Pounding heart, shortness of breath, sweating, fear of losing control or of dying. Sound familiar? These are some of the typical symptoms of a panic attack.

It is Panic Day which aims to raise awareness of panic disorders. Health24, in collaboration with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), invited a psychiatrist and three psychologists to freshwater pearl jewelry answer your questions on these fightening disorders. This special guest expert forum will be live until Sunday. All the questions will be answered by 13 July.

What is panic disorder?
These intense feelings of terror and fear can last anything from a few seconds to a few minutes. The first attack often follows a stressful life event such as the death of a close family member or friend, loss of a close interpersonal relationship or after a separation.

When someone has repeated panic attacks, the condition is diagnosed as a panic disorder. Research shows that about two to silver pearl necklace four in every 100 people may suffer from panic disorder at any given time. There are multiple causes, including brain chemistry, genetic factors and stressful life events or circumstances.

In some cases, many years go by before someone is diagnosed correctly. During this time sufferers tend to avoid situations or places where the initial attack(s) took place, fearing another attack. This can be very debilitating and unnecessarily limit their lives.

The good news is that treatment consisting of medication and/or psychotherapy is effective in most cases. It is also important for a person to learn what to do when he/she has an attack.

If you suffer from panic attacks, here are 14 “on-the-spot” tips to potato pearl get through such an attack.

* Take “time out” and slow down. Slow your rate of breathing, slow your racing thoughts, slow your entire body, head to toe. Then slowly resume your previous activities.
* Picture a relaxing scene using all your senses. Now put yourself into the scene.
* If there are places available, take a stroll. If there are people available, talk to one of them.
* Picture a person you trust, someone who believes in you, supports you and cares about your well-being. Now imagine the person is with you, offering you encouragement.
* Recall a time you handled a similar situation well, or try to bring to mind a past success and the good feelings you experienced at that time.
* Focus on the present, on concrete objects around you. Make a game of noticing details or inventing questions about every object you identify.
* Count backwards from 20 and with every number, picture a different image of someone you love, something that pleases you, something that calms you. These might be images you recall from the past or those you only imagine.
* Occupy your mind with an absorbing task. Plan your schedule for the day or the evening; try to recall the name of all the Clint Eastwood movies you have ever seen; plan a sumptuous meal, appetiser through to pearl bracelet dessert, and imagine yourself eating one bite of every course.
* Bring to mind the image of a person you admire and imagine yourself to actually be that person. Think as they might think, act as they might act, even feel as they might feel.
* Remind yourself that attacks always end. Always.
* Remind yourself that panic is not dangerous.
* Take a giant yawn and stretch your body, head to toe.
* Get mad. Vow not to let panic win out. You deserve better.
* If all else fails, take as deep a breath as you can and hold it as long as you can. Use one of the other strategies to leisure chairs occupy your mind. Your physical symptoms should come down and stay down.

Do you know how you could help a family member with an anxiety disorder? The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) offers advice:

• Do not make assumptions about leisure chairs what the affected person needs; ask them.
• Be predictable; do not surprise them.
• Let the person with the disorder set the pace for recovery.
• Find something positive in every experience. If the affected person is only able to go partway to a particular goal, such as a movie theatre or party, consider that an achievement rather than a failure.
• Do not enable avoidance: negotiate with the person with panic disorder to take one step forward when he or she wants to avoid something.
• Do not sacrifice your own life and build resentments.
• Do not panic when the person with the disorder panics.
• Remember that it is all right to be anxious yourself; it is natural for you to akoya pearl necklace be concerned and even worried about the person with panic disorder.
• Be patient and accepting, but do not settle for the affected person being permanently disabled.
• Say: “You can do it no matter how you feel. I am proud of you. Tell me what you need now. Breathe slow and low. Stay in the present. It is not the place that is bothering you, it is the thought. I know that what you are feeling is painful, but it is not dangerous. You are courageous.
• Do not say: elax. Calm down. Do not be anxious. Let me see if you can do this (i.e. setting up a test for the affected person). You can fight this. What should we do next? Do not be ridiculous. You have to potato pearl stay. Do not be a coward.

There you are sitting in the driver’s seat ready to do the next part of your driver’s test. You can do this; you’ve done it over a hundred times. All too soon it’s over, and you can’t recall what happened between the starting point and you bumping the pole again.

