What are the symptoms of panic disorders?
Angela Rogers
November 28, 2007
Common symptoms of panic disorders include a feeling of panic, palpitations (thumping sensation and awareness of the heart beats), pain in the chest, difficulty in, or rapid breathing and a feeling of dizziness or weakness. Most people describe panic as a strange, weird or ghostly feeling as if something very bad is going to happen.
It is important to remember that you may not always be able to identify the cause of fear and nervousness or the consequences of the event you dread. If you are unable to identify the cause, you are likely to become more desperate and feel that you should do "something" to protect yourself. It may however be difficult to define what this "something" is.
Detailed below are the main symptoms of panic disorders.
Chest pain: Chest pain due to anxiety is often confused with chest pain due to heart attack or angina. There are four major differences between chest pain due to heart problems and anxiety. The chest pain due to anxiety:
1. Lasts only for a few seconds at a time but may repeat every few minutes or hours;
2. Is not related to exercise or physical exertion;
3. Can occur even at rest; and
4. Does not go away when you stop the physical activity you may be doing when the chest pain starts.
Difficulty in breathing: During an attack of panic, you may begin to breathe more rapidly and more deeply because of the fear that you are inhaling less air. You may also have a strong urge to go out and inhale more air. If the rapid and deep breathing continues for a long time, there may be loss of large amount of carbon dioxide. This imbalance in carbon dioxide in the body is likely to produce additional symptoms such as numbness or tingling in the toes, feet or face, light-headedness and giddiness.
Other symptoms: Some people with anxiety may complain of sensation of heat on the face, sweating, goose pimples and trembling. In addition, there may be pain or hollow butterfly like fluttering feeling in the stomach. During a panic attack, you may be unable to act or think intelligently and as a result feel as if your mind is clouded or confused.
It is important to remember that you may not always be able to identify the cause of fear and nervousness or the consequences of the event you dread. If you are unable to identify the cause, you are likely to become more desperate and feel that you should do "something" to protect yourself. It may however be difficult to define what this "something" is.
Detailed below are the main symptoms of panic disorders.
Chest pain: Chest pain due to anxiety is often confused with chest pain due to heart attack or angina. There are four major differences between chest pain due to heart problems and anxiety. The chest pain due to anxiety:
1. Lasts only for a few seconds at a time but may repeat every few minutes or hours;
2. Is not related to exercise or physical exertion;
3. Can occur even at rest; and
4. Does not go away when you stop the physical activity you may be doing when the chest pain starts.
Difficulty in breathing: During an attack of panic, you may begin to breathe more rapidly and more deeply because of the fear that you are inhaling less air. You may also have a strong urge to go out and inhale more air. If the rapid and deep breathing continues for a long time, there may be loss of large amount of carbon dioxide. This imbalance in carbon dioxide in the body is likely to produce additional symptoms such as numbness or tingling in the toes, feet or face, light-headedness and giddiness.
Other symptoms: Some people with anxiety may complain of sensation of heat on the face, sweating, goose pimples and trembling. In addition, there may be pain or hollow butterfly like fluttering feeling in the stomach. During a panic attack, you may be unable to act or think intelligently and as a result feel as if your mind is clouded or confused.
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