You are in the middle of a panic attack. Your mind is racing, you are breathing heavily, and your heart is pounding. You may not think it can get any worse. The truth is, if you cannot start controlling panic attacks you will soon learn that it can get a lot worse.
What Happens To Your Body During A Panic Attack
The feelings that you feel during a panic attack are only half the story. While your anxiety is wrecking havoc with your mind, it is also punishing your body.
You feel your anxious breathing. You probably think your heart is going to beat out of your chest. If you are not learning how to control panic attacks, these physical symptoms are only the surface of many deeper problems going on internally.
When you panic attack begins, your brain is not capable of deciphering that the anxiety is from perceived danger, not real danger. The brain kicks into survival mode and signals the release of adrenaline throughout the body.
This gives you the surge of energy you feel. If you were in real danger, it would give you the energy to fight or flee from your situation.
When the adrenaline is released, several functions change within your body. The adrenaline makes your heart beat fast and increases your blood pressure. This ensures that your skeleton and muscles get the surge of adrenaline they need to survive the perceived danger.
The thyroid kicks into overdrive sending out signal hormones to ensure a continued stream of adrenaline by the adrenal glands. At the same time, your liver and kidneys kick in to increase the amount of glucose, or sugar, in your blood, providing the muscles with the extra energy needed.
Meanwhile, your body shuts down all functions it does not consider essential at that moment. Normal hormones production stops. Metabolism increases, but your body only absorbs the sugar energy it needs.
All of the other nutrients are ignored and not absorbed. Your liver and kidney are focused on supporting the body’s energy needs and toxin filtration and removal ceases. This means you have more toxins in your body and less nutrients.
When There Is No Fight Or Flight
If you were in real danger, you would have to exert yourself either by fighting off the threat or escaping it. After you exerted your energy, you would be tired because the extra sugar and adrenaline has been used.
At this point, your body would release hormones to counteract the adrenaline and restore normal body function. In fact, it would release additional hormones to repair any damage done during the exertion.
Since you were not in real danger and did not physically exert yourself, there is nothing to signal this counteraction. The adrenaline lingers in your system, keeping your heart beating too fast, your blood pressure too high, your organs working overtime, and too much sugar in your blood stream.
The adrenaline gradually leaves your body throughout the rest of the day or longer, instead of being quickly drained the way nature intended.
As you can imagine, this prolonged exposure to adrenaline with no counteraction can lead to many health problems. Heart and cardiovascular complications are very normal in people who cannot control panic attack and anxiety problems. Organ exhaustion or failure is also more likely. The increased blood sugar and toxins quickly result in diabetes.
These complications would probably not ever become a serious issue if you only had a panic attack every now and then. If there were weeks or months between panic attacks, your body would have plenty of time to readjust and achieve normal levels.
If you are not controlling panic attack and anxiety issue and are having regular attacks, you do not have enough time to recover before a new surge of adrenaline takes over.
Prolonged Anxiety Damage
If you are having panic attacks, chances are you are maintaining higher than normal levels of anxiety the rest of the time. This is often referred to as General Anxiety Disorder, or GAD. One of the main problems with GAD is your body is still releasing higher than normal amounts of adrenaline.
This means that your body is still suffering from adrenaline overload, even when you are not having panic attacks. The steady stream of adrenaline continues and your body is never signaled to stop or counteract it. When a panic attack does occur, it makes the adrenaline all the more dangerous.
Even if there were no panic attacks, the continual anxiety would take a toll on your body. It is common for GAD patients to suffer from regular insomnia, nausea, dizziness, cramps, vision problems, depression, and an inability to focus.
These are all signs that the body cannot persist on this heightened and continual stream of adrenaline. It is your body’s method of telling you to start controlling panic attacks and anxiety, or else.
Take Back Your Control And Your Health
It is more than the depression, inconvenience, and embarrassment related to panic attacks. It is the fact that they are putting your life at risk. If you were not motivated to cure your panic attacks before, you should be now.
Doctors are not your answer because pills and prescriptions will only increase the toxins in your body. Medical options will only treat the symptoms and they will not cure the problem. You need a real solution.
The solution is to start a program, like the Panic Away program, that will help you retrain your mind to deal with anxiety differently. The Panic Away program teaches you how to beat your anxiety and remove your fear. In addition to teaching techniques to be used during a panic attack, you will learn how to eradicate anxiety from your daily life.
As you start down the path to controlling your anxiety, you will be amazed at how much better you will feel physically. Chances are, you were not aware of how much stress your body was enduring all the time. With that burden off your shoulders, you will be able to enjoy life in ways you may have never imagined possible.
