Your Ultimate Health Guide

A person with agoraphobia may not leave his home for years. Yet, he welcomes visitors but only if they are in defined places and rooms where help can be sort immediately.

Agoraphobic may experience severe panic streaks when he feels that he is being trapped. He may feel insecure and very uncomfortable with the place. For the most severe cases, an agoraphobic prefers a single room and may become bed-bound until the over-stimulation of his nervous system subsides and his adrenaline level becomes normal.

Also, during attacks agoraphobics may become overly conscious with the happenings in their bodies. Even a slight change in their heart rate may start a panic attack. It is often that an agoraphobia sufferer will interpret the conditions in which he is experiencing the initial attack of agoraphobia as the start of a heart attack. Some examples are climbing of stairs that causes increased heart beat and rate of breathing.

Though agoraphobia is a single condition, it may be associated with some other fears such as :-

1. Fear of loneliness or of being alone

2. Fear of failing to control one self in a public place

3. Fear of difficulty of escaping in specific places

4. Fear of detachment from others

5.Feeling of helplessness

6. Too much dependence on other people

7. Feeling of unreal body

8. Feeling of unreal environment

9. Panic attack or anxiety

10.Unusual temper

11. Agitation accompanied by trembling or twitching

Agoraphobia affects mostly women. There are twice as many female agoraphobics as there are male agoraphobics.

Agoraphobia is a word associated with phobia or the fear of something. It is often misconceived as fear of “open spaces”. Misconceived because in actual fact, it is not. Agoraphobia can be defined as fear for crowded places and spaces that may be associated with fear of the public (where there is no escape).

And contrary to what is popularly believed, agoraphobics are only afraid of crowded and confined spaces. They are certainly not afraid of open spaces such as houses of worships, shopping, traveling, being alone and social gatherings.

To prove the point further, the root terms of the word “agoraphobia” are agora, which means “marketplace” in Greek, and phobia, which means “fear”. Combining these two terms, we can say that it is the “fear of the marketplace” - which is not an open space but a crowded place. The word “agora” also has the earlier meaning of “a place where people gather”. Thus, the most accurate meaning of agoraphobia is a “fear of crowded places”.

People can start to experience agoraphobia when they consciously avoid busy places and places that may be linked with closed spaces. Sufferers may panic when overly stressed even when though the condition that starts the panic is not longer present. This will turn into a vicious cycle where the person will begin to experience panic disorders or states related to panicking. For some people, the fearful state will continue until the general feeling of fear diminishes.

In short, agoraphobia is both a severe anxiety disorder and a phobia. But more on this anxiety disorder condition in the next post…

4. Social phobia

This is also termed as social anxiety disorder. Social phobia is characterized by overwhelming self-consciousness and extreme anxiety. This can lead to the actual anxiety attacks. The fear arises because he/she thinks he/she is being watched, observed and judge by people surrounding him.

5. General phobias and a number of specific phobias

These produce intense fear that may have insignificant effects on the person. Normally phobias are irrational. But even if the sufferer knows that it is irrational, he still cannot reverse his fears or the cause of his actions. People who suffer from phobias may be prone to extreme panic attacks just by thinking of facing their fears!

6. Post-traumatic stress disorder

This is typically caused by a single traumatic event that is embedded in his memory. During times that they are being hunted by this unwanted memory, they become emotionally numb.

The 6 conditions discussed so fat are the major categories of panic disorder that can cause anxiety attacks. Knowing them may help you identify the condition early and seek help.

Basically, there are 6 categories of anxiety disorders (or conditions) and each have their own underlying symptoms which you can look out for :-

1. Panic disorders

These are characterized by intense fear and anxiety along with sensations of terror and doom without apparent reasons. They may come with symptoms that come from nowhere and may seem irrational to the observer. Some symptoms are : sudden rise of heart beat, sensation of being unable to control oneself that may border to the feeling of madness, nausea, chest pain, numbness along with others. Normally, the maximum duration of each attack is about 30 minutes but the symptoms can last more than that.

2. Generalized anxiety disorder

This is a form of chronic anxiety that is felt during the whole course of a person’s life. Characterized by exaggerated tension and fear. Why do they worry? It could be anything from issues of work, family and even the anticipation of what may lie ahead.

3. Obsessive-compulsive disorder

This is composed of rituals, activities and thoughts that the person feels that he must do in order to “complete the day”. In other words, he/she is obsessed with something. Very often, the person having this disorder cannot control his persistent behavior such as repetitive washing of hands or wiping of certain things.