Why is it that, when we are under extreme pressure to cultured pearl jewelry perform, we become so much worse at delivering? Why do we forget names just as we’re about to introduce someone, mess up a reverse park we’ve done smoothly dozens of times just because we’re being judged on it, and flop the flop-proof cake just because we said we’d bring one for the weekend?

Good stress vs bad stress
All stress is not bad. We need stress to thrive, excel and enjoy life. But even positive stress can become negative if not balanced and managed correctly.

Doctor Frans Korb, psychiatrist and board member of the South African Anxiety and Depression Group, explains: “When we are under pressure to perform, anxiety increases. This is normal. It pushes us to wholesale pearl jewelry perform well. You should have control over it.”

However, ongoing stress can cause anxiety to become permanent, which could result in generalised anxiety disorder.

Common physical stress symptoms include fatigue, headache, nausea, breathlessness, racing heart, and sweaty palms. Mental symptoms are poor concentration, memory difficulties, confusion and demotivation. Emotional and behavioural symptoms include anxiety, fear, depression, a feeling of being on edge and irritability.

“Abnormal anxiety is when you feel out of control and can’t cope with stressful situations,” says Korb.

Stress different for everyone
A study done last year showed that when it comes to twisted pearl necklace performance stress, the female brain reacts differently to the male brain. Researchers found that different parts of the brain were activated in men and women. Stress responses also differ between genders. This is sometimes characterised as ‘fight-or-flight’ in men and ‘tend-and befriend’ in women.

They further found that women respond to stress by increasing activity in brain regions involved with emotion, and that these changes last longer than those in men.

Most of the stress we experience is based on our perception of a situation. Whether one perceives a situation as a threat (either psychological or physical) is crucial in determining our behavioural and physiological response.

Balance
Dr Korb says the best way to deal with stress is to live a healthy balanced lifestyle.

“Take time out, have a hobby, find ways to escape the pressures and stress of your life. Force yourself to wholesale pearl jewelry do things that you enjoy,” says Korb. “Negative thoughts are our worst enemy; thinking negatively affects everything we do. Look at your life as a whole and focus on the positive, not the negative.

Ready to detonate? Read what our forum users and CyberShrink have to say on losing it.

Think of the last time you were really angry. When your boss took credit for work you did? When your husband came home late on your birthday? When your child lost his fourth school jersey this winter?

Read about game machines the blinding anger that this forum user feels when a taxi cuts in in front of her.

According to CyberShrink, learning anger management skills is of the utmost importance.

* Take a look at what this user says about her temper outbursts at home.

* Another user about her rages at her in-laws.

* This user feels like killing her boss.

Anger, when allowed to spiral out of control, can have a negative effect on health and relationships, according to CyberShrink. Uncontrollable anger can lead to headaches, disturbed sleep patterns, skin problems, heart and digestive complaints, to akoya pearl necklace name but a few.

Not to mention the damage that anger can do within the family unit.

So what now? Find out what an expert in anger management has to say about how to learn to communicate, how to think before you act, and how to resolve issues to control your anger.

At least one in every five people reading this has a deadly fear of public speaking. But if you plan to get ahead in your career there a good chance youl have to do some. Here how to master the art.

Generations of otherwise functional adults are scarred for life by a deep, dark secret from their formative years. For some it was the memory of having to do something called an English oral. Perhaps it was the trauma of having to akoya pearl necklace stand up at school assembly and deliver some end-of-year address.

Years later, at an otherwise stress-free conference involving a new piece of software, the memories come flooding back. Sweaty palms, quaking knees and wavering voice combine with enough mms to supply a Buddhist monastery for a year.

Even if you know your stuff, after this performance you have as much credibility as Jack The Ripper wanting to run a home for wayward women.

Yet public speaking is an essential skill for working people. You don’t need to pearl earrings wholesale turn into a televangelist or a politician, so banish thoughts of needing splendid dental work, a corset, a double-breasted suit, blow-dried hair and a sunlamp tan. Basically, all you need to get you by is some good preparation and a sense of zen-like calm.

But above all, remember that it isn’t that difficult to entertain or inform an audience that wants to be entertained or informed. Zoom in on where your audience is and get them on your side. A reference to something they’ll all find funny or be able to freshwater pearl identify with (the strange conference venue, the weather, something amusing that happened that morning in the parking lot) should do the trick. Tell them something interesting and keep it short.