Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Curable

...Panic Attacks Panic attacks are at the extreme end of the anxiety spectrum, some of the symptoms of a Panic Attack are • Heart Palpitations • Sweating • Trembling And Shaking • Minding Blanking Out • Shortness Of Breath • Chest Pains Or Discomfort • Fear Of Going Crazy • Chills Or Hot Flushes • Derealisation Or Depersonalization What causes a Panic attack? You do, simple. Panic Attacks are caused by two forms of Anxiety. External Anxiety & Internal Anxiety External anxiety is something that is real such as say for instance you where in a Bank and a robber came in and held the bank up, you'd feel anxious right?? Then what happens is you add Internal Anxiety to the External Anxiety, Internal Anxiety is when you become overly concerned about the External Anxiety and how you are feeling... Read review

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Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Can take over your life

...Panic attacks are just horrendous. i can't speak for everyone but my side effects usually included: Finding it hard to breathe Dizziness I usually became very sweaty Irregular heart beat On one occasion I actually passed out. Panic attacks usually happen to people who suffer from anxiety but I know a lot of people say they think they have suffered one before particular nervous times such as job interviews, etc. Mine started when I was about 14, I didn't actually know what it was at the time. All I knew was that, as extreme as it sounds, I sometimes felt like I was dying I actually had that much trouble breathing when I first started to suffer panic attacks. It became particulary bad for me a year or so later. I just became terrified of stepping out of the house because I was afraid I'd suffer a panic attack. As I was at school... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: none
Disadvantages: people who thinks its in your head, can affect social life, work etc, can get you down

...My boss thinks that panic attacks don't exist. It's all in the mind he says. I guess this opinion is shared by many others who have never experienced the chest-tightening, pulse racing terror of a full blown panic attack. I don't believe this for one minute. A panic attack is a completely natural response to what an individual percieves as a threatening situation. This is often described as the 'Fight or flight response'. Just like wild animals, humans react in certain ways to danger. Their awareness heightens, their pulse quickens etc etc. I think that maybe some people are just more sensitive to anxiety provoking siuations and experience a more profound 'fight or flight response', often in the form of a panic attack. I have been having panic attacks on and off for the last few years. I can assure my boss or anyone else... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: None really, but they can be a warning.
Disadvantages: Debilitating, and physically and mentally demanding.

...So here I am in the ciao café. You can thank Jill Murphy for this as she suggested I look in here. I didn’t originally come in here to write about this subject, but as a counsellor, and as someone who has suffered panic attacks, and although very rarely , still does. I thought I could make quite a good contribution to this subject. After I have told you what they are, I will try to give you some suggestions on how to stop them or to cope better with them. Anybody can suffer panic attacks, at any time and in any place. I never ever thought I would experience them. They are the bodies physical manifestation to mental issues. My first one happened some time after my first marriage break up. A serious break up that left me with no confidence, very depressed, and with low self-esteem. Other things were happening as well but we wont go... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: None - but they are not life threatening
Disadvantages: Pulsating heartbeat, irrational fears

...Panic attacks can occur at any time in your life. Usually they are triggered by major life events such as moving house, changes in relationships such as divorce, or even just a build up of stressful events over a period of time. I usually deal well with stress (or at least I thought I did) but after a few major events in my life I experienced my first panic attack. Here is my story …. It all started in April 2002. We had gone home after a night out (March) and gone to bed as normal when suddenly the smoke detector started to go off. We awoke to find the flat full of smoke. On entering the hall the ceiling was alight with flames and our exit was blocked due to the flames. My partner set about beating back the flames so that we could get out. I dialled 999 and asked for the fire brigade. The fire was put out, but we could... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Inability to lead a normal life.

...Well, anyone who has read some of my past opinions will know that I have already written on suffering depression, Myalgic Encephalomyletis (M.E.) and alcohol addiction - so you are probably thinking I'm a sad case already! Truth is I'm no stranger to anxiety/panic attacks either although, to be fair, in recent years my experience of these has lessoned but there are 3 or 4 occasions that stick in my mind as bad attacks over the years. To clear a few things up first, when people speak lightly of anxiety or panic attacks then it is rare that they have truly suffered the real thing - it is more than an attack of nervousness that you might experience before a big event, job interview or whatever. It is an all- consuming feeling of fear, possible death and sheer terror and often feels much like, I imagine, a heart attack would. Indeed... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: none
Disadvantages: It can take over your life

...My first panic attack, I was 17. I was lying in my bed reading a book, my leg fell asleep. After what felt like ten minutes it was still all tingly. It stayed that way all night. I was sweating profusely my heart was racing, I couldn't see straight. I felt really unwell I didn't know which end to stick on the toilet. I really thought my number was up. I felt the same way everyday all day for over a year. The last thing on my mind before I went to bed was panicking and the first thing on my mind in the morning was panicking. I was at the doctors more than the doctors were. I was told more or less not to be a silly little girl and to pull myself together. What caused it? I think it was the stress in my household at the time. My parents were going through a rough time in their marriage, my dad was having an affair with a friend... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Helps you to breath easily
Disadvantages: Can happen anytime

...fitted me into her appointments. I went in told her I needed another inhailer and she asked me if I had been diagnosed asthmatic. I told her no and discribed my attacks and told her that the inhailer helped them to go away. I was surprised when she then told me that I was suffering from panic attacks. These usually come on in the middle of the night and the symptoms were the same as mine. I have had a few bad things happen in my past and don't react well to stress, even though I don't show it at the time it will trigger off a panic attack later. The doctor has said that the best thing for a panic attack is to blow into a paper bag and breath into it untill the attack has gone. Surprisingly it works, the doctor said that the inhailer can speed up the heart and will make the condition worse. I'm glad I went to see her bacause I hate to take... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: None that i could possibly think of.
Disadvantages: They can rule your life, if you let them.

...I have had Panic disorder for about 14 years now, thankfully i have learnt to control them. I always found that the hardest part was trying to explain them to other people. This review is meant to give anyone whe has never had a Panic Attack, but whos friend or family menber does an insight of how they are probably feeling. A few years ago i started my own website, with a group offering support for anyone with panic and anxiety disorder, we decided that people needed the words to explain their fears, so here you have it and the feedback we received told us we had educated people to understand. If you are suffering from Panic Attacks then you could print off this review and give it in letter form to your loved ones, a lot of our members did this and it really did help them... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Of panic attacks?...oh,please!
Disadvantages: Can easily disrupt your life

...of my fingers. I knew people were staring at me, but all I could think of was getting out into the fresh air. I felt close to tears, and really scared. Once outside, I started to feel a bit better. My breathing slowed down and I stopped shaking. But there was no way that I could go back into Asda to finish my shopping. I drove home very slowly with the car window down, in case I had another attack of whatever it was. Now, I’m the sort of person who hates going to the Doctor’s, but I had been so scared by this incident that I made an appointment the next day. When I had finished telling my GP what had happened, she told me that she believed I had suffered a classic panic attack. I wasn’t all that happy with her diagnosis…I thought she was saying that my symptoms were all in the mind! Not so. So What Is A Panic... Read review

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