subject: How does your Body React to a Panic Attack? [print this page] A Panic attack will affect you in a variety of ways apart from the obvious sense of panic and anxiety that they leave behind. Here are some of the main symptoms, you will probably be surprised at just how much they can change you.
Cardiovascular Effects
Whenever we feel anxious, adrenalin is released into our bloodstream by the sympathetic nervous system to get us ready for fight or flight. This will result in an increased heart rate and flow of blood around the body but also restricts which parts of the body the blood is sent to. The bigger muscles like the biceps and thigh muscles get a bigger supply of blood to prepare them for action. Our extremities receive less blood which can cause pins and needles or a tingling feeling. Many people experience numbness and tingling during a panic attack , this often makes them feel that they are in danger of having a heart attack. This worry is unfounded.
Breathing Effects
You can also start to feel as though your are suffocating as your throat and chest tighten. Your breath has become deeper and fasterto iimprove oxygen levels in preparation for fight or flight. If you do not use up the additional oxygen it can leave you gasping for breath. This is simply because our breathing is automatically triggered by how much carbon dioxide there is in our blood. You can be left feeling as if you are gasping for nreat until the carbob dioxide levels return to normal, which is why breathing into a paper bag works. You re-use the same breath; increase the levels of carbon dioxide and revert to your normal breathing.
These changes in your breathing pattern can also lead to feeling light headed and giddy and confused. You are never in any danger of suffocating no matter how it feels.
other Physical Effects of Panic Attacks
Your pupils dilate to take in additional light, but one result of this is often blurred vision. Your mouth may feel dry as you decrease the amount of saliva that you produce and less vital bodily functions such as digestion will temporarily slow down; which can lead to feelings of nausea.
Muscles start to tense up in preparartion for the fight or flight scenario which can lead to cramps and aches and pains, trembling and shaking. All of this uses up a lot of the body's energy which can leave you feeling exhausted.
Mental side effects
The flight/fight response is designed to protect us from threats or danger so we will instinctively become more alert and sensitized to our surroundings in order to identify the threat.
All this happens in a split second but the effects can last for an hour or more. The first time that you experience a panic attack it can be extremely frightening
There are some people who experience a panic attack without there being any obvious source of anxiety. A panic attack can be triggered simply by the fear of a repeat attack. Panic attacks can be self fulfilling prophecies. In order to get out of this cycle you need to realise that panic attacks cannot harm you. It is the result of thousands of years of condiotioning and evolution and is designed to save you not harm you. It is the inappropriate reaction which starts to cause problems for }people, the feeling that our body is overreacting to a particular situation
Understanding that panic attacks cannot do you any physical harm is one of the first steps on the road to recovery
