There may also be headache, feelings of dizziness or faintness, chest tightness and shortness of breath. All of this can be very frightening, and unfortunately, feeling breathless makes you breathe faster, which of course makes matters worse. Although scary, panic attacks are not particularly dangerous. One good way of dealing with them is to breathe for a minute or two in and out of a paper bag. This causes the carbon dioxide level to return to normal by rebreathing the same air.
Anxiety is a common problem, but so is asthma.
What's more, asthma attacks can be very frightening. Not being able to breathe properly would make most people feel anxious and it is not unusual for asthma attacks and panic attacks to happen at the same time. But it needn't be a vicious circle - especially if you learn to identify and distinguish between the things that trigger your asthma and the things that make you anxious and take appropriate action. And don't worry if this involves treating asthma and anxiety together - giving asthma treatment in a panic attack is not dangerous. It is difficult to distinguish between panic and asthma symptoms as they may happen at the same time.