Panic Anxiety Attack Symptoms

A panic attack can occur suddenly, without reason or preamble. People can experience periods of anxiety that leads to various symptoms.

A person may encounter a variety of signs that show one is going through such an episode. One is diagnosed with this illness when he or she develops four or more signs from the thirteen diagnostic criteria abruptly and reached a peak at about ten minutes.

Panic anxiety attack symptoms may be further differentiated into two categories: somatic and cognitive.

Somatic symptoms are expressed physically by a person. Eight out of thirteen from the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for a panic attack falls under this category. These are: palpitations; sweating; shaking; shortness of breath; nausea; fainting; numbness; and chills.

Palpitation is the unusual awareness of the heart and its rhythm. In this instance, the palpitations felt by a person are described as pounding or an increased heart rate.

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Sweating during an episode of anxiety is commonly associated with cold sweat.It is also irregular and profuse, unlike sweating during and after exercise.

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

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

Abdominal distress or nausea in this scenario is not necessarily connected with vomiting. Oftentimes, the person suffering from this illness would just get an upset stomach of a sick feeling and would not be able to expel any stomach matter.

Dizziness is one of the most common complaints that physicians encounter in this problem. Dizziness may be accompanied by a slight vertigo or the feeling that the environment is moving whereas the person is standing still. A person feeling this symptom may lead to having a fainting episode which may then cause injury to the person.

Paresthesias were found to be a major symptom in this. Paresthesias are described 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 numbness.

Cognitive, on the other hand, means mind; therefore, these are usually imagined sensations by the person. Under this category are: choking, chest pain, derealization or depersonalization, feelings of losing control, and fear of dying.

Derealization and depersonalization are almost, but not quite, the same. They are both described as dreamlike or surreal. Derealization is feelings of unreality while depersonalization is feeling detached from oneself or surroundings. Losing control is more associated with avoidance of embarrassment. These feelings may be ingrained so much in the mind of a person such that they feel they are going crazy.

A lot of people experience anxiety at one point in their lives, some more often than others. Before jumping to conclusions, it is best to have a person be diagnosed by an experienced medical professional. It is also good to be well-informed of these symptoms so as to be able to help and support a person who suffers from a panic attack.

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