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could it be an anxiety attack
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tat3r posted:
beleiv i had an anxiety atack the first time ever i looked up the symptoms and i had them all the skakes pounding heart fear even where their was nothing to fear sweaty palmes the works i thought i was going to have a heart atack what do i do could it get worse or was it just too much stress?
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Patricia Farrell, PhD responded:
Whenever anyone has this kind of attack where they've never experienced this before, we always recommend that they check with their PCP for a medical evaluation. This does not mean that you need medication and, in fact, unless it is absolutely mandated that would not be the usual recommendation.


Yes, stress can bring this on and stress is a very sneaky thing. It slowly builds up while you are not even aware of it until it expresses itself in symptoms such as you had. If everything checks out fine with your medical exam, then the next step would be to try some self-help techniques to reduce your stress.


Look in our Tips column, watch the relaxation breathing video tutorial and use that technique several times a day, every day. This is one way that you will begin to manage stress better and you should also be looking to see where the stress might be coming from in your life. Begin to keep a log which can show you where the stress is coming from because you will note a relationship between symptoms and what is happening at that moment. For some people, it is a work situation. For others it may be something in their home or their financial situation. For everything there is one or many solutions and one of the things you need to do is the relaxation techniques as you look for the solutions to whatever is causing your stress.


I hope that everything turns out well with your PCP and that you do have improvement with your stress-reducing techniques.


Dr. Farrell


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