Pains in the chest, laboured breathing, racing heart, an impending sense of doom … is it a heart attack or a panic attack? Around a quarter of people reporting chest pains to a doctor are actually suffering from some sort of panic disorder. If it’s a heart attack – the sooner you are treated the better. If it’s a panic attack, you can just wait until it subsides.
If you don’t know if it’s a panic attack or a heart attack, err on the side of caution. Get yourself checked out as quickly as possible.
What is a Panic Attack?
A panic attack occurs when the someone is so over-stressed that their fight-or-flight instinct steps in. It can happen to anyone, but it will normally occur in people who have a lot of anxiety in their lives or are over-stressed. The fight-or-flight instinct recognises the high levels of stress and assumes that there must be something life-threatening around.
It’s as if a tiger has just appeared out of nowhere and is racing towards you – your brain automatically gets your body ready to run for your life. But … there is no tiger … so the fight-or-flight instinct doesn’t know what to do or where to run to.
To get the body ready to run, the heart rate increases in order to get more oxygen to the running muscles, the breathing becomes quicker in order to increase the amount of oxygen in the blood, muscles tighten in anticipation of being clawed (thus causing pains – often in the chest), and the blood stream will be pumped full of adrenaline to help you through the extreme effort if escaping or fighting.
What is a Heart Attack?
The medical term for a heart attack is a myocardial infarction. It happens when blood flow to a part of the heart muscle is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot. This means that part of the heart does not work properly, which can cause pain in the chest. The rest of the heart tries to make up for the failure by pumping harder or creating palpitations. Breathing becomes laboured and there can be a sense of panic.
Similarities and Differences between a Heart Attack and Panic Attack
Both heart attacks and panic attacks may have similar symptoms (but not always) – pain or discomfort in the chest, heart racing or heart palpitations, shortness of breath, a sense of impending doom, and sometimes brain fog. This can make it very difficult to tell the difference between the two.
The difference between them is the cause – panic attacks are caused by over-anxiety and over-stress, whereas heart attacks are caused by a blockage in one of the blood vessels supplying the heart.
If you suffer these symptoms and don’t know what is happening – get yourself to an emergency department or see a medical professional.
If you have a lot of panic attacks, learn how the symptoms manifest so that you can notice if ever it feels different.
And Finally …
If you suffer from frequent panic attacks, or even just one panic attack, or simply have a lot of stress and anxiety that you would like to bring under control, you may like to consider getting therapy.
I help people with anxiety every week, using hypnotherapy to help them get back in control of their lives and return to normal. I work out of my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire, and also work online. So Contact Me if you would like to discuss it. I am happy to have a short discussion on the phone.
References
Panic Disorder and Chest Pain: Mechanisms, Morbidity, and Management
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC181226/
How to tell the difference between a heart attack and panic attack
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/07/13/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-heart-attack-and-panic-attack
Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels
Photo of Tiger by Pixabay