Panic Disorder Symptoms

Are you wondering whether you might have panic disorder? This list of panic disorder symptoms will quickly help you to be able to get a clearer picture of what is causing your anxiety.

In fact, oftentimes people think that they are having a heart-attack, when in reality they are experiencing a panic attack. Oftentimes, whatever caused the initial anxiety is just the starter, and the physical symptoms make things worse – surely believing that one is experiencing an heart attack is a cause of panic in and of itself.

People also often feel as if they might be about to choke, and unable to breath, because their chest tightends up so extremely that they really feel as if they are incapable of breathing. Sometimes people also genuinely feel that they are on the verge of death, or about to lose their mind. (Many people sometimes feel as if they are about to lose their mind when they operate under a lot of stress – but in the case of panic disorder, it is a much more concrete and frightening sense of losing your mind).

How flushes can also be an indicator of panic disorder, specially if they are followed by anxiety attacks.

Out of control worrying and anxious thoughts also often appear in people with panic disorder, just as the fear that they might “flip” and go crazy.

Typically, at least four of the symptoms that are listed below appear within a time span of ten minutes.

List of Panic Disorder Symptoms:

• Chest pain or discomfort
• Difficulty breathing
• Dizziness or faintness
• Fear of dying
• Fear of losing control
• Feeling of choking
• Feelings of detachment
• Feelings of unreality
• Nausea or upset stomach
• Numbness or tingling
• Palpitations or pounding heart
• Sensation of shortness of breath
• Sweating, chills, or hot flashes
• Trembling or shaking

Most panic attacks last about 20 minutes – although some might be over in as quickly as a couple of minutes, while others might last for hours.

Most people will never experience a panic attack, and that is good. Because it is a truely frightening, and life-shattering experience. The word fear is often not so much a fitting description – the word “terror” describes it much better. It feels almost unreal, like in a really bad nightmare, and many people describe it as a “feeling of impending doom”.

What makes panic disorder even worse is that oftentimes, the attacks will come without any identifiable trigger. And that creates a sense of constant anxiety that another attack may strike soon.

It often starts with a heart pounding, and a sweaty feeling, dizzyness, weakness and fainting. As mentioned above, sometimes people experience hot flushes, but sometimes they also experience chilliness.

Some people have one panic attack, and that’s it. Never another panic attack. That one attack can be upsetting, but they are nonetheless lucky to not have to suffer from permanent panic disorder.

Panic disorder can be found in women almost twice as often as in men. What’s really bad about panic disorder is that it can “spread”. For example, initially a panic attack might be triggered while sitting on an airplane. Later, one might experience a panic attack when driving in a car, and then a phobia of driving cars starts.  So the sooner you find a panic disorder treatment that works, the better, and the easier it will be.