Panic attack problem solving can have different levels of success and failure, just as treatment can be simple or complex because people have many layers. We only see the outer layer as the visual image but none of us know the hidden layers that go together to make up the individual. The best we can ever do as an individual is to understand our own inner self.
Depending upon the severity of the problem, some treatments work while others don't - its that simple. Yet in that simplicity there are complex factors -
· the willingness of the patient to seek a solution
· the diligence of the patient to conform to the programme
· the commitment to see it through from start to end regardless of time
· the courage of the patient to re-live disturbing or uncomfortable events
These are all factors in the perplexing algorithm of defining and treating panic or anxiety attack.
Panic or anxiety generally strike an individual during a period of elevated stress and it might not stand straight up and say "Hi, I'm Panic and I'm taking over now!", no. Its more subtle than that, indeed it can exist in the subconcious for a considerable period of time, quietly simmering away in the background while we get on with our busy lives that often don't afford us the time to be still. So day after day we maintain our routine until we receive a "trigger" - usually some kind of traumatic event such as an accident, death of a loved one (whether sudden or not), the birth of a child, the loss of a pet, losing a job, winning the lottery (sounds silly but its true) are just a few examples.
When that starter's gun fires, we lose our perception of what our normal life has been - all normality seems to go on an indefinite holiday which can last anywhere from a few minutes to days, weeks, months or even years. Panic sets in quickly and viciously with no remorse. It (panic) truly is the "Mr Hyde" character of the average "Dr Jeckell". Shortness of breath, dizziness, heart palpitations, excessive sweating, shaking, crying, shouting, dead silence, aggressiveness, fainting, flight through fear (running) are all hallmarks of a panic or anxiety attack.
For the sufferer, and anyone who is present at the time, its frightening - countless people have been rushed to the emergency department of a hospital suspected of having a heart attack but after examination and tests this unfortunate person is diagnosed as having a panic or anxiety attack. Accompanying relatives and friends tend to breathe a sigh of relief but they should not rest on their laurels - yet. Sometimes an individual can handle the problem and make their own remedy but for many that's impossible and to the dismay of sufferers, they may undergo a number of various treatments, often over a prolonged period of time until they find something that actually works for them - this is not a condition where a simple pill or vaccination can take care of the matter.
Just as there are a million fears to fight, so there are also a million treatments or programmes to try. Its small wonder that so many affected give up after treatment number six still has not helped or solved the issue. It takes an enormous amount of courage to push on and try yet another method with no guarantee of success. For the unfortunate majority of those who do give up searching, sadly they remain a prisoner of panic for life and most often they are the people who have no backup, no family or friends close enough to give them the support they need when they need it. That in itself is no small task - being the shoulder to lean on is very demanding and as I remarked to a friend one day after she had vented her sadness and frustration, "Being a rock is a hard job".
I do not write these lines lightly as I know first-hand what a Panic Attack is and how it can impact on a life. Many years ago I was shut inside a steel strongroom with no way out except from the outside. The six inch thick steel door had no handle on the inside and when the door was closed, the light and ventilation system was shut down - so there I was, trapped alone in an eight foot square solid steel box without light or air and no way of being able to scream loud enough to be heard because the strongroom was encased by brick walls on three sides. I thought I was going to die. I hit my head on a shelf, fell over boxes and things on the floor that should never have been put there in the first place and very quickly became a wreck. Crying, shaking and with my heart pounding in my chest so hard that it hurt, in a desperate attempt to get out of my tomb, in total darkness and silence I felt my way around the inside walls to locate an extension phone - I knew that it was the only link between me and death. When I did find it, after what seemed like hours, in my distressed state had to navigate the keypad and press the right keys to dial another area of the establishment and then I had to convince the person who answered that I was in fact locked in and send someone to get me out! I had been in that steel coffin for nearly fifteen minutes - can you imagine what kind of mess I was when the door was opened? More than twenty years have passed but still the memory remains vivid. Nobody should ever have to endure that but I know I'm not the first nor will I be the last. That in no way detracts from my terrifying ordeal. For months I could not sleep and at least one light had to remain on in the house at all times. Possibly as bad but in a different way, I watched my children suffer as the calm, confident mother they had always known disintegrated before their eyes into a pale, withdrawn, somewhat ghostly figure that would sit in silence for hours at a time, completely unaware of time and any normality.
It was after that event my panic attacks began and during the first instance I had no idea until it was too late. In a department store I got into the elevator to go up to the next floor. As soon as I saw the doors closing the crying, shaking and sweating started immediately, the others in the elevator didn't know what to do, they probably thought I was crazy and really, in a way I was for the duration of that short trip. Have you ever thought that a minute could feel like an eternity? I didn't think those doors were ever going to open and I literally staggered out when they did. Months of visits to a top psychologist ensued and nearly two years passed by until I could turn off all the lights when I went to bed, however I've never overcome the deepest level of my panic so I avoid elevators wherever possible - for me, its safer to take the stairs.
So you see a Panic Attack isn't the result of an over-active imagination, nor is it a sympathy ploy for the many who have a negative opinion. A Panic Attack is real and frightening, moreover its the evidence of a traumatic event in a life which sometimes responds to treatment and improves but it must be acknowledged that for some there is no resolution. Whether or not the symptoms respond to treatment is still secondary to the fact that the sufferer does live with the initial cause for the remainder of their life.
Panic Attacks can and do ruin lives, not only the sufferer but also those who they are closest to and if you currently experience panic or anxiety attacks, I urge you most strenuously to seek treatment now.
