Alcohol is a depressant and individuals who are prone to panic attacks are more susceptible to the effects. Consuming alcohol whilst having a panic attack will not result in calming a person down or prevent the attack. In fact, one of the things a doctor will suggest to someone with this disorder is to cut down their consumption of alcohol.‘Panic attacks alcohol’ are word that definitely should not go together. Not only will alcohol not help with suppressing a panic attack it can also instigate more frequent attacks and bouts of depression. One of the processes to alleviate panic attacks is to not focus on your fear and to change your perception of them. Alcohol on the other hand can instead lead a person to dwell in those fears and can trigger an episode. This increases the chance of stronger more frequent attacks, which is something any panic attack suffer would try to avoid.

While alcohol can cause attacks while you are consuming it, it can also bring about attacks afterwards. On the day after consumption the body tries to establish chemical balance with the extra fluctuations in physiology, and many people find that in this state they are even more vulnerable for an attack to be triggered. This is because with any toxic state that you may find yourself in, your reserves are lower, your senses on edge and there is a slim margin between well being and distress. Suffers find that they often don’t have the energy to ‘fight’ the panic attack, or to use their usual calming techniques effectively while still recovering from the night before. If you make a point when you experience a significant decrease in dealing with your panic attacks you may find that this fits a pattern following a night out with too much alcoholic consumption.

But don’t start throwing all your bottles of booze away or make up numerous excuses to your friends and family if they want a night out. Alcohol doesn’t have to be given up entirely for those who have panic attacks – it just has to be consumed in moderation. So have your drink or two if you are in a mood to indulge, just be aware of the result if you do decide to drink too much.

Many panic attacks actually do occur during the night, mostly between the first one to four hours sleep. During this time period blood pressure is lower, eye movements are reduced, heart rate and breathing slow down. However for some, this state of relaxation can be interpreted as your walls and defences going down, and so your body will kick in and tell you to ‘Wake Up!’

Those who find themselves anxious and stressed more during the day will experience more peaks in heart rate during the night. If you are particularly sensitive and have learned to fear those peaks, then this will have a different impact on you compared to someone who is less sensitive. Our body does not pick up on what is not relevant to it when it comes to survival, but will personally attuneitself to what is important. For example, you might sleep through a loud party going on next door, but as soon as you hear your smoke alarm go off you’ll hear it, even if it’s not as loud. Cues signifying danger are significant and meaningful, and once they are registered by your primitive brain can wake you up.

An individual who worries about their relationships or financial problems can experience as many peaks in arousal of their nervous system during sleep as those who panic. The difference is that these ‘worriers’ don’t associate the normal symptoms of arousal as a sign of danger (such as an increased heart rate), so they don’t react to all the heart rate peaks. Since it’s not a signal thattriggers the ‘fear cue’, it doesn’t result in a panic attack. So people who worry but don’t panic can experience identical peaks in heart rate and other symptoms such as sweating and an increased breathing rate, but their body won’t produce adrenaline to cope with something that threatens its survival.

Something that could improve your sleeping patterns is to control your anxiety during the day. Things such as exercise and relaxation techniques can help calm your system down and reduce your state of arousal. If you control your anxiety during the day this will cut down the ‘ammunition’ for consistent worrying all through the night.

Let’s talk about meditation. What is it really? Well it’s all about the breath. Hyperventilation or rapid breathing is a state that affect around 60% of people when they panic. Most of the time, panic attacks can be controlled solely by eliminating this crucial factor. This condition is obvious when you have the feeling of not being able to breath properly, not getting a deep enough breath, choking or smothering, tightness and even pain in the chest. This can occur not only when you have a panic attack, but also if you feel stressed or upset. Learning to slow down your breath has a calming effect on the heart rate and other panic symptoms. It is also a powerful technique that can be utilized to dampen down the nervous system response.

