My story
Dehydration and a high salt diet...The perfect recipe for a
panic attack.
I
found out about dehydration the hard way, here is what I did to
finally stop the
problem of panic attacks. It took me a long time to figure out
the Lactic Acid problem.
Before I
knew lactic acid caused panic attacks, I went through some rough
times. I inadvertently let myself become dehydrated from time
to time either by eating foods high in salt or by not drinking.
These were when the attacks would hit hard. "If you've never had a panic attack, you don't know what you are missing. They stink. Those that suffer from them would do anything to get rid of them. I accidentally discovered what
would stop one instantly and it was so simple. Before I tell
you what it was, hear my story. I had my first panic attack several years ago. Had I known what I know now, I probably could have avoided it completely. We were in Kentucky on a trip. I hadn't drunk much water that day on the road. That night we had a salty meal of fried fish, and I had wine. We stayed at a "high rise" hotel that night and in the middle of the night, the heat was set too high and the temperature must have been 100 degrees in that room.....anyway, I had a severe panic attack, which seemed to linger on for about 3 weeks thereafter.
My doctor put me on Xanax and my sister-in-law who is a nurse told me to get off of it as soon as possible because it was highly addictive.
I hadn't been on it very long, so I did. It really wasn't helping me that much anyway. But, I had a friend who was a doctors wife, and she told me that highly salted foods with MSG in them really caused her major problems with
panic attacks.
MSG is mono-SODIUM-glutamate. I think that her problem and mine were
not just about MSG but about all salty foods. Salt causes dehydration. I looked online and I saw that hyperventilation,
the nastiest part of a panic attack,
is one of the
clinical symptoms of dehydration. That made
a lot of sense, after my Kentucky incidence.
I got to thinking about it. In every
single case in my life that I had a panic attack, I had been dehydrated. In Kentucky,
I had been on the road all day, and I hadn't drunk much water, I had a salty meal
that night, which dehydrates you, I had wine, another dehydrator. The room
we stayed in was baking hot that night----I got overheated...another dehydrator. Put it all together and voila----the perfect recipe for a panic attack.
I was dehydrated! And eating high sodium foods! Double
trouble.
In fact,
when I thought about it, I realized that every time I let myself get
really dehydrated
over the years, by not drinking or by eating ultra salty foods, that in that same night, I would have a panic attack, and as always, I would jump up
in the middle of the night, sometimes with no time to lose, and
immediately drink a glass or two of water straight down, and in EVERY SINGLE CASE---WITHOUT FAIL, the panic attack would immediately subside
within 20 or 30 seconds. This was a life saver! I was
beginning to get it.
My
daughter just had a problem with panic attacks. She had never
experienced them before. She actually apologized to me.
She thought all these years that they were a mental issue, but she
knew that she
had nothing to panic about...that there was nothing mental about it.
Her problem with panic started in the hospital when they wouldn't let
her drink for 2 days. All she could have
was ice chips, and on top of that, they gave her 6 bags of saline
solution. When she got
home, she was so loaded with salt that her ankles were thick and
swollen. She started having panic problems out of the blue.
It took her several days to get all the salt washed out of her
system, once that happened, the panic subsided and she is fine now.
She started drinking a lot more. She apologized to me.
All these years, she thought I had mental problems! And it was
never that. It was a simple dehydration and too much salt
problem. She
ate some salty tacos the other day, and 30 minutes later, she
felt panicky. She then realized that her panic really was set off by the
high salt. We just don't realize what all this salt is doing
to our bodies. Our minds say, "I have no reason to feel
panicky and our bodies are saying oh yes there is...too much salt is
dangerous for me." We don't have the least idea how much salt
we are taking in. It is freaking our bodies out.
It is best not to eat anything that has much over 12-15% sodium
per serving on the label, 20% tops.
Look at those labels from now on. People don't normally even think about checking the sodium levels of a food. But, if you eat something with 35% sodium or more for a serving, and you are prone to
panic attacks...you are literally "asking for it."
