Dealing with
Panic & Anxiety Attacks
By Alex Strande,
MS, Ph.D.
Panic attacks are marked by a
distinct period of intense fear or discomfort in which a group of four or more
symptoms happen quickly and reach a peak within 10 minutes. Anxiety is probably
the most basic of all emotions and most people have felt some form of anxiety
during their life. Anxiety experiences can vary tremendously in their severity,
from mild uneasiness to extreme terror and panic.
Anxiety is a response to
perceived danger. Scientifically, immediate anxiety is termed the “fight/flight”
response because all its effects are aimed at either fighting or fleeing
danger. Anxiety manifests itself through three separate systems.
The mental system includes
all feelings such as anxiety, nervousness and panic. The physical system
includes physical symptoms such as sweating, palpitations, dizziness and
breathlessness. The behavioral system includes activities such as pacing, foot
tapping and avoiding situations that may make you nervous, such as public
speaking.
When danger is perceived or
anticipated the brain sends messages to the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The
ANS has two subsections: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the
parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The SNS is the fight-or-flight system
that gets the body ready for action and the PNS restores the body back to its
normal state.
Neuro-imaging
techniques have provided evidence that the limbic system in the SNS governs
emotional aspects of behavior, and that anticipation of emotional anxiety may
stimulate the limbic system which in turn sends excitatory input to the inspiratory area to increase the rate and depth of
breathing.
The two areas of the limbic
system in the brain most actively involved in stress and fear are the amygdala and the hippocampus. The amygdala
is directly connected to the visual cortex and allows us to jump out of the way
when we see something dangerous. The hippocampus allows us to learn and
remember. As a response to danger the amygdala
immediately signals the adrenal glands to pump adrenaline into the blood,
triggering the release of the stress hormone cortisol.
The hippocampus is
hypersensitive to cortisol, and puts all our
cognitive functions on the alert. Cortisol and other
chemicals remain in the body until they are destroyed by chemicals from the
PNS; we are then restored to a relaxed state. However, adrenalin and
noradrenalin take some time to be destroyed, so even after the anxiety has
subsided we can be left feeling jittery and anxious.
One theory on the cause of
panic attacks is they are due to a buildup of stress hormones in the body. If there is a buildup of stress in the person’s life, and the
stress has resulted in increased cortisol that has
been chemically maintained in the body even after the stressor has gone, panic
attacks can occur. High levels of cortisol in
the body keep you hyper-alert.
The long-term impact of increased
cortisol affects the sensitive hippocampal
neurons in the brain, which start to shut down, causing the interlinking
dendrites to start shrinking...meaning that they are unable to make necessary
connections. A consequence of sustained cortisol is
that you may start to forget things. It is believed that in some cases mental
processes can become “frozen.”
Another theory is that for
some people the pain or trauma of a past event may be too great, and the memory
of it is disconnected from normal emotional processing which takes place in the
hippocampus. The pain or trauma of the event is pushed from consciousness, but
the emotions return in the form of a panic attack or post-traumatic stress
syndrome. This theory explains why some sufferers can wake in the night with a
panic attack or an attack can come on suddenly without the person being aware
of having experienced any resurgence of their previous trauma.
High levels of cortisol also affect your serotonin levels. High serotonin
levels are directly associated with depression, which explains why depression
is a very common symptom in people suffering from stress or panic attacks, with
one-third of people with panic disorder having previously experienced
depression. The fastest way to cure panic attacks is the nourishing of your
nerve system using liquid herbs.
Alex Strande,
MS, Ph.D., is a Naturopath and a Microbiologist. His office is at 3017 Clairemont Dr., San Diego, CA 92117 and he can be contacted
for questions and appointments at (619) 607-4211.He does face-to-face
consultations. Visit: www.simplyhealingclinic.com