Natural Cures and Remedies for Anxiety and Panic Attacks
On this subject I am very knowledgeable as I have suffered from extreme anxiety and panic attacks off and on for about 15 years. I have finally learned some ways in which to either control it much better or to eliminate it all together. It's a tricky balance at times but I have been consistently getting better and better these last three years and have gone as long as six months at a time without experiencing any significant anxiety.
I have learned that it is important to find out the underlying cause. Many times anxiety is caused by some health problem that slowly wears your body's defenses down until your body literally goes into panic mode (usually due to adrenal fatigue). For example, in my case I had extreme and systemic candida overgrowth, heavy metal poisoning, irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut, multiple chemical sensitivities, food allergies and fibromyalgia. All of these things put a significant amount of stress on my organs, immune system, adrenal and thyroid glands and my body in general. I also must confess that my diet was not the best which also puts a strain on the body.
It is my belief that most of the time anxiety is caused by a physical stress on the body. In order to cure your anxiety once and for all you have to confront the underlying health problems and deal with them.
I found that one of the primary causes of my anxiety was diet. Because of the above problems and feeling sick most of the time I had switched to what I thought was a very healthy diet. I ate lots of vegetables, fruits and grains and very little meat or eggs. It sounds very healthy. But for me, and probably a lot of you out there, this is not a healthy diet. Sure the foods are healthy but they don't give us what we need.
I discovered only recently that I'm a person with a body type that has a high metabolic rate. What this means is that a diet like I mentioned above will not give me the energy I need and will not help me improve my health. Because of the way I was eating I caused myself to have symptoms of low thyroid. My body temperature was very low. I was cold all the time, constantly hungry and just felt really sick.
What I did was begin to eat very hefty foods, foods that are high in protein and fat (healthy fat) as well as complex carbohydrates (whole grains, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans). For an example, I would eat steak, a baked potato with sour cream and butter and a salad. At breakfast I would have eggs, bacon (naturally processed) and a piece of whole grain toast or a half a grapefruit. Eating in this way helps me control my anxiety much better.
If your relatives came from Northern Europe, it is highly possible you are also a high metabolic person. When you are feeling particularly anxious try eating a meal as described above. See if it makes you feel better. You might be pleasantly surprised.
If it does help you to eat high fat, high protein foods, then it is also possible that you have hypoglycemia or low blood sugar which can also cause anxiety. Low carb diets help to stabilize your blood sugar. Be sure that the carbs you do eat are in the form of vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and fruit -- absolutely no sugars or sugar substitutes.
If you are a high metabolic person and you eat low protein, low fat, high carb diets, it can cause your metabolism to slow down as your body goes into conservation mode. This I believe is one of the causes of hypothyroidism. When I eat this way my body temperature drops and I'm constantly very tired and feel cold. When I eat the high protein and fat along with some complex carbs my body temperature within only two or three days returns to normal and I no longer feel cold all the time. I also never gain weight on this diet. You can eat this way using small meals and snacks throughout the day in order to keep your blood sugar stable.
Other Ways to Conquer Anxiety
Most likely your anxiety is caused by adrenal fatigue. The adrenal glands become this way due to stress -- physical stress or emotional stress. And over time your brain can also become involved because of the mental stress this causes as well. This is when the adrenals have been stressed for so long they can no longer produce the hormones they are supposed to produce -- like cortisol. When cortisol levels become too low it causes severe hypoglycemia which is the main cause of the anxiety response. Curing my adrenal fatigue has given me the most significant improvement to anxiety than anything else.
You can control your cortisol levels better if you eat lots of snacks throughout the day to keep your blood sugar stable. If you don't keep your blood sugar stable, you will be caught in a spiral effect of low cortisol, low blood sugar, even lower cortisol, even lower blood sugar. At some point this then turns into anxiety or panic attack.
Some herbs that I find to be very helpful in regulating cortisol and adrenaline levels is ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea and eleuthero root or siberian ginseng. If you've also been having trouble sleeping, ashwagandha will help dramatically. I have slept through nights with this herb when normally I would have been up all night pacing the floor. Another helpful herb is Relora.
When your anxiety is very intense such as panic attacks, then taking phosphaditylserine is extremely helpful. Whenever I get the flu or bad cold it triggers my panic attacks even when I haven't had any anxiety in a long time. Taking phosphaditylserine helped make me feel completely calm and able to sleep and relax.
The best way to handle an anxiety attack is to not react to it. This may sound ridiculous but it really works. If you feel yourself heading toward a panic attack, instead of panicking, make your body relax. Take deep breaths very slowly in and out. Tell yourself that everything is all right, it's just a panic attack. Then also begin drinking a glass or two of diluted fruit juice (all fruit no sugar) - half water, half juice. This will quickly bring your blood sugar back up to normal and you'll feel a lot better.
I thought this sounded so simplistic the first time I heard it, but it works. If you respond to the panic attack, you begin to fuel the attack and make it worse. What is really happening is your heart is racing due to low blood sugar. Your body is in emergency mode and is trying to stabilize the situation. The panic is your brain responding to what is going on. You need to tell your brain that nothing is wrong that can't be fixed in just a few minutes.
Because the panic attack is caused by a rapid drop in blood sugar this is why the diluted juice is very useful. Eat something right after the juice that has some protein, fat and complex carbs. This will make sure the blood sugar doesn't drop again right away.
If you find yourself in a situation where you can't seem to be able to stop the anxiety, it is very helpful to move about the house, do gentle exercises and stretches. This will help you to work the adrenaline out of your system so it isn't nearly so bothersome. If you sit still when you are anxious, the adrenaline continues to build up in your muscles and the anxiety can escalate until it is very hard to deal with or turns into a panic attack. Keep eating a small snack every two hours, or even more frequently, to keep your blood sugar from dropping. Drink lots of fluids like diluted juice or water. I also find that vitamin C helps. I use Alacer Emer'gen-C which is a fizzy vitamin C drink with some other minerals. It is utilized by the body very quickly so you feel the results right away.
Many times low cortisol levels that lead to anxiety are caused by low levels of DHEA. Stress can also be the cause of low DHEA. I began taking DHEA recently and it has made me feel much better and I have a lot more energy both physically and mentally. You can have your DHEA levels tested to see where your levels are.
Check out my Adrenal Fatigue page as this might be what is causing your anxiety. There is a lot of information about how to heal your Adrenal Fatigue. It is also possible that you have candida overgrowth. This was another major cause of my own anxiety and the main reason for my adrenal fatigue. I also have information on candida at my candida page. The candida diet is a good diet for people struggling with anxiety.
