Your doctor can help you in the treatment procedure, but ultimately the final help with panic attacks must come from you. He can prescribe the correct medicines and life style changes, refer you to a suitable therapist or give you the therapy himself and can teach you all the self-help tricks, but eventually, you have to follow them methodically to get the desired result. You must show the determination to get well and only then you will be able to overcome the panic attacks.
Panic attacks may die of in some time, but you can try and reduce the number of panic attacks with little modifications to your life style. If you know of the triggers that are causing the panic attacks, you need to avoid those triggers. Make sure that those triggers are kept at bay. This will surely ensure a good life style, which is devoid of the panic attacks. If there are recurrent panic attacks, you need to consult your doctor immediately.
Although the final help with the panic attack must come from you, the doctors, especially psychiatrists have big role to play in your recovery. See a psychiatrist who is either a MD or a DO. They are the ones who are allowed by law to prescribe panic disorder medications. Of course, you may not need any medicine at all. You can successfully be treated with psychotherapy and life style changes. It all depends on how severe is your attack.You may or may not need panic disorder medications. When people have repeated and persistent attacks and are always afraid of having another attack, they are said to have panic disorder. Although panic attacks are synonymous with anxiety attack, panic disorder is different from anxiety disorder in that the anxiety disorder is a bigger umbrella and panic disorder is just one of the disorders, which falls under it.
However, it is of prime importance to see if you really have any panic attack. The symptoms of panic attack are very similar to many physical illnesses so much so that first timers are often taken to the emergency department, instead of psychiatry. Pounding heart along with sweating is two of the most common symptoms of panic attacks. These symptoms also accompany many other medical conditions such as heart attacks. Breathlessness can be due to panic attack, it can also be due to an attack of asthma. Therefore, how do you find out that you really have panic attack?
Panic attacks are diagnosed through a long drawn process. You need to rule out all the physical as well as psychological illness to come to conclusion. In fact, it is said that diagnosis is harder than cure, at least in the case of panic attacks, which is also sometimes called anxiety attacks. Anxiety attack treatments involve:
1. Pharmaceutical therapy involving mainly two types on medication
2. Psychological therapy mainly involving the cognitive behavior therapy or CBT and panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy
3. Application of self-help techniques
4. Life style changes
Now the question is how you will know that you have panic attacks and nothing else. Panic attacks have some distinctive symptoms, but unfortunately, most of them are quite similar to symptoms of some physical ailments. Therefore, it happens that the patients are often taken to the emergency department when the attack first takes place. It is only after quite a futile trips that people realize that problem lies somewhere else. The lucky ones are then taken to a psychoanalyst for further treatment; the unlucky ones are labeled hypochondriac and left to languish without treatment.
You must admit that your behavior depends largely on your thought and emotions. Cognitive part of the therapy focuses on your thought process strengthening and straightening your emotions while behavioral part of the therapy tries to control your behavior, thus controlling the overall panic symptoms. It is the best anxiety attack treatment. It is also suitable for young children. If your child has panic attacks, the doctor will possibly prescribe CBT for him.
Panic disorder medications are hardly ever used in the case of children. In such cases, the doctors rely more on psychotherapy. If your child has panic attacks, do not ask him “pull up” as we sometimes do, but keep on reassuring him/her and tell him/her that everything will be all right. Reassurance from family and friends go a long way in curing such patience. That is why, it is important to talk to his/her teacher as well.
The doctor will first explain all the problems of the child suffering from anxiety disorder to the parents and the teachers. A systematic plan is then put in place for the school time and the home time. For complete recover, the child needs to be given the treatment when he or she is in the school or when the child is at home. Ask the doctor:
o The time for the treatment
o Side effects of treatment
o Tasks to be done during the panic attacks
Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed panic attacks help as well as tips on the various medications for panic disorder available at AnxietyDisorderCure.com.
Read More From Beth Kaminski
|