Hyperventilation can take a few weeks to change, but most people feel the benefits in the first couple of days. By eradicating the fear of not being able to control it you can successfully prevent your adrenaline rising, which then reduces the chance of having a panic attack. Stressful and fearful breathing is fast and shallow, and only fills the lungs to one-third of their capacity. Healthy breathing on the other hand is slow and deep, and fills the lungs right to the base.

When we are feeling stressed for a long period of time, we get so used to not breathing deeply that our diaphragm, like any other muscle that we don’t use, becomes lazy. On the other hand, the muscles in our chest suffer from unaccustomed overuse. This pattern of breathing upside-down, where the upper chest is overused and the lower chest is underused is what meditation and breathing exercises are trying to correct by a process of retraining.

There are a couple of breathing exercises that you can do that can help dramatically with this condition.

• Breathe in through your nose for a count of four, and then breath out through your mouth for a count of four.
• Picture the air as flowing in and out, instead of being hauled in and ejected forcibly.
• Allow your abdomen to gently expand as you inhale, and flatten as you exhale. Try to keep your chest as still as possible.
• If this is comfortable, after a few days of practising this, work on making your breaths longer. Work on breathing in and out to counts of five, then go on till you get up to eight.
• Continue this until you feel confident you have changed your breathing pattern to breathing from the abdomen, where each breath lasts longer.

If you practise this exercise daily, twice a day for at least five minutes you will start seeing the benefits. Another good addition to this exercise is to practise yoga, which will teach you some other beneficial techniques.

• Continually stress about things that most people don’t.
• Feel anxious most of the time
• Do suffer from panic attacks.
• Spend a great deal of time worrying about an oncoming panic attack.

If this is the case, then you do have too much anxiety in your life. If you suffer anxiety in levels that are excessive then the mental health professionals will classify it as a disorder. By excessive I mean that this anxiety doesn’t match the actual threat that is present, it also prevents you from enjoying your life, and your occupational and social environments. The symptoms will also need to be present from weeks to months.Anxiety disorder symptoms can differ depending on what anxiety disorder you have. A current recognised list is below with the general symptoms:

• General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
  • Excessive worrying that can result in insomnia
  • Feeling edgy and tense.
  • Not being able to relax.
  • Often jumpy and irritable.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Reoccurring thoughts and fears that needs to be followed through with some type of action to reduce the risk of a harmful possibility that may happen.
  • Fear that something terrible is going to occur.
  • Constant unreasonable doubt.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Severe shock and distress after a traumatic event that does not gradually settle over a few months.
  • Sleep disturbances that are likely to be accompanied with recurring nightmares.
  • Often jumpy and irritable.
  • Sensitive to experiences and situations that reminds them of the traumatic event.
  • Vivid flashbacks that can occur without any warning.
  • Intense terror and anxiety as if the traumatic experience was occurring again.
• Panic Disorder
  • Reoccurring panic attacks and fear of future panic attacks.
  • Accelerated heart rate.
  • Trembling or shaking.
  • Shortness of breath.
  • Choking.
  • Feeling dizzy.
  • Fear of dying or loss of control.
  • Chills or hot flushes.
• Agoraphobia
  • Fear of having a panic attack in a situation where it would be difficult to escape or get help.
  • Avoiding situations that would trigger this fear.
• Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)
  • Fear of being in social situations.
  • Fear of being embarrassed.
  • Fear of looking foolish or inept.
  • Fear that others will think less of them.
  • Fear of their voice shaking.
  • Blushing.
  • Sweating.
  • Shaking and trembling.

Though this must seem like a lot of anxiety disorders out there, there are treatments and help for every single one of them. It is important to first diagnose which disorder you have by consulting a doctor, as treatments can vary depending on the disorder and the severity of it.

