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Suggestions from one who has recovered from Anxiety
After going through chemotherapy for five months due to non-hodgkins lymphoma, I found myself racked by daily anxiety attacks and fears of 'something' being wrong with me. Every muscle twitch worried me,, it got to the point that I WORRIED about WORRYING. It got to the point I thought Id loose my mind if something didnt stop this insantiy. I understood WHY I was so anxiouse,, I mean chemotherapy almost killed me more than once during treatment,,, I thought I would never be the same and always have to freak out about every little 'symptom'.
But thats not why Im writing.. Im writing to offer some simple ideas (that dont inlcude medication or learning yoga/mediation or whatever) or others that helped me in hopes it may be helpful to others, so here they are...
1. cut chicken out of your diet for 3 days atleast, and try to restrict yourself to eating it no more than once a week if possible. When I got really fed up with being anxiouse all the time one of the first things I noticed was I had more anxiety attacks after eating chicken. I also noticed that my soda habit seemed to make this more likely. After giving it some thought it occured to me that chicken we buy at the store is generally 'factory farmed',, meaning they are kept in very cramped quarters most of their lives, then when they go to slaughter the 'anxiety/stress' levels must be tremendouse with the noises from the machines not to mention being taken out of their normal enviorment.
Further more, I tended to drink alot of caffinated drinks, mostly coke and pepsi, both of which are very acidic. It stands to reason that if the meat contains high levels of stress hormones, and you then throw that meat into an acid,, the hormones from the meat are ingested and most likely directly effecting your bodys own hormone balance.
2. if at all possible cut down on anti-anxiety meds particulary benzopines like adavant. I refuse all benzopines now when getting my follow up chemo meds (used to recieve 2 mgs IV of adavant) because I discovered once I had weaned myself down to 1 tablet a day that after this 2 mg dosage on treatment days I had a terrible 'back lash' effect where I would be more anxiouse than usual for up to 3 days afterwards. I did some research and discovered this 'backlash' is VERY common because the benzopines , while helpful in the short term, actually lower the brains abiliity to effectively control anxiety hormones on its own. The longer your on them the harder it is for your brain to do that job on its own,,, so its a catch 22.
3. Drink more water and much less caffine,, also check to make sure nothing your taking can provoke anxiety including herbal teas. Some herbal medicines , particularly those for men that are supposed to increase sex drive can increase stress hormones. Some even have a mild MAOI, and MAO effect which means they allow certain chemicals to cross the blood brain barrier more easily,, foods like hot dogs and lunch meat contain high levels of chemicals that can actually cause seratonin syndrome (sp?) which can be deadly if enough of the herbal suppliment is taken. It isnt common, but it happens more often than most are aware.
4. ask yourself why you dont trust your body to take care of you anymore. Being anxiouse about your heart giving out or dying is based on the fear that your body is not to be trusted...... up until the anxiety about your health began you trusted your body to do all it needed without your attention. Think back.... when did this start? Did a friend or relative die suddenly? Did you suddenly come down very sick?
Confronting the subconsiouse reason behind the fear can help tremendousely. I was diagnosed with PTSD due to the loss of control I felt during chemo treatments. I cant tell you how horrible the experince was , not just the sick factor from treatment,,, but the weekly conciouse choice to go to the chemo center and sit down in a terribly uncomfortable chair to be poked with needles then filled with poisons that I knew by themselves could kill me if the infections I caught due to them didnt. When the light bulb went on regarding WHY I was freaked out,, when I really looked at the logic behind it,,, it really just made it easier to deal with the anxiety attacks when they did come on.
And just as importantly,,, if your anxiety is directed at your health..... DONT ignore symptoms. Im not saying become a hypocondriac.. but if your listening to your body and its saying something is wrong, then theres a good chance that indeed something IS wrong. If you feel you just KNOW somethings wrong.. listen to that and find a doctor who will listen to YOU.
When a lump appeared in my inner thigh I KNEW something was very wrong. I wasnt sick, the lump didnt hurt, and I couldnt really put my finger on why this worried me so much.. but I just knew it did. I was right, the biopsy showed lymphoma.... so listening to your body is important as well.
Wishing everyone the best...... Jennifer
But thats not why Im writing.. Im writing to offer some simple ideas (that dont inlcude medication or learning yoga/mediation or whatever) or others that helped me in hopes it may be helpful to others, so here they are...
1. cut chicken out of your diet for 3 days atleast, and try to restrict yourself to eating it no more than once a week if possible. When I got really fed up with being anxiouse all the time one of the first things I noticed was I had more anxiety attacks after eating chicken. I also noticed that my soda habit seemed to make this more likely. After giving it some thought it occured to me that chicken we buy at the store is generally 'factory farmed',, meaning they are kept in very cramped quarters most of their lives, then when they go to slaughter the 'anxiety/stress' levels must be tremendouse with the noises from the machines not to mention being taken out of their normal enviorment.
Further more, I tended to drink alot of caffinated drinks, mostly coke and pepsi, both of which are very acidic. It stands to reason that if the meat contains high levels of stress hormones, and you then throw that meat into an acid,, the hormones from the meat are ingested and most likely directly effecting your bodys own hormone balance.
2. if at all possible cut down on anti-anxiety meds particulary benzopines like adavant. I refuse all benzopines now when getting my follow up chemo meds (used to recieve 2 mgs IV of adavant) because I discovered once I had weaned myself down to 1 tablet a day that after this 2 mg dosage on treatment days I had a terrible 'back lash' effect where I would be more anxiouse than usual for up to 3 days afterwards. I did some research and discovered this 'backlash' is VERY common because the benzopines , while helpful in the short term, actually lower the brains abiliity to effectively control anxiety hormones on its own. The longer your on them the harder it is for your brain to do that job on its own,,, so its a catch 22.
