Do you feel as if you are going crazy, feeling out of control? Does it feels like you are having a heart attack or did someone tell you that you have a serious mental disorder? Relax and don’t worry, you might just be experiencing a panic attack. People may know so little about mental disorders thus sometimes gives out diagnosis that is overboard. People who experience a panic attack may think that they are having a serious mental illness like schizophrenia. Thus we need to know more about what a panic attack really is and what the symptoms are.

How would I know it’s not Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia, a common issue in mental health, brings out fear in a person. This has been known to be a major disorder that is characterized by symptoms that distorts a man’s normal functioning. Such symptoms include the lack of coherence in thoughts and speech, often heard babbling, experiences delusions and strange beliefs, and hallucinations. The development of the disease is gradual and occurs to a smaller portion of the population because it is hereditary. Schizophrenia is not caused by any stressors and usually exhibits mild symptoms throughout their lives. If you are over 25 and have not experienced these symptoms yet, then you have a greater chance of being free from schizophrenia as this disorder usually appears by late teens up to the early 20’s.

Panic attack can be caused by a lot of factors and it is sudden in nature. You can never tell when a person will have attacks. The disorder may be of two types: spontaneous or situational.  The Spontaneous panic attack or un-cued panic attack is not caused by some triggers and they just happen even while sleeping or during relaxation; the Situational panic attack or cued panic attack occurs when anticipating a situation or the person is in the same situation where a previous attack occurred. A person who is having a panic attack may experience the following symptoms:

• Strong and rapid heartbeat
• Sweating
• Shaking or trembling
• Hot flushes or chills
• Dyspnea or smothering
• Chest pain or discomfort
• Feelings of choking
• Abdominal distress and feels like vomiting or stomach upset
• Dizzy feeling and lightheadedness
• Tingling or numbness sensations
• Dry mouth
• Headache
• Have the feelings of unreality and the feeling of being detached to one’s self

Panic symptoms often bring about fear in people. The common fears that are created by panic are the following: loss of control, passing out or fainting, heart attack and disconnectedness.

Loss of Control

In a panic attack, people often believe that they are out of control. They are afraid that they would lose control of their bodily functions that may lead into chaos or they may lose control of their mentality and lose the sense of reality. Oftentimes, people who are afraid of being embarrassed in the public suffer from this kind of fear. Losing control may be ranging from bumping your car to someone you do not know in the streets or killing a person who means so much to you.

If you have this fear, just relax, panic symptoms do not have to go this far. This is just a belief that comes out of your mind as a result of being not in control when panic attack occurs. Panic attacks do not really make you out of control. People may not even notice that you are experiencing being uncomfortable when in public places. Screaming and jumping off while in a meeting is not likely going to happen. If embarrassing situation comes, learn to say “so what?” Being kind to ourselves is what we have to learn at times like this. The more we are prepared to face our fears, the lesser the pressure that we are placing on ourselves and the higher chances of panic attacks to dissipate.

Because of the dizziness and the lightheadedness one feels during a panic attack, it induces the fear of losing consciousness while in public places. The fear is centered in being vulnerable at the time a panic attack may occur especially if a person is alone. The fear of passing out and never waking to consciousness also creates a dreadful feeling. 

What we need to understand is that passing out is caused by a lack of supply of blood going to the brain. When one passes out, he falls into the ground making the blood easily circulate into the brain. But during panic attacks, passing out is unlikely because of the blood amount circulated in the brain during an attack. The heart would beat fast during a panic attack thus the brain is supplied enough blood needed. The dizzy feeling during a panic attack is caused by the increase in respiration that but it does not cause fainting.

Heart Attack

This is another fear that everyone has especially for those who experienced panic attacks. They fear that their heart will be affected by the said disorder. What we need to understand are the facts on how heart attacks differ from panic attacks.

Heart attack symptoms include breathlessness and chest pains with accompanying palpitations occasionally and fainting.  These symptoms are experienced because of some physical effort that has been exerted by the person. The more your body exercise the worse the symptoms appear. If the individual rests then the symptoms go away. In panic attacks, symptoms may occur during exercise but they have differed in occurrence because panic attacks usually occur while at rest. Heart diseases produce major electrical changes in the heart which is visible during an EKG, while panic attacks only shows slight increase heart rate.

People oftentimes worry too much with the condition of their heart as they are very concerned with their breathing. They become very vigilant with the activities of their heart that they often check their heart rates at intervals to check if it is still beating. Minor irregular heartbeats may be noticed when you are concentrating too hard and this is a proof that we mentally we can control our heart beat. Learning to be more comfortable of how our heart beats would help us control our fears. The more we are familiar with our hearts activity while at rest or while exercising, the more comfortable we get and the more confidence that we will have to let it work for us.

The least mentioned among the panic attack symptoms, many become distressed with the sensation of unreality. They are afraid of the feeling that they might be losing their minds. People who experience panic attack often experience the feeling of being disconnected from the world or are experiencing the sensation of unreality which leads to the fear that damage has been done permanently on their brains thus causing these sensations. This is usually manifested when one is suddenly placed out of the conversation and they feel alarmingly removed or has been isolated in the situation which would take days before the person can stop thinking about what happened.

This has been discussed to reassure those who felt this kind of feeling that it is out of excessive anxiety and will just go away as the body relaxes. Once the body is relaxed, the sensation will just dissipate and thus in time the feelings will go away and you can live a tranquil life.

It is really very important to understand your body and what it experiences to free yourself from the pointless anxiety that your beliefs create. Now that you know more about the differences of what a mental disorder and what a panic attack is, and the facts about what happens in your body during a panic attack would help you feel more comfortable with your body and help you relax more. Take time to know your body more and how it works and you will learn how to deal when any situation that worries you arises.