Anxiety Attack Symptoms

More than just making you feel a little nervous; an anxiety attack brings with it a sense of foreboding that can negatively impact your activities and relationships.

It has been established that when faced with stressful situations, the body’s normal reaction is to become anxious.  This response to the threat of danger is intended to make you more alert and focused.  As a result, you will be spurred on to solve the problem.  However, cases of intense anxiety that leave you feeling overwhelmed and fearful, are classed as anxiety attacks and have specific symptoms.

Usually when you have an anxiety attack, there is a perceived sense of danger.  In reality the danger is not immediate, but because there is the sense that it is, the brain sends the body an alarm and the body in turn reacts.  This causes you to start having a series of psychological and physical symptoms.       

Anxiety attacks can be triggered by several factors, one of the more common triggers is stress.  Some anxiety attack symptoms can mimic a heart attack. Such symptoms include an accelerated heart rate and palpitations.

When faced with a social situation that requires speaking in public, such as making a marketing presentation at work, or making a sales pitch to a client, some persons have the tendency to get nervous.  For most persons, these feelings will go away and they will feel calm again.  However, this is not the case for some 2 million or more Americans, who suffer from anxiety attacks.  These emotions do not subside but instead, escalate into extreme feelings of panic, dread and fright.  These are all uncontrollable feelings that can lead to other problems.

Persons who suffer from anxiety attacks can also have feelings of self-consciousness and inadequacy.

These emotions are very strong, and persons can become overwhelmed to such an extent, that they choose to avoid all social events where there is likely to be a crowd.  Even a simple trip to the local supermarket can become a very frustrating exercise.  When faced with these situations, anxiety attack sufferers have a strong urge to escape.  If they are unable to do so immediately, they then start to feel physically ill.

The tension and anxiety can also lead to poor sleep patterns.  They are unable to get the restorative sleep they need to function well.  Consequently, they become restless and irritable, and this can affect their performance at work or school as well as their relationships with others.

Other symptoms closely associated with an attack include:

• Profuse sweating

• Trembling hands and knees

• Shortness of breath

• Abdominal discomfort

• Nausea

Depending on the situation, symptoms will vary, but the above reactions have been found to be the most common.  In extreme cases, persons have been known to involuntarily become ‘frozen’ and unable to speak at all.

Anxiety attack symptoms can leave the sufferer feeling both hopeless and helpless, due to their inability to control what is happening to them.  However, it is important for persons to seek help in identifying the triggers, and find relief either through holistic or traditional methods of treatment.


Source : Health Tips 101