A Little Confused... Not Sure If What I Am Feeling Is Anxiety Or Not.

[SeanCharles]

Hello everyone,

On the way home this evening I got to wondering if what I am feeling is really anxiety or if it's more of a flight response. It seems like what I am feeling is an adrenaline rush. I am noticing this at least twice to maybe three times a day in the course of my work day. I have been labeling this as anxiety or in some cases a panic attack but I'm not sure I've really known or have understood Anxiety. I do know that with feeling in some cases, that this is accompanied with stress.

I figured I would question this so that maybe I can indeed perhaps understand what I am feeling so that maybe I can then begin to look at the cause, being the "why I am feeling this?" Without first identifying the feeling you can't effectively label it correctly, If I am correct that this is indeed anxiety then I can look at what is causing the stressors.

Thanks,

Sean/Geordie

 

[Laura 2]

Here's an idea: maybe the confusion is because it IS confusing...? All anxiety or 'fear-feeling' is a message for us to escape danger, real or imagined.

Maybe, rather than labelling it, it could be more effective to look at the circumstances in which you have some degree of 'fear-feeling'? To ask yourself, 'Is my feeling of fear realistic here and now? Is there anyone lurking in the shadows about to jump out on me with a knife? Or is this a memory of the time I walked down a similar street and was assaulted?'

Then do the self-talk, self-balancing/comforting thing or getting yourself to safety very quickly...

 

[silkleaves]

Are you in therapy by any chance? I ask because, that would be a really good way to find out what you are dealing with, so that you can find out what tools you need to tackle it. Because yeah, it's super confusing and frustrating. And left up to our own devices, can end up labeling ourselves with all sorts of things, which only makes the confusion and frustration worse.

I'm not in therapy any longer, but the time I was in was *incredibly* enlightening as to finding some explanations. I'm still dealing with it, but at least now I have a handle on what it is I'm dealing with. Sorry I couldn't be of more help and offer more concrete info as to why you are feeling what you do! But I do hope that you are able to find out.

 

[KwanYingirl]

I'm pretty sure that anxiety manifests from an increase of adrenaline also known as epinephrine. When the brain gets a trigger it activates the body to either freeze, flight or fight. The hypothalamus gland sends a message to the pituitary gland which then signals the adrenals to secrete stress hormones. It's to energize you to take action. And it happens like the flip of a switch.

If you have PTSD you're in a fairly constant state of preparing for stress-hyper vigilance. Prazosin is a drug that lowers adrenaline levels in the body which has been helpful to people suffering nightmares.

They put epinephrine in with lidocaine that doctors use to numb tissue. Do you get a racing heartbeat and anxiety when the dentist gives you a shot of lidocaine?

What we have to do is deactivate the body. But physiologically the adrenaline has to be broken down and secreted as waste and that takes time. The trick is to learn how to keep the HPA axis from being in a constant loop.

Calming activities reduce blood levels of adrenaline and cortisol. For me the anxiety takes on a life of it's own, but I am practicing grounding and calming strategies. I still get triggered by reminders of my traumas and won't even know it, then whack I'm stressed out.

 

[Laura 2]

Nice info there @KwanYingirl, thank you. Further, I'd like to know what bit of the brain makes the trigger overactive, do we know what the mechanism is yet?

 

[KwanYingirl]

Functional MRI studies show deformities in the limbic system of the brain. That's the reptilian brain that takes in sensory info and sets into motion flight, fight, or freeze. My memory fails me but I think I read a study of Vets with PTSD that showed their hippocanthus is small. That bit is involved in memory as is the amygdala.

There is a website called David Baldwins Trauma Pages that has lots of peer reviewed papers on PTSD. Lots of interesting info.

I am arguing with my therapist about neuroplacisity because if the limbic system has irreversible damage, then don't waste my time suggesting there's a "cure" for PTSD. I think what works for us is practicing techniques that create new neural pathways in the brain. That's my 2 cents.

 

[SeanCharles]

Thank you all... I will post a more in depth response when I get home, to address the questions posed. I did see something that was said previously which bears some research I will be doing this coming week.

 

[Laura 2]

Functional MRI studies show deformities in the limbic system of the brain. That's the reptilian brain that takes in sensory info and sets into motion flight, fight, or freeze...

Ahhh! Many thanks. This all makes a lot of sense to me. Good point about neuro-plasticity, which is more and more evident in stroke studies (i.e. they used to give up on stroke patients as irreparably injured, more and more now enlightened medics are supporting the brain's own neuro-plastic/regeneration processes. ).

My intuition that the limbic injuries in PTSD are amenable to similar healing encouragement (not sure if any current, common talk therapies cut the mustard there). Equally, if PTSD brains are actually damaged, what are all the prescription drugs doing in there? Are they helping or hindering healing/regeneration? My sense is that it could be the latter.

The David Baldwin site is a trove of info. Thanks for that.

 

[SeanCharles]

The hypothalamus gland sends a message to the pituitary gland which then signals the adrenals to secrete stress hormones. It's to energize you to take action. And it happens like the flip of a switch.

One condition I have is that my thyroid is overworking (hyperthyroidism) I am wondering if this new symptom may be a bit of a chemical imbalance and a response to the stress.

 

[Fadeaway]

I am hypothyroid, but I live in a near constant state of shear adrenaline. You hear stories of people performing near impossible physical feats due to adrenaline, and sometimes it is so bad for me that I think it would be very likely for me to be able to lift a car or run with a broken leg, I have that much adrenaline coursing through my veins, and yet I am completely and utterly paralyzed.

It usually comes when I have been trying to push down anxiety for a while. Trying to ignore it and just hope that it will go away. I guess that strategy isn't working for me. I do believe anxiety and the fight or flight response go hand in hand. Actually it is fight, flight or freeze. I quite often freeze. :(

 

[KwanYingirl]

@Fadeaway
I often freeze also when I have an overload of adrenaline. I don't know the physiology of that is. I've always believed in my trauma, freezing and dissociating is what I had to do to survive. And now I believe my brain/body are conditioned to repeat that strategy when I'm stressed. Learned helplessness?

 

[KwanYingirl]

@Laura 2
I think most drugs work on brain chemicals. Prazosin blocks adrenaline. That's all I know on that subject.