Anxiety 101

You're sitting at home one evening doing the same thing you do every night, when suddenly a strange uncomfortable feeling comes over you. Your chest tightens, you heart races, you get lightheaded, and an uncontrollable feeling of panic comes over you.

You walk around the room, pacing back and forth, wondering what could be wrong with you. Heart attack? No. Stroke? No. What on earth could be making you feel like this? Are you dying? If not, you certainly feel like you might be.  

So what could cause a person to feel like this for no reason at all, seemingly out of the blue? Anxiety.

Everyday in the United States millions of people take their morning anxiety pill. From generalized anxiety, which leaves a person feeling a little "off" all day, to full blown panic attacks, anxiety disorders affect nearly 6.8 million people in the United States alone.

People with anxiety disorders normally complain of one or all of the following symptoms: fatigue, headaches, muscle tension, muscle aches, difficulty swallowing, trembling, twitching, irritability, sweating, and hot flashes. These are only a few of the symptoms associated with anxiety.

As someone who has struggled with anxiety for years, I can tell you it can be hell. However, for someone that has never had a problem with anxiety, it may be difficult to understand just how someone who is having a panic attack is feeling.

Imagine this, your walking down a nice little trail in the woods, enjoying your day, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant grizzly bear jumps out and chases you up a tree. Your high up a tree, looking down at those snarling teeth and sharp claws, knowing that at any second you could fall and become dinner. Your heart is pounding, adrenaline is pumping, and your body's fight-or-flight response has kicked in.

Now replace the tree with your living room couch and replace the grizzly bear with nothing at all. As unreasonable as it may sound, that's a fairly good description of what it's like to have a panic attack. Now imagine trying to go about your daily life feeling like that. Simple things like driving a car can sometimes feel impossible.