Anxiety Attack Disorder

Anxiety is a part of every person. People can feel anxious in a variety of situations and show different reactions in response. Some people deal with this in a better way than that of others. Coping with anxiety will be handled an a variety of ways that may include doing things like, yoga, playing games, listening to music etc. Now on the other hand others may only be able to cope with anxiety by getting angry and subjecting themselves to more tension.

A fantastic way to relieve anxiety is the use of stress balls. There are different shapes and sizes of the stress balls having the same effects of the relief of anxiety. In order to relieve the tension, many fitness centers recommend using stress these balls. They are made up of high density foam, soft rubber and filled with gel. The balls are not useful in the treatment of anxiety but can help with suffering from anxiety in other ways.

Nearly every person suffers from anxiety and anxiety can cause impairment and limit ones standard of life by inhibiting ones social development. Many drugs are used to treat anxiety with the most important being PAXIL and ZOLOFT, but these have a variety of side effects. If some one is suffering from anxiety and he visits his doctor, there are high chances that the doctor will recommend anti depressants.

Anxiety is also commonly triggered from the work place with people doing far too many hours and causing undue stress. Sitting in front of computer for too long is also a predisposing factor for anxiety. If someone is suffering from anxiety they should take a little break from work and try to just relax a little and enjoy and appreciate life.

There are a variety of factors which may predispose an anxiety attack. These factors include low blood pressure, various conditions of the heart, heavy intake of caffeine and some kinds of tumours. Some tumours increase the release of adrenaline and hence lead to the precipitation of an anxiety attack. Everybody is different and hence experience different symptoms of anxiety.

Anxiety attacks can happen just about everywhere and this can be at home, in a car or in a public place. There are many beliefs about anxiety attacks. some say that anxiety attacks are hereditary whilst others believe that anxiety is a result from stress and fear.

A person suffering with this condition will feel tightness of the chest wall and his heartbeat will become faster. This increased heart rate may cause the sufferer to faint due to nausea and dizziness. The duration of these symptoms may last between minutes and hours so there is really no sure-fire way ok knowing exactly how long a sufferer may be under attack for.

Doctors are prescribing anti depressant medication for the treatment like Zoloft and Paxil etc. These drugs relieve the symptoms and abolish the panic attack by relieving the anxiety level in the patient. This is the root cause of an anxiety attack.

Cognitive therapy is also important in this regard and there are 2 different levels of this therapy and that is behavioural therapy and as mentioned cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy makes us realize about the cause of the panic attack whereas behavioural therapy will help us in teaching various ways to treat the cause of a panic attack. The most important behavioural therapy is the relaxations method. These two therapies will attempt to get to the root of the panic attacks and will prevent any future attacks.

Anxiety And Depression

Anxiety and depression are 2 different things. Depression is associated with the reduced level of a particular neurotransmitter known as serotonin and is treated by anti depressants and on the other part anxiety is relieved by behavioural therapy. Exercise is prescribed for the treatment of both anxiety as well as depression because it increases the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the body. Anxiety and depression are two separate problems but can be treated at the same time and by the same medication.

Whatever the cause of anxiety, it should be treated as soon as possible because if not treated it could be very dangerous and limit the life of any person suffering from the anxiety disorder.

In any case you should speak to your GP for medical advice.

People with social anxiety disorders have the following features

Fear that everyones attention is on them and everybody is watching them
Fear that they will make a blunder and everybody will be aware of it.
They are underestimated by thinking that everybody is this world is more capable than they are.

People with social anxiety disorder will feel anxiety and this same anxiety may lead to nausea, sinking heart, sweating and blushing etc.This may then later result in a panic attack

There are some people who lose their confidence when dealing with people of authority such as employers or perhaps if you are a student you may be slightly overcome by your tutor. At the top scale of this is another important condition which is called acute panic syndrome and this condition people will cause the sufferer to feel fear of speaking in front of the public which may be characterized by sweating and a sinking of heart.

Social anxiety disorders arise in the childhood and early adulthood but these disorders are rare after the age of 25 years. Women are affected 2 times more than men and as we go further, we must differentiate between shyness and social anxiety disorders. Shy people do not feel as much anxiety as experienced by persons suffering from social anxiety disorders and people suffering from social anxiety disorders tend to avoid visiting public places.

There is an association of depression with social anxiety disorders and this can occur after a sufferer has been taking medicine to alleviate the condition. Drug dependance is common but it would seem that certain medicines are also helpful in treating the condition somehow. The medicines used for the treatment of social phobia are the type of anti depressant drugs named SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) which include fluoxitine and paroxitine. Beta blockers may also be used for these treatment purposes with the most important being propanolol.

