Sudden attacks of intense fear, causing physical discomfort, stress, are called panic attacks or seizures. A similar condition is often found in people with disorders, dysfunctions of the autonomic system. Such anomalies manifest themselves with a variety of symptoms.
To cope with the symptoms of panic attacks with VSD in adult men and women, as a rule, drugs prescribed for treatment help. However, it is impossible to cure the syndrome with pills alone; complex therapy is needed.
Reasons for the development of panic attacks
To accurately recognize the signs of panic attacks with VSD (vegetative vascular dystonia), you need to understand what it is. And why it can happen to a mentally healthy person.
The triggers that trigger a reaction against the background of instability of the autonomic system are different. Attacks of fear are caused by psychological disturbances, external influences, hormonal disruption. At the same time, there is no certainty that the next time an attack will develop for the same reason. There are typical situations in which patients with autonomic imbalance have self-control problems.
Causes of panic attacks in women and men with VSD:
- Acute and / or protracted conflicts in the environment of a person. They are hard to bear when they appear at work, as they activate the fear of losing a source of income.
- Family discord. A quarrel with a spouse or close relative can dramatically worsen the condition of a person with weakened nervous regulation.
- Massive negative information received from external sources of information: the Internet, social networks. It doesn’t matter in what form. Video, print, and audio messaging are equally damaging.
- Dangerous illness or death of relatives, friends, close acquaintances.
- Sharp hormonal disruptions are typical for women during puberty, early sexual activity, pregnancy, changes in the menstrual cycle, menopause.
- Acute and chronic poisoning with alcohol, drugs, nicotine.
- The use of medications not prescribed by a doctor.
- Change of climatic zones, sharp fluctuations in geomagnetic conditions (magnetic storms).
- Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight.
- Physical, intellectual overload.
Any of these irritating factors can be the starting point for an attack. In addition, each person has their own triggers associated with their fears or feelings of discomfort.
Symptoms of the onset of an attack
Learning to identify the onset of panic attacks is necessary in order to take medications on time and avoid the likely consequences.
The attack progression mechanism is simple. A person develops anxiety about any reason, which in a healthy state would stimulate him to action, would increase his working capacity.
With impaired autonomic regulation, adaptation to stress follows a pathological path. The body responds by releasing adrenaline, provoking an unwarranted feeling of fear.
Additional symptoms – harbingers are:
- dizziness, loss of coordination, misunderstanding of one’s position in space;
- light-headedness;
- cramps in the stomach, throat, nausea, vomiting is likely;
- an increase in blood pressure to non-human, life-threatening indicators;
- on the contrary – a drop in blood pressure, often accompanied by dizziness and impaired vision;
- vasospasm in the brain, in the retina – floats before the eyes, a person sees moving black dots;
- feeling short of breath, inability to breathe deeply, feeling of tightness in the chest or lump in the throat.
- mood swings – bouts of tearfulness, flowing into aggression;
- depersonalization, when a person is lost in the moment, does not understand what and why he is doing, cannot concretize his state.
In the presence of the syndrome, even a minor cause for fear easily develops into an obsession that can trigger an attack. Therefore, during the period of treatment, you should control your thoughts, avoid stress, obsessive reflections on unpleasant topics.
Even a single case of such a manifestation cannot be ignored.
Over time, the symptoms inevitably intensify, and can lead to the development of serious diseases and pathologies.
In the most severe cases, stroke, heart attack and death are possible.
Diagnostics
VSD with panic attacks against the background of the conditions described above can be overcome, like any disease, if you start to treat it on time with drugs, physiotherapy, and lifestyle correction.
When contacting a doctor, it is necessary to inform about all the accompanying symptoms of the attacks, even if they seem insignificant to you. This will help rule out diagnoses with similar manifestations (for example, depression). And the faster you understand the problem, the earlier the treatment begins.
If you suspect vegetative-vascular dystonia, a comprehensive diagnosis is required, consisting of several stages:
- collecting anamnesis during the first examination – the doctor records not only the complaints with which you applied, but also clarifies information about the state of health, features of heredity, details of the lifestyle;
- laboratory tests of urine and blood, with attacks of fear, an additional study of the level of hormones is mandatory;
- Ultrasound of the vessels of the neck and head, thyroid gland, heart and aorta;
- ECG in the modes of VSD diagnostics: normal, with additional loads;
- x-ray of the spine, with particular attention to the cervicothoracic regions;
- computed or magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, which makes it possible to exclude the likelihood of tumor processes.
After consulting with doctors of related profiles (cardiologist, endocrinologist, etc.), excluding all possible diseases, it is concluded that vegetative vascular dystonia is present .
There are many manuals on how to deal with VSD with panic attacks and defeat the syndrome on your own, but popular advice will not help to cure the disease completely, they will only ease the course.
Treatment
The first thing the doctor’s patients ask about after clarifying their condition: “How to avoid panic attacks against the background of VSD and how to get rid of them forever, what should be taken while doing this?”
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill that can stop seizures once and for all. Only comprehensive treatment, covering the leading directions, will allow you to forget about poor health, fear, forever.
For a quick, complete result, the doctors of the clinic resort to complex therapy, which includes the following methods:
- transcranial magnetic stimulation;
- bioresonance therapy;
- reflexology;
- massages;
- daily walks in the fresh air;
- psychoanalysis, psychotherapy – a person is helped to deal with inner fears, to understand their cause, to get rid of unreasonable fear;
- Exercise therapy with permissible physical activity stabilizes the autonomic system;
- adaptation of the diet to the needs of the body;
- establishment of a wakefulness-sleep mode;
- thoughtful drug therapy.
Refusing medication is a mistake. Antidepressants, sedatives help relieve internal stress at the beginning of the course of therapy. But this does not mean that you will have to take them all the time.
In the regimens for the treatment of vegetative-vascular dystonia (VVD) and panic attacks with drugs, overseas doctors use the drugs Platt and Kandai Kasallik.
But Russian doctors are in no hurry to adopt this experience. The reason is the side effects caused by the drug when the drug is canceled after the body has become accustomed to it.