There are two main types of therapies that are said to be beneficial for this disorder. The first is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and the second is exposure therapy. These types of therapies give you a way to combat anxiety by giving you the tools and teaching you how to use them.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy uses both psychological techniques and behaviour changing. Research has shown that an estimated 50 per cent of people who have been treated using CBT will achieve a higher level of functioning after treatment. CBT aims at helping people more aware of how their thoughts affect their emotional state of being. Individuals are encouraged to observe their thoughts that are lined to feeling bad in some way, like unreasonably anxious, angry or sad. The next process is to analyse the thoughts behind those feelings and decide whether they are helpful or realistic. If this is not the case, the person is encouraged to change their conclusions and thought processes to that they better reflect reality. The individual begins to think about things in a light that is more supportive and helpful to them in coping with stress and achieving what they want out of life.

This kind of therapy incorporates a range of behavioural strategies from breathing control techniques to relaxation exercises. Behaviour can reinforce thinking, and thinking can therefore make it easier to do things are difficult and provoke anxiety. CBT differs from traditional psychotherapy by concentrating on the now and making changes for the future. There is little emphasis on understanding the past, so people are better off trying other forms of therapy if they have a great need to understand past influences in their lives.

Exposure therapy on the other hand, exposes you to the situations and objects that you fear. By repeated exposures, an individual’s anxiety will gradually diminish as they feel an increased sense of control over their environment. This can be achieved in two ways. Your therapist can either ask you to imagine the situation that you fear or you may actually confront it in real life. This kind of therapy can be used by itself or in conjunction with cognitive behaviour therapy.

Using anxiety therapy is not a quick fix to your problem. It takes both time and commitment to achieve results. There will be work you will do with your therapist and work you will do by yourself. This is about facing the fears that you have, instead of avoiding them, so it might initially seem to get worse before you get any better. Basically you’ll reap the benefits of this therapy if you stick with it.

A mixture of cognitive and behavioral therapies is found to be the best kind of help for panic disorders. By simply learning and understanding what a panic disorder is can be for some people enough in itself. But in regards to cognitive therapies, it acts in a way to restructure the way you think. For example, to stop thinking that you are going crazy, that you are having a heart attack or that you are going to die from one of the attacks. It helps to replace a negative thought with a more realistic and positive one.

The main focus of behavioral therapies is to expose the actual physical sensations that one experiences during a panic attack. This is effective because most people are afraid of the panic attack itself not the experience or object. For example they are not afraid of people in a social settings, they fear actually having a panic attack in social settings. Behavioral therapies is based on exposing a panic attack sufferer to the symptoms of the attack in a controlled environment and allowing them to see that symptoms like an accelerated heart rate or hot flushes do not always explode into a full blown panic attack. Behavioral therapies also include going step by step through the action they are afraid of. Again, using a social environment as an example, these actions maybe just getting in the car to go to a party. This in turn, allows the individual to just process and deal with the feelings and emotions of just being in the car. What they learn is to not to focus on the situation that lies ahead or the result of their fear. They soon realize just that sitting in the car will not result in a panic attack. Every person goes through these steps at their own speed. It could be that a sufferer might need to attend a social setting, stay for ten minutes then leave a couple of times before they show any progress. Another person could actually push themselves through the situation even with the heart palpitations and other symptoms, just to realize that they were able to get through the event and that the next one will be easier.

People who suffer from panic attacks might also find the help that they need through some types of medication. Typically medication is used to manage the symptoms of panic attacks. Medications can also reduce the severity and number of panic attacks. In addition, they can also reduce the fear and anxiety connected with having another attack. There are relaxation techniques that can help someone deal with an attack. Some of these techniques include positive visualization and breathing exercises. Another thing that can be helpful is a support group with other people who suffer from panic attacks.

Although panic attacks can be a very personal and private thing, it does affect a large number of people all around the world. With the resources out there, a sufferer can have an easier time finding the help that they need.

Panic attack symptoms can appear quite abruptly and without any real cause. Its symptoms can be numerous as it reacts to an uncontrollable fear. Symptoms can be pounding or racing heart, difficulty breathing, an upset stomach, chest pains, tingling or numbness in the hands, nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness, chills or hot flushes. Symptoms can also affect the mind by causing a dreamlike sensation, the feeling of terror, a need to escape, the fear doing something embarrassing, losing control or the fear of dieing.

