Treat Panic Attack As You Treat Any Other Ailment.

A panic attack is a sudden feeling of extreme anxiety while panic disorder is a disabling mental condition in which a person has repeated and unexpected panic attack and constantly worries about having another. A diagnosis of panic disorder is made after a person has at least two panic attacks that occur without reason and when these attacks are followed by a period of at least a month of fear that another attack is going to occur. The fear of attack, termed as agoraphobia, often triggers another attack and is a sure symptom of panic disorder.

A panic attack can be terrifying, but they are never life threatening. Symptoms include:
Shaking or trembling
Sweating
Dizziness and weakness
Chills and hot flashes
Chest pain and discomfort
Pounding of heart
Shortness of breath
Nausea
Cramping
A general feeling of dying
The strength of panic attack generally picks up in about ten minutes and subsides within thirty minutes and within that very thirty minutes the victim has felt dizzy, sweaty, shaky and dying. It often leads to depression and drug or alcohol abuse.

Yet many victims refuse to treat panic attack, some out of embarrassment, and others out of superstitions that medicines will do more harm than good. Whatever the reason, one must not shy away from visiting the doctor if the symptoms of panic disorder set in because this is one disorder which can wreck a person’s life needlessly. If you have four or more of the above symptoms you should visit the doctor, who will be able to evaluate you and tell you whether you really have panic attack. Simple treatments are available to control panic attacks and they can help you to lead normal life.

Best treatment for panic disorder includes medications along with cognitive-behavioral-therapy. While counseling is professional guidance to help a person, family or a group to recognize issues that are interfering with their lives, cognitive-behavioral-therapy is a type of counseling that focuses on modifying certain thought and behavioral pattern to control the symptoms of a disorder. In fact this particular therapy has been successfully used to treat not only panic disorder, but a number of other disorders too. Some believe that the role of cognitive-behavioral-therapy is more important while treating panic disorder than medication. This, however, is for the medical experts to decide.

However, you should know a little bit about panic disorder and make an informed choice about taking or not taking medicines..
You must realize that panic disorder is a medical condition, not a character flaw or weakness.
So there is nothing shameful about it and should not hesitate going to the doctor for treatment.
You must decide how much the disorder is bothering you. If panic disorder is hampering your daily life, it may not be a bad idea to go for medications, provided these are prescribed an authorized practitioner.
Sometimes depression too accompanies the panic disorder. In that case you must go for medications.
There are several good medicines for panic attack. These medicines can make the panic attack less severe or stop them all together.
If your condition is manageable, professional counseling such as cognitive-behavioral-therapy may be adequate and there is no need to take medicines.

There are mainly two types of medicine which are used to treat panic disorder. These are benzodiazepines and anti depressant. Benzodiazepines are more commonly used for rapid short term relief of symptoms. They work quickly to treat anxiety and are very helpful if the patient have agoraphobia. Unlike antidepressant they can be taken as and when they are needed. However, they also have a very short span of action and symptoms reoccur as the patient stops taking them. Because of this benzodiazepines may also be very addictive and increase drug dependence.

Benzodiazepines are of course some time used along with antidepressant for long term treatment. Antidepressant helps in balancing the chemicals in the brain and thus reduces the intensity of the symptom. A patient may start feeling better after 2/3 weeks. But one should expect any substantial improvement before six to eight weeks. If no improvement is noticed by three weeks, one should go back to the doctor for reassessment. It is important to remember that medicines act differently to different persons and if one medicine does not yield the desired result, the patient must go back to the doctor, who will then change the medicine.

As it has been already mentioned, panic disorder is merely a medical condition, which should be medically treated by suitable medical practitioner. All of us have right to lead a healthy life after all.