Archive for the ‘Anxiety’ Category

You know well. The sweaty palms, the rapid heartbeat, the rapid eye movement, the shallow breathing. I could list many other effects of anxiety, but why bother? The question is: would you like to have the opportunity to get rid of anxiety for good? Most people will answer the question with a resounding yes. The most obvious solution to control these types of attacks is to start taking prescription drugs. However, for some people, dependency on a drug to get through each day is not an option. Therefore, this article contains some tips that may help you banish your anxiety in a drug free manner.

The following tips can be helpful for people who want to get rid of anxiety:

• Take your vitamins. Did you know that the levels of Vitamin B and calcium that are present in your system have an effect on anxiety? If these levels are low, you may be more prone to an attack.
• Avoid caffeine and other stimulants. Even though you may enjoy the lift you get from these type of things, they can actually increase the amount of adrenaline in our systems. This can trigger anxiety. In order to get rid of anxiety, avoid them. If you are addicted, then work on reducing your intake until you can avoid it altogether.
• Exercise on a regular basis. You hear this over and over, but it is true. There are countless benefits to be had from engaging in exercise routinely. It can effectively reduce stress and anxiety levels.
• Avoid smoking. Studies have shown that people who smoke are more prone to suffering from anxiety attacks.
• Eat a healthy, balanced diet at regular intervals throughout the day. Amazingly enough, getting the proper nutrition at regular intervals can help balance your system and combat anxiety issues.

If you choose to take advantage of the above tips, you may likely see a change in your anxiety and stress levels. Of course, if you still continue to experience troubling or disabling symptoms, you may want to take your treatment to the next level. Consider natural cures as a method to get rid of anxiety.

For first time panic attack sufferers, the experience of these attacks could easily be mistaken for that of a heart attack or a stroke. No doubt both are terrifying, extremely uncomfortable and highly distressing situations to be in. Thousands rush to emergency rooms all across the country only to be told later that their hearts are indeed in perfect working condition.

Some people call this an anxiety heart attack, but the correct term is panic or anxiety attack. Anxiety attacks and heart attacks have surprisingly similar symptoms but both are quite different from each other. So how do you tell the difference between a heart attack and a panic/anxiety attack? Here is some helpful information:

o    During an anxiety attack, pain does not usually follow the rapid heartbeat symptom. Heart attacks, on the other hand, will have pain accompanying the rapid heartbeat symptom.

o    These attacks will have the sensation of numbness on the left shoulder and arm (or on one side of the body, in general). This would not be present in an anxiety attack.

o    Sudden trouble seeing (in one or both eyes) is present in a stroke but not in an anxiety or panic attack.

o    Sudden loss of responsiveness is observed during cardiac arrest, while a person undergoing panic attacks is still actually capable of staying alert and responsive.

o    Fingertips or fingernails that have turned a bluish-color are not symptoms of panic/anxiety attacks.

Anxiety heart attack symptoms that are commonly mistaken for a heart attack includes:

o    Rapid or Increased Heart rate, dizziness, lightheadedness and breaking-out in cold sweats.

o    Tightening, discomfort or pain in the chest area or stomach.

o    Rapid breathing or shortness of breathes, or the sensation that one is unable to breathe.

If you are unsure that what you are experiencing is an anxiety heart attack or an actual heat attack, stroke, or cardiac arrest then do not hesitate to call for emergency assistance immediately. A panic or anxiety attack will be gone in about 10 minutes but you do not want to waste precious minutes deciding if it is something else.

Panic attacks can strike at any point in your life, even if you´ve never experienced them before. 

It´s not like you have a get out of jail free card if you make it to 18, 30 or even 50 without encountering a panic attack. It depends on the specific triggering events that happen in your life as well as your predisposition to anxiety.

For many young people, high school and college are a particularly stressful time and therefore a time of panic attacks. Studying for the SAT´s, taking achievement tests, applying to college, even figuring out your prom date can all be sources of great strain.

There is so much pressure placed on young people today and many kids push themselves too hard trying to please themselves, their parents and others, that significant anxiety, even panic attacks result. 

