panic attacks and anxiety

[Suzanne22]

Does anyone get them? I have been having severe panick attacks and having one right now. I came inside to kind of breathe if you will. I have asthma as well so I can't take that deep breath when I want right now is kinda freaking me out. I just took my inhaler so my heart is beating out of my chest.
I don't know whether or not to fight or flight. Ughh.....and to top it off I feel realy sick because it's almost that time of the month but for some reason I feel it coming any second. I am not due until next week in about 5 more days. I feel sick and queazy and shaking like a leaf from anxiety. I just took a xanax so hopefully I will feel calmer soon.
From the other post, I took notes and am going to try yoga and breathing exercises to lessen my anxiety and panic attacks. I hope it works. I keep telling myself that nothing bad is going to happen.
My lips will not turn blue and I won't die from asthma or anxiety.
Thank you all for listening to me vent. I feel a bit better writing this down. I tell my husband and he says ok it will pass..which is a good thing he doesn't dwell on me..but I feel like I cannot talk to him about it.
I was doing so good this past year with out panic attacks..I get asthma and the world turns upside down for me. I can[t breathe, I panic. And now all I think about all day is breathing when I know it's what your body does,ughhhh...
sorry so long..really needed to vent.

[ami]

Besides yoga and exercise, please try meditation. It will help you relax.
Put your problems on a HIGHER POWER's hands, whatever you call it is OK.
You are going to be fine. Have faith. Everything will pass.

Please consider the following:
1. Add half lemon to a large glass of ice water and drink it first thing in the morning.
2. Repeat the following affirmations every day, every day, every day:
I am physical relax, I am emotional relax, I am mentally relax, I am totally relax.
I am love, I am joy, I am happy, I am strength, I am success, I am power.
I feel love, I feel joy, I feel happy, I feel strength, I feel success, I feel power. ALL IS GOOD!
Breath in love, breath out peace, repeat at least 20 times very slowly.
EVERY DAY, EVERYDAY, EVERYDAY...
Not just when you get an attack, but daily. Your life will change. You won't have the atacks.

You might also try to drink some relaxing herbal teas like chamomile, or any relaxing herbal tea mixes. You might or might not add some sweetener, most of the time you don't need to add any sweetener.

Hugs,

[lanakat]

I have had panic attacks since turning 40. I have no idea why I started getting them late in life. I started taking Zoloft for my panic attacks. I dont have them anymore. If I dont take my meds for a week or so I will start getting that feeling of them coming back. So I stay on Zoloft. Im sure some people are going to be against meds, but its what works for me.

[skyebunny]

I had a bad hypoglycemic episode in January that almost landed me in an ambulance. I used to have problems with it as a child but that was the worst one i've had ever. I had panic attacks every night for a week after cuz i was afraid it was going to happen again. I was eating everything in sight to keep it from happening again.... Of course I gained alot of weight. I started the sbd 2 months ago and had another episode yesterday that was bad but i was lucky enough to be in an environment where it was taken care of quickly. But honestly, I can't tell if what i had yesterday was a panic attack or low bloopd sugar. Mine was 80 at that time. My question is what can I do differently to prevent those episodes if it's my blood sugar and not panic?
I know how the person that posted that feels and it sucks.

[Kimboroni]

Make sure you are eating every 2-3 hours, and make sure to include a reasonable serving of SB-friendly carbs every time you eat. Remember that "carbs" doesn't mean just the p2 fruits and grains, but also the p1 veggies (including legumes) and dairy. If you let it go too long and then need something higher glycemic to bring your blood sugar up quickly, it can cause a rebound effect of quickly dropping too low again. That's no good. So keep on top of it and eat balanced meals/snacks frequently. Even a glass of milk can do wonders.

[Opal]

I'm glad you brought up panic attacks. I was diagnosed with "garden variety" depression about 19 years ago, and have been on several different SSRI's. I never had a problem with "generalized anxiety", i.e. anxiety every day with no apparent source or trigger. However, I have experienced bouts of anxiety that can be traced to a "trigger"; emergency surgery for a small ovarian cyst that burst a blood vessel, I loss a 1/3 of my blood internally, passed out, could have died, and subsequent lightheadedness caused "flashbacks" to passing out, causing anxiety. Other times I had anxiety were cold turkey-ing off an antidepressant (stupid), and bad jet lag after a trip to Europe where my sleep cycles were thrown off and I couldn't really really sleep for 10 days (!) and got anxiety attacks where I woke up after an hour FREAKED OUT and all I could do is go out in the yard under the stars and pace or sit for a long time. Long story short, I have been having them again since I started the SB diet 3 weeks ago. I can't pin it on one thing; 3 months ago I started Lamictal and got off my SSRI (Citalopram) b/c I was absolutely asexual and for the sake of my marriage I had to make a change. Lamictal shouldn't cause anxiety.Note: I am taking supplements daily . It is possible physical changes from the diet triggered something but I am committed to this diet 1,000 percent (lost 11 1/2 pounds in 3 weeks, was about 50 pounds overweight, I'm 5'10"). I get decent exercise; brisk walking 75 minutes every day with my 2 dogs.I am so grateful to be losing! I had some Xanax leftover, which afforded me 3 hours of sleep the other night. I hate the stuff and it's addictive. The doc gave me Proprananol, a betablocker which has helped a lot. I slept several hours in the a.m after that attack. I don't want to go back on SSRI's.The dic thinks it is temporary, and I am riding it out. Last night no anxiety at all, but I woke up every hour on the hour. I investigated everything on the Internet--I have a new theory: ASPARTAME! I should check to see if this had been brought up on another thread. It is everywhere on the Internet that aspartame can cause anxiety. The night I got the attack I at like 5 aspartame popsicles. I stopped all aspartame 2 nights ago. Sugar alcohols (Splenda) are okay--different than aspartame. Wonder if anyone else supports my theory, or has had a similar experience.

[RedRox]

FWIW, splenda is not a sugar alcohol either. Sugar alcohols are the general name given to a variety of sweeteners known as polyols that all end in -ol, like sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, eurythritol, malitol, and others. The active ingredient in splenda, sucralose, is an engineered sweetener from the sucrose (table sugar) molecule as the base, that in it's pure form is 600 times sweeter than sugar and essentially inert, meaning it cannot be used or processed by the body, and hence 0 calories. The calories you do get in Splenda are related more to the maltodextrin used to cut the sucralose so it measures 1 to 1 in the granulated version with actual table sugar. Inciddentally, this is why if you look at the ingredient list for Splenda, maltodextrin is listed first and sucralose is second. There's far more maltodextrin than sucralose in order to get to that "magic" 1-t0-1 ratio.

Good job learning to associate symptoms with what you are eating though. That's a useful life skill and esp. useful for SB when transitioning to P2 or just in general as you introduce new foods or even as you "treat" yourself with off plan foods and notice things that maybe you hadn't felt in awhile that suddenly return. There really is a very direct connection between what we eat and how we feel and operate. The more we can tune into that connection and turn on our "observer mind" we begin to realize that on a very general level, the more we eat healthy foods that support and nourish our bodies and brains, the better we feel, and the more we eat highly processed foods and unhealthy, crappy, foods, the crappier we feel and the poorer we perform .