Panic attack without warning

Vy’s heart was pounding, her breathing was short and rapid, her hands were numb, and she felt like her chest was being squeezed. Even though she was taken outside to breathe and have her health checked immediately afterward, she still thought she was in serious danger. The panic attack lasted about 15 minutes but left her with fear that lasted for days, making her constantly worry the same thing would happen again.

Three years ago, after a period of prolonged work pressure and taking care of sick relatives, Vy began to worry too much. Every day, she constantly thinks about things that haven’t happened yet, such as fear of losing her job, fear of something happening to her child, fear of getting a serious illness. At night, women have insomnia and often toss and turn until 2-3 am. The body is always in a state of tension, fatigue, headaches, and palpitations.

Thinking that she was just suffering from normal stress, Vy tried to endure it until her symptoms became more and more severe. After examination, Dr. Hoang Quoc Lan, psychologist, Phuong Dong General Hospital, diagnosed her with an anxiety disorder.

Similarly, Hai, 45 years old, recounted one afternoon at the end of the year when he was in a meeting at work when a panic attack suddenly struck. “My heart suddenly beat very hard, like someone was squeezing my chest,” he said.

My heart rate skyrocketed, my hands trembled, sweat poured down my palms. Numbness spreads from fingertips up arms and around the mouth. What scared Hai the most was the feeling of being close to death, thinking he might faint or suddenly die on the spot.

The doctor determined that he was experiencing an acute panic attack on top of a long-term anxiety disorder. After treatment with medication combined with psychotherapy, symptoms are gradually controlled.

A panic attack occurs when the brain and body react as if facing mortal danger, even though there is no actual threat. Patients often have symptoms such as rapid heartbeat or palpitations, difficulty breathing, tightness in the neck, dizziness, tremors, and feeling about to faint. Most prominent is the intense fear that one is about to die or lose control.

According to Dr. Lan, a panic attack usually lasts 5-20 minutes, rarely longer. When the attack passes, the body is often tired but medical test results are mostly normal.

Theo MSD Manualspanic attacks are quite common, occurring in approximately 8-23% of adults during their lifetime. Most recover without treatment, but some may develop panic disorder. Panic attacks can occur in people with anxiety disorders, depression or other mental health problems. Some attacks occur when encountering specific triggers, for example, people with snake phobia may panic when encountering snakes. However, others have panic attacks without any triggers.

Research above NCBIexperts surveyed the incidence of panic attacks among patients at an anxiety disorder clinic, and found that 39.4% of patients had sudden panic attacks, without a trigger.

According to Dr. Lan, in people with anxiety disorders or depression, the brain easily sends out false warning signals. The nervous system constantly puts the body in a state of alarm, making stress, insomnia and prolonged stress more likely to trigger new attacks. The more afraid the panic attack will return, the higher the risk of recurrence.

Master of Psychology Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, Head of Psychology Department, BHIU Training Institute, said that the brains of people with anxiety disorders are often in a state of excessive vigilance. The “fight or flight” response can be triggered even when there is no real danger. At that time, the body releases stress hormones such as adrenaline, causing the heart to beat faster, blood pressure to increase, breathing to become rapid and a series of unpleasant symptoms to appear. Therefore, patients can have attacks even while working, watching TV, driving or sleeping.

Panic attacks themselves rarely cause death or physical harm, but can seriously affect your quality of life. Many people, because of fear of recurrence, avoid going to work, limit communication, and do not dare to go far or go to crowded places.

Experts recommend that the more you try to resist or panic because the symptoms will last longer. Some things that can be done are as follows:

– Remind yourself: “This is a panic attack, it will pass.”. Properly identifying the condition helps the brain reduce the feeling of danger and prevent the spiral of anxiety from escalating.