If you are experiencing panic attacks or high levels of anxiety, it´s certainly not the end of the world. When you´re young, it can sometimes feel like problems take on gigantic size proportions.

Many young people don´t have sufficient tools or knowledge to cope with these problems and worry in the extreme that they are crazy, will be unable to accomplish their goals or lead a horrible life. None of these things are true and your anxiety problem, while certainly an issue that needs to be dealt with, is not the end of your dreams or happiness. 

There are many concrete ways to alleviate some of your anxiety. The first step is often a simple understanding that you are not alone. You would be surprised at how many people around you are suffering from the same problem.

“Hi, I have panic attacks” isn´t a conversation starter, so you don´t normally realize how frequent an occurrence it is. Millions of Americans suffer from anxiety problems and many of these issues start early on in life in childhood and young adulthood. 

My own anxiety started early in life and while I was able to eventually find the help and answers I needed, I found it hard to confide in my friends about it. After all, it didn´t seem very manly to say “by the way, I have anxiety and sometimes I find certain situations overwhelming”. I could just imagine finding a rock at that moment and crawling under it.

Back then, secrecy seemed to be the norm when it came to dealing with problems. I think today´s world is full of more knowledgeable people who know to respond to anxiety sufferers. The very fact that so much information is so readily available on the internet is a positive sign.

Doctors are able to diagnose the problem more efficiently and effectively. There are numerous treatments, techniques and books all designed to help people suffering from anxiety. It´s important not to suffer alone. 

You´re not alone, there are millions of people facing this challenge right along side you and finding ways to effectively control or eliminate their problem. Confide in someone and start getting the help and support you need to confront your anxiety and eliminate it.    

Panic anxiety attack currently affects about 40 million Americans, with many of them not really knowing what is wrong with them. Anxiety panic attack is that very sudden, discrete period of intense anxiety which often mounts physiological arousal of fear, stomach problem and unnecessary discomfort. Some its symptoms includes but are not limited to trembling, light-headedness, tingling sensation, shortness of breath, chest pain or chest tightness, hot flashes, cold flashes, feeling of burning sensation especially on the face and neck area, nausea, dizziness, sweating and so on.

Step 1

The first step to take towards the effective cure of your anxiety panic attack is to actually find out if what you are experiencing is panic anxiety attack. The reason is that some of its symptoms are common to symptoms experienced by someone who is suffering from mental disorder and heart attack. Ascertaining that someone is suffering from panic attack would go a long way in helping the victim to actual seek effective ways to address it.

Step 2

The second line of action which is about the most effective step that someone can actually take in a bid to effectively cure his anxiety panic attack and to forever stop it from coming back is to seek cognitive behavioral therapy. This therapy is structured in such a way that its first part is largely informational; a very great number of people have been helped to cure and prevent panic anxiety attack from ever re-occurring in their lives by simply making them to understand what panic attack truly is and how many other people are suffering from it.

The mere fact that a sufferer has been told he is not suffering from a mental disorder or heart attack is enough to shoot up his morale and position his mindset in such a way that he will positively respond to the next phase of the therapy. Cognitive restructuring i.e. changing one’s way of thinking helps people replace those thoughts with more realistic, positive ways of viewing the attacks. After which you will be shown effective ways of actually stopping and preventing these ugly and embarrassing episodes from ever showing up in your life again.

Step 3

The last step would obviously be taking action, your bouts of anxiety and panic attacks can never be stopped and or prevented if you do not work towards that direction. There are many effective cognitive therapy resources online and with just a token you can acquire any them and rid yourself of such embarrassing situations.

There are a variety of reasons that can trigger anxiety. Some reasons might be job-related such as a dreadful boss, a fear of losing your job, an important presentation. Other reasons might be more private like outstanding bills, a troublesome child, an in poor health parent or a mortgage. Sometimes, anxiety can even come from the unfamiliar. Not knowing what direction to take after school, for instance, can bring about anxiety. Some causes of anxiety can even be psychological – they can hark back from childhood traumas or bad experiences. There are lots of things that can trigger anxiety, but we can classify them in two main categories: the things we are uncertain of and the things we value.

