You are going along through the day or at night when suddenly you have a tight chest or pain, short of breath, a little lightheaded and start to feel a bit crazy in your mind with crazy thoughts. The fear is you are having a heart attack, and it is worth getting the GP to give you the once over as soon as you can. However there could be another explanation, you are suffering from a panic attack.

Suzies Panic Attack Site Link

So, what is a panic attack?

Panic attacks are often due to some biological changes in your body at times of stress or anxiety. Maybe your going for a job interview, family traumas, feeling fear and scared inside due to something that has happened recently, fear of crowds or busy places. It is a response of the nervous system to this fear, with some of the following responses:

Palpitations, rapid heart beat, pounding or thumping heart
Chest pain or discomfort
Sweating or chills
Trembling or shaking (inside or out)
Sensations of shortness of breath, smothering, or hard to catch your breath
Paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations)
Feeling of choking or feeling of lumps in the throat
Fear of losing control or going crazy, of derealization (feelings of unreality) or de-personalization (being detached from self)
Fear of dying
Nausea, abdominal discomfort, bloating or indigestion
Feeling lightheaded, faint, dizzy or unsteady
Loss of colour of skin
Muscle pains
Face or head feeling numb, or arms or legs
Flashing vision, weird vision

It can often start with an inability to catch your breath (hyperventilating) and a tight chest feeling. The first time I had these I thought I was having a heart attack and visited my GP the next day. The diagnosis was panic attacks and to breathe into a paper bag slowly to control my breathing.

It is this hyperventilating and the blood sugar being drawn away from the brain to your major muscles (your body going into fight or flight mode as in times of fear) which seems to trigger the craziness, then as you begin to take deeper breaths, this acts to decrease carbon dioxide levels in the blood.

Suzies Panic Attack Site Link

You may be left feeling shaky and tired afterwards due to these body reactions, this is normal.

Prevention

When you are hyperventilating, breathing in and out of a brown paper bag very slowly will help to slow the breathing down. Try to calm yourself or distract yourself to take your mind away from the fear triggering this. Go for a short walk or burn some energy with a little exercise can help. These are short term responses, designed to help with an immediate attack, and you should also look at longer term actions and to help with this I have included a link below (in blue)that has been designed to help you with this and they have been dealing with panic attack sufferers successfully for the past 6 years.

So help yourself put a stop to the suffering and go take a look, it could be the start of a new happier future for you!