Tag: Watching Television

Various Treatments for Panic Attacks

The cause of panic attacks is still not fully understood. What is known is that it can happen to anyone, without any reason, regardless of age. Meaning, a happy and healthy person has an equal chance of experiencing a panic attack with those who are depressed and unhealthy. An episode of panic attack chooses no time. It can happen while you are at home, sitting on your couch, watching television, while driving, shopping or walking, at the office, etc. It can even happen while you are asleep.

Given such circumstances, methods of treatment may vary from person to person, depending on his conditions, symptoms, lifestyle, and frequency of attacks. Typically however, treatment involves psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and/or medication. Other treatments that can be employed are meditation, breathing exercises, relaxation techniques and herbal treatment.

Anti-anxiety medications such as Ativan, Xanax and Klonopin provide quick relief from the symptoms panic attack. Benzodiazepines have immediate effects, usually within 30 minutes to an hour. Benzodiazepines, however, are highly addictive and have some serious withdrawal symptoms. Anti-depressant drugs (Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, and Celexa) should be taken continuously before you can begin to notice the effects, usually up to 6 months to a year. You cannot take anti-depressant drugs just during an attack.

In addition, since you cannot anticipate when you will have such attack, only those who are diagnosed with panic disorder (or recurring panic attacks) can acquire these types of drug.

Panic attacks, as well as panic disorder, agoraphobia and other phobias and related conditions can be treated effectively by psychotherapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is proven as an effective way to reduce the symptoms of panic attacks or completely eliminate the condition. CBT focuses on changing the thinking pattern of the person from negative to positive thoughts as well as changing the way a person reacts or behaves when he encounters emergency or situations that can trigger an attack.

Another treatment similar to CTB that is worth mentioning is exposure therapy. This helps the person overcome his fear by letting him face those fearful situations in a controlled and safe manner. The result of this technique is that the person learns how to react positively on what he thinks are fearful situations. Moreover, through this experience, the patient learns that the situations he fears are not harmful and dangerous.

In many cases, medication alone or therapy alone is enough to completely treat the condition, but other cases require both treatment methods to effectively treat panic disorder.

Meditation, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques have been found effective in reducing the chances of experiencing another attack. They help calm the mind and relax the muscles. Regularly practicing these exercises and techniques strengthen the body’s relaxation response.

Natural herbs such as bacopin, ginkgo biloba, passion flower, St. John Wort, hyperforin, 5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), chamomile, rhodiola, are equally effective since they have natural anti-stress properties. In some cases, using these herbs is sufficient enough to combat panic attacks. Many people also react positively using this kind of treatment.

Fresh leaves can be made as tea. Some are also available over-the-counter in oil, tincture, capsule, powder and tea. The best thing about these natural herbs is that they do not carry any side effects as compared to mainstream anti-anxiety and anti depressant prescription medications.

Noise Causes Deafness Problems

Too much noise can make you deaf. If you think this is a joke, ask the estimated 10 million Americans who had had this kind of hearing problem.

The kind of deafness problem they have is what is known as noise induced haring loss. This occurs when too much noise hurts the hair cells in the inner ear and it can result in permanent damage. If this should happen, you will have to use haring aids since there is no way to correct the problem.

You will know when you begin to have this hearing problem when you have a hard time hearing what someone is saying. You will probably have to move closer to that person and even tell them to repeat what they just said.

Two factors that cause deafness problems are time and the intensity. Time is the duration at which you were exposed to it while intensity is measured in decibels.

Almost everyone works a 9 to 5 job or something similar to that which is equivalent to 8 hours. If you happen to work in an environment with noise levels of up to 85 decibels or even more, you could lose your hearing and it is only a matter of time.

You dont become deaf only from working in a loud environment. Studies have shown that this can also happen if you are exposed to firearms, loud explosions, certain hardware equipment, going regularly to a rock concert, using an MP3 player, watching television or listening to the radio, riding a motorcycle or snowmobile, farm machinery and selected childrens toys.

