Anxiety/Panic Disorder

Panic disorder happens when a person has an uncomfortable fear or anxiety that happens suddenly and often without any warning. Everyone feels worried, anxious or nervous sometime, but it should not get in the way of your daily life or make you feel overwhelmed. The attacks are called panic or anxiety attack. They can last for a few minutes to a few hours. You may have them once in awhile or quite often. Many times the reason for the attacks is not known right away.

You may have physical symptoms and/or emotional symptoms.

Physical symptoms may include:

• Shaking, twitching, or trembling
• Muscle tension, aches, or soreness
• Restlessness
• Tired
• Difficulty sleeping
• Hard time to get your breath
• Fast heartbeat
• Sweating or cold, clammy hands

Emotional symptoms:

• Feeling of being on edge
• Worrying too much
• A fear that something bad is going to happen
• Hard time to concentrate
• Extreme startle response
• Cranky, agitated
• Always sad

Anxiety because of a certain reason or fear can cause all of the symptoms above, but they last a short time and go away when the problem is fixed. This is a normal reaction.

An anxiety disorder develops when these symptoms happen when there is no known cause.

Treatment:

Here are some things that may help:

• Recognize and accept how you react to certain fears or situations.
• Look after your body by:  exercise or get a massage to help with tension, use relaxation techniques, get enough sleep, avoid alcohol, caffeine, chocolate and nicotine because they cause more anxiety.
• Exercise your mind by doing something that you like to do. Plan what you are going to do each day, because having too much or too little to do can add to your anxiety.
• Write down how you feel. Talk about your fears with a person you know well and will listen.
• Get involved doing things with others. Being alone can make things seem like they are worse than they are.
• Learn more about dealing with anxiety by reading or talking to a professional therapist.

Go see your doctor or return to the Emergency Department IF:

• Anxiety gets in the way of the things you normally do every day.
• Your symptoms are severe and 1 week of home treatment has not helped.
• You have had sudden, really bad attacks of anxiety or fear with shaking, sweating without any reason.
• Intense fears of everyday things or situations get in the way of daily activities.
• You have nightmares or flashbacks to bad things that have happened to you.
• You keep repeating the same activity over and over or are compulsive (very strong feelings, needs that you cannot control) about everyday activities.