Knowing the different kinds of anxiety attack symptoms can help you save lives.
Who knows, the life you end up saving can be yours?
Statistics reveal that 1 out of every 113 American adults, or roughly 1.6% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 54, have suffered – or will suffer – at least one episode of an anxiety attack this year. In terms of numbers, we’re talking about 2.5 million people, more or less. Hence, we can safely say that the chances of us encountering a panic attack – either an episode exhibited by someone we know or by ourselves for that matter – are alarmingly high.
Knowing the different kinds of anxiety attack symptoms will help us pinpoint the problem at the soonest possible time, prepare the required remedies as quickly as possible, and most importantly, help us avoid the things we shouldn’t be doing during an anxiety attack.
So, what are these symptoms of an anxiety/panic attack? Here are 10 of them:
1. Chest pain. Most people who are suffering from anxiety attacks experience mild to moderate chest pain. The pain is likened to a heavy object crushing one’s chest.
2. Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. If you will find yourself chasing your own breath for no apparent reason, then such an experience falls under this symptom.
3. Palpitations indicating a faster heart rate.
4. Gastro-intestinal discomfort. This ranges from feeling that there is gas in your tummy, or suffering from indigestion, or other feelings that can be likened to diarrhea.
5. Warm/cold sweat. If you’re perspiring with warm sweat, such should be excessive and is quite uncanny for the given climatic conditions.
6. Derealization (losing sense of what is real) or depersonification (losing sense of one’s self). Most anxiety attacks are dangerous for the subject because of this accompanying symptom.
7. Feeling of dread or terror. More often than not, such feeling is inexplicable, that is, the cause cannot be determined.
8. Trembling. Involuntary shaking is a sign that the body, as well as the mind, is quite rattled.
9. Nausea. This symptom isn’t always present, however.
10. Feeling of impending doom. This is the most common of the anxiety attack symptoms. It isn’t an anxiety/panic attack if the episode isn’t accompanied by the “fight or flight” feeling. A feeling of impending doom is a feeling that is caused by your body to tell you that something is wrong and that something must be done quickly to avoid disastrous consequences.
Not ever anxiety attack episode would have all of the anxiety attack symptoms enumerated above. However, no. 10 accompanied by any two or three other symptoms would indicate an ongoing panic attack.
Determining the severity of the anxiety attack would be very helpful in knowing the proper remedy to take. Simple questionnaires like the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and the Beck Anxiety Index will help you pinpoint the gravity of the condition.
What should you do if some of the anxiety attack symptoms above are present? Try to relax as much as you can and always remember that if it is indeed a panic attack, it will pass soon enough. Do not do anything drastic. Do not act on your fears. Let it play out and you’ll be alright after 10 minutes or so.
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