What is so astonishing about this deafness problem is that you dont feel any pain. It is only when you go somewhere that there is not that much noise that you will notice a ringing in your ears and might have a hard time hearing people. This does go away after a few hours or several days but if this happens regularly, this will become permanent.

Some of the early signs of noise induced hearing loss aside from having something repeated to you include the need to turn the volume higher and not being able to hear high pitched sounds. If you think you have this problem, it is best to have your ears checked by a trained professional.

Can this deafness problem be prevented? The answer is yes and this is done by using the proper safety equipment. Examples of these include canal caps, earplugs and earmuffs. You can buy this in the drugstore or from the hardware store.

You should make sure to keep this clean and in good condition at all times. If it is not as effective as it was before, be sure to replace it.

Now that you know that there is such a thing called noise induced hearing loss, you should take the necessary precautions so you dont lose your hearing. If you dont need to buy ear protection, dont stay too long in places that have loud sounds.

As an added precaution, have yourself checked annually by a certified audiologist especially if your job is a high risk for hearing loss. These jobs include construction, farming, firefighting, law enforcement and music. Your employer should provide free hearing protection but if they dont, you should get what is needed to avoid becoming deaf.

Various Treatments for Panic Attacks

The cause of panic attacks is still not fully understood. What is known is that it can happen to anyone, without any reason, regardless of age. Meaning, a happy and healthy person has an equal chance of experiencing a panic attack with those who are depressed and unhealthy. An episode of panic attack chooses no time. It can happen while you are at home, sitting on your couch, watching television, while driving, shopping or walking, at the office, etc. It can even happen while you are asleep.

Given such circumstances, methods of treatment may vary from person to person, depending on his conditions, symptoms, lifestyle, and frequency of attacks. Typically however, treatment involves psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and/or medication. Other treatments that can be employed are meditation, breathing exercises, relaxation techniques and herbal treatment.

Anti-anxiety medications such as Ativan, Xanax and Klonopin provide quick relief from the symptoms panic attack. Benzodiazepines have immediate effects, usually within 30 minutes to an hour. Benzodiazepines, however, are highly addictive and have some serious withdrawal symptoms. Anti-depressant drugs (Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, and Celexa) should be taken continuously before you can begin to notice the effects, usually up to 6 months to a year. You cannot take anti-depressant drugs just during an attack.

In addition, since you cannot anticipate when you will have such attack, only those who are diagnosed with panic disorder (or recurring panic attacks) can acquire these types of drug.

Panic attacks, as well as panic disorder, agoraphobia and other phobias and related conditions can be treated effectively by psychotherapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is proven as an effective way to reduce the symptoms of panic attacks or completely eliminate the condition. CBT focuses on changing the thinking pattern of the person from negative to positive thoughts as well as changing the way a person reacts or behaves when he encounters emergency or situations that can trigger an attack.

Another treatment similar to CTB that is worth mentioning is exposure therapy. This helps the person overcome his fear by letting him face those fearful situations in a controlled and safe manner. The result of this technique is that the person learns how to react positively on what he thinks are fearful situations. Moreover, through this experience, the patient learns that the situations he fears are not harmful and dangerous.

In many cases, medication alone or therapy alone is enough to completely treat the condition, but other cases require both treatment methods to effectively treat panic disorder.

Meditation, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques have been found effective in reducing the chances of experiencing another attack. They help calm the mind and relax the muscles. Regularly practicing these exercises and techniques strengthen the body’s relaxation response.

Natural herbs such as bacopin, ginkgo biloba, passion flower, St. John Wort, hyperforin, 5HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), chamomile, rhodiola, are equally effective since they have natural anti-stress properties. In some cases, using these herbs is sufficient enough to combat panic attacks. Many people also react positively using this kind of treatment.

Fresh leaves can be made as tea. Some are also available over-the-counter in oil, tincture, capsule, powder and tea. The best thing about these natural herbs is that they do not carry any side effects as compared to mainstream anti-anxiety and anti depressant prescription medications.