Health Risks: Anxiety and Panic

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Anxiety and panic have their effects to our health. In general, anxiety disorder is the fear or worry or any unpleasant emotional state, the sources of which are less readily identified. One good example is when a parent is worried that his or her child is ill even if the child is well and healthy.

Anxiety can be harmful to your health. Its symptoms include shortness of breath, tachyarrhythmia or fast heartbeat rate, dry mouth, dizziness, nausea, petulance, lost of focus, failure to sleep or insomnia, shaking, and muscle strain.

Panic disorder, meanwhile, is a kind of anxiety disorder where person suffers from brief attacks of intense terror and apprehension. The attacks happened for about 5 to 30 minutes. If it is not treated, it can lead to phobia. The symptoms are basically the same with anxiety disorder, such as trembling, nausea, chilling, sweating, dizziness, fast heartbeats, shortness of breath, a feeling like choking, and chest pain.

Anxiety disorder can be treated. There is an array of choices for treatment that a patient or his or her family can choose from. But the first thing to do is to have the disease diagnosed. It is a complicated disease and its diagnosis is the key on how the treatment will progress. Here are some ways to handle the illness.

Consult with your doctor.

The doctor can suggest what to do in order for you to cope with your anxiety. He/she can have counseling or talk therapy that can help you learn to express your needs and wants, it can also control or lessen your anxiety.

Take medicine if it helps

Your doctor will decide which medicines you are going to use, that can help you reduce your anxiety. In most cases, anxiolytic agents and antidepressants are prescribed to those inflicted by the disorder. One should consult with a professional first before taking in these medicines.

Have plenty of sleep

You should sleep at least 8 hours a day in order for you to lessen thinking about your anxiety.

Refrain from alcoholic drinks

Sometimes we drink alcohol as if it can help us lose our anxiety. But that is not right because it can make anxiety worse. Plus it can cause so much more problems.

Refrain from caffeine

Caffeine can be seen in coffee, tea, chocolate and soft drinks. It can also be found in medicines for cough and cold, and diet pills. Caffeine can increase your sense of anxiety because it awakens your nervous system.

Acquire ways to relax

There are different ways how to relax just like having yoga or deep breathing and relaxing your muscles.

Consult a psychologist

Psychotherapy is one of the options in treatment of anxiety disorder. An example of which is cognitive behavioral therapy which aims to influence problematic and dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure such as keeping a diary of all the significant events and their associated feelings.

Controversies have surfaced on the choice of treatment, or combination of treatments, to recommend. Some studies have indicated that a combination of the medications and behavioral therapy can be more effective that either one alone. Others, however, have claimed that the pharmacological interventions are mere sedatives and might actually interfere with the success of psychotherapy.

At any case, the patient and his or her family must choose a doctor that they can trust to give them the best remedy they can get. More importantly, the patient must be willing to partake in the possibly painstaking process of healing. And the family must demonstrate their support all the way.

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