Can panic attacks cause a stroke?

Stress is an inevitable part of our daily lives. Some level of stress helps keep us alert and focused, but sometimes it spirals out of control and panic attacks are what result. Panic attacks can feel like torture; you might be short of breath, sweating profusely, feeling confusion or even dread that something really bad is about to happen.

It’s obvious that it’s not pleasant for anybody who experiences such attacks no matter how strong-willed they are. But one question people often ask is: “can panic attacks cause a stroke?” Is there any truth in this?

What Are Panic Attacks?

The first step to answering the question at hand lies in defining exactly what panic attacks are. In simple terms, panic disorder consists of recurring anxiety episodes called panic attacks–sudden surges of severe fear and discomfort experienced intensely with symptoms including chest pain, palpitations/tachycardia (fast heart rate), dizziness/vertigo alongside other autonomic hypersensitivity features making them last around several minutes (typically ranging from 5 – 20 minutes). The causes may vary depending on mental health conditions present as well as past traumatic events; however the trigger can be anything from social situations all the way up to dealing with huge life changes like separation or divorce.

So then, back to our original query- can this experience have an impact on cardiovascular health?

How Do You Define A Stroke?

First things first: Before we approach whether a stroke could arise due to these bouts suddenly let’s go ahead and define what constitutes one:

A stroke is known by diagnosis when blood flow within the brain stops through blockage or rupture, causing neurons irrevocably damaged since oxygen supply ceases during an episode., Major symptoms include paralysis on one side or another along with cognitive difficulties affecting memory among others.

Taking into account both definitions above begs more retraction on the original question.

Stroke vs Panic Attack: Cause and Effect

If we decipher what actually triggers a panic attack, there’s no physiological mechanism pointing in direction of brain blood vessels clogging or collapsing so it should be safe to say that the risk for developing stroke after experiencing one is negligible. This makes sense as heart-blockages are typically caused by plaque formations gradually building up instead over time.

PANIC ATTACK STROKE
Recurring anxiety episodes Blood flow within the brain stops
Cause hormonal and nervous system fluctuations By blockage buildup or rupture

Looking at things from an anatomical perspective thus shows us that although both can cause extreme distress/pain – one does not feed into development of another.

So why have people wondered this before? It’s been speculated as a potential complication but no evidence connecting the two has been published making it merely speculation.

Risks Factors For A Stroke

Since stress/anxiety isn’t correlated with strokes let’s get more insight about actual risks concerning cerebral-vascular diseases:

  1. Hypertension (chronic high-blood pressure)
  2. Smoking
  3. Raised cholesterol
  4. Dementia
    5.Diabetes
    6.Sedentary lifestyle

It is important to note here that while any single factor may add increased susceptibility to suffering from some form of cerebrovascular disease – inferring causality solely based off subjective occurrences like panic attacks might lead someone down entirely unwise paths.
In essence take constructive steps towards taking care of your health maybe engage in healthy habits such as regular exercise, reducing consumption of processed food items alongside monitoring amounts amount intake etc rather than constantly living agitatedly anyways since mood won’t determine whether you’ll eventually experience circulatory problems later on down line!

As always moderation will definitely help reduced overall risk factors despite various explanations explaining greater importance between these headings.

How To Deal With Panic Attacks

It’s worth noting compassionate understanding of people dealing with panic-attacks is important given how much they feel out of control in the moment. Despite us having established above that it will not directly cause a stroke, we should still suggest remedies to help combat such recurring episodes.

  1. ABC (grounding) – Stop and take deep breaths counting backwards from ten
  2. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: applied relaxation techniques
    3.Psychotherapy
    4.Medication prescription

Encouragement towards more productive ways for manage anxiety related events will prove helpful than just worrying about other potential future consequences thereby giving bigger importance/ priority to situations than you would normally give them.

In conclusion, there is no direct link between experiencing panic attacks and developing a stroke but efforts towards healthy habits have been shown to be worthwhile according experts sourced at WebMD hence getting rid off undue stress/anxiety becoming imperative . So don’t fear trying things like journaling or seeking out professional consultations since evidence shows they lead tangible improvements when employed for emotional well-being preservation going forward!

And that my friends was our thoroughly researched funny article on whether “Can Panic Attack Cause A Stroke”.

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