Article Title: Anxiety attack symptoms

Author Name: Anxiety help Staff

About Author: We hope you find some answers in our anxiety help website.

Article Text:

When experiencing a panic attack for the first time it may be very difficult to identify the symptoms unless you've heard someone talking about them before or you've read some information on the condition. Palpitations and chest tightness are the attack symptoms to become manifest first, but if experienced separately without any other manifestation they could indicate heart disease. Hyperventilation, throat dryness, shortness of breath, accelerated sweating as well as a feeling of suffocation often accompany the pounding of the heart. You may feel like you are about to die; your limbs may be shaking and dizziness and faintness may overcome you.

The intensity of the attack symptoms can be pretty high and in anatomical terms it translates as the body's reaction to imminent danger. There is normally a trigger that unleashes the entire array of feelings and this could be a real-life situation or an internal psychological factor that is apparent or hidden to the sufferer himself/herself. Because of this intense stimulation, the cardiovascular system is the first that leaps into action, starting a first wave of attack symptoms. The heart pumps blood towards the extremities preparing the body for running or for fighting; plus, the blood vessels constrict in the skin and other less used body parts to compensate for the flooding of the muscles.

Skin paleness thus becomes one of the minor attack symptoms. The mouth, the kidneys and the digestive system also experience the blood vessel constriction which causes mouth dryness. The body needs to get cooled down, which in fact explains why during such a panic episode you sweat a lot. Plus, the nervous system sends the unload message to the digestive track which may result in other attack symptoms such as upset stomach or rapid bowel movement.

All the rest of the attack symptoms represent normal body reactions in the face of danger. The need for superior oxygenation levels is manifest in the accelerated breath or breath shortness. If you have more air you can scream louder. Then, various physical discomforts and pains will disappear during a panic attack because the brain secrets endorphines, the most powerful pain relievers in nature. The perception system sharpens, the pupils get dilated to enhance vision and more energy is burned, all for the purpose of facing the danger that causes fear. Consequently, the attack symptoms represent the normal body preparations when confronted with a frightening, or even life and death situation.