A survey of healthcare workers suggests that 71.5% are struggling with distress, 50.4% with depression, 44.6% with anxiety, and around 34.0% with insomnia. There is a considerable increase in psychiatric issues faced by healthcare workers.
Dr Mridulla from Mumbai quoted, “Recently I had been experiencing panic attacks. I am not susceptible to panic disorders in general but non-stop work and treating patients has made me prone. When I get a panic attack, my heartbeat increases manifold, I am not able to calm myself and everything seems like a disaster and that nothing will last and we will all die. I had to sign off my duty since in my profession I cannot afford to fall apart. There were days I would wake up sweating profusely just worrying about what the day ahead of me held. I did not want to go through the day. Even if I managed to reach for duty on time, as soon as the work pressure increased, I felt I was not able to breathe, felt nauseous and as if my heart would burst out of my body. I knew I needed help when in the ICU while attending a patient, the blood was pounding so hard in my ears that I could not hear my patient’s voice. I asked another doctor to step in and removed myself from the situation. I had a word with my senior doctor, he has suggested me to take therapy because it is related to the anxiety levels and might even have long-lasting effects.”
Panic attack as per its definition is a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or apparent cause. Even though the doctors are aware of panic attacks, getting one while on duty or at work can be very frightening. When panic attacks occur, one might even think they're losing control, having a heart attack or even die.
The symptoms can be as a sense of imminent danger, fear of loss of control or death, something the healthcare workers are facing every day recently; rapid and pounding heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking, shortness of breath or tightness in your throat, chills or hot flashes, nausea, abdominal cramping, chest pain, headache, dizziness, light headed-ness or faintness, many a time doctors even start feeling a sense of unreality or detachment from the situation at hand.
Even though special interventions to promote mental well-being in health care workers exposed to COVID-19 is being implemented on an immediate basis, it is important that healthcare workers focus on themselves and keep themselves mentally strong.
Through therapy, Dr Mridulla has managed panic attacks to an extent that it is no longer imparing her normal routine. She is resting at home, getting enough sleep, keeping away from coffee and other stimulants, and hoping to rejoin work soon enough and join back the war against COVID.