What are Anxiety and panic attacks all about?
Practically everyone has suffered from panic or anxiety at some time or other. It is a perfectly normal reaction in certain circumstances. After a initial feeling of panic of anxiety we quickly bring our feelings under control and continue with our lives.

However, for an increasing number of people panic and anxiety attacks are not an occasional event but an ongoing condition which they cannot control. Often the only answer is to seek some kind of help.

What are the symptoms of a panic attack?

They can vary from person to person but an attack will usually involve some of the following symptoms.

1.    Palpitations and a noticeable thumping of the heart and the pulse rate can   rise considerably.
2.    Difficulty in breathing with a shortness of breath. It is not uncommon for the sufferer to feel chest pains or to get a choking feeling.
3.    A tingling feeling in the extremities.
4.    Sweating, nausea, dizziness, trembling and or shaking.
5.    Cold chills or hot flushes.
6.    Feelings of a loss of control.
7.    Fear of dying.

Each person is different and they will not suffer all the above symptoms but a combination of some of them.
Panic attacks can start to dominate the sufferers’ life and they can easily turn a formally outgoing, happy person into someone who becomes withdrawn and introspective. For some people an attack can be an almost daily event whilst for others they can have long panic free periods but then the attacks can return unexpectedly.

The worst piece of advice that can be given to a panic attack sufferer is to tell them “to get a grip”. If someone is suffering a panic attack they may well be over breathing (hyperventilation) and this reduces the carbon dioxide in the blood. The simple cure is to get the sufferer to breath into a paper bag and this helps to restore the, carbon dioxide level and the will quickly return to normal breathing.

With as many as one in twenty of the population suffering from panic or anxiety attacks it is becoming a growing problem in modern society.

What is Anxiety?