HEALTH & WELLNESS
What should you do when an anxiety disorder takes you by surprise?
Having an anxiety disorder is not the end of the world
September 2018. Back home after a long day at work, I stop in place as I suddenly feel my chest and my throat tighten. Breathing requires more effort and I feel rather faint because of it. Moments later, my hands go numb. My mind is racing—I’m going to die, I tell myself repeatedly as I made my way to the nearest emergency room. “You’ve probably had a panic attack,” the doctor tells me when he finds nothing physically wrong with my body. Initially, this was difficult for me to stomach—I’ve always seen myself as a rather carefree individual.
But factors such as stress crept up on me and blew up when I least expected them to. In the months that follow, I would experience a succession of smaller, less intense experiences—what I would later learn to be anxiety attacks. I would feel it later that week on a flight to Shanghai for a work trip, in the middle of slight turbulence. There will also be a times when I would wake up in the middle of the night palpitating and having difficulty breathing. This loss of control would turn into an ugly fear of mine, and for a while, I would avoid certain situations that would make me feel “trapped.”
I had to do something. So once these attacks had subsided, I started talking about them. Unexpectedly, a few friends revealed that they were going through something similar. And for the sake of this article, I reached out to professionals who shared the different ways one can deal with anxiety and panic.
THERAPY
Many people seem to freely interchange what an anxiety and a panic attack is, so I asked Dr. Joyce Ann Maglaque, MD-MBA, DSBPP, for her definitions. “Anxiety is a diffused, unpleasant, vague sense of apprehension, coupled with automatic responses from the body such as palpitations, chest tightness and stomach discomfort. It happens to everyone when we anticipate something we are nervous about,” she starts. “A panic attack, on the other hand, is an abrupt stage of intense fear, occurring within minutes and is compromised of at least four of the following: palpitations, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, a choking feeling, chest pain, nausea, lightheadedness, chills or heat sensations, paresthesias, depersonalization, a fear of losing control and a fear of dying,” she adds, bringing me back to my first attack.
So, when should one see a doctor? “It becomes pathological when it interferes with day-to-day life,” says Dr. Maglaque. As a doctor focusing on General Adult and Addiction Psychiatry, she adds that the guidance of a professional significantly helps with figuring out your stressors. “Biologically, our brain is a social brain. Whatever happens on the outside environment has a corresponding chemical reaction in our brain. When we are under grave stress, our brain mobilizes stress chemicals that help pump us up. However, stressors can last for days, especially with how fast-paced our lives are now. This causes chemical imbalances in our brain, making us susceptible to developing panic
attacks and anxiety disorders,” she says. If a patient with a mood disorder is initially very unstable, then they can be put on medications for the meantime.
Dr. Maglaque also gives us additional tips for dealing with anxiety in our dayto-day life: “It is helpful to take breaks and practice proper self-care. We cannot always control our environment but we can increase activities that make us feel good, such as hobbies. It also helps to experience the fullness that life can offer—not just one of its aspects, such as just career or just family.”
ACUPUNCTURE
Another treatment that is said to be beneficial for those suffering with anxiety disorders is acupuncture—something I can attest to as I have tried it for both insomnia and a whiplash injury.
“Anxiety, or any other mood disorder for that matter, is brought about by imbalances in the body. It may be an imbalance in neurotransmitters, in our gut microbe or our hormones,” starts Dr. Candy Drilon-Dalman, MD-MBA of Centro Holistico Integrative Health and Wellness Center. So, how exactly can acupuncture solve a problem such as anxiety? “In Traditional Chinese medicine, these imbalances are brought about by imbalances in the energy that flows in our body—what we call the Qi. Acupuncture helps through manipulation of specific points in the body that can help bring back the balance of these energy meridians.”
Dr. Drilon-Dalman adds that there are specific points she typically focuses on when dealing with this. “It depends per patient, but the most common meridian that is affected for anxiety and other mood issues is the heart meridian. We puncture specific points to help strengthen and protect the heart meridian such as the liver, spleen, gallbladder and urinary bladder.”
When I question Dr. Candy on how soon someone can feel an improvement, she says that it differs per patient, with some patients feeling it right after the first session, and others needing three to four sessions. It all boils down to a person’s specific biochemistry, physiology and imbalances. However, there is one thing that can affect this: “Lifestyle is also a factor. Some lifestyles are more conductive to healing and reducing stress. These patients usually respond better and faster. If a patient’s lifestyle includes a bad diet and no exercise, it takes longer for us to see results,” she shares.
OILS
CBD, short for cannabidoil, has had a stigma attached to it because it is the second most prevalent active ingredient in marijuana. Unlike cannabis, however, it does not cause a “high” and is an essential component of medical marijuana. Many have been using it to treat chronic pain and, unsurprisingly, anxiety and insomnia.
Since earlier this year, Jessica,* a corporate employee, wife and mother of two, has been using CBD oil to deal with her knee pain, moods and insomnia. “I’ve had ten years of experience in the corporate world and sometimes it really gets to you. What CBD does it that it helps calm the voices in your head, especially now when we practically live on our phones. It used to be really hard to get up in the morning. A week after I started using it, I was sleeping great and would wake up with more energy to get up and either meditate or journal. Quality sleep really stabilizes everything,” she shares. She adds that her mother uses a cream version of it as well to help with her arthritis.
“I used to get really angry too,” Jessica* starts. “I knew the CBD was working when something that would usually anger me with happen, and I didn’t react the way I would usually react.”
More than a year after I had experienced a panic attack and the anxiety that came after it, I have learned to manage myself better once I feel symptoms coming up—which is already quite rare at this point. Initially, it was frustrating to deal with something that I couldn’t always control. But over time, and with a little help, life can get easier. “The good news is that anxiety and depression are the most manageable of all mood disorders,” a therapist told me once. So in the rare moments that I do feel the smallest symptoms, I simply assure myself. Nobody has died from a panic or anxiety attack, I tell myself, It’ ll pass.
For more information on Centro Holistico, visit their website at centroholisticoph.com.
For more information on CBD, you may contact Jessica* at jcosi@protonmail.com
*name has been changed
“IT IS HELPFUL TO TAKE BREAKS AND PR ACTICE PROPER SELF-CARE”