Fear Of Having A Panic Attack

Adrenaline actually causes our minds to race and be filled with all sorts of thoughts and conclusions as to why we’re panicking and why we’re feeling strange. The panic comes from the confusion about what is happening, alongside believing that you cannot cope. This would explain why so many people are convinced that they’re having a heart attack, or that they’re going insane, or that they have an incurable condition and so on. It is the adrenaline that affects our rationality during these periods of panic, thus causing them to turn into prolonged panic attacks. These panic attacks don’t last forever because the adrenal gland finally becomes exhausted and cannot release any further adrenaline. Our nervous systems also settle in due time. The reader should take comfort in the fact that a panic attack cannot last forever because of this and the feeling of normality will return. It’s what you do next that determines the severity, intensity and frequency of any potential panic attacks in the future. Fearing a panic attack itself is perhaps a clearer symptom of anxiety than any other. Many who have experienced the horrendous experience of a panic attack are in fact so terrified of one happening again that they spend the majority of their time anticipating another one. It’s actually a simplistic loop that many people have experienced or have become stuck in. This state is often exclusive to people who have been diagnosed with panic disorder.

Green Pastures

The experience of having a panic attack is often a terrifying ordeal for the individual who lives through it. The process of doing this is self destructive as it adds to a person’s overall anxiety and creates a stress that hinders daily life. Ultimately, a panic attack is a temporary loss of control and it’s this loss of control that drives us to try and control every aspect of anxious thoughts and behaviours. Nausea is the feeling where it feels like we need to be sick. Frequent urination usually coincides with the need to empty our bowels on a frequent basis. Basically we feel we need to go to the toilet a lot. Stools are found to have a liquid consistency and we may pass wind more frequently than usual. It’s common knowledge that when we’re anxious or nervous about something, we often feel ’woozy’ or that we may be sick. Perhaps this could happen before a job interview, a public event or awaiting important news about something. Alongside this we may find ourselves going to the toilet a lot more than usual. Basically, all that’s happening is an offshoot of the body’s ’fight or flight’ response. When the body prepares itself for imminent danger, it tries to relieve pressure on the organs by releasing things inside the body such as water, food, gases and stomach acid.

Be Good To Yourself

The brain tries to pressure the stomach into pushing out all of the digesting food, acid and gases. Furthermore, the bladder begins to work overtime to try to rid the body of any excess water. This could be a thought that branches from a panic attack or feeling overwhelmed. High amounts of adrenaline place us firmly in fight or flight mode, which alters the way we view our surroundings and prepares us for worst case scenarios yet. Death is arguably the foundation of any worst case scenario, so it’s not surprising that many with anxiety feel extra sensitive when it comes to mortality. Death is the worst case scenario and sometimes acts as the most compatible reasoning to a very intense bout of anxiety and panic. Obviously most of us will know of and experienced many headaches in our lifetime. A head ache can present itself as a mild to severe aching sensation, short stabbing pains across the scalp and temple, a stretching/throbbing sensation across the head and pain that seems to emanate from beneath the skull. The headaches can present as constant, they can alter in severity, they can come and go and they can vary in response to painkillers. Headaches can arise because of factors such as dehydration, eye strain, malnutrition, sun stroke, stress and as a symptom of another illness such as hay fever or the common cold. These name just some of the many reasons why headaches can occur. In relation to anxiety, headaches mainly occur because of stress, muscle tension and poor posture.

Another Day

Stress causes our bodies to seize up and adrenaline causes our muscles to tense up. To cater for this we often and quite unknowingly alter our posture to accommodate for all of this muscle tension. Our muscles are expanding and contracting all the time and the added effort of stretching against our poor posture causes aches and pains all over the head area. Imagine your scalp and shoulders being made of thin rubber and that rubber stretching as your posture curves inwards. Stretching and posture alteration is the key to alleviating head pains caused by muscle tension. Dehydration and poor appetite are also contributing factors to a headache. The body cries out for nutrients and water and when this need isn’t met it causes a stress on the body, this can cause a headache. It is very common for a lot of people with an anxiety problem to fear going outside. Agoraphobia is, more often than not, found to be directly linked with an anxiety problem due to the irrational nature of the fear itself. To the agoraphobic person the outside world becomes out of bounds, due to it being perceived as too open, too dangerous, believing they may not cope if taken away from their current surroundings or the fear of how the general public may perceive them. When I was dealing with the peak of my anxiety, I recall hardly ever leaving the house for the fear that I may have a panic attack, or that I simply just would not cope. I also feared what my local community would think of me, which only intensified my underlying fear of going insane.