Anxiety attack

No one would argue with the statement that life is stressful. Money, relationships, health issues, all conspire together to make living a daily challenge. And I can understand feeling overwhelmed and anxious. I often feel that way! Insomnia, weight gain, snapping at my family- they are all manifestations of anxiety. But it would never occur to me to go to the hospital for it! Last week at work, a 21 year old man was practically carried in by his mother because he was having an anxiety attack, complete with hyperventilation, carpopedal spasm and crying. Carpopedal spasm is spasm of the hands and feel that occurs when you hyperventilate. Breathing too fast upsets the balance of calcium in the muscle and the dominant muscle forces of the extremities clench. In any case, this 21 year old was sobbing. His chief complaint, according to his mother, was that "he gives his heart away too easily". He laid in the stretcher, covered in tears, with mucous pouring out of his nose. He couldn't get it together to use a kleenex, so his mommy sat by his bed and wiped his face. Now, I've had my heart broken, but it never occured to me that the hospital might fix it! What did they want that the emergency department could provide? Drugs? Couples counselling? I couldn't put him in the waiting room, because he was such a mess. So people who were actually sick, not just sad, waited for a bed, while he cried. As a naturally sympathetic person, I tried my best to make him feel better, but it was hard even for me. I did my best, but my instict was to shake him by the shoulders, look him in the eye, and tell him that life doesn't get any easier. We need to learn to deal with life's disappointments if we don't want our hands to be permanently stuck in spasm.