Panic Attack and Anxiety: The Associated Symptoms

By: Charlene Nelson

A panic attack can arise abruptly, without reason or preamble. People can experience periods of anxiety that leads to various symptoms. A person may bump into a variety of signs that show one is going through such an episode. Doctors will diagnose someone with this sickness when this sufferer develops four or more signs from the thirteen diagnostic criteria abruptly and reached a peak around ten minutes he or she These may be further differentiated into two categories: somatic and cognitive.

Somatic symptoms are signs that you can see physically appearing by a patient. Eight DSM-IV diagnostic criteria’s for a panic attack falls under this group. These are: palpitations; sweating; shaking; shortness of breath; nausea; fainting; lack of sensation; and chills.

Palpitation is the strange consciousness of the heart and its beat. People describe these palpitations as pounding or an increased heart pace.

Sweating in the course of an episode of anxiety is normally associated with cold sweat. It is also irregular and abundant, not like sweating in the course of and after exercise.

Extreme trembling or shaking could also be found in the patient, though this might be expressed visibly or not by the person.

Hyperventilation or shortness of breath may either be seen by other people or simply felt by the person along with a sensation of being smothered.

Abdominal distress or nausea in this scenario is not inevitably linked with nausea. Oftentimes, the person suffering from this illness would merely get an upset stomach of a sick sensation and would not be able to expel any stomach matter.

Vertigo is one of the most common complaints that doctors encounter in this problem. Vertigo may be accompanied by the sensation the surrounding is moving while the person is standing still. A patient sensing this symptom may lead to having a fainting episode which may then cause injury to the patient.

Paresthesias is a main symptom and can be defined as tingling sensation or numbness.

Chills or hot flashes are also associated with this problem.

The commonly found combination from all of these is sweating, shaking, chills and lack of sensation.

Cognitive, on the other hand, means mind; therefore, these are in general imagined sensations by the sufferer. Sensations like choking, chest pain, derealization or depersonalization, feelings of losing control, and fear of dying falls under this group .

Derealization and depersonalization are nearly, but not quite, the same. They are both defined as unreal or weird. Derealization is feelings of unreality whilst depersonalization is feeling disconnected from oneself or surroundings.

Losing control is more associated with avoidance of shame.

These feelings may be ingrained so much in the mind of a patient they think they are going crazy.

Many people will come into contact with anxiety at one point in their lives; however some will suffer from it more often than others. Before jumping to conclusions, it is best to get one or two medical opinions. It is also good to be well-informed of these symptoms so as to be able to help and support a patient who suffers from a panic attack.

Reprinted from: Communication Skills Articles.

You can find more information about the-panic-puzzle.php at www.antianxietyconsumerreport.com

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