How to start fixing Anxiety

[coops025]

Ok i see alot of new people coming to the forum with the usaual "agggrrhhh whats happinging to me please help!" as i once did not having a clue where to start to help start a recovery and understamding.

So back to basics people :)

When i first came here i had instant great support mainly from NorthStar (thanks mate) to help support me. So whats the key?? Well its hard to say as we are not all the same BUT what i do see missed out quite often is the effect of suger and Caffine.

I used to be a heavy coffee drinker and looking back at some of my attacks i realised most occured around the times i would be having a nice cuppa, or should a say a BAD cuppa. I love my fast food and things with suger too, but didnt realise what i was doing to myself :(

So one day i decided to make a test even though a felt like crap with my Anxiety anyway. I had not been drinking coffee or having anything with suger for weeks, i felt better than normal due to this and had no panic attacks during that time. So one day i decided to drink normal coffee, that day i had 4 mugs, anound an hour after my last cup my hands began to tingle, eyes crackley then BAM i hit a full blown Anxiety attack that put me in bed for the night :(

This may sound stupid but i actually did this about 2 weeks after and again i had another although not as bad.

I never tried this with suger but it is common knowledge that suger is very bad for anxiety too and fast food ect. Its actually suprising what foods contain suger for example Pizza??? I didnt know that haha.

The point im making here for any new or current anxiety suffers is that Caffine and Suger are just a simple NO NO. Also stay away from the beloved fast food as much as possible ( i love kfc dammit ) get yourself on a good diet and you will be amazed on what it can do for you.

If you are suffering very badly while in the process of having a better diet try vitamins like Vitamin B complex and Magnesium both have been proven to help Anxiety suffers give it a few weeks to kick in.

[Charlene]

Hi coops025,

Not to discredit anything that you've said, because I do think it's absolutely wonderful that you've found something that works for you. And I realize that so many sufferers have found tremendous relief through NorthStar's dietary advice and Hanino's very thorough vitamin and amino acid supplementation recommendations.

But for those sufferers who have tried both approaches and have not observed any noticeable improvements, it is worth mentioning here that there is another passage to freedom.

For those who have tried to re-arrange their diets and cut out sugar and caffeine, only to find that their symptoms have not dissipated one iota, they must be reminded that they are not lost causes, that there still is help for them. Otherwise, it would be a shame to have those individiuals perceive their inability to get better through those methods, as being yet again, another failure. This singling out (which is what anixety sufferers tend to do to themselves), will only feed their negative thinking, causing them to feel more alienated and unlike any other anxiety sufferer here.

Again, I'm not at all discrediting what you've said. I'm merely just pointing out to anyone who reads this thread that there are other options available for those afflicted with the disorder.

[coops025]

Hi Charlene

I agree with you but the point i was trying to make here was where to start if somone enters the forum as a new anxiety sufferer.

Basicly what i was trying to say is these are the basic, give them a try first before moving onto something else.

[northstar]

nice work coops, this is a good beginning for anyone with anxiety problems :) it's great to keep this information where people can see it as much as possible!

[Robbed]

Hi Charlene

I agree with you but the point i was trying to make here was where to start if somone enters the forum as a new anxiety sufferer.

Basicly what i was trying to say is these are the basic, give them a try first before moving onto something else.

I think that what she is trying to get at is that you should probably not look toward your dinner table for the ultimate salvation from anxiety disorder. Remember that most cases of anxiety disorder have psychological, not nutritional roots. For most people here, CBT is going to accomplish FAR more than becoming a 'health food nut'. Furthermore, Atkins-type diets are not the ultimate 'one size fits all' diets for anxiety sufferers (or anyone else). Now if you have been helped by this sort of thing, then by all means continue. And if you want to improve your diet, then that is probably a good idea for virtually everyone out there, whether with anxiety disorder or not. But to suggest that either a strict diet alone is going to make you 100% better OR that you will NEVER recover unless you go Atkins (or something of that nature) is simply untrue for most of us.

To sum things up, DO try to eat the healthiest diet that is humanly possible for you at the time. As for what kind of diet to eat, chances are you already know what a healthy diet is (whether you actually eat one or not). But don't ignore psychological factors, as they are most likely the REAL cause of your anxiety disorder (of course, there do appear to be some exceptions here).

[northstar]

i don't believe that coops ever mentioned an "atkins type diet" at all, he's simply restating the basics that a healthy body and mind go hand in hand together. if we're neglecting our bodies and putting our nervous system under too much pressure by consuming too much caffeine, sugar or other stimulants or doing damage by neglecting to eat correctly then it's not going to be calmed down by any amount of CBT.

i think most anxiety sufferers can be helped by looking into their diets as in our modern world we tend to neglect this vital connection to our physical and mental wellbeing. it makes sense that taking out excess stimulants and regulating the blood sugars should be one of the first steps in treating anxiety disorders as this will directly help to soothe a stressed out nervous system and help to calm the mind.

i don't believe that coops is offering diet alone as a salvation to anxiety sufferers, as i'm sure he himself (or herself, sorry i don't know! lol) knows and he's certainly not saying it's the ONLY way to recover. recovery from anxiety takes a lot of work on both the body and mind, i don't believe that treating one while neglecting the other will lead to success. in fact i KNOW this from experience as i put a lot of effort into treating my mind by working with several different therapists & doing lots of self help and was not getting better until i discovered about the anxiety-low blood sugar connection. when i started to fix how i ate and my body calmed down my mind was in a much much better place to work with the therapy and it was enormously helpful.

i also think it's quite right of coops to highlight this as it's something that is very neglected by our doctors (or at least it certainly was by the doctors i saw). people come here for reassurance and to learn about what they can do to feel better or because they've been let down by their own doctors. telling someone that they can help their body out by doing simple things like reducing caffeine gives sufferers vital tools that they can put into action in their everyday lives and i believe this self help is incredibly important to show a sufferer that they are capable of looking after themselves and doing things that make a difference.

he's not telling anyone to become a "health nut" (in fact being a health nut is not even necessary, i'm certainly not one and yet diet change was a key factor in my recovery) but only to do the sensible things that any person with a burned out nervous system should do as well as going to their doctor/counsellor and asking for professional help.

of course it's not going to be the answer for everyone, but i don't think we're under any illusion here that everyone is the same and the exact same treatment will fix everyone's problems. but i have found that a lot more people have had success through treating body and mind together than any other method i've seen, so it can't hurt to keep information like this where lots of people will come accross it and perhaps benefit from it. i know if i had known this information sooner i could have saved myself a lot of horrible experiences, but i learned the hard way and so i share the information in the hopes that it will help other people too.

coops i can see that you're proud of your own success and so you should be & i hope that you continue to help people with your own experinces and shine your light out into the world :)