Anxiety Attacks

Well I had a recent huge anxiety attack while driving a car. I've been putting up with them for a while but this one took the fucking biscuit. Having a great time then all of a sudden it gets harder to breath, I'm used to this as I've been having them for a year or so, so I try to calm myself but it only gets worse. Then my left arm goes completely numb, so I pull over, face starts slouching can't talk, chest pain, heart palpitations, left leg stops working, blurred vision and I blackout. I wake up and ring my sister to collect me. Sitting in the back of her car and I feel this huge adrenaline rush coming on again. Only choice I had was to ring an ambulance because it felt like it was going to be worse then the last.

So I'm in the hospital, they give me a blood test and then another. Then they come back to me again and say they want another because the first was unusual. Then they X-ray my chest. At this stage I ask the doctor what was unusual about the bloods, she mumbles oh just a few things like your potassium is high and your blood pressure is high. Ughhh....

They keep me overnight anyway and schedule me for an ECG, MRI, Heart monitor and Blood pressure monitor.

The Doctor when checking my pulse said that she could feel my arm muscles tensing up and twitching which she seemed to think was unusual. I explained to her that I get twitches a lot, you know those twitches you get up near your shoulder when you're stressed, yeah while those happen everyday for me. So the next day I go in and get my MRI done, fucking scary shit, the thing looks like a nuclear reactor and sounds like a bird (Weird, I know) and I can't keep still at all, actually I'm now completely unable to sit still I keep having to flick my feet or mess with my fingers. Anyway, at the moment I'm wearing this heart monitor and have the blood pressure monitor tomorrow. The doctors have asked me whether I was stressed or not and I guess I lied when I told them I'm not, I really fucking am. I guess I didn't want them to think it was a Panic/Anxiety attack because I know most people don't understand what they are, we often hear people say "I'm having a Panic Attack" No you are fucking not, I can honestly say a panic attack is something I seem to have no control over and is honestly say is the scariest thing I will probably ever go through. Even the Wiki page says it's one of the most frightening experiences you can have. But I guess now I can talk about it to the doctor since they most likely understand.

I guess it's just my hair loss has become very noticeable at this stage, receding hairline and complete diffuse thinning. The fact is I'm going to have to cut it soon and I guess this is playing on my mind because it's going to be very noticeable soon and people who haven't seen me in a while are going to see me and be like "What the Fuck" which makes for a awkward situation. Now I know I shouldn't care what people think and I really don't but I do care about my image a lot and hair is a huge part especially at 22. But I've noticed that when my inflammation is at it's lowest is when I care the least about hair loss. I believe it's really the inflammation itch that makes hair loss the hardest for me, I've be eating a high protein diet lately and went running a good bit, this helped with the itch a bit, after a few weeks though it's come back in full force.

So asides from diet there has to be a better way to deal with inflammation. Baking Soda rinses have proved pretty helpful.

But does anyone know the best way for dealing with Anxiety and Stress, not really supplements wise but other areas like exercise. What's the best way to deal with an anxiety attack?

The thing that helps me the most is Buteyko breathing, or any reduced breathing techniques. What supplements are you taking? I know you are a regular visitor to this site, but have you done a basal temperature test?

My first Anxiety attack occurred after using Iodine. I've explained this several times and all I've got is it's a Bromide detox, I took all the companion supplements, used salt etc. but to no avail. They started about 4 days after using Iodine for the first time, but now I can't even take a drop without going into an all out anxiety attacked usually spurred by palpitations induced from using Iodine. The first four days of using Iodine were great (completely no inflammation), but I can't even take a drop now. Ughhhh....

Sorry about your situation Decro.

How much Iodine were you using? And were you using the recommended dosages for all the companion supplements? Were you worried during that drive when you got the attack? Were you doing something for your adrenals as well?

Just curious, how much coffee/caffeine do you drink a day?

zerx wrote:Sorry about your situation Decro.

How much Iodine were you using? And were you using the recommended dosages for all the companion supplements? Were you worried during that drive when you got the attack? Were you doing something for your adrenals as well?

- I started off with about 2 drops and up to a full dropper of it.
- Actually I was the opposite to worried, I was fucking delighted. Hair loss seemed to have done the impossible and stopped within 4 days. Best mood I was ever in, but then I started to feel really odd, emotional (put all this down to bromide detox) but eventually started feeling light headed, palpitations etc.
- I wasn't doing anything for my adrenals, didn't even realize there was a link between them when I was doing this. I realize now there is, haven't done anything for them though.

angstman wrote:Just curious, how much coffee/caffeine do you drink a day?

I never drink coffee, but I did have a little phase of energy drinks. Only for a month or so, haven't touched caffeine at all since. I believe it makes anxiety worse.

