The Anxiety Attack

The Anxiety Attack

An anxiety attack, which is also referred to as a panic attack, is not the same thing as "feeling anxious." We all feel anxious from time to time, and many people even feel anxious all of the time -- because they suffer from an anxiety disorder. However, an anxiety attack -- which is, of course, brought on by extreme anxiety -- is just a side effect of anxiety.

An anxiety attack comes on fairly fast, with little or no warning. They last as long as 10 minutes, but the typical attack lasts between one and five minutes. After one has suffered one or several anxiety attacks, they recognize it for what it is. First-time sufferers often think that they are having a heart attack, or even a nervous breakdown. They may even think that they are dying -- even though they aren't.

While many people may think that anxiety attacks are brought on by mental issues, this isn't completely true. We all have a fight or flight response. Sometimes, when one suffers from anxiety disorders, the fight or flight response goes into "overdrive." This causes the body to be flooded with hormones, including adrenalin, which causes the other symptoms of the panic attack.

An anxiety attack can be quite overwhelming and scary. Several things occur at once -- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Physically, the person may start profusely sweating. They may become short of breath, have a pounding heart, experience chest pain, become dizzy and/or lightheaded, feel nauseous, and even hyperventilate. They may feel like they are being choked or smothered, and there are numerous other physical aspects of an anxiety attack.

Mentally, the person will feel completely out of control, feel like they are going crazy, may hear things louder than they actually are, have racing thoughts, and have impaired vision. They may feel like time has either slowed down or sped up. They may feel like they are in a dream (or nightmare) state. Tunnel vision is also normal during a panic attack.

Emotionally, they will feel terror. They may fear that they are dying, and they may have flashbacks to either earlier anxiety attacks or other traumatic events in their lives.

As you can see, an anxiety attack is no joking matter for the person experiencing it. Luckily, there are medications that can be prescribed to lessen the occurrence of panic attacks, as well as the symptoms experienced during such attacks.