One of the main symptoms of a panic disorder is the fear of having another panic attack. Most people who have had one panic attack are likely to have others in the future. The constant fear of experiencing another attack again can cause the person to avoid places and situations where they believe an attack may occur or has occurred in the past. They might even develop a phobia about being around or in these situations. Panic attacks are different from other types of anxiety attacks because they can happen so suddenly and unexpectedly. The symptoms can be disabling and can also occur without being provoked. It is important to know that the panic attacks themselves can be a symptom of an anxiety disorder. It is only said that a person has a panic disorder when there is a pattern of anxiety and avoidance. Unless a person gets effective treatment, a panic disorder can have a serious impact on an individual’s daily life. Make no mistake that panic attacks are serious health problems that up to 3 million adult Americans suffer from at some point in their lives. The peak age at which an individual might experience their first panic attack can be between the ages of 15 and 19. It is also vital to note that children can also suffer from this disorder.

A panic attack will generally last for several minutes, but can go for significantly longer, and is one of the most distressing conditions that a person can experience. Panic attacks can also take place during sleep. These are nocturnal panic attacks but they occur far less frequently than panic attacks that occur during the day. Approximately 40 percent to 70 percent of individuals who suffer from daytime panic attacks will also suffer from nighttime panic attacks. These attacks have a tendency to trigger sufferers to wake up suddenly from sleep in a state of anxiety for no apparent cause, and can include all the other symptoms of a panic attack. Although nocturnal panic attacks can last less than 10 minutes, the time that it takes to calm down after such an experience can be much longer.

While typically, individuals tend to suffer in different ways when it comes to panic attacks, the feeling of uncontrollable fear is a symptom for all individuals.

Several different types of medications can be utilized to treat panic attacks or to control its symptoms.  Medications can reduce the number and severity of panic attacks as well as the anxiety of having another panic attack. Drugs can lower anxiety act by dampening down the nervous system activity through their effect on nerve endings both around the body and inside the brain. But there are also controversial view points in regards to medication, which say that medication may diminish the effects of panic attacks but it does not help cure the basic problem, which may lie in an emotional or psychological arena.

Nevertheless, below are several types of medication which are said to treat panic attacks:

• Prozac, Zoloft or Paxil; these are antidepressant which are commonly prescribed to treat depression.  These types of medications affect neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that nerves in the brain use to send messages to one another. These drugs also inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, an action that allows more serotonin to be available to be taken up by other nerves. But like most medications, there is the risk of side effects, which can vary in some cases from minor to even life-threatening.  It is therefore important to work closely with the your doctor to decide whether treatment with medications is an appropriate avenue and if so, which medication should be administered. Pregnant women are at risk if treated with these kinds of medications due to the possible impact on the fetus.
• Xanax, Valium, Ativan, or Klonopin; these are medications from the benzodiazepine families which are also approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat panic attacks or panic disorders. These medications work on reducing anxiety and nervous tension.  They are sometimes prescribed if an individual needs immediate relief from symptoms.

Panic disorder symptoms are said to start to improve within a few weeks after taking medications. If there isn’t an improvement within 6 to 8 weeks, a higher dosage or another medicine may be prescribed by your doctor.  Most medications are usually taken for a year or even longer to see solid results. After this period, the panic medication might decrease gradually over a period of several weeks.  Sometimes after the medications have decreased, the individual might still experience panic attacks again.  In these cases the medication might have to be continued for at least a few more months.  There are those who will need to stay on medications for an extended period of time to keep symptoms under control.

There is research that indicates that for some people, panic attacks could be passed on through their genetics. Like how parents can pass down hair or eye color to their children, a panic disorder has also shown to run in the family. This could also mean that the individual might be predisposed to having these attacks. In some cases the family members of panic attack sufferers have had previous emotional disorders such as depression.

