Living With Anxiety and Panic Is No Picnic

Can you imagine living your life with your emotions at heightened sensitivity? To give you an idea of what this is like, think back to last time you went to an intense movie. You know the type of motion picture that is both suspenseful and also part horrifying. We're talking about the SAW movie series, Jason and a Friday the 13th group, Halloween, etc.. You sat on the edge of your seat waiting for the next thing to happen and it seemed like every nerve ending was on edge.

This is all well and good when you go to the movies to be scared and experience those feelings. Now imagine the possibility of having these feelings of anxiousness, fear, and painful physical symptoms that may show up at any time and any place. This is a life of someone with severe anxiety panic attacks.

Living with anxiety and specifically panic attacks, you live your life literally on the edge of your seat worrying and wondering when the next attack will occur. During an anxiety or panic attack your heart starts pounding you may start sweating, become flushed while feeling dizzy and having difficulty breathing. It's like every nerve ending in your body is being agitated. You feel as if you literally might die.

There are many reasons why someone may suffer from this disorder. Anxiety however is actually considered a very generic term that is used for everything from obsessive-compulsive disorder, General anxiety disorders, phobias, depression, and panic attacks. Many of these more specific conditions even have subsets of symptoms and disorders.

A good example are panic attacks. Panic attacks are considered by many to be part of an anxiety condition. But there's separation anxiety disorder, which is the condition that is identified by an excessive amount of anxiety and worry about being separated from people or things that the person has a strong attachment. People have been known to have separation anxiety can literally cannot leave their home and become a recluse. Some have an unhealthy attachment to their pets. Even children have been known to develop a strong attachment to being home or with parents and end up unable to attend school

There's also agoraphobia. This is another anxiety disorder which commonly triggers panic attacks. Agoraphobia is the fear of being in a public place or anywhere outside the persons comfort zone. That comfort zone can be as small as a single room in the home or even a piece of furniture in that room.

This is what living with anxiety and panic can really be. Anxiety, is undue worry or concern about a situation or circumstances that lasts for more than a couple of weeks. Panic is the out-of-control feeling that can come on without warning at any place or at any time.

Panic is a sudden feeling of fear and/or anxiety that comes on quickly and has definite physical symptoms. Although those physical symptoms may vary from person to person, the overall feelings are that of death and dying. Although safe, that fear develops into physical symptoms that are both painful and worrisome. Experts in panic disorder say that these attacks are not harmful but to those of us who live with an emotional disorder that triggers panic, the feelings are very real and almost horrifying.

Some of the symptoms may include:

1. A pounding heart or chest pain

2. Shortness of breath or hyperventilation

3. Dizziness vertigo or lightheadedness

4. Feeling faint

5. Trembling or shaking

6. Nausea, stomach pains and intestinal discomfort

As you can see, all these symptoms are very close to those you would see in nature illnesses such as heart attacks. A panic attack can last seconds to an hour or more. Thankfully, most are no more than about 20 to 30 minutes.

Agoraphobia and separation anxiety can actually be triggers the brain on panic attacks. For people suffering from these disorders, a return of the desired object or state can lower their stress levels and a panic attack. Others however, are subject to nonspecific triggers. This means that they can experience a panic attack almost anywhere at any time. For many, this is what living with anxiety and panic is on a daily basis.

You should really bookmark this site and check back to see what other ideas have been added. Anxiety in all forms is a long term illness with new treatment strategies always being developed. Don't you want to know the latest information? Bookmark this site