Social anxiety disorders lead to embarrassment for persons suffering from it and subsequently this same embarrassment may prove to be destructive for that person so it should be treated as soon as possible.

Panic attacks or anxiety attacks are defined as the sudden bursts of emotions and feelings that consist of many symptoms and thoughts of dying or losing self control. For taking control of anxiety attacks, firstly we should try to fully understand the causes of anxiety attacks. Then by overcoming such causes, anxiety attacks can be treated

Anxiety is the main feature in many other disorders for example, sleep disorders, depression and epilepsy or seizures etc. The features of anxiety attacks are sweating, hot flushes, obsessive thinking, chest pain and abdominal discomfort. Anxiolytic drugs are very important in this regard in the treatment of anxiety attacks and the most important are benzodiazepines, barbiturates and buspirone. Benzodiazepines enhance the GABA ergic transmission and hence, by this method we are able to treat anxiety.

Treatment

The main aim of treatment is to reduce fear and to abolish the anxiety attacks. The drugs used in the treatment of this condition are benzodiazepines, barbiturates and buspirone. Beta blockers are also effective in this regard and it is essential to treat the anxiety attacks as if not properly treated these attacks may become associated with a condition known as phobia.

It is common for many people who suffer from an anxiety attack for the very first time to immediately run to the hospital thinking that they are suffering from a stroke or heart attack. This is actually not so surprising though because if you can imagine just how terrifying it must be for the sufferer as they are experiencing their ordeal, it is little wonder that they are thinking that they might die.

The question arises what to do if a person suffers from an anxiety attack. Firstly we should note the time of attack, its intensity, its duration and its symptoms and after all that we should consult a good physician and tell him about all the things prescribed above. The doctor will prescribe medicine which is effective in controlling anxiety attacks and if the person suffering the attack does not recover after medication then he should be treated by way of behavioral therapy…A therapist is able to know the root cause of the anxiety attack and can help the person to deal with the problem.

As we go to overcome the panic attacks, we must be clear about the meaning of panic attack and its symptoms. The symptoms of panic attacks are obscure and these do not seem to be caused by the panic. We should clear this in our mind that anxiety is neither a clinical disorder nor a disease; it is the alteration of behavior. All the symptoms of the panic attacks come from the stimulation of anxious nerve signals which are produced by the brain. The symptoms of panic attacks are usual and without any harm. These symptoms are not toxic, but these are unpleasant. As we react differently in a response to the same stimulus, so the symptoms of the panic attack vary from individual to individual. The symptoms of the attack are following

1) Chest pain
2) Dizziness
3) Profound sweating
4) Rapid heart beat
5) Nausea
6) Abdominal discomfort
7) Hot flushes
Numbness
9) Urgency of urination and defecation
10) Obsessive worries
11) Shortness of breath
12) Heart with tingling sensations

Overcoming panic attack is very simple because there are some useful techniques, but overcoming the cause pf panic attack is a different issue. Panic attacks are caused by the autonomic nervous system which controls the sub conscious activities like breathing, digestion and circulation. The particular area in the autonomic nervous system is called amygdale which is responsible for decision making and regarding the things about anxiety. During panic attacks the amygdale remains turned on and it needs to be turned off to enable the person in controlling the panic attack because if amygdale remains stuck, it is responsible for the onset panic attack.

Our main purpose in the treatment should be to reduce the senseless fear and to abolish panic attacks and to stop the use of those medicines which are used by the people to perform the regular activities.

There are many pharmacologic drugs which have anti anxiety action and these reduce anxiety and are used in the treatment of panic attacks. The most important is BENZODIAZEPINES. These drugs are important and effective but have limited use because of physical and psychological dependence. Physical dependence is most important in this regard. It usually develops after the discontinuation of the medicine and is also called abstinence syndrome. The features of this dependence the photophobia, hyperacusis and unsteadiness. Benzodiazepines are the class of anxiolytic drugs and include alprazolam, diazepam, temazepam, ketazolam etc

Another drug which in important in this regard is buspirone. It is preferred over the benzodiazepines because it has minor side effects. Another important drug which is used in the prevention of panic attack is barbiturates which include barbital and Phenobarbital etc. But side effects are also there for example respiratory depression and cardiovascular depression.

So we can say that anxiety and panic attacks can be reduced by the use of anxiolytic drugs, but these should be used with great care because almost all the anti anxiety drugs cause dependence and have side effects in their own way