Anxiety and Panic Attacks In Emphysema ... - Mind Publications

worried all day about your more-than-usual wheezing or tightness in the chest you
noticed that morning. As you noticed it, maybe thoughts crossed your mind about a
possible flare up of COPD symptoms or pneumonia. As the pneumonia thought crossed
your mind, perhaps you saw a “flash” in the mind’s eye of being in the ICU of your local
hospital.
And, from that point on, to continue with the example, perhaps your breathing
speeded a little, heartbeat quickened and chest tightened. You took all that on the chin
without making a big deal of it, until the panic symptoms loudly knocked on the door and
the “emergency alarm” went off.
Not being aware of the relationship between your anxious thoughts and rapid
breathing, you might feel you’ve lost all control over yourself. The adrenaline “rush,”
the fuel for the “fight-flight motor” wants you to flee but you can’t because someone is
right there in the room. You don’t want to look like you’re doing something “crazy”
right in front of your house guest. You become more tense up and ever more breathless!
This takes you right to the panic state and you start hyperventilating. You begin
to think catastrophic thoughts such as, “My breathing could get out of control, “I am
going crazy” “I’m losing control (or losing my mind)” or “I won’t make it to the
hospital!” can increase the anxiety severely.
Now, the panic attack has reached the “Point of No Return” and you experience a
full- blown panic attack.
Logical Explanation of Specific Symptoms
Here is the explanation of how and why these symptoms take place:
Shortness of breath or rapid breathing is intended by nature to help us run or fight
(notice when runners run or fighters fight, they are breathing rapidly). The heart beats fast
and strong because it’s the heart’s job to rush the blood to the arms and legs. After all,
we need our arms and legs to run or to fight.
Reason you feel lightheaded, faintish or dizzy is because the blood is being
diverted from the head and rushed to the peripheries, that is, your arms and legs.
Some panic attack patients feel as if they are in a dream or that panic attack events
are happening to someone else. This is called a state of dissociation. Anxiety can cause
dissociation from the normal level of awareness. Such experiences also result from
blood/oxygen being diverted from the brain.
Since you need the “fuel” for your “fight-flight engine,” adrenaline is being pumped
into the blood. Adrenaline is sheer energy which creates excess heat in the body. The
heat can sometimes cause hot flashes all over the body or in parts of the body. Since
blood is being diverted to some areas of the body, you may experience cold chills in other