What are panic attacks ? DAP (panic disorder) can manifest itself in various forms and, given the symptoms, can be confused with cardiological, hormonal or other diseases typical of internal medicine. At the first violent panic attack, in fact, often the person concerned goes to the emergency room and begins to undergo a series of tests that are designed to rule out the diseases that could make one think of the symptoms with which it occurred in the hospital.
Panic attacks are parosissistic episodes of anxiety, that is, anxiety is so violent that it involves physical disturbances of some significance. Usually, it arises suddenly and therefore unexpectedly; according to the DSM IV, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, so that it can talk about real panic attacks, there must be at least 4 of the characteristic symptoms that we are now going to list.
Symptoms and manifestations of panic attacks
Some symptoms to understand what panic attacks are and especially learn to identify them:
- Palpitations
- Sense of chest tightness
- Hot and cold sensations
- Confused head, sometimes it can happen to feel like you're drunk
- skidding
- Widespread malaise, which can be accompanied by nausea or stomach cramps
- Tingling in the limbs or sense of arms and soft legs
- sweats
- Headache, pain can also be extended to the neck and back
- Difficulty breathing
- Difficulty swallowing and sometimes feeling of being suffocated
- Sense of imminent catastrophe, fear of dying, of going crazy, of losing control, of fainting
- Derealization experiences; the affected subject, for example, may have the feeling of being detached from his body and being a spectator of what happens around him, without the ability to actively participate in it
- Hypersensitivity to light, to sounds, to colors
- Instinct to flee and suddenly stop being done. For example, the person in the grip of a panic attack, leaves the place where he is, which can be any place (a shop, the workplace, a means of transport ...) suddenly and in a hurry.
Panic disorder, when fear overwhelms (translated by NIMH)
Course of panic attacks
Once you understand what panic attacks are, the person who is affected often has a very insistent thought: how to get out. The course is different from situation to situation. Sometimes after the first violent panic attack, the so-called anticipatory anxiety arises, that is, the person lives with the fear that a new attack may occur, a fear that can limit it very much in daily activities and social life, up to, in the most serious cases, do not leave home or go out unless accompanied by a trusted person.
Sometimes, panic attacks can be situational, and that is to appear in a context that causes high levels of anxiety to the subject and / or in which he does not feel at ease, for example an exam, the funeral of a loved one, a illness of a loved one. In one case out of two they appear, instead, suddenly, during sleep .
Can panic attacks be controlled? In many cases, DAP sufferers can maintain self-control, recognize symptoms and experience the emotions they feel in a private dimension. Sometimes self-control arises spontaneously, others is the result of a cognitive-behavioral psychological therapy associated or not with a pharmacological treatment; in many cases psychological therapy leads to the resolution of the disorder.
It is also helpful to learn how to control breathing .
Some observations on the organic and deep origins of panic attacks have led to making it advisable, in those suffering from this disorder, to use Bach flowers as well as a diet that provides a good proportion of magnesium and the maintenance of a glycemic rate optimal.
In the event of a panic attack, as with all disorders, it is always advisable to consult a doctor before taking medication.
