Chicken or the egg - memories vs anxiety

[Mosel]

I find that I usually experience anxiety that appears to be related to what I'm thinking about or remembering. But on other times it seems that the anxiety symptoms appear first, just out of the blue, and then depending on how long they last will depend on how many memories surface. And when these memories surface, I can not correlate them to anything I might have been subconsciously thinking about.

Lately I've been reading about things such as adrenal insufficiency and hypoglycemia. Man do the symptoms of those two conditions sound all too familiar. Especially the foods that are craved, including alcohol.

[02Batmobile]

I know what you are trying to say as I thought the same way. Anxiety has different triggers. Now that you know you are experiencing anxiety, your body will start scanning inwardly for any symptoms that mimic those feelings of anxiety. If you feel a little lightheaded, you might start to worry about it and then panic. Or, if you notice your heart rate a little elevated - same thing. I read in a book that better explains the idea: "If you were once bitten by a snake in the woods, your mind will start scanning the area for snakes the next time around. You'll see twigs or branches and immediately think of a snake. After all, it's better to mistake a twig for snake than a snake for a twig." Those bodily symptoms that you might feel are your "twigs" and you are treating it as a "snake".

Anxiety is also triggered by emotions. I remember once when I was cleaning out my room, I came upon some old letters from my girlfriend. It was a hard time for us and it was during the height of my anxiety. After I finished reading them, I felt so down and later on I was feeling more anxious and panicky. I'm sure you've felt normal at one time or another and thought about your anxiety or your problems and immediately felt anxious. Sometimes, it happens to fast on a subconscious level too.

I hope this answers your question.

[Mosel]

Thanks for the reply. It helps confirm my suspicions. We're all born with this fight or flight response built in. Subsequently, anxiety is not something we create. It's there from the beginning. Through no fault of our own we ruffle it's feathers occassionally, as we grow, until it gets really pissed off and causes us to experience symptoms. Racing heart, confusion, muscle tension, etc... If I were to bother someone as much as my amygdala has been bothered by me, they'd shoot me.

If there is a genetic component to anxiety then I'd call that anxiety in it's pure form. I've done nothing to create it, nor has anyone else done anything to instigate it. So, let's say one's seritonin gets a little out of whack. That's going to wake up the amygdala and it's other friends and they're going to send you a good jolt of adrenalin. Thanks alot. Once they've done that and you're in your condition of physical and emotional duress then the memories start piling in. Just for the fun of keeping the ball rolling. I'd rather be a spectator than a participant.

Then there's the old trigger scenario. I'm going along just fine and I either see something, or think something, and instead of my ignorant brain processing it through my pleasure center, it sends it over to the anxiety center. Again. Thanks alot.

I kind of wonder, in the attempt to rid myself of excessive anxiety, how do I determine which direction my symptoms came from? If it's bio-neuro in origin, basically, all my thoughts are concoctions of my own mind, erroneous perceptions of my environment, and all I should do is just take meds and watch what I eat and drink. If it's environmental, then temporary avoidance and therapy would be the solution.

A little bit of bio here. I'm adopted. Through the years my folks have let out tidbits of information about my beginnings. Sometimes the tidbits were contradictory, sometimes just a slight 'adjustment' to the information. Was I being lied to? I'm 55 now and my mom finally let out this. I wasn't adopted till I was 10 months old. Adjustment to information. I was led to believe I was adopted at 3 months. Nuns were taking care of me and all they had time for was to feed and change me. When I left the hospital at 10 months, I couldn't even sit up. I've been doing some reading about the consequences of early childhood neglect and they impact both the physical and the emotional well being of the child. The stress of not knowing who's who, when things are or aren't going to happen, and so on, causes the baby's brain to produce andrenalin and other stress hormones. This can permanently 'damage' the brain and leave the kid in a chronically anxious state. Which then affects one for the rest of one's life. Essentially creating a life long PTSD. I think I've learned what is behind a lot of my anxiety. There's still more to unravel but this is a big piece of the puzzle. Sorry for the long post and somewhat getting off topic. My bio info is new to me and I'm still trying to understand it. Some of it really hurts.