The Sensations That Panic Attacks Cause
The Sensations that Panic Attacks Cause
The sensations that panic attacks cause are universally horrid. There is no other way to state this fact. There is the sensation of one’s heart pounding far too fast. The sensation of one’s head screaming a thousand different thoughts that make no sense save for the universal terror they encompass.
There is the overly-sharp appearance of the world, the tingling and numbness of the lips and limbs, the fear that one will embarrass themselves by fainting or falling over, the rapid breathing that still leaves one breathless and the feeling that one is suffocating at the same time. For all their power, these symptoms have one weakness: predictability.
Panic attacks cause a host of sensations that are very similar from one individual to the next. This is because these symptoms are actually rooted in totally normal bodily functions.
These sensations are what happens when a person’s body essentially empowers them to survive the most dire of situations but when there is no dire situation that needs to be survived. This is all the power in the world in the absence of an outlet through which to distribute that power. Understanding this can make the attacks much more tolerable.
Panic attacks cause a sense of breathlessness. This is one of the most terrifying parts of these episodes. The reason for this, however, is not that one cannot breathe but because they are breathing too much. Hyperventilation causes a buildup of oxygen in the blood which is necessary if one is running or fighting.
However, if one is at rest—sitting at their work desk in a raw panic, for instance—this causes there to be an imbalance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the body which causes the feeling of suffocation. Breathing into a paper bag can lessen this effect.
Panic attacks also cause a feeling that something is going horribly wrong with one’s body and, oftentimes, a sense that one is about to die, usually from a heart attack. Checking one’s pulse is a frequent sign that one is having a panic attack. The heart begins beating rapidly due to the presence of adrenaline and other stimulants in the blood.
Like the accelerated breathing, this is a great asset if one needs to outrun a predator but a horrible feeling if one is blindsided by the experience. A strongly and regularly beating heart, incidentally, is the opposite of the symptoms of a heart attack.
Panic attacks cause a very overwhelming mental distress. This is characterized by racing thoughts. Oftentimes, it is a race to determine the origin of the panic itself, thus all the worry about a heart attack, a stroke, a collapsed lung, and so forth.
Recognizing the progression of these symptoms of these attacks can reduce them from terror-inducing to wholly manageable. Once one understands that it’s only a panic attack and that, aside from the mental distress, that it’s entirely harmless one is on the road to recovery from anxiety problems
