My daughter is 37 and has 3 children. Since her 3rd child four years ago she has never felt completely well but recently has started feeling anxious and panicky about even quite small things. Her hands sometimes shake and she feels nervous twitches in her eyelids which aren't noticeable to anyone else. She is very frightened and has made appointments to see a naturopath and her GP but I wonder if readers have any advice they can offer.

 from Sue

Hi - I think seeing a naturopath was a good first step (once a GP has ruled out any underlying medical problems). I had this (I think it was a reaction to general anaesthetic with me) - I think there are lots of different things that could help (any activities or therapies that she feels help to ground her such as yoga, acupuncture, massage, tai chi, swimming), good diet of natural whole foods and cut out processed and caffeine and alcohol for a while. Also, I notice a marked increase in my anxiety levels if I don't take B complex every day. There are other supplements and vitamins that can help too but I'm no expert so I'll let others recommend.

 Good luck - she can certainly overcome this and be stronger afterwards!

When I had panic attacks  it was caused by hormone imbalance and over work.  Also check for thyroid problems and adrenal fatigue. She needs to do as she wishes and pamper herself and meditate. She is not alone -thousands of us have been through it and come out ok;  Dont take prescription drugs but eat good mood foods like chicken, oats, bananas and keep off stimulants such as caffeine. Camomile tea is great. Suplements with Omega 3 and vitamin B complex and a good multivitamin and mineral. Very little alcohol. Dont be around people who dont understand. Lots of love and acceptance is needed.

Hi Sue

I've recently experienced a very similar problem and think that hormones are probably the culprit. I started taking Seredyn, a natural supplement available from natures medicines (web site www.naturesmedicines.co.uk) and cannot recommend it highly enough. It has a very fast effect giving relief whilst a longer term solution is found. I have also started to take Amoryn from the same company but that takes longer to have an effect so I can't comment on it.

Good luck

Jenny

I see a lot of clients with panicky feelings.  Sometimes they are caused by sensitivities and sometimes they were triggered by something in the past that the body and mind has just hung onto as a habit.  Those habit ones can often be helped with hypnotherapy. Hypnosis helps to find out if there is any emotional reason for the anxiety, to help the mind put that into context and to increase feelings of calm.

Best Wishes
Sharon 

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Sharon Stiles
hypnosis, NLP & CBT in Bristol and via webcam

Hi Sue. 

If it were me, I would have tests to check for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Clearly when pregnant, the baby takes everything it needs from the mother, even if the mother is left without enough. This can often lead to deficiencies, for example zinc which is believed to be a possible cause of post natal depression. Because this problem began with pregnancy, this may be what has happened and would be worth ruling out.  Are there any other symptoms (no matter how small, such as dry skin)? This may help pinpont which, if any, vitamins or minerals she may be deficient in.

Good luck, Monica

Hypnotherapy is definitely recommended for this. It may take 2-3 sessions but the relief should be permanent. Some hypnotherapists offer a free initial consultation. For a list of qualified and registered hypnotherapists in your area, visit thehypnotherapyassociation.co.uk.

from Costa

Your daughter is naturally fearful of the unknown reasons for feeling the way she does and I would surmise that her panic attacks are her natural way of emotionally reacting to those fears; there is often a situation of being afraid of being afraid.  Her physical symptoms may also be a consequence of her emotional state; but may well also be caused by physical conditons, life style, and nutritional imbalances.  My advice would be to stay clear of medication, have a nutritional check-out, say with a BANT registered nutritionist (www.bant.org.uk) and counselling/psychotherapy from bio-psycho-social therapist (www.hgi.org.uk), who would indeed offer guided imagery as part of treatment.  Best wishes to her.  Tony

Dear Sue,

 Your daughter's panic attacks can be caused by FEAR.  She needs to reflect and talk to someone on what the problem might be.  On a practical level she can do several things to help immediately

1.  Cut out all stimulants- tea, coffee, and alcohol.

2.  Take a good multi B vitamens and multi mineral supplements, plus lots of fresh food and vegetables.  If possible fresh vegetable juice.

3  Yoga and especially pranayama.  Pranayama will calm her.  To start with she should learn to do ujjayi breathing (known as throat breathing- Make the back of the neck long, slightly tilt the chin towards the collar bone, contract the glottis and breath through the nostrils.  She will make a sound as if she is snoring, only she must be able to hear the sound.  She must then try to make the exhale longer than the inhale, perhaps up to, exhale twice as long as inhale.  For example if her inhale is 4 seconds her exhale would be 8 seconds.  When she first starts her exhale may only be 1 second longer, but with practice it will increase.

