Understanding Panic Attack -- Symptoms
What Are the Symptoms of a Panic Attack?
If you have four or more of the following symptoms, you may be having a panic attack:
- Sudden high anxiety -- with or without a cause
- Heart palpitations
- Sweating
- Shaking
- A "smothering" sensation or shortness of breath
- A feeling of choking
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea
- Dizziness or faintness
- A sense of unreality
- A fear of going crazy or losing control
- A fear of dying
- Numbness or tingling
- Chills or hot flashes
An isolated panic attack, while extremely unpleasant, is not uncommon or life-threatening. Panic disorder and panic attacks are not the same thing. All panic disorders have panic attacks as a symptom but having a panic attack does not mean you have a panic disorder. Panic attacks can be a symptom of other anxiety disorders as well.
Weddings are generally joyous occasions, but not so for Marissa Wolicki, 25, of Toronto, Canada, who reluctantly attended one recently with her boyfriend. "All of a sudden, the room started to spin. I started to feel really nauseated. My heart went pound-pound-pound-pound. I grabbed my boyfriend's hand and said we had to go. He said, 'We can't go. We're in the middle of a wedding!' He started getting mad at me. People who don't have these attacks don't understand. My legs started to shake. I had...
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You may think you're having a heart attack -- and it's true that the symptoms can be similar. However, most people having a panic attack have had one before, triggered by a similar event or situation.
The chest pain of a panic attack usually stays in the mid-chest area (the pain of a heart attack commonly moves toward the left arm). It is often accompanied by rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, and fear. A panic attack usually lasts only a few minutes, comes suddenly and disappears suddenly, but leaving one exhausted.
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