Stress is an integral part of our lives. It heightens our awareness, sharpens our focus, and enables us to stay alert and focused. Stress helps motivate us into action and helps to maintain a healthy balance of hormones and chemicals in the brain. However, abnormally high amounts of stress can result in anxiety attacks.
Anxiety can go unnoticed. It is easy to confuse anxiety and daily healthy stress. Prolonged anxiety and anxiety attacks should be recognized and attended to as soon as possible. Anxiety attacks when left untreated can quickly get out of control and all consuming.
Recognizing the symptoms of an anxiety attack is an important first step to treatment. Though everyone reacts to stress differently some common indicators of unhealthy anxiety include difficulty concentrating, racing or uncontrollable thoughts, memory lapses, and feelings of confusion. In order to recognize the indicators for an anxiety attack, it's important to understand the symptoms of stress first.
You’ll see some of those symptoms in anxiety attacks as well, but you’ll notice more of the physical symptoms when an attack is occurring. Some people experience shortness of breath, pounding heart rhythm, trembling or shakiness within the body, stomachaches and hot or cold flashes.
When the attack has reached its high point, you’ll notice a feeling of being out of control or losing a grip on yourself. Unfortunately, those experiencing anxiety attacks don’t always recognize their symptoms as an attack.
There may be times when a friend or loved one recognizes the signs of anxiety and points them out. After you have experienced even one anxiety attack, it’s important to see your doctor to make sure your diagnosis is correct and to rule out other medical problems.
A physical will rule out other medical conditions through a combination of reviewing your medical history and, depending on the symptoms you present, additional testing like heart rhythm and stress testing. Once it has be determined that anxiety is the main culprit contributing to symptoms a medication may be prescribed to help relieve some of the symptoms associated with anxiety attacks and lessen the occurrence of anxiety attacks. Anti-anxiety medications often require time to build up in the bloodstream. This can take as little as two weeks or as much as two months. During this time your physical will most likely encourage you to visit a counselor to discuss possible anxiety reduction techniques.
Counselors are individuals specially trained to help patients explore the motivations behind their feelings. This includes determining what factors contribute to stress and how to eliminate or reduce stress. A counselor will listen to a patient’s medical and biographical history to determine what influences are contributing to the overabundance of stress in their lives. Once these stressors are identified the counselor will create a treatment plan and teach the patient to manage their stress through the use of stress reduction techniques. The success of this treatment plans depends solely on the patient’s commitment to follow through with the suggestions outlined in it.
Take time to do some research on stress management techniques. There are many websites devoted to illustrating these techniques. From deep breathing, meditation, yoga, and exercise to changes in daily routines and rituals there are a multitude of techniques that can be experimented with.
As the stress in your day to day life increases, there are many strategies for coping. Getting assistance in learning how to manage your anxiety is the first step. Determining the major stressors in your life and developing an effective strategy to cope with them will increase your comfort level and bring hope back into your life.
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