Such as all sicknesses, anxiety that results in anxiety attacks can be treated or even prevented. You can get rid of or minimize your anxiety and thus keep away from further complications. One way of doing this is by drowning yourself in the stressful situation. For instance: visualize that you are about to make a critical presentation at work. Instead of doing research and doing your job well by preparing the required things for your presentation, you sit around fidgeting. You envisage how you will not succeed and already sense the worst possible outcome. When you go home, you imagine yourself making a con out of yourself instead of decompressing. These depressing thoughts and activities are a great source of anxiety panic attacks. The important thing is to keep your thoughts happy and constructive.

Another cause of anxiety attacks is the lack of rest. People need sleep in order to function properly. Sitting up all night will do nothing for your nerves or for whatever it is you are worrying about – it will simply make it worse. Your body necessitates sleep to recover and deal with stress. Staying up all night will in lots of cases not figure out what you worry about. To contrary, it will only make it worse. You require enough rest to cope with stress and recover. Losing rest will affect you emotionally and even physically. For example, lack of sleep causes an increase of your blood pressure and can even cause you to hallucinate. On this note, keep away from coffee. Caffeine beverages will keep you up and boost your nervousness.

Some other source of anxiety attacks is lack of oxygen. When a person is having a panic attack, he or she inclines to keep her breath, thus launching his or her body into a state of agitation or shock: the lungs tighten; the hands get cold, and so on. When you sense, you are about to have a panic attack, go outside for a while. Take a breather and walk in the open air. Drink water. But, for safety purposes, be sure to do all these with someone.

Ask your doctor when you have recurrent anxiety attacks. The key thing is to not keep it to yourself. Tell someone you trust about it. And if you have to, get specialized help. One of the worst anxiety attacks reasons is ignoring the stress. You are not by yourself; every human being has anxieties to battle with in life.

Panic is acute, short-lived, extreme anxiety with accompanying physical symptoms. Panic attacks cause such symptoms as chest pain, choking, sweating dizziness, nausea and shortness of breathing, fear of going crazy or of losing control, trembling or shaking, detachment from environment. However, panic attacks differ from panic disorders. Panic disorder is diagnosed when people experience at least two unprovoked and unexpected panic attacks. The frequency of attacks can vary greatly. Some people have weekly or even daily attacks that occur for months, whereas others have several daily attacks followed by weeks or months without attacks. When people experience them as part of panic disorders, frequently anticipate and worry about another attack-a condition called anticipatory anxiety.

Do you have an anxiety disorder?

If you identify with several of the following signs, you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder.

1. Are you constantly tense, worried, or on edge?
2. Are you plagued by fears that you know are irrational?
3. Do you believe that something bad will happen if certain things are not done in a certain way?
4. Do you avoid everyday situations or activities because they make you anxious?

The more conventional treatments for panic and anxiety disorders include a wide variety of medications. Medications may be used in the short-term to relieve severe panic and anxiety symptoms so that other forms of therapy can be pursued. Drugs that are used to treat panic and anxiety disorders include antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs such as benzodiazepines. Most types of anti-depressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, selective serotonin inhibitors, and serotonin inhibitors are effective.

When a drug is effective, it prevents or greatly reduces the number of panic and anxiety attacks. A drug may have to be taken for a long time because panic and anxiety attacks often return once the drug is stopped. The next step is to consult with a therapist who has experience treating anxiety disorders. The therapist will work with you to determine the cause and type of your anxiety disorder and devise a course of treatment. People with panic and anxiety disorders are more receptive to treatment if they understand that the disorder involves both physical and psychological processes and that treatment must address both. Drug therapy and treatment can only help you reduce symptoms and take back control of your life, not a cure for this bothersome condition.

It is very important to understand panic attacks most especially if you have a reputation where losing control should be out of the scene. Anxiety attacks can always just occur even if you were never subjected to anxiety attacks when you were still a child. It may attack you without a notice while you are driving or working.