Just out of interest I said fuck it and took some Iodine just there. I have my heart monitor on now so if I do have an anxiety attack then it'll show. Inflammation has subsided, but I'm very jittery, breathing irregularly and palpitating. I had a big palpitation there minutes ago and if you've ever had one of these you can kind of feel it in your ears etc. effects are still there. Haven't had an anxiety attack yet, but once I try to go to bed in a couple of hours I know it will be a lot worse. They seem to always hit me when I'm trying to get to sleep recently, heart goes nuts and breathing is irregular.

Oh and I suppose I should let you know I smoke. I know it's a stupid thing to do, but I find it's hard for me to quit. I believe people who have anxiety and stress issues will have a lot harder a time quitting than those who don't.

You should definitely do something for your adrenals if you are going to be using Iodine. And I used to use about 12-30mg of Iodine per day and I would have strong reactions to that. So I searched curezone for advice and I came across one of the experts on Iodine advising someone to increase their dosage to over 100mg so as to get benefits and lessen the reactions. As soon as I went from the low dose of Lugols to about 150-200mg I got results with minimal negative effects.

Alot of anxiety and panic attacks are 100% "mindgames" .. What I mean is, if you are afraid of getting panicky then that fear is enough in some situations to trigger a snowball -like effect.

You have to decondition the fear so that you dont fear it, then the panic attacks will become harmless.

It can be a little tricky since it is essentially a mechanism that feeds on itself.

Have not tried this, but read it about 6 months ago, and Mercola likes this approach.

http://eft.mercola.com/

I used to have anxiety but never had attacks. However, I have never heard of an attack making a limb go numb and blacking you out. Perhaps there are other issues going on.

I think almost all of anxiety is completely due to your physiology. Low thyroid, poor gut health, and high stress hormones are probably the main causes.

zerx wrote:You should definitely do something for your adrenals if you are going to be using Iodine. And I used to use about 12-30mg of Iodine per day and I would have strong reactions to that. So I searched curezone for advice and I came across one of the experts on Iodine advising someone to increase their dosage to over 100mg so as to get benefits and lessen the reactions. As soon as I went from the low dose of Lugols to about 150-200mg I got results with minimal negative effects.

Yeah, I honestly don't think it will work like that for me though. I have intense reactions at small doses and I tried dropper fulls and the reactions seem to be worse. How do I trust that a large dose would not send me into an all out heart attack?. You see it's risky if there is some underlying cause for it.

As for the adrenals, what is the best recommended method for treating these without using Iodine?.

cpio wrote:Alot of anxiety and panic attacks are 100% "mindgames" .. What I mean is, if you are afraid of getting panicky then that fear is enough in some situations to trigger a snowball -like effect.

You have to decondition the fear so that you dont fear it, then the panic attacks will become harmless.

It can be a little tricky since it is essentially a mechanism that feeds on itself.

I completely agree that the mind is 90% the cause. But if you actually have one you will see that it is extremely hard to avoid. First is the breathing, which is probably the reason why my heart starts going crazy. It seems to happen a lot when I'm driving, I guess it's because I know I have to get somewhere and if the panic attack occurs then I can't drive for the next few hours.. what do I do after that?. It is a fear that I'll have one, but they seem to occur very regularly when I'm hungover or under a lot of stress (most of the time).

It really is a loop. After your first panic attack, you're afraid you'll have another which ends up causing one.

jimmyw wrote:Have not tried this, but read it about 6 months ago, and Mercola likes this approach.

http://eft.mercola.com/

Thanks

abc123 wrote:I used to have anxiety but never had attacks. However, I have never heard of an attack making a limb go numb and blacking you out. Perhaps there are other issues going on.

I think almost all of anxiety is completely due to your physiology. Low thyroid, poor gut health, and high stress hormones are probably the main causes.

Acutally, these symptoms are all quite common in panic attacks. Most people misunderstand panic attacks and people it's just someone freaking out. But it's really your body going into safety mode as you anticipate a dangerous situation. Adrenaline floods the body, causing a long list of symptoms.

I believe that gut health and thyroid health are affected by the way you think. I have IBS due to stressful situations, worrying about my hair loss and dealing with my inflammed scalp. Clearly being stressed all the time has had a bad effect on my gut.

Decro, I use to not be able to drive at night because I once had a panic attack while driving at night on a single lane bridge that was 20 + miles long over swamp and it was pretty intense. After that whenever I would even think of driving at night I could feel them coming on.

Your right its 90% mental as I have gotten past them and then some. I haven't had an attack in 4 years.