3. Drink more water and much less caffine,, also check to make sure nothing your taking can provoke anxiety including herbal teas. Some herbal medicines , particularly those for men that are supposed to increase sex drive can increase stress hormones. Some even have a mild MAOI, and MAO effect which means they allow certain chemicals to cross the blood brain barrier more easily,, foods like hot dogs and lunch meat contain high levels of chemicals that can actually cause seratonin syndrome (sp?) which can be deadly if enough of the herbal suppliment is taken. It isnt common, but it happens more often than most are aware.
4. ask yourself why you dont trust your body to take care of you anymore. Being anxiouse about your heart giving out or dying is based on the fear that your body is not to be trusted...... up until the anxiety about your health began you trusted your body to do all it needed without your attention. Think back.... when did this start? Did a friend or relative die suddenly? Did you suddenly come down very sick?
Confronting the subconsiouse reason behind the fear can help tremendousely. I was diagnosed with PTSD due to the loss of control I felt during chemo treatments. I cant tell you how horrible the experince was , not just the sick factor from treatment,,, but the weekly conciouse choice to go to the chemo center and sit down in a terribly uncomfortable chair to be poked with needles then filled with poisons that I knew by themselves could kill me if the infections I caught due to them didnt. When the light bulb went on regarding WHY I was freaked out,, when I really looked at the logic behind it,,, it really just made it easier to deal with the anxiety attacks when they did come on.
And just as importantly,,, if your anxiety is directed at your health..... DONT ignore symptoms. Im not saying become a hypocondriac.. but if your listening to your body and its saying something is wrong, then theres a good chance that indeed something IS wrong. If you feel you just KNOW somethings wrong.. listen to that and find a doctor who will listen to YOU.
When a lump appeared in my inner thigh I KNEW something was very wrong. I wasnt sick, the lump didnt hurt, and I couldnt really put my finger on why this worried me so much.. but I just knew it did. I was right, the biopsy showed lymphoma.... so listening to your body is important as well.
Wishing everyone the best...... Jennifer
We've just GOT to stop meeting like this...
Actually, if there's a doctor in the house, he/she is running in stealth mode. You need to go back out to the main page, clickm on doctors and go from there.
Actually, if there's a doctor in the house, he/she is running in stealth mode. You need to go back out to the main page, clickm on doctors and go from there.
Well thankyou JSGeare for the invitation, I think Ill take you up on that.
If you dont mind my asking,, are you an MD? My original reason for finding this board was to ask a question regarding a broncoscope I was given last wensday, but it doesnt seem there have been any doctors responding to questions on the respiratory boards recently.
Jennifer
If you dont mind my asking,, are you an MD? My original reason for finding this board was to ask a question regarding a broncoscope I was given last wensday, but it doesnt seem there have been any doctors responding to questions on the respiratory boards recently.
Jennifer
Your report has a lot of very good advice, especially the ideas about talking to your doctor if you even THINK something is wrong. Putting these things in the hands on an expert is never a bad thing to do.
As to the nutritional aspects, it seems safe to say that it worked for you and there is little to suggest it worked against you. Few would question that nutrition is an essential part of over-all good health and our ability to manage a speedy recovery when we are afflicted. I think there's more to a kernel of truth to the notion that, "we are what we eat."
Because medication is such an integral and important aspect of mental health, and especially anxiety, a great deal of material appearing here is concerned with drugs and medication and I am amazed at the variety of results. Here again, because of the incredible complexity involved, a consult with our doctors should be controlling on what we ultimately do -and if we have reason to suspect the doctor is not on the same page with us, then we need a new doctor. The most anybody will get from this forum, in terms of a recommendation, is an opinion poll among non-experts. I very much appreciate the commentary people offer on their experience with medication, because it helps people -especially those taking a drug for the first time- establish some familiarity with possible effects of a drug from people who share many of the same reasons for taking it. That said, it would be unwise of me or of anyone to mistake personal experience as a professional recommendation, or to make a decision on a drug based on a vote alone. I think everyone here is pretty much up to speed on this.
I appreciate your making a post here and ask you to consider becoming a member.
As to the nutritional aspects, it seems safe to say that it worked for you and there is little to suggest it worked against you. Few would question that nutrition is an essential part of over-all good health and our ability to manage a speedy recovery when we are afflicted. I think there's more to a kernel of truth to the notion that, "we are what we eat."
Because medication is such an integral and important aspect of mental health, and especially anxiety, a great deal of material appearing here is concerned with drugs and medication and I am amazed at the variety of results. Here again, because of the incredible complexity involved, a consult with our doctors should be controlling on what we ultimately do -and if we have reason to suspect the doctor is not on the same page with us, then we need a new doctor. The most anybody will get from this forum, in terms of a recommendation, is an opinion poll among non-experts. I very much appreciate the commentary people offer on their experience with medication, because it helps people -especially those taking a drug for the first time- establish some familiarity with possible effects of a drug from people who share many of the same reasons for taking it. That said, it would be unwise of me or of anyone to mistake personal experience as a professional recommendation, or to make a decision on a drug based on a vote alone. I think everyone here is pretty much up to speed on this.
I appreciate your making a post here and ask you to consider becoming a member.
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