Archive for the ‘Anxiety and Panic Attacks’ Category

Anxiety is a person’s normal reaction to conditions or situations which make us nervous, apprehensive or uncomfortable. The response may be physical, emotional or behavioral. Factors that activate  anxiety can include pressures from work, stress from home, lack of exercise or sleep, or medical conditions. The food we eat is also a precondition for anxiety attacks.  There are foods to help treat anxiety attacks.

There are quite a few highly recommended foods to help treat anxiety attacks.   If we do not properly feed the brain’s neuro-transmitters, then it is more likely that we do not have sufficient nourishment to balance the brain’s activities. Contemplate eating foods that are rich in vitamin B and amino acids. Chicken, beef and most especially tuna are highly recommended, as well as green and leafy vegetables like broccoli, spinach and cabbage. Milk and milk products like cheese and yogurt have high-protein contents.

Although chocolates and other sweets are in general accepted as mood enhancers, these foods for anxiety attacks can only give a “roller coaster” effect on your brain activities which gives you a abrupt rush of energy and then in time pull you down to an all-time low. Stay out of food that are made of simple sugars to get rid of mood swings, and try to maintain a nourishing portion of fish, vegetables and fruits for a more stable source of energy.

But eating the right foods to help treat  anxiety attacks is simply one of the likely ways to manage anxiety. Of course, the opening step is to have a consultation with a doctor who will at the outset have a fitting diagnosis to your condition so the necessary steps can be undertaken. There are cases when foods for anxiety attacks may be complemented with prescription medication, or other alternative methods.

In a good number of anxiety conditions the best treatment that is most often recommended is to undergo psychotherapies. These methods not only relieves the symptoms of anxiety, but also gives a more permanent solution to it. It teaches the person how to realize his situation and recognize the factors that causes anxiety. From there, the psychotherapist and the patient can work together on the best possible solution to anxiety attacks.

Anxiety and panic attacks can be triggered by many different things, such as stress, depression, grief and alcoholism.  What ever it is bought on by, the affect is that your mind is flooded  with worrying and fearsome thoughts. And these thoughts really do impact your life. Everybody who suffers from Anxiety and Panic Attacks knows only to well how alarming that panic mode can be. Coming to terms with the fact that it is not the invasive thoughts that are accountable for your anxiety, but the way you react to those thoughts, that triggers your anxiety or Panic Attack.

For tons of anxious people, there home or a room in their dwelling is a reliable haven.  But as soon as the anxiety and panic attacks plague these safe places, it can leave you feeling wholly helpless and on your own.  People who do not suffer with Anxiety or Panic Attacks have no conception as to how to a great extent these thoughts take over our lives.

Having Anxiety and Panic Attacks can really influence your self-esteem.  People saying upbeat things to you, have no actual affect, but people saying downbeat things really hit you hard.
It works very much the same with your thoughts, when you have destructive or tormenting thoughts, you tend to  focus on them and not the optimistic and happy thoughts… and then so it goes… off into panic.

Learning to control our thoughts is a step towards beating anxiety and panic attacks. In my case I learned that these attacks could’nt hurt me, that was the difficult part. I then learned that if I faced my thoughts and the things that made me anxious, I could get control again and not be stopped by my Anxiety Disorder.

Anxiety can be overcome, once you start to get an knowledge of what is causing your anxiety, you can then learn some coping skills to help you over come your anxiety and panic attacks.

For those of us who suffer with anxiety attacks, we distinguish what it feels like. Our heart pounds. We get butterflies in our stomach. We agonize and fret over everything and anything.  We have hot and cold sweats.  Our throats go dry and we have difficulty swallowing, just to name a few.

If you are experiencing any of the above, then you may well be suffering with anxiety attacks.

Anxiety attacks can occur out of the blue.  I have spoken with loads of people who have said “my life is great; I don’t understand why I am suddenly suffering with anxiety attacks”.  That’s the nature of the beast.  There is no selected format for anxiety attacks.  They can occur to people whose lives are going really well, as well, as those who lives are not going so well.

This is why anxiety attacks are so difficult to diagnose.  It’s not like having a cold or some other illness, where there symptoms are typical and simple to make out and diagnose.

Understanding what anxiety attacks are will help you to have more control. It’s usual to worry and feel tense or anxious when under pressure or facing a demanding situation. Anxiety is the body’s natural response to danger, an automatic alarm that goes off when we feel threatened.

From my personal knowledge off living with anxiety attacks, I am alert of the fact that the more you think about the anxiety the deeper ingrained the symptoms become.  The more powerful the symptoms, the more powerful the anxiety attacks become.  Then you’re in the realms of a viscous circle.   This is when it becomes really hard to over come your anxiety attacks.

It’s not till you really become aware of the fact that your thoughts have shaped your anxiety, so it stands to reason that if you have manifested the anxiety attack then surely you can UN-create the anxiety attacks. This part is really hard for people to understand.  And I know exactly how they feel!  When I was told this, I rejected it.  Why would I want to do this to myself?  It did not make sense.

But at the end of the day no matter how much I tried to pay no heed to that fact, it was correct, my thoughts where the origin of my anxiety.  I experimented with it.  The more I focused my energy on the anxiety the stronger my anxiety attack became.  So with the help of a therapist, I was able to work on my thoughts and defeat my anxiety.

I am not anxiety free, but I am able to stop my anxiety before it becomes a full blown anxiety attack.

An added thing to bear in mind, is that anxiety may be unpleasant, but it isn’t always a unpleasant thing. In fact, anxiety can help us stay attentive and focused, spur us to action, and motivate us to solve problems. But when anxiety is relentless or overwhelming, when it interferes with our relationships and activities-that’s when you’ve crossed the line from normal anxiety into the territory of anxiety disorders.

