A generalized anxiety disorder can be described as excessive worry about every day things, a feeling that leaves behind a lot of tension and lasts for more than 6 months.
This tension and anxiety will interfere with one's way of life such that they are not able to function properly.
You spend most of the time worrying; you feel impending doom and are overly anxious about things that would not usually worry you.
When left unchecked, generalized anxiety disorders can lead to panic attacks.
Here is how this happens.
Panic attacks can generally happen because of a feeling of increased tension and worry in a person.
The more you worry, the more your body is convinced that there is some danger, and so starts preparing itself for defence.
The typical defence reaction is called fight or flight; the body is getting ready either to fight the enemy, or to run away.
It will start to feed the muscles with more energy, the heart will pump a little faster to make sure that more blood is moving amongst the muscles, and the muscles themselves will tighten just in case they have to move into action.
Eventually, a tipping point is reached.
All this accumulated energy has to be disposed of.
The "enemy" is all the fear and the worry that is bottled up inside the body.
Without any warning, the body will suddenly react as though it's in extreme danger.
All the reactions that you would expect in such a situation will manifest; the heart pounds much faster, the muscles will tremble, and the chest will tighten.
There is a strong sense of impending doom.
The episode lasts for a few minutes and then passes, and it may take a few minutes or even a few days to feel normal again.
Because you are in a state of constant worry, you now have one more thing to worry about: what if I have another panic attack? You will fixate and worry over this to the point where the body starts to prepare all over again to either fight or flee.
And then another panic attack occurs, at which point you will now be very worried that something is terribly wrong...
You can see how generalized anxiety disorders can lead to panic attacks, and panic attacks to generalized anxiety disorders.
It becomes a vicious cycle and if you don't stop it, it may end up taking over your life.
There are 2 things that you need to look at here.
One is the anxiety disorder.
What is causing you to worry endlessly? In many cases, it's simply the life that we live.
We are caught up in things we do that make us unhappy; we are all too eager to please and so small failures are magnified; we never take a break to refresh and restore ourselves.
The other thing is the panic attacks.
Sometimes, they can occur for no reason.
It's understandable that someone should worry about what could be causing them, but don't worry yourself so much that you end up being caught in a spiral of worry that will cause you another attack.
In both cases, you can be helped.
Generalized anxiety disorders and panic attacks are today recognized as a medical condition and you can get treated either through therapy or medications, or a combination of both.
You must never ignore any signs that are similar to the ones described here.
If you feel yourself worrying excessively, you need to stop and find out what it is.
In most of the cases, they are things that you can let go of with little consequence.
Sometimes you may find that you want to justify your reasons for being anxious and worried.
Ask yourself if whatever is causing you generalized anxiety and panic attacks; is it really worth my health?