If you have ever experienced a panic attack, there is no doubt in your mind how debilitating this condition could be. Luckily however, there are many ways to cope and rid yourself of this anxiety disorder. One of the first steps is to understand what exactly is going on with your physical symptoms. Once the unfounded fears that are often associated to these symptoms are demystified, their intensity and frequency seem to slowly dissipate. At the very least, the fear brought on by these symptoms is no longer holding you hostage.
In this article, we will examine three of the most common symptoms of a panic attack:
- Heart palpitations
Difficulty breathing/lump in the throat
Dizziness
Before talking about these symptoms, it is important to explain what a panic attack really is. In 1929, Walter Cannon first described the acute stress response. In this response, a perceived threat activates the sympathetic nervous system priming an animal to either fight or flee. Today we refer to this process as the fight or flight response. Some of the physiologic effects of this response include: acceleration of the heart and lung action; paling or flushing; constriction of blood vessels in various parts of the body; dilation of blood vessels for muscles; dilation of pupil; loss of hearing; loss of peripheral vision; shaking. These changes in our bodies allow us to efficiently fight or flee the danger we have perceived. In fact, many of these reactions are responsible for the unpleasant reported while experiencing a panic attack.
Heart palpitations: During a panic attack, the heart seems to be racing and out of control. Palpitations can be felt through your chest evoking ideas that you are having a heart attack or that something is very wrong with your heart. In fact, palpitations from a panic attack are responsible for far too many visits to the emergency room. With the long waiting periods in certain hospitals, by the time you actually see a doctor, the symptoms have had time to go away. What then is actually going on? The heart is getting ready to pump enough blood to various parts of the body to enter the fight or flight mode: whether it is to get enough blood in your legs to run, or to fight your way out of danger. When you are having these symptoms and thinking you are having a heart attack, try moving around a little. You might notice that moving around might actually reduce the symptoms a little bit. Burning off the extra adrenalin, If it were indeed a real heart attack, movement (or effort) would make the pain increase instead of decrease.
Difficulty breathing/lump in the throat & Dizziness: When we are experiencing a panic attack, our muscles tense up. Some of this tensing can often be felt in the throat and leave us with impression that there is a lump in our throat. Furthermore, one of the most common symptoms of a panic attack is shallow breathing (or hyperventilation). Some of the sensations common to hyperventilation include dizziness and a feeling that we are having difficulty breathing. All this because are breathing in too much oxygen.
A panic attack (or panic disorder) is basically sensitivity to certain stimuli (obvious or not) that triggers the fight or flight response: a very normal reaction to perceived danger. The best way to describe this is to make an analogy with a car alarm. Most car alarms are set to go off when a door, window, or trunk is being manipulated or tampered with. However, sometimes some alarms can become too sensitive and can go off because of a strong wind and need to be readjusted. Can the oversensitivity of someone’s fight or flight response be reset? The answer is yes, and quite successfully too.
Of course there are traditional cognitive therapies, medications and a combination of the two. A quick way to diminish the intensity of these symptoms are to illicit the body’s natural relaxation response. When you feel a panic attack coming on, one way to illicit the relaxation response is to take at least three deep slow breaths. Allocate all of your concentration on your deep breathing. As you inhale slowly, make sure your belly rises as this is an indication of proper deep breathing. If your chest is rising instead of your belly, the breathing is probably shallow and closer to hyperventilation. As you exhale, take a second or two longer to make sure you empty your breath fully before inhaling again.
Taking little breaks during the day to take a few deep slow breaths like this can go a long way to make you feel more relaxed throughout the day. Try taking three or four breaks throughout your day for five minutes of deep breathing. It just might be what your body needs.