When you have panic disorder, your whole life will be like a burden to you. Getting back to normalcy will be your major goal. Anxiety attack medication and self help are the best help when you are having a panic attack. The paper bag technique is considered to be very helpful when it comes to controlling or reducing the panic attacks. When you are having a panic attack, you breathe very rapidly. To control the breathing, you can use a paper bag. All you need to do is to breathe in and out of the paper bag.

If you don’t have a paper bag at close proximity, you can use your hands to cover your nose. The paper bag technique decreases the intake of oxygen and brings back the normal pace of breathing. Making a change to your life style will also have positive effect on the panic attacks and will reduce them considerably. You will have to include an exercise schedule in your daily routine. The exercises can either be done early in the morning or late in the evening. 15 to 30 minutes of exercise will have good effect on your body.

Treating panic disorder with exercises has helped thousands of people all over the world. For some good exercises, you can check out the Internet and download some good exercise videos. Some of the websites may charge you for the exercise videos. Considering the benefits of the exercises, you can always give off some dollars. If your lifestyle demands regular drinking of alcohol and smoking cigarettes, you will be disappointed to know that you will have to do away of all such habits.

Eating food at the right times also has a good effect on the body. Due to the tight schedules in office, you may often skip your lunch. Skipping meals has negative impact on the body and will surely influence the frequency of the panic attacks. You may have to avoid any processed foods and junk food. These are very small changes to the life styles, but when put together they work miracles. If you can have total control on what you eat and drink, you will surely have total control over your other actions.

When there is no one around when you have a panic attack, what do you do? There is a very simple way to make the panic attack subside. First, you will have to stop fighting the panic attack. The more you fight the panic attack, the worse it will become. When you get a panic attack, try and tell yourself that you are having a panic attack. Also, try and tell yourself that the panic attack will get over in few minutes and everything will get to normal.

The brain needs to be told that it is a panic attack, because it is not aware that it is a panic attack. In addition, you can try some good visualization technique to relax your brain. One good visualization technique is to imaging that you are floating over the panic attack. You can also use the distraction technique, which is a form of the visualization technique. In the distraction technique, you will have to divert your mind and think of something else, perhaps a different situation or setting.

Never try and be alone in the fight against panic attacks. Discuss your anxiety or panic disorder with friends, family or even counselors. When you discuss your problems with others, you will definitely feel better. You may also get some good ideas from your friends and family members. During panic attacks, if you have a friend or family member close to you, it will be of great help. Your friends and family members will make you feel relaxed during the panic attacks. They are the closest to you, so make the most of it.

Relaxation techniques can also have a great effect on the panic attacks in a positive way. When you get the panic attack, try and close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. Try and breathe very slowly and do not rush to do any other activity. Some other ways if beating panic attacks are:

o    Avoid stressful situations

o    Get rid of negative feelings

o    Join a self-help group

Ativan is an anti-anxiety drug that belongs to the family of benzodiazepines. This drug is often prescribed by doctors in mild to severe cases of anxiety or panic disorder. Many people who are suffering from anxiety or panic disorder have got a lot of relief by using Ativan. This drug helps to reduce the symptoms that are associated with anxiety or panic disorder. The generic name for the Ativan drug is Lorazepam. Most people take the drugs that are given by the doctor without knowing the good and the bad effects of that drug.

Most anxiety disorder medications give good relief from anxiety or panic disorder, but they need to be taken with a lot of care as there are known cases of drug abuse with most anxiety disorder medications. After taking Ativan, most people feel very sleepy, so it makes more sense to avoid driving or riding a vehicle after you have taken a dose of Ativan. Because Ativan affects the nervous system of humans, it gives a feeling of calmness. If there are any worries, people tend to forget them when they are under the influence of Ativan.

Alcohol and Ativan are a deadly combination and can induce dizziness. Very importantly, if Ativan is taken with alcohol, then it affects coordination of a person. If you are pregnant, then your doctor will not advise you to take Ativan because this drug is known to cause birth defects to the fetus. Ativan is known to interfere with the breathing processes. Notify your doctor if you have the following:

o    Bronchitis

o    Asthma

o    Emphysema

When the doctor prescribes Ativan, you may have to talk to the doctor about the risks and the benefits of this medication. Like the other benzodiazepine family members, Ativan has good and bad effects. Patients need to make the right decision about Ativan only after they have got to know all about the pros and cons about Ativan. If in doubt, the patients can research on the Internet and find all about this wonder drug. One good website that gives you all the information related to the anxiety disorder medications is drugs.com.

For panic attacks help, you can join any support group and be an active member of that particular group. Log on to the Internet and search for some good support groups that are close to your area. Most of the support groups organize seminars and training programs to enlighten the masses about the anxiety and panic disorder treatments. One good anxiety or panic disorder association is the ADAA. The full form of ADAA is Anxiety Disorders Association of America. The official website of ADAA is www.adaa.org.