The cause of anxiety or anxiety attack does not really matter when it occurs. Whether the anxiety attack is due to health problems such as depression or lack of sleep, or it is set off by stress and worries, what is more important is to know how to control the situation when it occurs. You should at least learn how to control the sensations you are feeling in your body and defy the thought or reasons that aggravated your panic attack.

When you are in a situation when you feel that all of a sudden you are running out of air or having an extreme pain in your chest without reason, then first thing that you should do is to oblige yourself to relax. Because some people do not actually understand anxiety attacks and how they work, they end up trying to “escape” the situation yet they cannot because their body does not obey them and just cannot move from the harmful situation.

In the ideal anxiety attack situations, you should not try to escape from the “causes” of anxiety attacks. These are usually thoughts that are just overacted. Instead, you should try to relax by closing your eyes, and recover your normal breathing pace, and try to dissect what made you anxious in the first place. If it s the intolerable thought of being present in a crowd strangers where you feel alone and helpless, then think about how other people who have the same position as you do and think. Like you, they also do not know anyone that surrounds you at that very moment and yet they are totally fine. Indeed the feeling of being alone and helpless is really not easy and may also cause you total fear. However, you will eventually realize that you are just around fellow strangers who are just uncertain as you are and who are just trying to live their lives. They will not bring you harm because they do not really care about your presence of the same moment.

As mentioned earlier, anxiety attacks are sometimes the results of plenty of things such as stress, lack of sleep, unhealthy diets, and bad experiences in the past. If your anxiety attacks are encouraged by idealistic fear related to a specific object, event or place, then you should try to consult a therapist. She can help you administer behaviour related treatments that may help you conquer your fears.

If you have bad memories and then you suspect that your anxiety attacks are caused by your not so healthy lifestyle, then you should make a change and try to live a healthy life. Take note that your brain is also an organ, and when it notices chemical imbalances that cause you to think illogical thoughts, it only means that you are not properly taking care of yourself.

Anxiety and panic attacks occur when considerable amounts of stress and anxiety leave you unable to clearly focus, and function properly. In extreme cases; this stress can leave you with medical problems.

If you’re unfortunate enough, to suffer from extreme anxiety, and panic attacks then you may have trouble breathing. Many people have reported having chest pains, and their heart rates have accelerated to very dangerous levels.

Some attacks will look like, and may even feel like a heart attack. Quite often on lookers will call for medical help thinking that the sufferer is having a heart attack. Only professionals will be able to tell the difference between heart and panic attacks, and they will be happy to help with treatment. Listen to what they recommend to you. Medical staff will give you tips on calming down, encouraging you to practise slow breathing to promote relaxation. In the most extreme cases they could also administer oxygen or anti depressant medication that’s available to help suffers cope with anxiety and panic attacks.

So what triggers anxiety and panic attacks?

These attacks can be triggered by many things, and affect different people in different ways and levels. For some the condition can affect their lives so seriously that they may be unable to leave the house, and need to take anti depressant tablets, in order to go about their daily routine.

This problem can seriously affect the lives of suffers, this is why most people will be put in touch with a psychiatrist that will be able to help them cope with the anxiety and panic attacks. Nowadays a lot of therapists strongly recommend relaxation techniques such as slow breathing using a paper bag to calm your nerves. Professionals can help you understand when an attack is coming, so you may be able to stop one in its tracks

Another great way to help you get rid of attacks is by working out the underlying cause of the stress that builds up to them. Some suffers report panicking as they leave the comfort zone of their house, they may panic in crowds or when they believe others are watching them.

Insecurities mixed with phobias or high level worries tend to lead to anxiety or panic attacks. The best way to try and cope with the problem is to slowly try to overcome the worrying stage. Leave home briefly with others for a walk around the block, gradually trying to expand the distance, and lessen the number in the group. Quite often walking a dog can be enough comfort to cover the feeling of being alone.

Another place to concentrate on when trying to cope with anxiety and panic attacks is your personal focus on life. Do you stress and worry easily before you’ve even tried leaving home? – As difficult as it sounds you need to accept that life can be hard, and stressing over everything won’t help. If you leave home in a high state of anxiety it’s a short step to a panic or anxiety attack, especially if you’re stressing about the attack you believe is imminent.