When I
thought about other random times that I had an attack, I had gone to
Branson, and didn't drink all day, had a salty meal...bingo.
In another case, I had gone to Poplar Bluff and hadn't drunk much
water and had a salty meal on the way home...again bingo. And
there was the time that I didn't drink much water at work for two
days and had a panic attack that night. I'm a slow
learner, but I finally saw the light.
JUST ADD
WATER!
I try to drink more during the day now.
I drink all day long...and guess what, no panic attacks. Not
even a hint of one. I am thankful to God for deliverance from this problem!
One night, a few weeks ago, I started to feel like I was losing my breath. (We had gone to Jonesboro, and I barely drank anything all day.) I just grabbed a bottle of water and drank
it straight down until the breathlessness and fearful feeling subsided
in a few seconds. It worked instantly as always. If you know anyone with this problem be sure and pass this along. I guarantee they will thank you! What is the cure for
panic attacks? The answer is simple, just drink more water, don't allow yourself to get dehydrated and try to eat a generally lower sodium healthy diet. Breath
more deeply, relax more often, walk and get some fresh air.
Eat more natural foods as well. I will add that vitamin C also
lowers lactic acid. And is a good thing to take as a
preventative.
ISN'T IT GREAT
TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT
CRAZY AND THAT THERE IS NOTHING TERRIBLY WRONG WITH YOU---- that
a few glasses of water wouldn't help? Just follow the tips
at the beginning of the article for the best benefits. I
don't suffer anymore. I can't put a price on that.
It would make my day if I could help just one person overcome
this debilitating ordeal.
www.thechurchesofgod.com
how to stop panic attacks forever
What is the connection between dehydration and
panic attacks???? It is fairly simple. Almost all medications for anxiety and
panic attacks are histamine blockers.
(Including the Xanax my sister in law warned me about) I learned on the internet, that
dehydration raises histamine drastically and high
histamine raises adrenaline levels drastically. High
Adrenaline is a precursor to a panic attack. So, it is not
an outlandish claim that dehydration would be a factor in panic
attacks....
This
also explains why my doctor's wife told me to take Benadryl for
my Panic Disorder. Benadryl is an anti-histamine. But, you shouldn't take it in
the daytime when you will be driving, as you could fall asleep
at the wheel. It should only be taken according to the
manufacturer's instructions. The safest way
is to take 2 capsules right before you go to bed.
You
need to check with your doctor first to see if Benadryl, an over
the counter medication, is ok for your circumstances. But,
most of the anxiety medications are anti-histamines or histamine
blockers. Benadryl is safe (when used as directed) and it
is a commonly used anti-histamine. Again, ask
yourself-----Why are most anti-anxiety meds histamine blockers
or anti histamines???? Again,
dehydration (from lack of water or too much salt) raises histamine
drastically. And histamine raises adrenaline
drastically. STOP THE PROBLEM AT ITS SOURCE. Only
last week, I felt like I was going to have a panic attack. I was at my daughters house, and I
didn't have time to look for a glass, so I grabbed a bowl, turned on the water tap and poured it in and
drank it down fast....The panic attack stopped in a matter of
seconds. This is a cheap problem to fix, if you know how
to do it.
Apparently, others
are coming around to the dehydration aspect. This is a quick article I wrote
on Yahoo to a girl who was having terrible anxiety. Of all
the responses she got, she voted this one the best.
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Here is the quote of what I told
her. It received five stars because it is so simple and so
doable.
"I used to have panic
attacks and really
bad anxiety. I found a simple solution by accident. If I felt
extreme anxiety or a panic attack coming on, I would drink 1 or
2 glasses of water straight down, and it stopped it every time.
In about 2 minutes I would feel a calm come over me. It has
never failed me yet. I found that eating foods high in sodium
can trigger anxiety, or just being dehydrated can trigger
anxiety and even full blown panic attacks. Come to find out,
dehydration is a major cause of fearful feeling,
hyperventilation and anxiety. I try to drink more all day long
now, and I have no anxiety or panic attacks anymore. Good luck!
"