ADAA is dedicated to the treatment, prevention, and cure of anxiety or panic disorder. On the Homepage of the ADAA website, you will get a lot of information related to anxiety disorders, panic disorders, specific phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, and generalized anxiety disorder or GAD. If you become a member of ADAA, then you may be invited to the annual conferences. To register for the annual ADAA conference, you will have to click the Registration link.

You may have to pay a nominal fee to get admission to the ADAA conference. Most of the time, the registrations for the ADAA conference start from October, so you may have to be in touch with the authorities throughout the year for any updates. If you are suffering from anxiety or panic disorder, then attending such conferences is of great help. After the ADAA conference, you will feel rejuvenated and with all the knowledge, you will surely overcome this mental condition.

To start panic attacks help, you can also start your own support group. You don’t need a lot of funds for starting up your own support group as you can even get good funding from the various charity organizations. You may need a little extra time to do all the running around, but once the things are set up, you will be able to manage your time and work accordingly. For a complete list of support groups across the United States of America, you can check out the ADAA official website or some other good websites.

The human body is the most complicated machine in this world, as best experienced by doctors. Often irregular or lack of maintenance of machines causes ruin or damage, similarly an unbalanced and irregular lifestyle may lead to serious ill functioning of human body causing several kind of diseases. One of these several medical diseases which are directly related to your lifestyle is termed as “Panic disorder or Anxiety disorders”. According to DSM-IV-TR , when someone is having a sudden and intense feeling of terror, fear or apprehension, without the presence of actual danger, he seems to have a “panic disorder”.  DSM-IV-TR has classified anxiety into five different types:

•    Generalized anxiety disorder

•    Social phobia

•    Obsessive compulsive disorder

•    Posttraumatic stress disorder

•    Specific phobia

There is no preknown cause to panic disorder but genetics, biological misbalance, family history, stressful lifestyle are some of the common cause of anxiety or panic disorder.
A physical and psychological evaluation can diagnose the existence of panic disorder but there are some common symptoms that are present in most of the patients. These common symptoms include:

•    Palpitations, pounding heart

•    Sweating

•    Shaking

•    Feeling of choking

•    Chest pain

•    Fear of losing control

•    Fear of dying

•    Chills

•    Sensations of shortness of breath.

•    Feeling dizzy, unsteady, and faint

According to the American Psychological Association, the symptoms of panic attacks generally stay for thirty minutes, but it may last as short as fifteen minutes or last long for some hours.

These days, medical science offers an extensive range of panic attack medications which includes:

•    Medicine:
The frequently used firstline treatment of panic disorder are, Selective Serotonin-Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), or the Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI) Venlafaxine (Effexor). And for chronic forms of panic attacks Antidepressants, like Tricyclic antidepressants may be prescribed. But the problem with these kinds of medicines is that it has severe side effects like suicidal tendencies.

Benzodiazepines are generally safer to use daily. But long-term use causes dependencies and abuse and it takes long time to work too.

Buspirone is recommended to treat generalized anxiety disorder.

Beta Blockers like, Propranolol (Inderal) and Atenolol are also used for treating anxiety attacks.

For treating major depressive types of panic disorder Atypical Antipsychotics is very useful. But excessive use of this may cause weight gain problems.

Besides these, Anticonvulsants (Antiseizure Drugs) like, Pregabalin (Lyrica) and Gabapentin (Neurontin) are also given by the doctor for treating other forms of anxiety disorders.

•    Psychotherapy:
According to the American Psychiatric Association, a specific form of psychotherapy called “Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy (CBT)” is the most effective cure to panic disorder. The objective of this therapy is to gain control over someone’s reaction to sudden situations so as to reduce the feeling of helplessness. Several reports say that another useful psychotherapy is “Panic Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy”. Another form of psychotherapy is the “Systematic Desensitization”. Systematic desensitization is a special technique to break the link between the anxiety-provoking stimulus and the anxiety response. There is emotion-based psychotherapy (EBT) also to cure anxiety attacks.

•    Herbs and Supplements treatment:
A dietary supplement Inositol which is part of the vitamin B complex is proved to fetch benefits in the context of treating panic attacks. For some patients, herbal aromatherapy is used as a relaxing aid for treating panic disorder.

•    Diet and exercise:
A healthy diet, regular exercise like walking, cycling, and normal lifestyle can contribute effectively to keep away panic disorder. Besides, one has to completely avoid caffeine and alcohol, soda and sugar plus fruit juices.  Junk food has a high Glycemic index (GI) which is more susceptible to panic attacks. It is advisable to take more fruits, vegetables which have low GI.

•    Surgery:
A surgical technique named Cingulotomy is sometimes used as a last hope for treating severe panic attacks.

•    Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Other Neurostimulation treatment
This treatment involves high frequency magnetic pulses for targeting and stimulating specific areas of the brain.

In the assessment of managing anxiety or panic disorder, we should stick to a balanced, healthy lifestyle to have a natural cure. After all it is always said that “Prevention is better than cure”.