Panic Attacks

Are you hitting the panic button too often? Just a few days ago when you got late for that meeting, were you feeling as if you will lose your heart beats? That means you are panic stricken. Don’t panic, know more about panic attacks and…..

Do you break out in rash spots when your boss calls you urgently? Do you get sweat bullets thinking about going for an interview? Do you have sudden bouts of dizziness, and you don’t know why? Read on, and you will have all your queries (with regard to your panic attacks) answered.

What are panic attacks?

Simple. When you are attacked by panic it’s called panic attack. And when that happens, you know not what to do, your mind and body are not in sync with each other, you feel as if you are going crazy, there is an onset of severe anxiety, your heart beats fast, you have trouble breathing, and you feel that something wrong is going to happen. In medical terms, a panic attack can be termed as a response SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System).

What are the symptoms?

The most common symptoms may include:

• Sweating
• Breathlessness
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Palpitations
• Choking sensations
• Itching
• Chest pain
• Nausea
• Stomach pains
• Hyperventilation
• Tingling or numbness in the hands, face, feet or mouth (paresthesia)
• Trembling
• Exhaustion
• Physical debility
• Fear of death

What are the causes?

There can be a whole host of causes of panic attacks. Some of these are discussed as under:

• Heredity. Panic disorder is often inherited from parents.
• Cumulative stress
• Anxiety
• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Hypoglycemia
• Hyperthyroidism
• Deficiency of Vitamin B
• Phobias
• Loss of near and dear one


What are the medications?

Panic attacks should be controlled via various relaxation techniques and counseling. However, in many cases medication also needs to be used to help the patient calm down.
Some of the common drugs used for controlling panic attacks include:
• Lorazepam
• Alprazolam
• Clonazepam

Although these drugs are reckoned to be really effective, they are not the best option.

So, doctors prefer prescribing an antidepressant (usually an SSRI) like:

• Paroxetine
• Sertraline
• Fluvoxamine
• Fluoxetine
• Venlafaxine

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is another good option. This includes Interoceptive Desensitization that aims at desensitizing the patient from the panic attack symptoms. Interoceptive Desensization is quite effective in reducing the intensity as well as the frequency of panic attacks. According to a report by Barlow & Craske, “87% of patients who participated in the two of the four Interoceptive Desensitization treatments, had got rid of their panics by the end of the treatment.”