Anxiety Panic Attack Symptoms
A Personal Experience

     This is an article that I feel strongly about.  Everyone should be aware of the symptoms of an anxiety or panic attack.  I remember my first one. 

     I noticed my chest was getting a little tight and it happened to be while I was on a walk, away from the house. I noticed my heart began racing. I was walking on level ground, but it was getting hard to catch my breath, like I’d been exercising really hard.

     Then pretty soon your mind kicks into high gear and the first thing it thinks of is, “I’m having a heart attack!”  Your chest gets tighter & you find yourself gulping for air & it’s like you just can’t get enough air.  The more gulping of air you do, the more you start of hyperventilate.   

     You start looking around desperately for somewhere to sit down, something to steady your balance & you become convinced that you are not going to get enough air and you might die out here on this walking path all by yourself. 

     Now that pretty well describes my first panic attack.  Obviously I was not having a heart attack and I was surviving my first panic/anxiety attack.   

     I began to do some research on the subject of anxiety or panic attacks and their symptoms.  I found that thousands of people around the world suffer regular episodes of panic or anxiety.   

     The biggest, number one thing I want to get across to people.  That as debilitating & absolutely frightening as the symptoms of an anxiety attack can be, you really are in no danger of dying. 

     The more studying I did, the more I found the symptoms that my body was experiencing were really a representation of what my mind was thinking.   

     Or actually, what it believed about the situation I found myself in.  The doctors have a term for it, “Fight or Flight”.   

     As you’ve probably come to realize, the symptoms I described in my experience closely parallel much more serious health conditions & these attacks really mimic a heart attack or stroke.   

     The scariest thing of all, it’s almost impossible for your brain to sort out whether you’re having a heart attack or a panic attack.   

     What are the signs & symptoms physically attacking your body, it’s important to remember them.  If you’ve ever had one, you’ll remember – this gasping for air, the breathlessness, the loss of balance, dizziness, breaking out in a cold sweat, you’re whole body trembling  & the pressure as your chest continues to tighten, 

     But still you must gain control of your mind no matter how severe it is.  You need to convince yourself you’re not going to die.   

     You have to train yourself to put it in your mind that as serious as this appears, it’s just a panic attack and you’re not dying. 

     Now the description & advice that I’ve given here by no means diminishes the seriousness of the attacks.  

     You must seek medical attention & for panic disorder diagnosis and treatment, because the next time it may be a heart attack.   

     You need to know the difference between anxiety panic attack symptoms and something that something that may be far more serious.

     By Clint King - as originally published on EzineArticles.com