I believe stress with school and the situation added to this buildup that just hit me. However, from there on it was just the fear of anxiety attacks. Funny enough what actually allowed me to get over them was music(singing along) and alcohol. I didn't even have to drink alcohol but just knowing that I had it there and the fact that I could drink it and it would calm me down is all I needed. This is how I realized it was all mental.

bh1546 wrote:Decro, I use to not be able to drive at night because I once had a panic attack while driving at night on a single lane bridge that was 20 + miles long over swamp and it was pretty intense. After that whenever I would even think of driving at night I could feel them coming on.

Your right its 90% mental as I have gotten past them and then some. I haven't had an attack in 4 years.

I believe stress with school and the situation added to this buildup that just hit me. However, from there on it was just the fear of anxiety attacks. Funny enough what actually allowed me to get over them was music(singing along) and alcohol. I didn't even have to drink alcohol but just knowing that I had it there and the fact that I could drink it and it would calm me down is all I needed. This is how I realized it was all mental.

Ha, I can completely relate to that bridge situation. The thought of "What am I going to do now if I have a panic attack" is enough to bring it on. Weirdly though they so easily come on and so quickly too. In that situation if I even thought of a panic attack for a second it would be enough to spur one on. It's weird because no-one would ever expect me to have these attacks, I'm a very sociable person and I actually love awkward situations I find them funny (Sounds weird, I know).. I know what you mean about alcohol, I am completely calm when I drink alcohol and couldn't give more of a sh*t about hair loss. Actually recently one of the guys pointed out my hair loss in front of the rest of my friends and I actually laughed it off and said fuck it, they didn't care either. It felt great. But the day after I wake up and I can feel anxious, my breathing always seems forced and if I try and drive I will automatically have an anxiety attack. I've read several places that this commonly happens after drinking.

One question though which I want people to answer is, why does my inflammation completely subside when I drink alcohol. As I stated above I have constant inflammation which ranges from medium to f**king dragon fire intense. Once I start drinking it immediately goes away. It's crazy, it's like the ultimate cure. I've come up with some explanations for this:

- Alcohol reduces androgen levels (I have yet to find what effect alcohol has on androgen levels while you are drinking, most studies show how alcohol effects androgens in binge drinkers over time).

- Alcohol reduces stress levels in the body, therefore relaxing you and somehow cutting inflammation.

- Alcohol is a vasodilator therefore it stimulates blood flow to the scalp and cuts inflammation.

None of these may be right, but I've never seen this fully discussed so I have to jump to conclusions. Does anyone know the reason for this?.

Do you have any symptoms of hyperthyroidism? IMO/E, iodine should be avoided if you have anxiety problems and/or adrenals problems. They will just be made worse.

CS has said that iodine will initially exacerbate hyperthyroid before it supposedly lowers it.

I had what you describe happen once when driving. I swore I was having a heart attack and called 911. They said it was just a panic attack, but I wasn't really having psychological anxiety at the time. It was just a physical thing that hit me.

I agree with you that they tend to throw the phrase "panic attack" around like they even know what the hell that is. If they want to call those physical symptoms a panic attack- fine, but that is all but useless unless you know what that means physiologically. The way they seem to use it or understand a "panic attack" is that it is all in your head (psychosomatic). I say bullshit.

BTW- smoking is terrible for anxiety. I'm sure you know that. I had a hard time quitting, but I knew I had to. I was chain smoking from stress.

bh1546 wrote:Decro, I use to not be able to drive at night because I once had a panic attack while driving at night on a single lane bridge that was 20 + miles long over swamp and it was pretty intense. After that whenever I would even think of driving at night I could feel them coming on.

Your right its 90% mental as I have gotten past them and then some. I haven't had an attack in 4 years.

I believe stress with school and the situation added to this buildup that just hit me. However, from there on it was just the fear of anxiety attacks. Funny enough what actually allowed me to get over them was music(singing along) and alcohol. I didn't even have to drink alcohol but just knowing that I had it there and the fact that I could drink it and it would calm me down is all I needed. This is how I realized it was all mental.

That has given me an anxiety attack and I'm only imagining the 20 mile long bridge! Where is that 20 mile long bridge? I'm sure most of us would be terrified at driving over a 20 mile bridge.

Decro, maybe you should go over to curezone forum and ask the die-hard Iodine people there. They know their stuff when it comes to Iodine supplementation and reactions. Try either or both of these sub-forums:

http://www.curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=886

http://www.curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=815

And about what is best for adrenals, I have had great results with topical pregnenolone.

It is along I-10 going through Louisiana.

Could Vitamin D supplementation work in a similar way that topical pregnenolone does? Pregn made me feel anxious the time I used it.