Because many panic attack symptoms are unknown, misunderstood, or overlooked, people living with a panic disorder do not recognize them. For many panic disorders, symptoms will begin slowly and with low intensity so it would be easy for someone to mistake them for some other type of problem or look at them as just a reaction to normal situations. However, it is not until the symptoms broaden, become more intense, and last longer that people realize something more serious is going on.
In general, panic attack symptoms include a broad list, as shown below:
- Heart palpitations
- Excessive sweating or feeling weak or dizzy
- Nausea
- Shortness of Breath
- Tightening of the chest or actual chest pain
- Numbness or tingling of the hands
- Feeling chilled or flushed
- Hot flashes or chills
- Disorientation or confusion
- Sense of doom, loss of control, or even impending death
To separate normal worry and fear that comes along with various life situations and experiences from actual panic attacks, it is important to understand the symptoms, as well as what they do to a person’s mind and body. Remember, everyone feels overwhelmed, which is part of life but when anxiety, fear, and a sense of panic stretches beyond “normal”, people should be question whether the things they are feeling and thinking are actually okay or real panic attack symptoms.
For the individual that has frequent and unexpected panic attack symptons, with no connection to an environment, situation, or experience, or worries excessively after having an attack or has made significant changes to behavior and/or activity after having an attack, it is likely that a panic disorder is the culprit. Once a disorder is suspected, a doctor could provide confirmation.
In addition to the physical panic attack symptoms listed above, emotional and mental symptoms are also common for this type of disorder to include:
- Anticipatory Anxiety – With this, the individual is constantly stressed and uptight waiting for the next panic attack to strike. Often, fear associated with experiencing panic attack symptoms are so overwhelming that it literally becomes disabling. The person would have tight muscles, headaches, stomachaches, confusion, fatigue, and more.
- Phobic Avoidance – At this point, panic attack symptoms have become so frequent and intense that being in social settings, around friends or family, working certain jobs, going to school, driving, traveling, and other environmental and situational problems create fear. Usually, the individual believes that these are the triggers for an attack and that by avoiding them, they regain control, and the attacks disappear.
The bottom line is this – panic disorders and associated panic attack symptoms are serious at any level. Working with a reputable doctor that is an expert in the field of stress and anxiety can help identify the real triggers. Then through cognitive, behavioral, social, interaction, and other forms of therapy, the sufferer can learn how to make adjustments, thereby reclaiming life. This coupled with proper medication to control and prevent panic attack symptoms and the disorder help release the person from the prison in which he/she lived.