If SSRI's Are Bad Then What Is The Alternative?

[mostlylurking]

What you are describing could be caused by endotoxin and/or polyunsaturated oils that are stored in your body. Every time your adrenaline spikes for whatever reason (for example, your blood sugar goes down so your cortisol goes up and triggers a spike in adrenaline), your body releases free fatty acids into your blood stream. An adrenaline spike can cause a panic attack. Work on keeping your blood sugar up so this won't happen. If the free fatty acids that were released into the bloodstream are polyunsaturated it causes all kinds of problems with energy in the brain and in the mitochondria. Aspirin and niacinamide are very helpful. See these: Aspirin, brain, and cancer and Ray Peat, PhD Quotes on Therapeutic Effects of Niacinamide – Functional Performance Systems (FPS)

Dr. Peat discusses panic attacks in relation to nitric oxide and lactic acid. This article could help you understand what's happening: Progesterone, not estrogen, is the coronary protection factor of women. Here's part of it: "Basic principles that make heart disease more understandable will also be useful for understanding shock, edema, panic attacks, high altitude sickness...."

Polyunsaturated oils (PUFA) gum up the works and reduce brain energy and mitochondria energy production. This increases the lactic acid and nitric oxide in your body which would increase panic attacks. Remove all sources of PUFA from the diet. Every bit of it. No nuts, no seeds, no grains, no beans. See this article: Unsaturated fatty acids: Nutritionally essential, or toxic?

I think that Dr. Peat would advise you to do bag breathing to increase your carbon dioxide when you feel a panic attack coming on. Doing bag breathing maybe 3-4 times a day would be helpful. See this article: Protective CO2 and aging

Serotonin is really bad for you. You want to keep it as low as possible. It is very helpful to clean out the gut and keep it healthy by eating raw carrot salad every day. It lowers endotoxin, serotonin, and estrogen. Improvement is seen in a matter of days. Eat it every day. Refer to this collection of Ray Peat quotes: Ray Peat, PhD on the Benefits of the Raw Carrot – Functional Performance Systems (FPS) . Also refer to this collection of Ray Peat quotes on endotoxin: Ray Peat, PhD on Endotoxin – Functional Performance Systems (FPS)


Here's a link to a Ray Peat interview you may find helpful: http://www.westernbotanicalmedicine.com/audio/2013 Learned Helplessness, Nervous System, Stress, Thyroid Sept 2013.mp3

There are several audio programs that might be helpful to you here: Dr. Ray Peat's Wisdom

 

[Serious Black]

I don't think my doctor would approve of using a anti histamine for an anxiety problem.. He said If I don't take these SSRI my problem could last 10 years

 

[member 2106]

Exposing yourself to the stimulus is literally the only way to overcome the fear of that stimulus. You're afraid to leave the house (presumably). You can't fix that without having a positive experience in a public place.

SSRIs might make this process a little easier. Who knows, they might enable you to overcome the fear entirely, and then you can come off them. But it's going to take some work.

 

[Kyle M]

I don't think my doctor would approve of using a anti histamine for an anxiety problem.. He said If I don't take these SSRI my problem could last 10 years

Why 10 years? Seems arbitrary.

 

[Serious Black]

Exposing yourself to the stimulus is literally the only way to overcome the fear of that stimulus. You're afraid to leave the house (presumably). You can't fix that without having a positive experience in a public place.

SSRIs might make this process a little easier. Who knows, they might enable you to overcome the fear entirely, and then you can come off them. But it's going to take some work.

Yeah from what I read this is the conclusion. Modifying my lifestyle then going to expose myself again

Why 10 years? Seems arbitrary.

Probably tried to scare me into taking them

 

[Simonsays]

You say you sudddenly felt like this on the way home and i suppose home is a safe haven from the outside. Do you remember how you were feeling that day, something obviously triggered your panic.

You also said you get violent sometimes when angered.

I think you may be suffering some form of trauma. Have you heard of C-PTSD? You might like to check out Peter Walker and his work.

I dont think there is a quick fix to be honest . Best of luck.

 

[Giraffe]

I find this short article quite useful. It's in German though.

It says that everyone can develop a panic disorder. In some situations we are more vulnerable, for example when the blood sugar is low, we fight with an allergy or are hypothyroid. A contributing trigger can be any sort of emotional distress, like bullying at the workplace, financial sorrows, grief or separation. If someone is chronically stressed, a tiny incident can be the final straw. This is often accompanied by feelings of helplessness. Sometimes the panic attacks first occur when the stress subsides. Hyperventilation leads to symptoms, we interpret as panic. The body reacts to fearful thoughts the same way it does react to real threats: don't make your brain believe that you are in danger. It's not symptoms like increased heartbeat that trigger panic attacks, but what you make of them, the way you assess those symptoms and hence the situation: reassess.

The last sentence reminds me of the video linked here. The speaker there discusses how our assessment of symptoms influences how the body reacts.

Back to the article... I liked this little tidbit:

"When you have an increased heart rate, sweaty palms, palpitations, slight dizziness, your heart is pounding like mad: then you believe that this heralds a panic attack coming.

Have you ever fallen in love? Do you remember how that felt like? Well, probably you felt like everyone in love:

When you were together with your sweetie, your heart was pounding like mad, your palms were sweaty, you had palpitations, felt slight dizziness, and you had butterflies in your stomach."

Yeah from what I read this is the conclusion. Modifying my lifestyle then going to expose myself again

Yep. :)