DH and frequent panic attacks

[busymama77]

My DH has panic attacks on occassion and it seems to only be when he's driving, he says and it's also the day after he's had a few drinks. He drinks on a daily basis, but he drinks for taste, not affect. He's in the spirits industry and has been for quite some time, so this is also a part of his job. But I'm thinking that maybe if he cut out a couple of days of week without having a drink, the panic attacks would decrease?

[earthmama369]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to your dh, but alcohol can be a major trigger for panic attacks. He may need to lay off for a few weeks, at least, to really clear his system, and then start back slowly and see how he does. Caffeine, lack of sleep, and stress can also be significant triggers.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

The body/brain adjusts very quickly to the presense of alcohol and more slowly to the absense of alcohol. So the day after having had a few drinks he is definitely going to be feeling more agitated/prone to anxiety attacks.

[JaneS]

What other health symptoms does he have?

I've read a lot recently that panic attacks are usually caused by low blood sugar

It's possible he is insulin resistant and drinking pushes his blood sugar up too high and his body is overreleasing insulin to compensate... this causes a rebound of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). When the body has low blood sugar it releases adreneline to kick the liver into releasing glucose to bring up blood sugar. The surge of adrenaline creates a panic attack.

A lower carb diet, lots of protein and fat, eating protein when he drinks alcohol, and reducing stress in addition to other adrenal healing, may help.

He could be vitamin C deficient too, C clears adrenaline from blood. I like natural forms b/c they stick around longer due to high bioflavonoid content and you don't have to take as much as the chemical (ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate) such as camu, acerola, amla and other mixed whole food C compounds that are available.

http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Hypog...the_full_story

http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/

[JaneS]

Also magnesium has greatly helped me... I didn't necessarily have panic attacks but I could tell I was on my way to getting them.

[koru]

I had panic attacks for a couple years & found that it's very common to experience them in the same situation. IMO, they initially start because of some physical or emotional stress but quickly become a neurological pathway that needs to be broken.

My first panic attack started with a head rush & progressed into hot flashes, diarrhea, shivering, etc. (due to the stress of having 2 kids 19 months apart & breastfeeding the whole time with a severe lack of sleep....and a rocky marriage because I didn't feel like having sex). After that, every time I felt a teeny head rush or shivered because of the cold, it's as if my brain took over & started the whole cycle of panic. I could've been in a very happy & healthy position but the pathways wanted to be followed! Does that make any sense? At least this is what conclusion I came to after searching high & low for a "cure" (which thankfully finally happened!).

This website helped me tremendously.... http://www.panicend.com/

I hope he finds some relief. I know how miserable it can be!