An Anxiety Attack – You Don’t Have To Lose Control!

Having an anxiety attack occasionally is normal for most people.  These are common feelings that run through our brains when we are stressed emotionally.  These stem from work-related matters like an important presentation to a key client, to more personal achievements like fitting in into a new community or gearing up for a public performance.  When these attacks get a little too overwhelming or occur too often, then it is time to consider curing ourselves of it totally.

Any treatment of anxiety attack needs to be done after consultation with an experienced medical practitioner.  Whether it is medication or a more therapeutic treatment, a doctor or psychologist will need to first analyze and diagnose us before we can proceed with our choice of cure.  This is important as only after a thorough analysis will we be able to know the severity of the anxiety attack we suffer from.

The kind of treatment recommended for our anxiety attack depends on a few factors, such as:

1.    How often we experience such attacks.
2.    How long each attack lasts.
3.    The severity of each attack.
4.    The reaction(s) each attack induces in us.
5.    How long we have had these attacks.
6.    The triggers for the attacks.

Just as different people have different triggers for each anxiety attack, any effective treatment of anxiety attack depends on each person and how they respond to each method.  Some doctors find that their patients respond well to common panic disorder medications while others discover that they need to resort to more drastic and aggressive treatment.
Panic disorder medications are prescribed to help the patient regain control of their emotions and rational thought, while reducing the frequency and intensity of each anxiety attack.  As such, they are mainly anti-depressants.  However, these medicines do not achieve much on their own – they achieve best results when the patient is also undergoing psychotherapy or other behavioral therapy.

Counseling is one of the best complements for panic disorder medicines.  Talking out a deep-rooted, irrational fear and facing it with an experienced therapist is one of the best permanent cures for panic disorder.  More often than not, these fears stem from some traumatic experience in the past which the patient has yet to come to terms with.  These experiences could be some form of abuse they witnessed or went through, deep grief or intense disappointment at an impressionable time in their life – most of which are curable.

Simple, home treatment can also be partnered with these anxiety attack medicines.  Mind relaxing exercises like deep breathing and yoga are often big helps on a daily basis.  They are simple enough to do and do not take up too much time to master.  Plus, they can be done just about anywhere – this last point is an extremely useful factor for any panic disorder sufferer as their attacks can happen in a blink of an eye.  Being able to do a simple, self-help cure for an impending anxiety attack without needing to find a room or clear one’s schedule will prove priceless.

Any treatment of anxiety attack will be monitored closely to gauge their effectiveness.  This is especially so when it comes to prescribed medication.  Close monitoring of prescribed pills is essential to prevent unnecessary dependence on these drugs.  If this were to happen, it would bring rise to a bigger worry – addiction.

Within a few weeks of such panic disorder medications, we (and those closest to us) should be able to see general improvements.  More control of our emotions, for instance, and less frequency of any anxiety attack.  If no changes are observed within the first 2 months of prescription, it may mean that we need a higher dosage.  No attempt on our own part should be made to increase the medications, though – a consultation with the doctor should first be done.

Panic disorder medications are often used continually for the first couple of years and after that, reduced in its dosage and frequency.  Each stage of reduction must be closely monitored and if there is a recurrence of the frequency of anxiety attacks, then proper adjustments will be made.  Sometimes, the medication may end up being a semi-permanent feature in the treatment of anxiety attack.