Stevens
16-06-12, 23:58
Hi all,
I'd like to share my experiences and successes with you all on this forum.
I started with panic attacks and anxiety when I was 16 years old - I'm now 43 and the road to overcoming them has been somewhat random. For most of my teens anxiety and palpitations seemed to be the main issues and then in my 20's and thirties the anxiety abated but palpitations continued.
My symptoms were manageable, other than causing me occasional worries over my general health I did my best to ignore them until I hit 40 when things started to escalate.
I got up one morning and had my usual breakfast of cereal and grape juice and within minutes of eating I had serious palpitations and anxiety. I ran out into the garden and was convinced I was going to die there and then. I didn't - thank god! In fact what I'd experienced was my bodies now unstable reaction to sugar - more on this later.
For the following weeks and months I was on a roller coaster of panic attacks, adrenal sensations - especially in the morning - where I would feel jittery and then extremely washed out. Attacks would seemingly come out of the blue and leave me exhausted and full of worry. Sleep was very difficult and one of the worst symptoms was feeling remote and detached from reality.
My journey back to health came when I started to make changes to my diet. I slowly began to realise that sugar and refined carbohydrates were playing a key role in my attacks. As were other things such as caffeine, stress and late nights. I cut out sugar, including fruit, all white bread and switched to decaf drinks - I also avoided diet drink as I found my body reacted the same to these as sugar.
With a few weeks I was noticing fewer attacks, better sleep and a gradual return of my energy. Within a few months I was finally feeling healhy and anxiety free. I also saw a nutritionist who filled in the final pieces of the puzzle for me. Essentially my previous diet which was high in sugar, caffeine and carbohydrates as well as years of late nights had taxed my system so much that it simply had reached breaking point. Whilst my body tolerated this in my youth - in my 40's it was struggling to break all this down. She recommended I take vitamin B complex with magnesium with my diet and I found this to help enormously. The magnesium is a natural beta blocker and helps block adrenalin. The b vitamins support the adrenals also.
You may think that you don't have a terrible diet but it's surprising how much sugar and refined carbs we eat without not even realising it. I never ate sweets or fizzy drinks but there was lots of hidden sugar with my diet - concentrated fruit juices was one of them - as was alcohol and cereal. My espresso with breakfast was also a bad choice as drinking caffeine with a meal raises your blood sugar many times more. All these choices add up.
I'm now into my third year on this diet and I rarely have anxiety or attacks. If i do get an attack it's very mild and its always when I relax my diet and maybe have something I shouldn't. Another great thing is that my palpitations have gone away - after having these for so many years it convinced me that my bodies intolerance to sugar was causing them all along. I would urge anyone suffering panic attacks and ongoing anxiety to review their diet. It's the best thing I've done and have never looked back.
Some pointers...
Reduce caffeine, go decaf or better still cut it out
Switch to whole grain breads, oats and avoid potatoes and fruit
if you have carb, always try to eat some protein with it
Avoid fruit juices
Supplement your diet with b vitamin complex
Eat regularly - don't over eat and don't have caffienated drink with your meals
Also,
Don't stay up late, avoid stress and when you don't feel upto things - don't worry - REST!!
I'd like to share my experiences and successes with you all on this forum.
I started with panic attacks and anxiety when I was 16 years old - I'm now 43 and the road to overcoming them has been somewhat random. For most of my teens anxiety and palpitations seemed to be the main issues and then in my 20's and thirties the anxiety abated but palpitations continued.
My symptoms were manageable, other than causing me occasional worries over my general health I did my best to ignore them until I hit 40 when things started to escalate.
I got up one morning and had my usual breakfast of cereal and grape juice and within minutes of eating I had serious palpitations and anxiety. I ran out into the garden and was convinced I was going to die there and then. I didn't - thank god! In fact what I'd experienced was my bodies now unstable reaction to sugar - more on this later.
For the following weeks and months I was on a roller coaster of panic attacks, adrenal sensations - especially in the morning - where I would feel jittery and then extremely washed out. Attacks would seemingly come out of the blue and leave me exhausted and full of worry. Sleep was very difficult and one of the worst symptoms was feeling remote and detached from reality.
My journey back to health came when I started to make changes to my diet. I slowly began to realise that sugar and refined carbohydrates were playing a key role in my attacks. As were other things such as caffeine, stress and late nights. I cut out sugar, including fruit, all white bread and switched to decaf drinks - I also avoided diet drink as I found my body reacted the same to these as sugar.
With a few weeks I was noticing fewer attacks, better sleep and a gradual return of my energy. Within a few months I was finally feeling healhy and anxiety free. I also saw a nutritionist who filled in the final pieces of the puzzle for me. Essentially my previous diet which was high in sugar, caffeine and carbohydrates as well as years of late nights had taxed my system so much that it simply had reached breaking point. Whilst my body tolerated this in my youth - in my 40's it was struggling to break all this down. She recommended I take vitamin B complex with magnesium with my diet and I found this to help enormously. The magnesium is a natural beta blocker and helps block adrenalin. The b vitamins support the adrenals also.
You may think that you don't have a terrible diet but it's surprising how much sugar and refined carbs we eat without not even realising it. I never ate sweets or fizzy drinks but there was lots of hidden sugar with my diet - concentrated fruit juices was one of them - as was alcohol and cereal. My espresso with breakfast was also a bad choice as drinking caffeine with a meal raises your blood sugar many times more. All these choices add up.
I'm now into my third year on this diet and I rarely have anxiety or attacks. If i do get an attack it's very mild and its always when I relax my diet and maybe have something I shouldn't. Another great thing is that my palpitations have gone away - after having these for so many years it convinced me that my bodies intolerance to sugar was causing them all along. I would urge anyone suffering panic attacks and ongoing anxiety to review their diet. It's the best thing I've done and have never looked back.
Some pointers...
Reduce caffeine, go decaf or better still cut it out
Switch to whole grain breads, oats and avoid potatoes and fruit
if you have carb, always try to eat some protein with it
Avoid fruit juices
Supplement your diet with b vitamin complex
Eat regularly - don't over eat and don't have caffienated drink with your meals
Also,
Don't stay up late, avoid stress and when you don't feel upto things - don't worry - REST!!