Topic : The Panic Attack.

The Panic Attack  is a painful experience where the person feels a subjective sense of terror and eminent catastrophe for no evident reason.

The patient have the conviction that he is about to lose consciousness or life.

The attack can last from a few minutes to several hours.
The most common symptoms are:

1. tachycardia, palpitations, and precordial pain,
2. fine tremor of hands,
3. sweating,
4. “butterflies in the stomach”,
5. motor weakness,
6. nausea, and
7. feeling of unreality.

The person experiences also a sense of air hunger which leads the subject to hyperventilation, and this one produces him a respiratory alkalosis.

(Edited by Dr. María Moya Guirao, MD)