Often the fear of having another attack can lead an individual to avoid activities and restrict behaviors, leading to agoraphobic avoidance . When a panic attack strikes, most likely your heart pounds and you may feel sweaty, weak, faint, or dizzy. Your hands may tingle or feel numb, and you might feel flushed or chilled. You may have chest pain or smothering sensations, a sense of unreality, or fear of impending doom or loss of control. You may genuinely believe you are having a heart attack or stroke, losing your mind, or on the verge of death.
Attacks can occur at any time, even during non-dream sleep.
While most attacks average a couple of minutes, occasionally they can go on for up to 10 minutes. In rare cases they can last an hour or more. Although many of these feelings happen to some people at some point in time in their lives, individuals with panic disorder live in fear of experiencing these symptoms and experience them frequently. For some individuals panic attacks may originally be cued by certain environmental features but later occur without any predisposing stress or identifiable cues. It is also possible to suffer from discrete panic attacks and not suffer from panic disorder.