 I hope this will help your daughter, but a good yoga teacher who knows about pranayama will certainly help with the panic attacks.

 Best wishes

Yours in yoga

 Cecily

Making an appointment with the Naturalpath is very good idea.  There can be lots of things that can contribute to anxiety and panic.  I have been sourcing out this problem for myself in the last few years which started with a traumatic episode that lead to a nasty bout of IBS.  IBS, particularily diareah predominant can lead to anxiety and panic because the digestive track our second brain is intimately connected to the autonomic nervous system. When out of balance it can put our fight and flight response system out of wack so the alarm never goes off.  The naturalpath would recommend a stool sample to ensure there isn't any dysbiotic gut bateria in there causing panic and anxiety havoc.  They would want to take tests to check for other medical conditions such as hormonal functioning, Adrenal functioning, thyroid functioning, etc.  An over active thyroid can cause all sorts of panic and anxiety.  For thyroid function I would make sure you have your T3, T4 and your TPO's checked. TPO's are checking your antigens to see if you are fighting your thyroid or not.  My family GP just checked the T3 and T4 but not the TPO's because I was feeling this candy in the throat lump like feeling.  She sent me off with anxiety medication that just sent me into a really bad state.  I went to the Gastroenterologist who stated that in my case antianxiety SSRI drugs were bad news for my type of IBS.  I didn't need anymore uplifters.  He ignored the candy in the throat feeling stating that it appeared that it wasn't just a sensitivity in the bowels but my whole GI track. 

I finally went to a Naturalpath who took the correct blood tests and the thyroid functioning showed it was in the normal range but TPO was was way off the charts.  The naturalpath suspected allergies.  I would check for molds, amalgam fillings or metal toxicity, and food sensitivities.  In my case I have terrible water damage in my office that is located in the middle of a grain loading facility.  The grain smuts and water damage were creating some nasty molds in my daily environment.  Along with that I had several old amalgams that looked suspicious so I had a Blood Mercury test done to discover I was being chronically poisened by mercury.  That along with a nasty gut bateria that caused IBS, panic and anxiety was certainly enough to cause panic attacks, shaking, trembling and so on.  I have since been on a strict regime of chelation therapy, moved my office, had the contents of my office ozonated to kill any mold spurs and am feeling like new again.

 

Thank you so much everyone who has responded with such helpful advice. The mention of moulds rang a little bell as she has suffered from lichen planus on and off for about 10 years - though not so much recently. Her hormones have also played a large part in her emotional make-up over the years. We will do some investigating around all of your suggestions and report back. Thanks again.

 from Sue

Thought Field Therapy has a high success rate for Panic Attacks - see my website for contact details.   www.ackos.co.uk

Has your daughter had ther thryoid checked as pregnancy can be the trigger for thryoid conditions either way hypo or hyper.

Hi Sue, I have been through something very similar and can tell you first of all your daughter is very dehydrated - both in terms of water and oils. She should try increasing her water intake (just water - tea, juices, even herbal teas don't count) to at least 2litres a day. Then she should increase her EFA intake - flax oil would be great and if she makes and drinks linseed tea this would be really fabulous - take 2 tbspns brown linseeds and add to 2litres water - bring to boil and simmer for 1hr. Leave to stand for 12hrs or overnight, bring to boil and simmer again for 1hr, then strain and discard the seeds. You are left with a thick liquid that looks like snot but luckily doesn't taste of anything! Dilute it to a thinner consistency that is tolerable and get her to drink 2 cups a day. At the same time she should remove all processed/refined sugar from her diet and go easy on wheat as this is also challenging. She should make sure she eats protein by 8am every day to help balance her blood sugar as this sounds like it's out. The EFAs will help with her hormones and she probably needs iodine (kelp) but hopefully the naturopath will help her with this. Good luck, please reassure her this is completely curable and worrying will only make it worse - the linseed tea will really help to calm her down.

Jacqueline. 

Emotional Freedom Techniques would be my first stop. I know it helped me deal with panic, anxiety and stress rapidly and effectively. The best site for more information is the Founder, Gary Craigs website www.emofree.com. I also recommend using the InnerTalk CD's sold by Vitalia Health.

Hope this helps, Ranjana 

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Ranjana Appoo
Co- Founder, The Emotional Health Centre,
Hastings, UK