Tag: Panic Disorder

Triggers and Causes of Panic Attacks

Here are the common triggers and causes of panic attacks:

Phobia People who are exposed to certain situation or objects they are afraid of will often experience a panic attack.

Passiveness Many think that excessive politeness, shyness, and respectfulness are a positive thing and it is normal for someone to possess these characteristics. Be that as it may, a growing number of evidence supports the idea that passiveness as a result of fear (sometimes unexplained), low self-esteem and self-confidence is consistent with a person experiencing episodes of panic attack.

Hyperventilation syndrome Mouth breathing and over-breathing or exhaling more carbon dioxide with respect to the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream can result to symptoms including dizziness, lightheadedness, and rapid heartbeat. These symptoms, in turn trigger panic attacks.

Benzodiazepines Drugs such as benzodiazepines are prescribed to treat the symptoms of panic attacks. These drugs have a very quick to take effect. Usually, the patient finds relief within 30 minutes. However, benzodiazepines are highly addictive and rebound effect is common (a panic attack triggered by withdrawing from the drug).

Medications There are certain drugs such as fluoroquinolone type antibiotics and Ritalin (methylphenidate) with panic attacks listed as a side effect. Attacks may be temporary, usually occurring when a patient begins medication but may continue occurring even if the patient is already accustomed to the drug. When this happens, change of dosage or type of drug is usually warranted. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs boost the level of serotonin in the brain which regulates and normalizes emotions. However, intake of SSRIs can increase anxiety at the beginning of use. Panic attacks may even be more frequent to patients who wean on and off the medications

Biological causes post traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, Wilson’s disease, pheochromocytoma, hypoglycemia, mitral valve prolapse and labyrinthitis (inner ear disturbances) can manifest through panic attack. Vitamin B deficiency from periodic depletion because of parasitic infection from tapeworm or due to inadequate diet can trigger panic attacks.

Heredity Children, whose parents have been found to suffer from panic disorder, are likely to experience or have panic attacks as well. In other words, inheritance plays an important role in determining who gets it. However, people with no family history can still develop panic disorder.

Environment factors and upbringing People who grew up overly cautious about their life and actions, and those who live in a very stressful environment, plus different traumatic experiences from the past are likely to have panic attacks.

Short-term triggering causes Significant life changes, emotional trauma from a failed relationship, life transition, stimulants such as nicotine and caffeine, psilocybin, marijuana, and drugs can trigger panic attacks.

Take note that these triggers and causes may have different effects to different people. One may only need one trigger to have an episode of panic attacks. Others may require several triggers in order to break down. Also, by simply being exposed to any of these triggers do not automatically result to panic attacks because some are emotionally stronger than others.

It is also important to note that some symptoms of panic attacks may also be a sign of other medical condition. Hence, it is important to precisely pinpoint the cause of the symptoms in order know what type of treatment is necessary.

Panic Attacks — Signs of Vulnerability

Panic attacks do not come from nowhere, though the possibility of them coming out of the blue cannot be discounted. Nonetheless, there is always that something that triggers the occurrence of such attacks. Experts believe that the causes are multi-factorial and pre-disposing factors are many. Included are the following:

Genetics. Panic attacks run in the family. If you great grandfather had it, there is a relative possibility that you might develop the disorder as well. In typical cases, those people who have relatives with panic attacks are twice more likely to experience either acute or chronic but intermittent episodes of panic disorder than normal people. Nonetheless, there are people who have family history of panic attacks that do not develop the disorder.

Medical causes. There are several medical conditions that could allow for the development of panic disorder and panic attacks. Among them are mitral valve prolapse, hypoglycemia, hyperthyroidism, abrupt withdrawal from medication usage, and use of stimulants. Mitral valve prolapse, otherwise known as MVP, is a heart disease that affects the mitral valves, the part of the heart that prevents the backflow of blood. The symptoms of this disease are shortness of breath and chest pain along with others. Not only do these symptoms resemble those of panic attacks but research by the American Heart Association confirmed that there is a direct link between MVP and panic attacks.

Hypoglycemia, on the other hand, is a condition characterized by a lower level of blood glucose. Meanwhile, hyperthyroidism is also a condition that is somehow linked with panic attacks. This condition is marked by the overproduction of thyroid hormones namely T3 and T4 hormones. Abrupt withdrawal from certain medications is also believed to be a cause of panic attacks since this triggers sudden changes in the body. Another factor that may lead to the development of panic attacks is the use of stimulant substances such as beverages with high caffeine content and marijuana.

Medications. The body’s reaction to foreign materials with medical properties is not always necessarily positive. There are cases when the substances found in the drugs produce the right conditions in the body conducive to the arousal of panic attacks. For example, methylphenidate which is more commonly known as Ritalin is used for patients of ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as well as narcolepsy could cause panic attacks for some people.

Gender. This seems to be a predisposing factor towards the development of panic disorder. According to studies females are 50% more likely than their counterparts to develop the disorder.

Major life events. Substantial events in life that lead to extreme changes can create the right environments for the occurrence of panic attacks. This may be because such drastic changes create tensions in the homeostasis of a person’s life, thus upsetting the previous order of things and forcing the person to confront the changes. If the person fails to respond accordingly, the tension may persist and he might be overcome by it. Thus, producing a number of symptoms that could be characterized under psychological disorders, panic attacks included.

