A possible treatment for panic

Hi everyone. I haven't talked much about it, but I used to suffer from dissociative panic attacks when I was kid for about 1.5 years. It started with a terrible nervous breakdown in 8th grade and ended in 10th grade. In my case, the panic disorder was brought about by a comorbid, overwhelming General Anxiety Disorder. Basically, the anxiety was too much to bear and whenever the scale surpassed a certain degree I had an episode. When I finaly told my mother I was afraid of her dying from cancer, the anxiety was released and the panic attacks stopped. Since then ive had only a handful of episodes, most of them mild.

My theory on this, having my own experience, speaking with others, and form the literature, is that panic is a defense mechanism that protects us from over-whelming anxiety. The problem therefore, is not the "panic", it's the underlying anxiety. I suspect that for many of you, the panic might be aleviated if the anxiety you constantly feel were reduced. I wanted to suggest that this release-valve treatment might be effective, for those of you not already trying it. Perhaps using CBT could have the desired effects.
 
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The reason for my panic attacks is that I feel like I'm going to die.
I've made up large amounts of reasons why I think so.
yknow, the whole, i have a brain tumor. my lyme's disease is coming back with a vengeance and it reacted to the pills i took wrong. my left eye is twitching and it will probably fall out and i'll be ugly my whole life and never have anyone to love or to be loved by. my boyfriend will break up with me, causing me to go into a fit of self-hatred and kill myself. & the thing is that I can keep this list up, because I've thought of at least ten things wrong with me every day. I'm totally obsessed with it.
I haven't had a full-blown panic attack for a week now, which is good because it was every day before, but I'm getting these terrible light-headed feelings. =/
i just want this to stop. i want it to be over with already. i want to get over myself.
 
Sometimes the panic & anxiety can be rooted in the physical body, but what lead to the weakening of the body was lifestyle, diet, and stress. Happened to me! I lived a face paced life - no rest or play. I ate like crap too. What developed was a physical problem with my adrenals and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) with insulin resistance.

Then, when my body had enough - relentless panic and anxiety set in. Mentally I couldn't calm myself down or relax. I made drastic diet changes and started supplementing where I needed it. I felt better very quickly. Literally, I went from loony to sane overnight. I keep getting stronger and I know if I feel a bit anxious or "weird" - it's time to step back and evaluate what I'm doing.

Had a bit of anxiety recently and it was once again - the low blood sugar. This can be true for many people with really random panic attacks (without an apparent cause). When the blood sugar drops the body pumps out massive amounts of adrenaline and cortisol hormones to bring levels up. Hence, the fight or flight response that can sometimes lead to a panic attack / anxiety in some people - like me!

Jen
Natural Anxiety Therapy | Anxiety Therapy Without Drugs
 

Claudius

Member
My theory on this, having my own experience, speaking with others, and form the literature, is that panic is a defense mechanism that protects us from over-whelming anxiety. The problem therefore, is not the "panic", it's the underlying anxiety. I suspect that for many of you, the panic might be aleviated if the anxiety you constantly feel were reduced..

The panic attacks cause massive anxiety though so they don't protect us from anything. If I didn't get panic attacks I wouldn't be stressing out and worrying all the time about when the next panic attack will be.
 

hypnogood

Member
Thanks for sharing...In general, normal panic attacks might be a kinda self-protection machanism, though this is not a good reaction. But when you fear this panic attacks and generates a cycle or loop of anxiety whereby the person develops an unhealthy fear of having another panic attack. People can spend anywhere from months to years caught in this repetitive cycle of anxiety.
 
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