Sudden Anxiety/Panic Attacks

[Rich]

Hello all, 6 months ago I started experiencing massive social anxiety for the first time in my life, had no idea that somebody could feel this bad. At the time this started, I was drinking heavily 3-4 nights out of the week and I think this caused the problem in the first place, but I've since quit drinking and the symptoms have only lessened somewhat. I've tried a bunch of supplements, magnesium, l-theanine, inositol, ashwaghanda, etc., but nothing seems to work. The last month I've been exercising everyday for 2 hours (walking and lifting weights) and eating much better and have seen some improvement, but I'm still nowhere near where I was before this all started.

My theory is that I threw my system out of balance from the drinking and general poor diet that I was putting myself through for about a year leading up to this. I recently did a take-home hormone test (too anxious to go to a doctor's office for a full workup) and was hoping to get some idea of what it might mean:

Male, 24, 6'4" 230 lbs

DHEA: 586 pg/ml

Free Testosterone: 200 pg/ml

Cortisol: 5.1 ng/ml

Estradiol: 3.3 pg/ml

I've been thinking that taking pregnenolone might solve whatever internal imbalance exists.

Would really appreciate any advice you guys have for me.

 

[Morten]

Hello all, 6 months ago I started experiencing massive social anxiety for the first time in my life, had no idea that somebody could feel this bad. At the time this started, I was drinking heavily 3-4 nights out of the week and I think this caused the problem in the first place, but I've since quit drinking and the symptoms have only lessened somewhat. I've tried a bunch of supplements, magnesium, l-theanine, inositol, ashwaghanda, etc., but nothing seems to work. The last month I've been exercising everyday for 2 hours (walking and lifting weights) and eating much better and have seen some improvement, but I'm still nowhere near where I was before this all started.

My theory is that I threw my system out of balance from the drinking and general poor diet that I was putting myself through for about a year leading up to this. I recently did a take-home hormone test (too anxious to go to a doctor's office for a full workup) and was hoping to get some idea of what it might mean:

Male, 24, 6'4" 230 lbs

DHEA: 586 pg/ml

Free Testosterone: 200 pg/ml

Cortisol: 5.1 ng/ml

Estradiol: 3.3 pg/ml

I've been thinking that taking pregnenolone might solve whatever internal imbalance exists.

Would really appreciate any advice you guys have for me.

Don't you think lesser training will help, two hours might raise cortisol unless you only walk....

 

[Rich]

Don't you think lesser training will help, two hours might raise cortisol unless you only walk....

I don't know, my cortisol doesn't seem too high according to the results of the hormone test, which I was surprised by. That being said, I did work out intensely yesterday and felt borderline panicky later in the evening.

 

[maillol]

That is very low estradiol. Do you have any other symptoms apart from the anxiety?

 

[Rich]

That is very low estradiol. Do you have any other symptoms apart from the anxiety?

Yeah, so the test I took says that the usual range should be .4 pg/ml to 3.3 pg/ml. Now that I'm looking it up online, the figures they give seem off. According to their test results, I'm borderline high in estradiol, so either the units they listed are wrong, or their way of measuring it is different. Either way, they say that my levels are on the high end of their suggested spectrum. The test I did was through Everlywell, which seems like one of the more reputable companies, so I don't know what to make of this discrepancy.

As for other symptoms, I'm largely healthy otherwise. I have gynecomastia from being overweight as a kid (maybe that affects prolactin levels? I don't know). I've also had pretty weak joints for most of my adult life, and have problems with ligament soreness quite frequently, but I've always assumed that was because I'm tall. The only unusual medical condition I have has been infrequent migraine auras without headaches, which I've had for about ten years.

 

[Rich]

Oh, also something that may be important. For the last several years I was megadosing pantothenic acid (vitamin b5) in order to manage my acne. I've read that this can cause long term side effects and mess with your hormones. I quit taking the pantothenic acid about two months ago but didn't notice any change after stopping.

I've ordered some pregnenolone to see if that sort of "resets" my hormones in any meaningful way, but I'm still a little worried that it might convert into hormones that I don't want to be increasing. Given that I seem to have healthy levels of DHEA, test, and cortisol, I should be relatively safe?