Symptoms Of Panic Attack: Is That What Happened To You?

Many people who have experienced the intense terror of a panic attack don’t know what happened to them at first.  This article gives specific details about the symptoms of panic attack so you can know for sure whether that’s what happened to you or not.  With this certainty, you can then move forward to find a solution to this debilitating problem.

Anxiety attacks are generally considered to be a dysfunctional triggering of the natural fight-or-flight instinct that occurs in all mammals.  Although there are variations in what happens for different people, the internal physical and emotional process of having a panic attack typically goes like this:

The process typically starts with a series of fearful thoughts in reaction to some situation and quickly builds into an intense and gripping fear.

Again, the fight-of-flight instinctive response gets activated when the body perceives a life-threatening situation.   Adrenaline is quickly released into the body to give it the extra energy and focus needed to escape from a dangerous situation.  This was an adaptive response when ancient man had to run away from dangerous animals.  However, it causes real problems when it is triggered by everyday situations like walking across the street or flying in an airplane.

The physical symptoms that are brought on by this increase in adrenaline are:

Faster heart rate
Increased perspiration
Labored breathing or hyperventilation.  This is often experienced as a feeling of not being able to get enough breath.  This is because the diaphragm, which controls your breathing, becomes tight, making it difficult to breathe.

When this anxiety response causes a person to hyperventilate, this generally causes the carbon dioxide levels in the blood to lower and raises the blood Ph level.  As a result, a person experiencing a panic attack often will have these physical symptoms as well:

numbness or a tingling sensation in the lips, feet, and hands
chest pain
lightheadedness
nervous laughter
dizziness
fainting
headache
slurred speech

The DSM IV is the official resource that psychiatrists use to diagnose a condition.  The following list of symptoms of panic attack will further help you decide whether you have experienced an anxiety attack from a clinical perspective.

Official DSM IV Criteria for Panic Attack

An  anxiety attack episode always includes an experience of intense discomfort or fear as well as suddenly experiencing at least four of the following symptoms that reached a peak within a period of 10 minutes:

sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
pounding heart, palpitations, accelerated heart rate
sensation of choking
sweating
pain or discomfort in the chest area
trembling or shaking
feeling faint, lightheaded, unsteady, or dizzy
experiencing chills or hot flashes
feeling of being smothered or having shortness of breath
fearing loss of control or fear one is going crazy
abdominal discomfort or nausea
fear that one is going to die
feelings of unreality (called “derealization”) or feeling detached from oneself (called “depersonalization”)
paresthesias (feeling of tingling or numbness)

I hope this information on symptoms of anxiety attack has given you a better feeling for whether you actually have experienced an anxiety attack yourself.

About the Author

If you’re worried that you might have another anxiety attack, please take a look at the research I’ve done on anxiety attack treatment.  I’m happy to say that I’ve found a program that really works in a relatively short time.  The peace of mind that comes from knowing you can control and stop your anxiety attacks is valuable beyond measure.  Here’s another good article that clearly illustrates the symptoms of panic attack. 

dsm iv panic disorder

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