Many trips to the ER could be avoided if people knew when they were having panic attacks. The issue is that the physical symptoms of a panic attack are so frightening that they appear to be life-threatening even when they aren't.
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The fact that it can catch up with you at any time and place is cause for concern, especially when you notice an unusually tight squeezing sensation in your chest, leaving you feeling light-headed and your heart pounding so hard it feels like it's about to rip out of your ribs. If checked at that time, one's pulse rate could easily exceed 100 beats per minute.
It's worth noting that fear causes more symptoms. You'd be sweating profusely, your arms would be heavy, and your head would hurt like hell. Breathing becomes shallower and faster, and the mouth becomes drier than usual. Even your bowels and bladder would begin to send distress signals. You might even have a strong desire to sit or lie down.
What's going on? You must be dying, right? Nope! at least not yet! In most cases, it's just the body's stress response at work. The survival instinct in your internal or external environment had triggered this extreme desire to fight, flee, or collapse.
It could be something insignificant, obvious, or unconscious: a smell, a memory, fear, fatigue, or a familiar feeling of vulnerability for being close to death. Claire Weekes, a renowned author and a favorite on the subject, put it that "anxiety is nothing more than over sensitized nerves kept alive by bewilderment and fear." Isn't that a great description?
Claire Weekes' book Hope and Help for Your Nerves is one of the best on the subject. As a result, whenever one feels something happening in their chest, the best way to get past it is to relax.
Rest, rest, rest. However, if you have not previously been diagnosed with anxiety or panic, another important first step you should take is to consult a doctor to ensure it is not a cardiovascular problem, as getting confirmation from a doctor that your heart and circulatory system, in general, are healthy would give you the needed peace of mind you lacked in the first instance that led to your panic attack!
