Panic Attack and/or Panic Disorder - Medtick
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Panic Attack and/or Panic Disorder

What is it?

A person with panic disorders can occur at anytime and one has regular feelings of irritable, anxious and stressed (when one is under pressure and can’t cope).

  • The condition for most people develop in their teenagers years and in their twenties.
  • The attack can last from 5-20 minutes and normally peaks at 10 minutes.
  • Females tend to be more affected with this condition than males.

General anxiety

According to the DSM-5, a diagnosis of GAD requires anxiety and worry that are associated with at least three of the following six symptoms, occurring on more days than not, for at least 6 months:

  • Restlessness or feeling keyed-up or on edge
  • Being easily fatigued
  • Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
  • Irritability
  • Muscle tension
  • Sleep disturbance

Diagnosis Tests

For diagnosis, symptoms must result in the patient’s impaired ability to function and cannot be attributed to a separate medical condition.

Cause

  • Family history
  • Work
  • Stressful event
  • Relationships
  • Money problems
  • Excessive worry and stress to situations:
    • Extreme fear
    • Distressing events
    • Frightening events
    • Panic disorder conditions (i.e. phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, confined spaces)
  • Smoking
  • High caffeine intake
  • TANC2-related disorders

Syndromes

Medications with known potential to directly cause anxiety include:

  • Corticosteroids (cortisone, dexamethasone, prednisone)
  • Drugs for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: (amphetamine/dextroamphetamine, dexmethylphenidate, lisadexamfetamine, methylphenidate)
  • Asthma medications (aminophylline, albuterol, salmeterol, theophylline)
  • Thyroid medications (Armour Thyroid, levothyroxine)
  • Seizure medications (phenytoin)
  • Parkinson’s disease medications (levodopa and carbidopa)
  • Heterocyclic antidepressants
  • Atropine
  • Cycloserine
  • Digitalis
  • Ephedrine (found in cold and flu products -decongestants)
  • Epinephrine (found in cold and flu products -decongestants)
  • Insulin
  • Monoamine oxidase inhibitors anti-depressants
    • Isoniazid
  • Nitrates
  • Reserpine

Illicit drugs

Vitamins, herbals and minerals

Symptoms

(Symptoms can be intense)

Emotional:

  • Irritated, depressed, anxiety and/or panic attacks?
  • Depressed or low mood?
  • Go over and over things?
  • Have racing thoughts?
  • Imagining the worst?
  • Worry constantly?
  • Over whelming feeling of fear?
  • Strong feeling that something is going to happen?
  • Fear of having another attack?

Physical:

  • Chest pain?
  • Churning stomach?
  • Feel full quickly when eating trapped wind and burping  (‘foul rotten egg smell’)?
  • Dry mouth?
  • Bad breath?
  • Balance and dizziness?
  • Heart palpitations, irregular heartbeats?
  • Flushed face/Hot flushes and chills?
  • Have cold feet and hands which can be numb and painful?
  • Pain, numbness, burning and tingling ( pins and needles) sensation in one’s hands and fingers (thumb and/or index finger and/or middle finger and/or ring finger and/or small finger)?
  • Sensitivity to every day noise and/or ringing noise within and/or difficulty hearing?
  • Shaking and/or trembling?
  • Short of breath?
  • Sickness or nausea feeling?
  • Increase thirst, heavy sweating and need to urinate frequently?
  • Voice changes/or a hoarse voice?
  • Long term persistent indigestion, frequent heartburn or constant abdominal pain?

Complications /Information to beware of/General tips:

This condition can lead to:

Please beware (as this could be of initial symptoms) of symptoms of:

Driving Authority

This condition may show similar symptoms to:

Please talk to your healthcare professional (i.e. Medical Doctor/Pharmacist) for further advice

Detailed Information

Please copy and paste any key words from the title: Panic Attack and/or Panic Disorder in the following respective 'Medtick References and/or Sources' to find out more about the disease (this also may include diagnosis tests and generic medical treatments).

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