Overcoming Anxiety Attack Symptoms

Personally, I’m not a big believer in using drugs to treat anxiety and panic attacks, as they oftern only mask the symptoms without actually treating the condition and eliminating the cause.

However, in some cases they do have a part to play – even if just to help a sufferer get over their initial fears and start on the road to recovery.

Here’s a case study of such an example…

Peter J., a 40-year-old businessman in good health, is playing golf on a Sunday afternoon. Suddenly, on the 13th tee, he begins shaking and gasping. “I can’t breathe. I’m having a heart attack. I’m going to die,” he stammers to his colleagues.

They rush him to the hospital emergency room, but doctors find nothing wrong with him. A few nights later, in a restaurant with his wife, the same thing happens. An ambulance races him to the hospital, where he’s admitted for a full series of tests, but again, nothing is found. His family doctor prescribes a tranquilizer which relaxes him, but still the attacks persist.

Eventually, he quits playing golf and avoids dining out. He never again wants to be caught helpless and embarrassed when an attack takes place.

This profile illustrates a frightening but treatable illness called panic disorder, and it’s a very common illness.

Panic attack victims typically will experience a sudden and inexplicable wave of terror, often accompanied by such symptoms as breathing difficulty, pain or a feeling of tightness in the chest, palpitations, sweating, shaking, dizziness and, perhaps most frightening of all, a sense of unreality, of losing control, going crazy or even dying.

Most sufferers have their first panic attacks in early adulthood, although there are those who experience them in their 30’s, 40’s or even later. The cause of these attacks is not yet understood. However, it is known that after treatment with trycylic antidepressants, such as imipramine – a non-habit-forming drug whose major side effects are dryness of the mouth and constipation – over 80 percent of patients become panic free. The attacks may recur, but can be blocked again with medication.

Recent research suggests this is a physiological illness, that is, panic attacks are not caused solely by such factors as psychological stress.. Doctors have discovered that some people experience such attacks when they become out of breath after exercise. This occurrence is called the “effort syndrome,” and doctors hypothesize that these individuals produce more than the usual amount of lactic acid (an organic acid produced in the muscle tissue during exercise) and its presence somehow trigger panic attacks.

In a current project at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Dr. Donald Klein, director of research, has found that roughly 7percent of patients with a prior history of panic attacks will experience an at tack when given an intravenous infusion of sodium lactate solution in a laboratory situation.

In the early stages of panic disorder, the attacks occur randomly and are clearly defined by their symptoms. After recurrent attacks, most victims begin to live in a constant state of dread, anticipating the next panic attack. If not diagnosed early, panic disorder can ultimately progress to phobias, such as agoraphobia (which is characterized by fear of leaving home or being alone) fear of flying or fear of riding in elevators.

The initial treatment for panic disorder is usually one of the trycyclic antidepressants. Patients are then encouraged to re-enter situations they were avoiding proving to themselves that they no longer panic. Sometimes this treatment, called desensitization, is given in a group situation.

So drugs and medication can play a part in dealing with and easing the symptoms of panic attacks, but they shouldn’t really be viewed as a long term solution.

My personal approach, after a long time of struggling with my symptoms, was to consider mild medication to help ease my symptoms, but look to other solutions to help me overcome the problem longterm – or permanently. What really worked for me was the Linden Method and some deep relaxing meditation from using the holosync CDs from Centerpointe.

If money is an issue and you only want to start with one of these programs, I’d say go with the Linden Method first, then after your next pay day invest in the holosync CDs.