Abnormalities in the brain could be another possible biological cause for panic attacks.  There are some certain changes in the brain that could contribute to a panic disorder. Research has indicated that disorders such as post-traumatic stress can co-occur with panic attacks. Although there is no concrete evidence that biochemical abnormality causes panic attacks specifically, what has been determined is a general hyper-arousal of the adrenal system, which occurs in all of us whenever there is a challenge or danger present.  This is part of your nervous system that gears you up to handle incoming threats. Panic always begins in an environment of stress, anxiety, pressure or fear. This might be confusing for some people whose first panic episode seemed to be in a climate that was particularly stressful. But if they take a deeper look they usually realize that it was at least a time of challenge and struggle or extra pressure to deal with. Panic attacks rarely occur when life is peaceful and free from any worries.

As mentioned above panic attacks can also be caused by major life stresses.  This stress may come in the form of a traumatic event or a major life transition like the death or separation of a loved one.  Some researchers have discovered that in these cases, when stresses lower your resistance, the underlying physical predisposition kicks in and may trigger an attack.   

Addictions could be a type of environmental cause that can bring about an onset of panic attacks. The intoxication or withdrawal of drugs or alcohol due to substance abuse, can possibly also contribute to a panic disorder. Biological and environmental causes of a panic disorder might sometimes even work together.  Recurrent panic attacks are often triggered by a specific situation, such as heights or speaking in public – especially if that situation has caused a panic attack before. Typically, attacks can occur quite randomly, but eventually the sufferer might bring them on themselves by reacting to the physical symptoms associated with an attack.  For example, if a person suffering from a panic disorder experiences accelerated heartbeat caused by an outside source, like taking a certain medication or watching a scary movie, they might interpret this as a symptom of an attack.  They might even bring on an attack since the intense fear of having a panic attack can actually trigger one. Since the exact cause of panic disorders are not fully understood, and are different for each person, it is important to seek advice and treatment that can be obtained through several different forms of therapy.

Research has indicated that if this disorder is left untreated, children have a higher risk of performing badly at school, being more vulnerable to substance abuse and having less developed social skills. As much as we would like to, it is not always possible to protect the innocence of children and prevent anything from interfering with their lives.  Children can be afflicted with certain types of anxiety disorders that can be also seen in adults. They might worry excessively about everyday occurrences like school or situations at home.  They might also have the tendency to beat themselves up for their failures and constantly strive for perfection. They may hunt for constant approval and reassurance from others.

There are different types of disorders that occur in different stages of growth. Some of these disorders are:

• Six to nine year olds – specific phobias and separation anxiety disorder
• Mid childhood to adolescence – generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder
• Adolescence and beyond – panic disorder and depression

 Another type of anxiety disorder that might be seen in children is obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is characterized by intrusive or unwanted thoughts, repetitive actions aimed at reducing stress or obsessive behavior.  It is said that although the common age a child might be diagnosed with OCD is ten, it can also be seen in children as young as two or three. Some of the traits seen in children with this disorder is excessive hand washing, excessively rechecking or counting items, the feeling of terror that they will accidentally do something wrong etc. 

As mentioned above, children can also exhibit an anxiety disorder though specific phobias such as irrational fears towards specific objects, places or situations.  Childhood fears like being fearful of storms, the dark or certain types of animals can go away on their own, but it is said to become a phobia if a fear continues for at least six months and interferes with daily activities. Some of the symptoms that might be apparent are headaches, tantrum, stomach aches, clinginess, or being extremely cold when scared.

Anxiety disorders, like the ones mentioned above, can affect both adults and children, and the emotional and physical signs might be very different.  For example, children may feel that the fears they possess are very real and of great concern, and they may not always be able to verbalize these feelings. Instead they might behave by throwing tantrums, being clingy or even crying. If you think that your child is suffering from an anxiety disorder you should consider visiting your regular pediatrician.