My heart is racing, pounding and skips a beat. My toes and fingers tingle and I feel the urge to run to the bathroom. My body aches, muscles are tense jumping out of my skin is a definite possibility. It doesn’t always happen this way, but some of these symptoms appear and I know that I’m having another panic attack.
Stress and anxiety are part of everyday life for most people. Some may not realize it is a problem. To make matters worse you are told that it is all in your head. Anxiety is "distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune." It is "a state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring in some forms of mental disorder" (Random House Webster's Dictionary). For people who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis, or many other neurological disorders, it is inevitable.
The anticipation of any bad news or unwanted event can cause anxiety and like everyone else, people with MS have all of these anxieties. People with MS often fear pain or disability. When we learn what we can about anxiety, it can help to relieve some of it. When these symptoms cause unremitting distress or interfere with the quality of life that professional help may be necessary.
MS gives us good reason to feel anxiety. People with RRMS It go into remission and later in relapse. For others, it is a progressive disease, steadily reducing a person's abilities. The ability to predict what course the diseases will take is not good. On any day, at any moment, on any morning, the disease can raise its ugly head. We cannot predict when a lesion may become active or a new one develops. This happens with MS and causes a great deal of worry in people with the disease. Will I lose my job? Is my husband fed up and ready to run? Can I pick up the baby next week? What will tomorrow hold? Will I be able to shop or drive? Some people with MS have a more predictable course of the disease and may not worry as much about the future. Never knowing where or when a new symptom will strike can be paralyzing made worse by the fact that there are no clear answers. Those of us who have considered or will consider CCSVI treatment add more anxiety to our generous list of causal factors for anxiety.
Some people wait years for a diagnosis only to find out they have Lyme disease or in most cases, CCSVI. Testing is unpleasant, invasive, and sometimes painful. They may be routine for the neurologist, but we have an interest beyond a paycheck. 90% of PwMS suffer from anxiety. The body reacts to our fear and sends adrenaline to the muscles to optimize their functioning. It shuts down nonessential functions, like digestion, so that all energy goes to essential systems. It increases heart rate and breathing, to provide a maximum of oxygen to the muscles. It automatically charges up the fight and flight systems.
What can we do to control these panic attacks and anxiety? Do not ignore your symptoms. Find out all you can about your condition. Use support groups or a therapist if you feel that your support system is lacking. If we stay too long in a state of anxiety it can cause serious digestive problems. Muscle aches and other discomfort will worsen. It can cause headaches and other symptoms. Anxiety can make us irritable and interfere with our ability to relate comfortably to people who are important to us. When anxiety reaches that point, it is time to do something about it.
Symptoms of anxiety may come from MS lesions. Anxiety can be triggered by a physiological event caused by MS. Social phobias and panic disorders can be made worse by MS lesions.
Physical symptoms of anxiety :
- Palpitations
- pounding heart
- accelerated heart rate
- sweating
- trembling, shaking
- shortness of breath
- feeling of choking
- chest pain or discomfort
- nausea or abdominal distress
- dizziness, unsteadiness
- feeling lightheaded or faint
- numbness or tingling sensations
A panic attack is a condition of adrenaline being released into your bloodstream. A message of fear sends a signal to the adrenal glands that there is an emergency.
The adrenal glands are pea-sized organs that sit on top of your kidneys. They are filled with adrenaline that, when released into your body, gives you heightened abilities to respond to emergency situations. This emergency response causes physical symptoms that many people misinterpret as a heart attack or other serious physical conditions. Misinterpreting these symptoms can cause the fear response to continue.
Adrenaline causes the heart to pump extra blood. This extra blood gets pumped into your major muscles to increase your ability to run fast and to increase the strength in your arms. Extra blood also goes into your brain to give you heightened abilities to respond to the emergency.
