortable,” tells Dr. Bubrick, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute. “A lot of times, people think that they’re having a heart attack and they go to the emergency room.”
Fortunately, panic attacks don’t last for too long generally. They can be brief to less than 10 minutes, although some of the symptoms may persevere for a few hours or may occur in succession.
Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash
Panic Attack Symptoms
Let’s imagine you are out in the jungle, walking on the vibrant carpet of grass, eyes glued on the trees and every beautiful surrounding. And all of a sudden, we see a huge lion right in front of us, looking into our eyes. The immediate symptom we would feel is fear followed by a fight-or-flight response. We would have an adrenaline rush, sweating, a pounding heart, hyperventilation (fast breathing). This is a panic attack and the problem is obvious; the lion.
The same symptoms can be triggered when you are seeing a play in the theatre, simply sitting in your home, while sleeping, running errands, or driving your car.
The very first thing that you will get while having a panic attack is a certain symptom, which can vary; be it a pounding heart, sweating profusely, nausea, trembling, lightheadedness, fainting, or a whole range of strange sensations.
What happens next is you get anxiety, because you are afraid of the above-mentioned symptoms, leading to the fight-or-flight response. But, because there is no lion in front of you or an actual source of these symptoms, you get more symptoms, as a response to what your body is going through. This is where you come up with more questions, What is going on? What if I’m having a heart attack?; Is everyone going to see this?; What if I want to get out of this place and I can’t find the exit?;
And now, that’s when you realize there is not a lion, but there is a whole range of “lions” in front of you. So you get into the vicious circle of symptoms which will make you experience an intense panic attack. And different from the jungle situation, your symptoms may be unrelated to what is happening around you.
See below a range of symptoms most people having panic attacks experience:
Emotional Symptoms:
– A sense of terror, or impending doom or death
– Feeling a loss of control
– Feeling of choking
– Derealization (feelings of unreality)
– Depersonalization (being detached from oneself)
Physical Symptoms:
– Palpitations or accelerated heart rate
– Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
– Feeling sweaty or having chills
– Feeling weak, faint, or dizzy
– Paresthesias (tingling or numbness sensations in the hands and fingers)
– Chest pains
Is it a heart attack or a panic attack?
Physical symptoms that associate with a panic attack can be so severe that you may think you are about to have a heart attack. So, distinguishing between the two can be difficult, especially if you’ve never experienced either. There are many persons who believe the symptoms are related to a life-threatening medical problem and go through many medical check-ups.
Except for shortness of breath and heart palpitations, heart attack symptoms also include pain and pressure, which goes from chest to both arms, back, shoulder, neck throat or jaw.
However, be always vigilant and get checked out promptly. If you think it’s a heart attack, call 911 for an immediate evaluation.
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Panic Attack Causes
Striking without any warning and often with no clear trigger, panic attacks can happen anytime, for whatever or no reason at all. It may occur when you are happy, relaxed or asleep, or it may happen when speaking in public or staying in a crowded room.
Sometimes, recurrent panic attacks can be triggered by a specific reason, which may be related to a certain place or situation. So, when you are going through a similar situation which has triggered an attack before, you may feel endangered, having a fight-or-flight response, even if there is no danger to be encountered.
Other causes may be the biological vulnerability to panic attacks, genetics, major life transitions, and severe stress, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, stress at the workplace, etc.
Other than that, such attacks can also be triggered by medical conditions and other physical causes, such as:
– Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid gland)
– Mitral valve prolapse (a condition in which one of the heart’s valves doesn’t close correctly)
– Medication withdrawal
– Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
– Stimulant use (amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine)
Fortunately, regardless of the cause, panic attacks are treatable. There are many methods you can use to cope with the symptoms. However, before taking any decision or treatment, it’s important to consult a doctor in advance.
Risk Factors
Other risk triggers that can pave the road for a panic attack or successive ones are:
– Family environment
– Genetics
– Smoking and alcohol
– Insufficient or poor quality sleep
– Major life transitions
– Major life stress
– Stressful life events, such as the death or serious illness of a loved one
– A traumatic event
Panic Disorder
People who have experienced a panic attack have greater chances of having subsequent panic attacks rather than people who have never had one. When panic attacks keep recurring, they become the hallmark of “panic disorder.” Panic disorder is the most popular emotional disorder according to Casa Palmera. 1/3 of American adults experience a panic attack throughout a year, most of whom will never go through another.
To see if one meets the criteria for this condition, one of two behaviors should be monitored over a period of one month or more: A persistent fear of experiencing more attack episodes ahead, or a shift in one’s behavior to different permutations in order to avoid the places or situations associated with the attacks.
People who suffer from this disorder can get extremely anxious and fearful because of the unpredictableness of the next episode, which leads to making ‘avoiding attacks’ an overriding priority. According to WebMD, women are twice as likely as men to develop the condition, and early adulthood it’s the most common period of life for panic disorder to show its symptoms.
Panic Attack Vs. Anxiety Attack
You might have heard the terms “anxiety attack” and “panic attack” used interchangeably. But, these two are different conditions. The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) recognizes panic attacks and categorizes them as unexpected (when there is no obvious reason) or expected (caused by external stressors, e.g., phobias.)
On the other hand, DSM-5 doesn’t recognize anxiety attacks. However, it defines anxiety as a hallmark of a number of common psychiatric disorders.
Different from panic attacks, which are characterized by intense fear and excessive worrying, symptoms of anxiety come on gradually and are usually related to the anticipation of a stressful experience or event. Some of them are: restlessness, insomnia, muscle tension, difficulty concentrating, personality changes, etc.
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Once, Deepak Chopra said: “The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety.”
So, let us take the best out of our imagination. It is the most powerful weapon in the war against fear and anxiety.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article: text, graphics, images, and other materials contained are strictly for informational purposes only. The Content is NOT intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical diagnosis, advice, or treatment. Please ALWAYS seek the advice of a qualified health provider with all the questions that you have related to, or about, a medical condition.