More in the next post…

If you suffer from anxiety disorder, you may have been told that you have to endure the condition for the rest of your life. You may also have been told that there is little that medical science can do to help you overcome the symptoms. Altought these are true in the past, they are no longer true today - thanks to rapid developments in treating anxiety attacks.

Anxiety and panic attacks are normally categorized under one type of mental disorder - the psychological make-up and biological factors of the brain.

There are many conditions associated with anxiety disorder that you should be aware of. Each of these unique conditions have common symptoms that you can look out for.

Anxiety attacks often start with some underlying symptoms which later develop into more advanced symptoms. Among these are the feeling of being overwhelmed, intense mood swings, excessive worrying, extreme depression and unexplainable stress and fear.

What are these conditions? Find out more details in my next post…

By now, you know that your body and chest may show symptoms of anxiety disorders. Unusual emotions and fears are also symptoms. In addition, the conditions of your head, mind and mood are also symptoms. But they are not all.

Here are the last two categories of symptoms related to anxiety disorder that you should remember…

8. Sleep

-Difficulty of staying or falling into sleep

-Unhealthy dreams

-Insomnia

-Waking up due to panic attacks

-Jolting awake

9. Sight

-Distorted feeling

-Watery and itchy eyes

-Sensitivity to light

-Visual spots

-Impairment in depth perception

These symptoms may manifest themselves simultaneously or they may not. Whatever it is, be aware of them because they can alert you to a serious case of anxiety disorder which may need professional treatment.

Having known that your body and chest may show symptoms of anxiety disorders, you also discover that unusual emotions and fears are also symptoms. But that’s not all. Here are three more categories of symptoms that can also mean you have anxiety disorder…

5. Head

-Lightheadedness

-Migraine and frequent headaches

-Giddiness

-Shooting pains around the face and the area around the head

-Sore jaws

-Neck, head and shoulder pains

6. Mind

-Depersonalization

-Feelings that border with unreality

-Fear of losing control of the mind, body and emotions

-Difficulty of concentration

-Anxiety

-Obsessions that pertain to getting well or feeling better

-Clinical depression and the likes

-Mind chatter or repetitive thinking

-Overwhelming feeling

7. Mood

-Overwhelming feeling of being unable to control one’s feeling
or emotions

-Lack of patience

-Depression

-”Down days”

-dreamlike sensations of things

-grouchy feelings

-feeling of crying without apparent reasons

-underlying fear, anxiety and apprehension

-feelings of extreme pressure

The last two categories of anxiety induced symptoms in the next post..

Besides the anxiety symptoms that your body and chest may show, there are two other categories of symptoms you should take note of..

3. Emotions

-Irregular mood swings

-Misplaced emotions

-Sensations of crying

-Emotional blunting

4. Fears

-Elevated fear against other people’s judgment over the
person’s personality

-Heightened self-consciousness

-Fear of being trapped or enclose in a room without exits

-Fear of merging in the public

-Overwhelming sensations

-Fear of imminent doom

-Fear of losing control

-Fear of losing one’s mind

-Fear of making a fool of one’s self

-Fear of dying

More symptoms of anxiety to follow..

In my last post, I talked about the symptoms of anxiety disorders and why you should know them. Here are the first two categories of symptoms that you should look out for:-

1. Your Body

-Sensations that may resemble burning

-feeling of electric shock

-unrelax feeling

-chronic fatigue

-feeling of going to faint

-chill

-excess energy or the reverse

-muscle twitching

-sweating

-body pain

-muscle numbness, stiffness and tension

-shaking and trembling

-frequent urination

-warm spells

-weakening of the limbs

2. Your Chest

-Discomfort in the chest area

-Forceful breathing and shortness of breath

-Rapid heart beat

-Irregular heart beat

More to come…

Everyone of us has emotions. That’s our basic tools to cope up with our daily existence. Among other emotions, we may feel anxious from time to time. This is nothing alarming and in fact healthy as it may be a way to keep us alert.

Being anxious is one of our normal response to daily stresses that we face. But if this “anxiousness” strikes you time and again and is affecting your well being and normal conditions, then you may have now developed a serious form of anxiety. This is what is known as anxiety disorder.

No one really knows why a person has anxiety disorder. Although many studies have been done, the results have not been conducive. But experts now have some ideas that may lead help in understanding the real factors that contribute and cause anxiety disorders.

According to experts, anxiety symptoms differ from patient to patient. There are several categories of symptoms that you should be aware of. Knowing these symptoms can help you ascertain whether you or someone you know is suffering from anxiety disorder.

Read my post for some of the symptoms…