Phobias. Although the statistics are not established yet, it seems clear that people who have severe cases of phobias are more susceptible to developing panic disorders. This could be due to the fact that phobias cause elevated levels of fear to start with.

Anxiety And Nervouse Breakdown Tie In Together

How do anxiety and nervous breakdown tie in? The term anxiety is an umbrella term which encompasses panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder. The term nervous breakdown is no longer used by the medical profession. It is now referred to as situational depression or anxiety disorder.

While clinical depression and anxiety disorders can be triggered by something that happens in your life, their causes can often be linked to something biological, genetic, neurological, or that occured in your childhood. In contrast, a nervous breakdown could describe the sudden onset of a mental illness, or it may just be your way to process something that happened in your life. The term nervous breakdown conjures up terrible, scary images. But while it is upsetting, it’s important to keep in mind that this anxiety disorder is just your body’s way of saying “Hey, you’re ignoring some feelings here that need to be dealt with.” Panicing in the face of anxiety and nervous breakdown only makes matters worse.

One key to getting through a nervous breakdown (or preventing one) is to stop fighting it off. If you’re starting to feel that everything is just getting to be too much, just try to identify some areas in your life where you can reduce some of your stress and causes of anxiety. The typical reaction when you feel like your are losing control is to get it back again. But getting it back by ignoring what you are feeling is not the way to go about it. In the case of a nervous breakdown, taking back power means actively seeking out rest and peace. If you try to just push through and force yourself to continue beyond what you can mentally or physically take, you actually give your anxiety more power. If you can allow yourself a little patience and space to actually feel what you need to feel, you offset the reasons your mind and body brought you to the point of a nervous breakdown in the first place.

Seek help. Many people look at getting help as a sign that they have lost the battle with their anxiety and nervous breakdown. It is actually the opposite. The fact that you are seeking help means that you are taking a step to being able to take care of yourself and others if necessary. Look at it this way: if you were physically hurt one day and bleeding profusely, you would run stratight to the emergency room. It’s the same with whatever anxiety you’re going through. Professional help and therapy does not have to be a lifelong commitment. Once you have worked out the cause for your pain and suffering and have the tools to prevent it from happening again, you no longer need the help of professionals. But if you avoid seeking them out in the first place, the anxiety and nervous breakdown may have already caused permanent damage.

This information does not substitute medical advice given by a health professional.

The Wear and Tear of Anxiety, Panic, and Nervous Breakdown

The Wear and Tear of Anxiety, Panic, and Nervous Breakdown

People often hear of a type of energy that has little to do with muscles and work, an energy without focus or function nervous energy. And most often than not, people recognize it by any other names such as anxiety, stress, panic, nervous breakdown, or feeling uptight.

Older people have no monopoly on this sense of malaise. Each year, Americans of all ages spend more than $300 million on tranquilizers and sedatives to soothe their fraying nerves.

In reality, stress is a 20th-century phenomenon, the price people pay for a living in our high-powered, fast-paced world. In the short tern, most people pay the price in headaches, heartburn, sleepless nights, and stiff, aching muscles.

In the end, the price gets higher. Stress has been implicated as a contributing factor in conditions that range from alcoholism to hypertension, from arthritis to impotence.

Its effects are cumulative. Whereas, episodes of intense stress affect our immediate well-being, decades of life under pressure affect how long and how well people will continue to live.

Stress is not always negative. Some of lifes happiest momentsbirths, weddings, reunions, retirementsare enormously stressful. Stress is a spice of life, a motivating force for growth and adaptation. But the human body cannot simply differentiate between positive and negative stresses, between genuine threats and vague anxieties.

When stress becomes a problem, it can lead to one devastating mental disorder known as nervous breakdown. Experts do not consider this as a clinical term but more of a popular term because it is commonly used by people to avoid the shame of a particular clinical finding.

Nervous breakdown could also be caused by many factors such as anxiety and panic disorder. Even if they seem to mean the same, each has its own unique characteristic.

People, who were diagnosed with anxiety disorder, generally pertain to those who have mood disorders such as bipolar disorder or depressions.

On the other hand, panic disorder refers to the repeated occurrence of unforeseen panic attacks. Panic happens when your body instantly reacts to whatever kind of stressor that is available as of the moment.

There are times when some people were brought up negatively, with pressures more than what they can handle. These things usually happen when parents tend to demand more items from their kids. What happens next is that their children get anxious of always doing things right according to what their parents have told them. Otherwise, they are bound for numerous punishments.

Yet, despite constant and chaotic stresses, anxieties, and nervous breakdowns, people can actually cope. And most of the time, people cope very well.

Physiologists explain these day-to-day, person-to-person differences in terms of the all-or-none law. Every nerve cell, or neuron, responds either to maximum capacity or not at all. Like a rifle, a neuron either fires or does not.

An overestimated neuron is like a rifle with the safety switch off. Even a slight stimulus can startle it from a quiet to an active state.

The point here is that the more active the nervous system, the more active it is likely to become. This cycle of reactions is caused by the feedback mechanisms of the sensory receptors in the muscles.

With that in mind, it can be concluded that many people nowadays are strolling around with intense nervous breakdowns, anxieties, or panic disorders that frequently transform to physical sensation feeling.

Whatever the meanings are, these things all pertains to one basic truth there is an increasing behavioral and environmental attack. All of these things highly recommend that people, whether young or old, must not take their health undervalued.