Discover the Cause of Panic Attacks
If you or a loved one have been suffering from panic attacks for any length of time you probably have become to believe that there is no cure. It is common for the sufferer to start to think that cures work for everyone else but them. After a while it begins to wear you down and you start to wish that it would go away, or that a magic pill would be developed and you will suddenly be panic free. Well, so far they haven’t discovered the magic pill but you can still be cured if you have enough information and are willing to make some changes in your life.
First lets discuss where the root cause of panic and anxiety attacks hides. If you have read anything before about panic attacks you will know that there are several factors that go into you having a panic attack, but after all of these factors have been put into place the problem centers on one place in the brain. This little almond shaped part of the brain is the amygdala.
The amygdala is the area in the brain that is the biggest cause for panic and anxiety attacks due to its being reponsible for the release of the chemicals when your body is in a fight or flight situation. Of course, you aren’t in fight or flight experiences most of the time when you are in the midst of having a panic attack, but the amygdala gets so out of range of normal that it triggers the chemical releases with a hair trigger. This is why you are more anxious and can be on the edge all of the time. Your amygdala has gotten itself out of sync and can be alerted at the wrong time.
The amygdala controls the levels of anxiety in the brain. Confirmed by the National Institute of Health (NIMH), scientist have shown that the Amygdala controls your anxiety levels. The amygdala is totally responsible for your symptoms no matter how intense or slight they are. High levels of anxiety are sent out from this organ when certain emotions are triggered. Disturbing thoughts, anxiety and panic are some of the few.
Here is the sticking point about knowing what the cause is but not being able to treat it with medication. The various medications so far have been able to only treat the symptoms but are not able to reach the actual amygdala. So when you take a pill it will dampen your anxiety but it is only temporary. It is covering up for the overactive amygdala but not actually effecting the amygdala. So when you stop taking the medication your symptoms return, sometimes they are even worse than before. They aren’t actually worse, but you have gotten so used to being on the medication that it seems that you are more sensitive. You aren’t but you may feel that you are.
This is one of the reasons that you must seek help as soon as your find out that you are having panic attacks. You don’t want to get your amygdala hard wired into being trigger happy. The more often it sets off one of your panic attacks the more it becomes used to sending you into a panic attack for reasons that weren’t affecting you previously. Finding out the source of your anxiety or panic attacks can help you greatly so that you can take on this problem early.
As you know you feel that something is wrong with you, you feel out of sorts or anxious for no reason. But the amygdala now is out of sync and reacts like things are normal, but it is releasing signals to your body that you are in danger. Once you understand this you will be way ahead of the game as far as beating panic disorder. You must learn techniques and tricks to calm yourself down like breathing techniques, and muscle relaxation. You will begin to over-ride the signals that your amygdala is sending throughout your body. This will break the cycle and start to set you free from ever having a panic attack again.
As you can see the amygdala is at the center of panic and anxiety attacks. It can therefore be the problem and the solution. The secret is to realize that you are suffering because a part of the brain has become over-sensitive, and if you realize this than you can learn to ignore it, and by doing so it will learn itself back into normal. So you can cure yourself of suffering at the hands of panic and anxiety attacks, you just have to teach yourself to ignore the feelings that the amygdala is sending out to your body and eventually they will go away.
