If you’re unsure if you’re suffering from panic symptoms or not, there is a rule of thumb that you can follow. And that is, panic symptoms occur during a time that you’re experiencing anxiety. Sounds obvious enough, however some symptoms seem unrelated to anxiousness.
What’s more, the list of symptoms of panic attacks is long and varied. Sufferers may experience obscure and uncommon symptoms. In addition, the feeling of anxiousness can vary in severity. In some cases, sufferers may not even realize they are suffering from a panic attack.
This might sound odd, but when you consider that disturbing panic symptoms such as derealization and depersonalization can occur, then perhaps it’s understandable. Although derealization is often related to the use of certain street drugs such as LSD and marijuana, it is often related to mental disorders such as Depression, PTSD, GAD and Panic Disorder.
Derealization is one of the most terrifying experiences a person can go through. Regardless of how many times a person experiences one, it is just as terrifying each time. Symptoms might include;
- A deranged and unhinged feeling, like you’re going crazy
- Dizziness and a loss of balance
- Loss of identity and amnesia
- Emotional numbness and disconnection from the world
- Dreamlike sensations like you’re just a spectator
- Feelings of dread and despair.
A typical symptom of depersonalization can be described as a feeling of invisibility. Many patients describe the feeling as like being a zombie or robot. They might even look in the mirror and fail to recognize themselves.
Obviously both these panic symptoms are highly unpleasant and scary but not every sufferer will experience them. More common anxiety symptoms include difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest, a pounding heart, sweating and nausea; generally lasting 10 minutes.
There are many types of anxiety disorders, each with different triggers for anxiety. Phobia is a type of anxiety disorder which is highly common. More specifically social phobia is a condition where the sufferer has constant feelings that everyone is watching, staring, and judging them, even if it is entirely not the case.
These feelings cause anxiousness, and fear that they’ll do something embarrassing in front of everyone. It’s during times such as standing at a checkout or standing on a train that provoke an attack.
Fear of doing something stupid is what often triggers the fight or flight response. A panic attack in its basic form is the body’s stress response starting up. The release of adrenaline and other hormones create all these sensations that we call panic symptoms.
Having an anxiety disorder does not necessarily mean that you suffer from panic attacks. In fact many sufferers can live fairly normal lives. However, treating your anxiety and panic symptoms is important since they are susceptible to worsening over time.
