Tag: Sufferer

Panic Attacks: Between Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia

For most people, dealing with life stressors job changes, moving, pregnancy, birth of a child, death of a loved one etc. do not result to anxiety and panic attacks. However, to those who are vulnerable to emotional stress, such situations may lead to panic attacks even if these events happened way back in their life. The reason for this is still not fully understood but it is believed that one major cause of panic attacks is extended period of stress (not by a few days of tension but by several months of constant worrying and unprocessed emotions).

The chances of having an attack are even greater when a panic-prone person receives unnecessary stress such as additional tasks at work or additional responsibility at home. Instead of performing normally under regular circumstance, the additional load can put more pressure that can lead to more stress which can be a catalyst for an attack.

What is panic disorder?

It is commonly believed that panic attacks happen out of the blue, without any reason. It can happen to anyone at any point in their life. Many people experience one episode of panic attack. However, others go on to suffer from panic disorder. Panic disorder is characterized by several episodes of panic attacks related to past traumatic experiences, existing stress (mentioned above) or something else.

Many attacks last for not more than 30 minutes but the effects of panic disorder can leave lasting effects. People suffering from panic disorder experience emotional stress and excessive fear due to the memory of past attacks. This negative memory has a negative impact to self-confidence and self-esteem, which can lead to the disruption of everyday activities and normal living. While the causes of panic disorder vary from person to person, all conditions lead to these symptoms:

Anticipatory anxiety or the fear of having future attacks. This can have a detrimental effect to the sufferer since they cannot relax and they always feel anxious and tensed in between attacks.

Phobic avoidance is characterized by avoiding situations or events in the belief that the situation may cause panic attack. Phobic avoidance can also be avoiding places where help is unavailable during emergency situation.

What is agoraphobia?

Agoraphobia is traditionally believed to involve fear of open spaces or public places. Literally means “fear of the marketplace,” agoraphobia is now believed to be a result of panic attacks.

People diagnosed with agoraphobia show different symptoms. But common to all agoraphobics is avoidance either being in public places or being alone. This is actually a character of phobic avoidance (one distinct symptom of panic disorder). The difference, however, is that the effects of agoraphobia can significantly limit the person’s normal activities. Thus, what sets agoraphobia apart from panic disorder is the amount of activities that the person avoids.

People with panic disorder stay generally active, although there are specific situations that they tend to avoid. On the other hand, agoraphobics limit their activities because of fearful thoughts. These fearful thoughts can be very damaging the person’s life as well as his relationship to others.

Either way, both conditions are the result of panic attacks. Hence, it is always best to know the things you can do in order to prevent panic attacks from recurring and worsening. On the first sign of attack, seek for professional help.

Anxiety In Children-Whats Normal And Whats Not

Children will often experience things that make them anxious. However, there is a difference between normal, occasional bouts of anxiety and long-term, ever-present anxiety. The former can be dealt with as it happens, while the latter requires treatment of some kind.

Many parents are surprised to learn that children can suffer from anxiety disorders. Just knowing this can help you to spot potential problems in your own child, and that is the first step to treating the condition. That doesn’t mean that every little thing should be taken as proof of a disorder, but rather that you may wish to consider an anxiety disorder as a possibility when you see a series of symptoms.

Children can be afraid of many different things, and that makes recognizing their problem as a disorder more difficult. For example, they may be afraid of going out of the house, they may have separation issues, or they could be afraid of animals. All of these can be normal, but if they interfere with the child’s quality of life, then it’s time to consult a professional.

There is more than one kind of anxiety disorder, but they all come down to how the sufferer thinks. That’s not to say that they can control their thinking, but rather that they look at the world differently than other people.

Just what is anxiety? Early in our collective history, things that we now label as stress, fear, and anxiety were useful survival mechanisms. If you heard a growling predator, then your body needed to react quickly. It would instantly release chemicals and get ready for fight-or-flight mode. Those threats have largely vanished from daily life, but the reaction can be the same. To put it another way, children with anxiety perceive threats that really aren’t that threatening.

Fortunately, once it has been properly diagnosed, anxiety in children is highly treatable. Some parents are afraid to take their children to a psychologist, or to give them prescription medication, but it’s a good idea to get the anxiety under control as soon as you can. Children need to be able to fit in with their peers, and this stage in their development should not be hindered by anxiety. Besides, taking care of the problem now means that they won’t have to suffer the effects of anxiety when they become adults.

Apart from being afraid or apprehensive, anxiety in children has other symptoms. These symptoms can be difficult to recognize because they are so often symptoms of other common health problems. Here is a partial list:

Dizziness
Heart palpitations
Rapid breathing
Headaches
Nausea
Diarrhea
Constipation
Sweating

It’s possible that these are symptoms of other health issues, so they should be taken seriously. Consult your child’s pediatrician to see if there are physical health problems, or if it may be anxiety. You should not make this diagnosis on your own.

