About Anxiety

What are Anxiety attacks?

Usually panic is a normal reaction to impending danger, but sometimes a person will experience panic when no danger is present. This is called an irrational fear.

The physical symptoms of panic are extremely frightening which causes the anxious person even more fear, and so, on goes the cycle of fear. The physical symptoms can include any or all of the following symptoms: Sweating, Palpitations, Dizziness, Jelly legs, Numbness, tingling; Hyperventilating Chest pains, fear of having a heart attack, Trembling, Shortness of breath, Feelings of unreality ,Nausea, Diarrhea, Fear of fainting, Fear of loosing control, Fear of going crazy, Perceptual distortions or dreamlike sensations In most cases.

Panic/Anxiety attacks are emotional disorders characterized by irrational fears. It can be caused by an overload of stress. Any major life change can trigger panic disorder, such as, the death of a loved one, a move to a new home, a divorce or even a marriage, just to name a few. Sometimes a person will have a panic attack in a car and then associate the car with the panic attack, this is how anxious people develop phobias. People develop phobias for many places such as the supermarket, church, schools and any public place. Soon the anxious person is trapped in their own home and afraid to go anywhere. They don’t feel safe anywhere except at home or in their safe zone. This is called Agoraphobia.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is the unpleasant emotional state consisting of Psychophysiological responses to anticipation of unreal or imagined danger. This includes feelings of impending danger, powerlessness, apprehension and tension.


10 Things to remember during a Panic Attack:

1. It does not matter if you feel frightened, bewildered, unreal or unsteady. These feelings are nothing more than an exaggeration of the normal body reactions to stress
2. Just because you have these sensations does not mean you are really sick. These feelings are just frightening and unpleasant, nothing worse will happen to you. Let your feelings come, they’ve been in charge of you, and you have been pumping them up and making them more acute.
3. Don’t run away from panic. When you feel it mount take a deep breathe and as you breathe out let it go. Keep trying. Stay there almost if you were floating in space.
4. Don’t fight the feeling of panic, accept it. Try to make yourself as comfortable as possible without escaping. If you are on the street, lean against something.
5. If you are in a store find a quiet corner or a chair. DO NOT jump in a car and rush home in fear.
6. Stop adding to your panic with frightening thoughts about what is happening and where it will lead.
7. Don’t indulge in self pity and think “Why can’t I be like normal people? Why do I have to go through this?” Just accept what is happening to you. If you do this , what you fear most will not happen to you. Think about what is really happening to your body at this moment.
8. Do not think “Something terrible is going to happen, I must get out.” Say to your self, “I am OK, or STOP IT”
9. Don’t say the word NOT, your mind does not understand it. Now wait and give the fear time to pass.
10. Do not run away. Others have found the strength, you will too.

Notice as you stop adding the frightening thoughts, the fear starts to fade away. One day soon you will go through the panic and say “I did it.” Once you say this you will be on your way to conquering panic. Think of the progress you have made. Try to distract yourself from what is going on inside you. When the panic subsides let your body go loose, take a deep breath and go on with your day. Remember each day you cope with panic, you reduce your fear. Remember to take baby steps. Healing is often two steps forward and one step back.

A summary of GERD and IBS By Dr. Stuart Shipko

As many of you already know, I consider GERD and sinusitius to be a part of panic disorder (PNE). The mechanism for this and IBS is abnormal flow of bile in the absence of its usual stimulant, food. The bile is released into the duodenum, and if it flows downstream, then you get urgent diarrhea. Some goes upstream to the stomach. Bile is caustic and alkaline (like drano) and the stomach makes a lot of acid which then refluxes up into the esophagus or it may shoot up and hit the sinuses. Chronic cough, laryngitis and morning headache/nausea are all GERD related symptoms. Prilosec effectively stops all acid secretion -- and this is helpful as the acid released by the stomach to neutralize the bile mixes only poorly with the gooey bile. We use Prilosec with... Carafate. Carafate actually binds to the bile salts and neutralizes it. Carafate also forms a "bandage" over the eroded gastric mucosa and esophageal mucosa. The combination of Prilosec and Carafate is probably the best for the GERD of panic. Prilosec should not be taken long term as it leads to achlorhydria of the stomach and over the very long term it may be carcinogenic. Not so with Carafate, which is not absorbed into the system and may be used long term with little in the way of side effects (just constipation in some people). Prilosec is the most popular medication in the world, and is the first drug ever to surpass the $5 billion per year mark. Prozac only sold $2.8 billion last year. It is noteworthy that Merck, who owns the patent on Prilosec, owns patents on at least 20 CCK antagonists, also useful for heartburn. The benzo's are all CCK antagonists and will prevent abnormal secretion of bile (and we do use alprazolam for GERD secondary to the stress disorders -- and have published on this which is reprinted under the research page of my website). Merck is holding CCK antagonists off the market for now, until the patent on Prilosec expires. Dr.S.

On the various sections of this site, we have provided detailed descriptions of the various conditions and treatment methods for anxiety and panic disorder, depression, phobia, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).


You are not alone. Our support group can help you learn and use many coping techniques you can learn and use and provide you valuable information and support. Feel free to contact us for additional information.