It takes three minutes from the time that your brain sends the emergency signal until your body is fully adrenalated with extra blood in your large arm and leg muscles and in your brain. In that three minute period you experience your heart pumping hard and extra blood flowing throughout your body. As long as your adrenal glands keep getting an emergency message, they continue to produce and release additional adrenaline. Once your brain stops signaling an emergency, your adrenal glands hold the adrenaline instead of releasing it.
If you experience panic attacks more often than occasionally I strongly suggest that you work with a practitioner to resolve the cause of your anxiety. You owe it to yourself to be free of anxiety.
Avoid stimulants and drugs that make you more alert, like coffee, cigarettes, amphetamines, ephedrine, ginseng, and similar substances.
A lot of us do not have the time to sit down and wait out each and every panic attack episode that comes along. Nor do we have the luxury to avoid every uncomfortable situation that could induce a panic attack. There are drugs that your doctor can prescribe for you to take when you feel a panic attack coming on, or if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation that might prelude a panic attack. For almost instant anxiety relief, there are drugs called benzodiazepines Xanax, Lorazepam, Alprazolam, and Klonopin (clonazepam) are the most commonly prescribed.
Valerian root is used to treat anxiety and depression caused by sleeping disorders
- Relax by taking slow, deep, complete breaths. Calm yourself by remembering that you are only having a panic attack and that nothing more serious is happening to you. Continue to take slow, deep, complete breaths. Slow, deep, complete breaths will relax your body, which is the first step to reversing the release of adrenaline.
- Stop negative thinking by shouting the word "STOP!!!" really loud inside your head. By shouting the word "STOP" you are interrupting the emergency message that your brain is sending to your adrenal glands. Often people having a panic attack get into an endless loop repeating the same catastrophic thoughts over and over in their head. Interrupting this endless loop gives you the opportunity to replace the scary message with a calming one.
- Use Coping Statements. A coping statement is a positive statement that is at least as strong as the catastrophic statement that you have been scaring yourself with. Replace the negative thought with a positive one. Choose a statement that addresses the negative thought.
For example, if you think that you are having a heart attack (a common fear during a panic attack) then you might be saying something in your head like, "Oh my God, I'm having a heart attack" or, "I'm gonna die, oh my God, I'm gonna die!" After you shout the word "STOP!" immediately replace the fear thought with a positive statement that helps you to cope with the situation, such as "I'm only having a panic attack and it will be over in three minutes if I relax" or, "My fear is making my heart pound harder, my heart is fine."
If you feel afraid hearing footsteps behind you on the street you might say, "I've walked down this street hundreds of times" or, "I walk alone on the street every night when I come home from work; what I hear behind me is someone else who is walking home from work."
Other coping statements might be, "I've gotten through this situation many times before and I can get through it again" or, "I am fine, everything is fine."
Brainstorm the kinds of fearful thoughts that bring on panic for you and then make a long list of coping statements that you can look at when you need to rather than trying to think of coping statements in the middle of a panic attack.
Accept Your Feelings: Accepting your feelings is very important. Minimizing this experience usually serves to perpetuate it. Start by identifying what emotion you are feeling. Most panic attacks are caused by the emotion of fear or some variation of fear. Identify the emotion you are feeling and find the reason that you feel it. If you are afraid that you are having a heart attack, it is certainly valid to be afraid of that. If you are afraid of footsteps behind you on the street, it is reasonable to be afraid that something bad might happen to you.
In all of these cases, take the appropriate precautions. Have a regular check-up so that you know that your heart is healthy. Walk in a well-lit area and be aware of your surroundings on the street. Walk like a warrior and not like a victim. These are all important precautions to ensure your safety. Then, when you use a coping statement that reminds you that you had a check-up recently and that your heart is fine, you can reassure yourself that it's okay to be afraid, knowing that you are safe.
Fear is a positive emotion that reminds you to take care of yourself. Listen to your feelings, take good care of yourself, and keep your emotions in proportion to the situation by keeping an appropriate perspective. Many people have stopped having panic attacks after learning these steps.