Rare Diseases and Rare Medicines: Dizziness

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is a condition in which person tries to avoid places where chance of help are less, or places causing anxiety to him. This phobia usually starts at the age of 20 to 25. Those suffering from agarophobia are afraid of panicking situations. They will start avoiding such occassions and might become house bound. They are in need of a companion at all times. Agarophobia may lead to some other specific phobias or panic disorders. They might get isolated from society and might affect interpersonal relations or job perfomance. They will have rigid thinking also.

Symptoms

Fear to be alone
Feel of helplessness
Need of companion
Fear to lose control in public places
Geting dettached from others
Becoming housebound
Avoiding places where help is difficult
Feeling oneself that their body or environment is unreal
Anxiety attack
Agitation with trembling
Fainting
Chest pain
Nausea
Choking
Numbness
Dizziness
Skin flushing
Sweating excessively and High blood pressure
Fear of death

Causes

This is a condition that arise from facing panic creating situations repeatedly or anxiety causing places. Some might be feeling fear or discomfort rather than panic. Those with a family history of phobias may have these symptoms. Women are affected more and this is a condition that accompanies other panic disorders. It happens to those with a general tendency to fear and anxiety, those characterized high strung or to those with adrenal insufficiency.

Treatment

Systematic desensitization or method to get relaxed and imagining anxiety causing things might help.Exposure to such situations is another method. To get rid of symptoms one may use anti depressive or anti anxiety medicines. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) like Paxil, Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) like venlafaxine (Effexor)are given to patients. paxil is the primary choice and Effexor is used in severe cases. Benzodiazepines are prescribed when anti depressents does'nt help. Along with drugs certain behavioural therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Pleasant mental imagery, Relaxation techniques are also fond useful. Councelling also helps to deviate from the thoughts that lead to anxiety or panic. Changing the life style with exercise, enough rest and sleep along with good nutrition is also effective.

Alternative medicines

Medication and Yoga are another methods helpful with medicines. This helps to regain confidence and to get relief. Homeopathy refers to certain medicines like pure calm is useful in cases of panic attack. Hypnosis by an expert hypnotherapist will help to understand the root cause of phobia and it is easy to treat when you know the cause. But in all cases this is not useful as every one cannot be hypnotised.

Links

http://www.iampanicked.com/anxiety-articles/agoraphobia-treatment.htm

http://www.panic-and-agoraphobia.com/

http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/agoraphobia.asp

http://ezinearticles.com/?Different-Kinds-Of-Agoraphobia-Treatment&id=791167

http://pages.infinit.net/drnayman/agorapho.htm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000923.htm

http://www.healthline.com/adamcontent/agoraphobia?utm_medium=ask&utm_source=smart&utm_campaign=article&utm_term=Agoraphobia&ask_return=Agoraphobia

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000931.htm#Definition

One of the most common phobias, Acrophobia or Allodoxaphobia is the extreme fear of heights which effects the quality of life.It is considered as a hyper reaction to normal response to fear. A person with this disease gets panic when they reach heights. when it gets severe the person might restrain from climbing to heights or even going to a flat which is on top level. An Acrophobic might experience dizziness or feel like spinning when he reach height and might get confused witht he disease `vertigo'.
Symptoms of Acrophobia
A person with Acrophobia on reaching heights will experience
Severe anxiety
Losing sense of balance trying to cling to some thing, descending at the spot, crawling, kneeling etc.
Breathlessness
Heart palpitations or anxiety attack
Dizziness
fear of dying
Excessive sweating
Shaking
Nausea
Dry mouth
Inability to speak or think clearly
Might cry or yell out
Causes
The phobia is caused by extreme fear of injury or death caused by a fall. At times a bitter childhood exerience may be the reason. Phobia is created by unconcious mind.
Treatment
Panicking caused at heights can cause extreme danger and hence treatment is very necessary. CBT or Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the most common treatment. patients are taught to regain emotional control and to stop panic reaction under situations. Exposure Therapy ie. Exposing to heights is the most common solution.Virtual Reality Exposure in which patient is exposed to similar situation by way of computer generated three dimentional virtual image is another more effective methos as it is cost and time saving. In this method Therapist need not accompany patient to on location. In early stages tranquilizers or antidepressents or anti anxiety medications are useful. A drug used for treating Tuberculosis called D-cycloserine (DCS) is effective to treat Acrophobia as it affects amygdala region of brain that governs response to fear. Therapists helps to practice specific behavioural skills for boosting confidence or stress relief techniques or relaxation and thus to implement it in real life situations. Hypnotherapy is yet another method. A person who is phobic need to know more about the issue and try himself to get out of the situation.Medication, Positive thinking and gradual desensitisation also helps. Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Hypnotherapists, primary care physicians, Councelling centers, clinical social workers, etc can help to recover from phobias. Most important is that the details of the disease is to be conveyed to the therapist in all aspects and patient must have faith in therapist.
Alternative Medicine
Herbal and Homeopathic medicines are also seen effective in teating Acrophobia. Herbal medicines maintain the nerves in good condition and thus gives a positive outlook. Homeopathic medicines help to cure the symptoms ans there by reduce the risk of panic attack due to phobia. Verti-Free, PureCalm are homeopathic medicines that support inner ear balance.
Links
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14975783
http://www.naun.org/journals/mcs/mcs-61.pdf
http://www.vrphobia.com/heights.htm
http://www.allaboutskyscrapers.com/acrophobia.htm
http://www.remedies4.com/download/natural-help-for-acrophobia.pdf
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/wellpage/treatments-for-acrophobia
http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/acrophobia.asp?SDID=139:1339.
http://www.emotrics.com/people/milton/papers/compareworlds/
http://www.fitsea.com/healthy-informations/acrophobia-symptoms-causes-and-treatment/216/
http://www.simplephobiasguide.com/fear-of-heights-phobia.php
http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/inst_reports2.cfm?article=4698
http://www.spwickstrom.com/acrophobia/
http://www.medhelp.org/tags/show/25051/Acrophobia?middle_panel=users
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/wellpage/symptoms-of-acrophobia
http://www.way2hope.org/Illnesses/acrophobia-fear-heights.htm
http://www.psychologistanywhereanytime.com/phobias_psychologist_and_psychologists/psychologist_acrophobia.htm
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9944
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-acrophobia.htm
http://phobias.about.com/od/introductiontophobias/a/acrophobiaprof.htm
http://www.nativeremedies.com/ailment/natural-remedies-for-acrophobia-treatment.html