Why do people have anxiety and panic attacks? What are they and are they the same thing?

Answer:
Hi!! I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for over 2 years and I finally cured from this nightmare. Stress is the first responsible for this anxiety or panic attacks. When your anxiety reach certain limits, then you could end with a anxiety or panic attack. You will feel that a train will roll you over while sleeping or just driving to the mall... no reason whatsoever.
According to one theory of panic disorder, the body's normal "alarm system," the set of mental and physical mechanisms that allows a person to respond to a threat, tends to be triggered unnecessarily, when there is no danger. Scientists don't know exactly why this happens, or why some people are more susceptible to the problem than others. In many cases, panic disorder has been found to run in families, and this may mean that inheritance (genes) plays a strong role in determining who will get it. However, many people who have no family history of the disorder develop it. Often, the first attacks are triggered by physical illnesses, a major life stress, or perhaps medications that increase activity in the part of the brain involved in fear reactions.

I was having over three panic attacks (severe) three times a day and always ending up at ER. Finally I received a treatment called "killing the panic ghost" which finally end this nightmare .. of course, along with Zoloft and Klonopin. If you want to receive more information about how I did it you can contact me at : pjrosario_us@yahoo.com.

Since I know how bad could it get and how the nightmare is, I want to help as many people I can to get rid of this.

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Anxiety is more like a longer lasting lower key fear. But panic attacks come on more intense and all of a sudden.
There is medication for it if you see a doctor and tell them.

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Anxiety and Panic attacks are the same thing. As to 'why' people have them, some would cite a 'chemical imbalance' in the brain, which is an easier way of looking at it - but it isn't a universally acknowledged cause. It's hard to pin-point what causes mental suffering.

I've been suffering from them since I was 16. Some people have different types of attacks (i.e. it effects the chest more then the stomach, or the head, etc...) but my type is that I feel like I'll throw up at any second. My body begins to sweat, I get light headed, my pulse races... Any type of 'unknown' situation, public situation... or pretty much anything beyond leaving my home used to set me off.

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realy wouldnt know what is a panic attack i could say the mind is very powerfull did you know that if you concentrate hard enough you can make your headache go away and if you lie in the complete darkness and concentrate on monsters i garanty you will see and i also believe that if you try hard enough you will be able to calm your self .a start would be to forget not think or dare to imagine any of your BIIILLLSSS.

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Okay - I have both, so will try and explain from my experience. Anxiety is when a person suffers from symptoms of nervousness, fear, worry and its kind of all lumped together, but can come out in different ways. Causes, these things have all kinds of triggers. Me, I had a lot of stress and problems in my life - unacceptably high level - and a lot went wrong before it started to come out. It began with feeling light headed, then with shaking legs, shaking hands, panic feelings - but all of these things were triggered by external factors in my life at the time - rapid heart beat, chest pain, nightmares, around this time I started to fall back on alcohol and as a result became an alcoholic for almost seven years. About a year after the symptoms began I had a severe panic attack - I simply felt like I couldnt breathe and it was as if a pillow was over my face. It was terrifying, because it kept recurring and I became agoraphobic because of it - afraid to go out or far from home because the first attack was so traumatic I thought I was going to die. My gp at the time was useless. A few years later I changed to another one, he prescribed me anti anxiety medication which I can now take to prevent attacks, or on the onset of an attack. This has made a huge difference in my life, and the drinking is over, too. The two were only linked because I used the alcohol to calm me and surpress the panic but it just gave me another problem in the long run. Today I still get them, but I have it under control and if I take puills I can get out a bit more but the only place I really feel safe is at home, maybe I'll always feel that way because this kind of illness leaves scars. But the main thing is im getting on with my life as best as I can. I think the anxiety and the panic are linked, sort of in a circle - stress makes you anxious, anxiety induces panic, which induces panic attack feelings - then you live in fear of another attack which increases anxiety levels. The key I have found to dealing with it is to keep on living and if I get a bad day, I know theres a better one around the corner. Its not the kind of illness you can allow to get the better of you, because its a nasty thing to have and if it gets a hold of you, unless you fight it, then it can wreck your life. The more I do, the more I try and do new things, go out more etc, even if its hard at the time, I find afterwards the symptoms ebb away a little. If I stay indoors for several days I have to push myself to go out again. It really is a case of keep going and keep the bad stuff at bay and its an ongoing effort which sometimes makes me exhausted, but I consider myself over the worst of it. It's an illness that takes a long period of time to develop, sometimes years. And it takes just as long to get well again.

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hello,
From my understanding, a panic attack is caused by a "disregulation" of serotonin or perhaps another brain chemical. Sometimes stress can subconciously trigger them, sometimes not. I once had a therapist tell me that it's the body's way of releasing steam for certain people, much like a person may develop a migraine headache under pressure unexpectedly, or perhaps may have an eyelid tic. I hope this helps.

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