Before discussing the symptoms of anxiety attack, it is important to define several psychological terms that will be referenced in this article. “Anxiety” is a natural state of worry or alarm that occurs in response to a stressor or a perceived threat. An “anxiety attack” in its simplest form is a period of time when anxiety is heightened and manifests in specific physiological symptoms.

An anxiety attack can also be another term for a “panic attack,” which is an unexpected episode of irrational fear in which a number of physical symptoms are present. Panic attacks can be debilitating and may recur. If left untreated they can develop into Panic Disorder. This article will use the term anxiety attack as though referring to panic attacks. The symptoms of anxiety attack and the treatment of these symptoms will also be listed.

Symptoms of Anxiety Attack and Treatment

It is important to explain the cause of the symptoms of anxiety attack before listing them. Worry to a certain extent is natural for human beings. However, the brain has its own method for combating worry when it becomes alarm due to a perceived threat. The brain’s amygdala produces adrenaline, a hormone that prepares the body to handle a fearful situation by either defending itself or by running away.

This “fight or flight” response is a natural defense mechanism and helps humans in times of true stress or danger. The amygdala produces adrenaline whenever the brain perceives fear. Unfortunately, it cannot differentiate between irrational fear and true fear. If a person has a phobia, or an irrational fear of something specific such as spiders, the brain will still produce adrenaline though the person may not need to actually fight or flee. This results in too much of the hormone remaining in the bloodstream and produces the symptoms of anxiety attack.

The symptoms of anxiety attack are as follows: racing heart, sweaty palms, feeling of unreality, numbness in the extremities, hot or cold flashes, chills, nausea, and dry mouth. Treatment of panic and anxiety attacks should begin with ruling out any medical conditions that may be causing the attacks. Next, lifestyle changes need to take place such as avoiding caffeine and smoking (which can cause anxiety), maintaining a healthy diet, and incorporating exercise and meditation into daily life. Yoga is an excellent exercise for combating anxiety because it increases serotonin levels. Serotonin is a relaxant hormone. Medications and therapy can also help treat the symptoms of anxiety attack. It is important to make these changes before the attacks develop into anxiety or panic disorders.

After getting a panic attack, the way the patients describe the situation is often frightening. Full of fear and anxiety in combination with shortness of breath and racing heart or chest pain are all that characterize a panic attack. It is really important for the individual having panic disorder to have all the relevant understanding about panic attack and available treatment options. There are no remarkably distinguishable stages of panic attack, however, in this article we will reflect over initial and advanced stages of panic attack depending on the intensity of the occurrence and identify them with their specific characteristics in question.

Initial Panic Attack

At the initial stages of panic attack, it seems like to appear ‘out of the blues’. It may occur any time without giving any specific signal. All of a sudden, the individual will become terribly frightened and experience a wide array of uncomfortable symptoms including intense terror, a feeling of detachment from reality or a panic of losing control over own life and existence. This stream of feelings may last from few seconds to few minutes and the symptoms may gradually fade over the course within an hour or two. The experience is overwhelming through the stages of panic attack and may end up in disastrous condition such as heart attack or stroke.

The Advanced Stages

The advanced stages of panic attack are characterized by recurrence panic attacks during which the victims develop an intense nervousness about further occurrence. In the advanced stages of panic attack, it becomes a serious issue especially when the individuals with panic attack develop a condition known as ‘anticipatory anxiety’ or ‘fear of fear’. In most of the cases, this seriously interferes with life events even when the panic attack is actually not on its progress. The anticipatory anxiety may lead the individual to experience phobia about anticipating the situations or events where the panic attacks may occur.

Individuals with panic-induced phobia become tend to stay away from situations where they experience panic attack before. As a result, the scope of their life interactions becomes limited. Both their professional life as well as personal life gets severely affected. In the advanced stages of panic attack, an individual may experience an extreme difficulty in sleeping since they fear of getting panic attack during sleep and spend time awaken in a state of intense anxiety and terror. The condition may worse so extensively that the individual may deny sleeping and suffering from exhaustion when they even try doing so.

No matter what you are experiencing at this moment while reading this article, if you find and relate some symptoms in your life, better not to be late in seeking professional advice. In the extreme level of panic attack, it is disabling and life-threatening too. So, take action now.