Anxiety is an overall feeling of fear or apprehension, it can come on at any time and affects different people in different scenarios. Some people have the ability of controlling their anxiety, or only having bouts of anxiety on very rare occasions, but for some sufferers anxiety can have a big impact on their every day life.

Causes of anxiety

Mental conditions

 
Unlike a lot of medical conditions, anxiety can affect a person due to mental or physical reasons and even outside influences like drug abuse.

Mental conditions that cause anxiety are panic disorder (panic attacks), phobic disorders (phobias), stress disorders (large amounts of stress).

Physical conditions

Physical conditions like heart abnormalities, overactive thyroid conditions, various lung conditions, generally any physical condition affecting the heart, lungs or central nervous system can all cause anxiety in a patient, the anxiety is not due to the patients feelings about the condition but can be a secondary affect of the condition itself.

Common outside influences 

There are many external factors that can cause anxiety; stress caused by every day life is one. Other factors are emotional trauma, caffeine (drinking excessive amounts of coffee), the side affects from long-term medication, and shortness of breath.

Symptoms of anxiety

There are many different symptoms people feel from anxiety, most of which are felt in the lungs, heart and nervous system. The majority of sufferers will feel their heart beating fast and palpitating, they will feel a shortness of breath and can even feel their body turn cold.

Many sufferers will feel so scared that they have to run out of what ever situation they are in. It has been known for people to be in a perfectly normal situation yet feel a panic attack to take hold and have to leave the place they are in without any forewarning.

When should a sufferer seek medical advice?

Should bouts of anxiety last for prolonged periods or happen on a regular basis then medical advice should be sought as it can start to affect the way a sufferer carries out their everyday activities. The medical professional may be able to prescribe medication that can reduce the occurrences and strength of the attacks.

If the anxiety attacks become extremely frequent and are very strong in intensity then the sufferer should seek medical attention from a hospital straight away as it may mean there is a more serious underlying medical problem.

Advice to anxiety sufferers

While you have an attack of anxiety it can make you feel like you are going to die, this is far from what will happen, if you manage to control yourself long enough the feelings will pass.

If you have not told a loved one or a friend about your anxiety then it may be worth speaking to them so if a bad episode takes place they understand what is happening, if you don’t tell them and an episode causes you to run off or act in a strange manner due to the situation your in, they may become emotional.