Anxiety in children is a bigger problem than most people realize. However, there are many treatment options that you can use to make your child better.

Anxiety -Dont Feel Alone Everyone Experience It

We all experience some level of anxiety every now and then. A few of the more common examples include being put in harm’s way, giving a speech to a roomful of your peers, and getting through an interview for an important job. It’s normal to experience anxiety in such situations. Then there are people who experience anxiety on a frequent basis, and feel anxious when there are no immediate threats present. This type of anxiety requires treatment.

Before we get into some of the treatment options, it’s important to understand what anxiety is, and how it happens.

Anxiety happens when our body reacts to an imagined threat as if it were real. Our breathing and heart rate changes, adrenaline starts flowing, and we sweat as we go into the fight or flight response. There are times when this comes in handy, but the person with an anxiety disorder goes well beyond that point.

While you may be able to live with the occasional bout of anxiety, you should seek treatment if it is causing a negative impact on your life. A negative impact is anything that takes away from your quality of life, and your enjoyment of it. Not going to social events, staying inside due to a fear of the outside world, never stepping out of your “safe zone” because you’re afraid you won’t be able to cope are some common examples.

One of the difficulties of diagnosing anxiety is that many of the symptoms can be related to other conditions. Therefore, the sufferer may assume that they have another medical problem, when in reality they actually have an anxiety disorder. Symptoms can include, but are not limited to: shortness of breath, strong heartbeat, nausea, chest pain, fatigue, headaches, stomach pains, and insomnia. That’s quite a list, isn’t it? Someone with a strong heartbeat and pain in their chest would be fully justified in thinking they were having a heart attack, but it could just be a panic attack.

NOTE: Never assume chest pains are okay unless under the direct guidance of a doctor. Even if you have anxiety, the symptoms of a heart attack should never be ignored.

A person with an anxiety disorder thinks differently. For the sake of example, let’s say snakes make them anxious. Our sufferer sees a picture of a snake, and then his mind and body go into a different state. He sees the picture and thinks about how some snakes are poisonous, and they can bite. “What if,” he thinks to himself, “a snake bites me?” He continues by imagining being bitten, injected with venom, dying, and leaving his family destitute due to his being dead. All of this from seeing a picture!

However, his difficulty is how to stop the snowballing effect of these thoughts when they happen. Many of the treatments for anxiety are intended to stop the thought process, and a sense of calm replaces the sense of anxiety.

Insomnia – The Most Prevalent Form of Sleep Disorder

Insomnia, a most common sleep disorder, affects about one third of the American population and is classified two different ways. It can be classified by how long it lasts. Transient insomnia lasts for only a few days, short term lasts for a few weeks and chronic lasts for more then three weeks. The other way insomnia is classified is by its source. The main two classifications of this sleep disorder by source are primary and secondary.

Transient insomnia is experienced by most people at some time throughout their lives. It can be caused by stress such as worrying about the first day school or an illness in the family. Sometimes this sleep disorder occurs due to a disruption of their circadian cycle, which is a persons natural sleep cycle, caused by jet lag or a shift change at work. Transient insomnia goes away one the stress issue has passed. Short term insomnia is often caused by similar stressors as transient insomnia. If the sufferer of this sleep disorder cannot break the cycle of poor sleep, it often develops into chronic insomnia.

Primary insomnia develops without any obvious cause. Sometimes it starts as early as infancy.
Often it is the result of high metabolic rates or an overactive nervous system.

Secondary insomnia is the direct result of another cause. This sleep disorder can come from illness, medication, drugs or alcohol. Addressing the underlying cause of secondary insomnia often gives the sufferer relief. For example, if arthritis pain keeps you from sleeping, then treating the arthritis is the best way to cope with the sleep disorder.

Insomnia is not a single disorder. It is a general symptom and could have many potential causes. In order to qualify as a sleep disorder, insomnia has to meet three specific requirements. First, the person has to experience poor sleep in general, or have a problem falling or staying asleep. Second, if given the proper sleep environment and an adequate opportunity to sleep, the problem still occurs. Third, the result of the poor sleep causes some type of impairment while awake. Examples of an impairment are; fatigue, body aches and pains, inability to concentrate, mood changes, lack of energy, poor concentration, or developing an unnatural amount of worry about sleep.

Often insomnia is treated with medication, such as sleeping pills. These can be prescription medication or bought over the counter.

However, there are several other methods of treatment for this sleep disorder. Behavioral treatments include meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, visualization, biofeedback, sleep hygiene, cognitive behavioral therapy and reconditioning sleep restriction. These methods are often very successful.

Some sufferers of this sleep disorder choose holistic, or alternative, treatment. This method involves the use of herbal supplements which are not usually FDA approved. Others seek acupuncture as a way to relieve their insomnia. Passive body heating, which is the use of hot baths, is another method used.

Understanding this sleep disorder is the first step to breaking the cycle of insomnia.