What You Didn't Know About Physical Symptoms of Anxiety

When you have to deal with an anxiety attack your mind goes into hyper-drive and sends out signals that tell your body you are in dire straits and it is time to choose “fight or flight”. Your body has no choice but to respond as though there is a real urgency and you are in immediate physical danger. This is simply a response, or an instinctive desire, for humans known as self preservation.

Signs and physical symptoms of anxiety or panic attacks can include dizziness, feeling faint, diarrhea, stomach cramps, rapid heartbeat, chest pain or difficulty breathing. These are not caused by any actual threat or danger.

These symptoms are occurring because you have temporarily relinquished to those emotional upheavals that have gained control of your mind and body. The only danger you are in is just a figment of your imagination but there is no way for you to distinguish the difference in real danger and an imaginary threat when a panic attack occurs.

Panic and anxiety attacks are still not totally understood but doctors and researchers are aware that they can create symptoms that are very scary for many individuals. When you are in the midst of an anxiety attack you may feel that your heart is going to explode, your breathing patterns can change and a feeling of impending doom blots out all other reality. Most people feel that they are going to die and indeed many individuals are taken to the ER because these panic attacks can be identical to the signs and symptoms that herald a major heart attack.

There are times when the physical symptoms of anxiety can be so overwhelmingly powerful that people prefer to retreat from daily life instead of chancing a new attack. Some people will begin to suffer from agoraphobia and become unable to even walk out of their own home because just the thought of experiencing those symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks holds them emotionally captive.

As alarming as these signs and symptoms can be to someone who is prone to panic attacks it must be remembered that these physical symptoms of anxiety are not harmful. Once the anxiety attack is brought under control breathing will return to normal, your racing heartbeat will regain its normal rhythm, the cold sweats will stop and your body will begin to resume its normal functions.

It can be difficult to remind yourself that the panic attacks are only occurring in response to your thoughts but this is exactly what is happening. There is no present danger that is threatening you and if you can ground yourself in the present reality you might be able to stop the onslaught of emotionally charged responses in their tracks.

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