Anxiety, by definition, is having a fear or phobia of the outcome and result of a situation.  Here is a great tip to treat anxiety and panic attacks.  It is unfeasible for a happy and cheerful person to have anxiety. Whereas the human mind is an remarkable mechanism, it cannot consciously concentrate on two sources of stimulus at the exact same time. This is the same with your state of mind. You cannot be happy and have anxiety at the same time.  So know to monitor your mood.

A anxiety and panic attack may happen at any time and any place, but there are symptoms leading up to it that let you face the difficulty and take steps to evade a full blown panic and anxiety attack.

Symptoms of a panic and anxiety attack may well include:

1. Having a hard time breathing or catching your breath.
2. Chest pains resulting from lung constriction.
3. Hyperventilation.
4. Sweaty palms.
5. Irrational thought patterns.
6. Tunnel vision.
7. Passing out.

These symptoms are mainly physical symptoms. There may also be emotional symptoms that could show themselves. Recognizing these symptoms and clues leading up to a panic and anxiety attack will let you commence to manage treatment and still yourself ahead of a full blown attack shows up.

Not all anxiety is awful. When the mind feels danger or senses that the body may be in trouble, you will feel anxious. This is good. It is the frequent anxiety that can be problematic. If left unchecked, continual anxiety will lead to repeated panic and anxiety attacks and eventually a disorder that may need to be treated by a professional. If you have an anxiety disorder or think you have one, please consult a physician.

When you learn to be acquainted with the symptoms leading up to a panic and anxiety attack you will put yourself in a position to go through exercises and treatments that will help you deal with the situation. You will find that the treatment depends on the individual. Effectively halting a panic and anxiety attack may involve some creative exercises.

There are at present medications on the market that a general practitioner or psychologist may prescribe to help with treating anxiety. That treatment path can be very effective.

The best tip to treat a panic and anxiety attack is to avoid the situation that causes the attack. It can be complicated to pin down the actual cause of the panic, but as soon as you do, consider what your life would be like without that. Now, if it is your mum that is causing your anxiety, you in all probability can not cut her out of your life. But if it is crowds or flying, you can choose to avoid those situations.

Aside from medication, another good tip for preventing a panic and anxiety attack is to change focus. Remember, the mind can only consciously focus on one thing at a time. By finding a quiet place, closing your eyes and focusing on something that makes you happy, you can actually persuade your mind that you are calm, relaxed and happy.

Here are a few other quick tips to treat panic and anxiety attacks:

1. Eat healthy. Giving your body proper nutrition will reduce the chance of stress and panic.

2. Stay hydrated. Same as eating, drinking a lot of water will help flush extra junk out of your body.

3. Meditate. Practice every day focusing your mind. When you begin to panic, you’ll already be trained at focusing and you will be more effective when you sense a panic and anxiety attack coming on.

4. Breathe. Like drinking water, proper breathing will cleanse your body of toxins and junk.

5. Simplify. Get rid of the cell phone and pager as soon as your life allows. I don’t necessarily mean to junk them completely. Just don’t let them infringe on quiet times.

6. Stretch. Just look at how long those yoga masters live.  There’s got to be a reason.

Panic anxiety attacks show many symptoms. Instead of treating the symptoms, which may provide temporary relief, you need to learn how to treat the source. Imagine the relief, the peace and the freedom you’ll feel when you finally discover how to stop.

Anxiety disorder can take many forms. It can affect lots of areas of our lives and prevent us from living in a way  that would satisfy us.

The most common anxiety is a phobia, a powerful and illogical fear of a situation or an object. Spiders always comes  to mind: Arachnophobia. This specific phobia can be attached to any animal or object. Dogs, snakes, rats, water,  germs, electors the list goes on.

Phobias can develop at any time or age of life. Social phobia can grow during childhood out of severe nervousness  for example. Once phobias are established they will not go away without help.

Generalized anxiety disorder is a broad state of anxiety that continues over a period of time. 6 months or so.  It is not attached to any situation or thing. The suffer finds daily household tasks hard. Concentration is hard  and decision making is affected. Other physical symptoms could be there like sweating, clammy hands, churning upset stomach and even diarrhea.

Talking about anxiety  and the symptoms of anxiety, have you ever considered this question “is anxiety inherited”

Panic disorder is an intense form of anxiety which occurs suddenly without forewarning. The symptoms usually lead the suffer to feel like they are going to pass away. These attacks occur out of the blue. This makes them more  terrifying and can often lead to agoraphobia. The suffer does not want to risk an attack so they do not leave the  house. This could have a serve affect on social and fun activities.

Obsessive compulsive disorder. Germs appear to be the main reason for this anxiety disorder. The desire to wash is  what we see in this case and the obsessive thoughts of contamination and disease make the suffer anxious and  uneasy. The washing behavior is an endeavor to alleviate the worry. Other forms we see with this disorder include; fear  of harming yourself or others, intrusive sexual thoughts or religious issues. The behaviors can include repeated  and ritualized touching

Post Traumatic Stress disorder can transpire to people who have experienced  serve traumatic life happening. This can  include; war, rape, physical assault or finding a dead body. The main symptoms include distressing thoughts and  images of the event replayed in the suffers head. Nightmares about the event or feeling and acting like the event  is re occurring.

There are quite a few treatments for anxiety disorders. The initial step is to become knowledgeable and informed about the disorder. Learning how to manage stress, anger and depression is also a strategy. Cognitive training is useful to  help deal with recurring unwanted thoughts and managed exposure to a phobia is also useful.  Anxiety disorder can take many forms. It can affect many areas of our lives and prevent us from living in a way  that would satisfy us.