If you can change your frame of mind to a positive one, eventually you’ll be able to cope better in the outside world. Easy to say, but hard to do of course. Try with the help of both friends, family and professionals and it’s a problem you should be able to overcome. Obviously they’ll be struggle along the way, but it could be the difference between a life time of suffering, and a shorter period of hard work.

Many people believe that stress and anxiety are the same. But this is definitely not the case. Experiencing stress and having an actual anxiety attack are quite different. So what are the differences between the two?

Stress is caused from pressure that we experience in our day to day lives. We can experience stress at work, at home or just by keeping company with certain people. When the body experiences stress, the pressure that we are feeling in our mind and body causes adrenaline to be released and our blood pressure to rise. There is also a release of the hormone that causes one to be depressed.

Stress can be caused by many different things. Being able to identify what may be causing you stress is the first step in figuring out how to deal with stress. Pressures involving family, work, children and significant others may cause a great deal of stress. Knowing the causes helps to deal with the stress as it arises.

Stress is caused by something existing. Any situation, thought or experience that makes us feel frustrated, upset, nervous or even anxious can cause a person to be stressed. A person who is under lots of stress can feel anxiety, but this anxiety will normally go away when the cause of the stress is eliminated. During stressful situations, a person can still maintain control.

It is important to note that stress can, in fact, lead to anxiety in people. When stress builds up over time, it can take a toll on both your physical and mental health. If one allows stress to build, they can and will eventually feel as if they have lost control. This can lead to which can lead to extreme worry and anxiety and depression.

During a panic and anxiety attack, a person is consumed with the emotion of fear. This intense feeling of fear is often accompanied by worry and apprehension which may make a person feel jittery, dizzy and may even cause physical pain such as a headache or chest pains. A person having an anxiety attack has an intense feeling of unease. The feeling continues to intensify until the person being affected has a full blown panic attack.

A panic attack will generally last just a few minutes, even though the person experiencing the attack may feel as if it going on for much longer. A person who is experiencing a panic attack may have them frequently, but the actual attack only lasts a very short while. The feeling of being stressed, however, can last for days, weeks, months and even years.

While the cause of stress is usually known, the overwhelming feeling of anxiety that causes panic disorder is not always known or easily recognized. That is the major difference between the two.

Symptoms of anxiety disorder are experienced by most children. Researchers have found a correlation between age, gender, family history, and indications of anxiety problems. The various disorders a child might be diagnosed with seem to correspond to specific age groupings. In other words, younger children tend to be more susceptible to separation anxiety, while children of middle school age are more likely to show signs of social anxiety.

Girls tend to have cases of anxiety more than boys do, and this pattern continues into adulthood. Anxiety tends to be more prevalent in women. There are also family links to anxiety. Children whose parent or parents suffer from anxiety have a much greater chance of suffering from anxiety themselves.

So what do parents look for to determine if they need to seek medical assistance? Pay careful attention to how your child is doing at school. Do they just need a tutor to help with a subject they do not understand, or do is there an underlying problem causing them to struggle in school. How are things going at home? Does the child cooperate with family members or tend to go off by themselves for long periods of time?

How long do the symptoms last? Are they short-lived or do they seem to go on for hours or days at a time? Dealing with these children can be very trying for parents, but it’s important to remain patient and allow the child to communicate at his own pace. Trying to force a child to talk may cause them to recede even further.

Unfortunately, an additional consequence of one family member going through the difficulties of an anxiety disorder is that all of the family members are affected. It’s not uncommon for another child to act out in order to get some of the attention parents may be directing toward the child with the disorder. This only serves to complicate matters and is another indication that professional help may be required.

One of the most important things a parent can do is to not discredit the child’s complaints. Don’t just sweep them under the rug. Some children do have a need for attention and keep pestering their parents for whatever interaction they can get. Be sure you are not confusing that for a child’s unspoken cry for help. Listen carefully to what your child is saying, or not saying.

Documenting your observations can be very beneficial if you do end up taking your child to a therapist. Anxiety disorders in children are a cause for concern, but parents can make a huge difference in how well their child recovers.