Issac ThorneWhat are Panic Attacks?
Do you ever find yourself becoming overly self-aware of your own breathing pattern or heart rate? Do you become nervous about things and overthink until you've reached the point of no return; Suddenly your thoughts are spiraling out of control, and you're hyperventilating and stuck with a sense of impending doom?
If this sounds familiar to you, you're likely suffering from panic attacks.
What are panic attacks?
Panic attacks are an emotional state brought about by one's loss of control over their brain's fear response system.
Panic attacks, or anxiety attacks, can occur at any time. And while they are horrible to experience, they are completely harmless and usually pass within a few minutes.
The amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for triggering our “fight or flight” response. Because we live in modern times and not in the ancient environment in which our brains evolved, our brains sometimes mistake mere stress for a life-or-death situation. (Example: Giving a speech is not life-or-death. Yet our brains often respond with the same chemical solution as if we were running from a bear).
For some people, about 1.7%, overthinking alone is enough to trigger this response.
We call this panic disorder.
What is Panic Disorder?
Panic disorder is the anxiety disorder that people suffer from when almost anything can trigger a panic attack for them.
Thinking too much about a situation, activity, or even a bodily function. Any of these might be enough to start the chain reaction of worry and panic.
Because of how emotional these events are, it's easy for us to develop negative associations in our minds.
Example:
Maria is a long-time suffer from anxiety disorder.
She goes grocery shopping and has a random panic attack in aisle 3.
Suddenly, her heart rate feels abnormal, her breathing pattern is ragged, and she feels a deep sense of fear. She runs out of the grocery store and drives home.
Maria is fine for the next 5 days but finally remembers that she still needs to pick up groceries.
Now, even thinking about entering the grocery store is enough for Maria to start feeling anxious.
Maria decides that she will make her husband do the grocery shopping from now on and chooses to avoid the grocery store as often as possible.
The Problem:
Do you see a problem with the above scenario?
Maria's panic disorder has scared her into “shrinking” her comfort zone.
If growth occurs outside of our comfort zones, what happens when we allow our comfort zones to shrink?
What happens when Maria has a panic attack just driving past the grocery store? Or just starting her car? Or on her doorstep?
Not good, Maria.
But this is the ugly reality of panic disorder for many people.
Fortunately, taking phenibut for panic attacks can help us to reverse these effects.
Taking Phenibut for Panic Attacks
First things first, there are two kinds of panic attacks.
- Generalized Panic Attacks
- Situation-Specific Panic Attacks (or Phobias)
For the first type, think of how in the previous example Maria had a random panic attack. She was not previous afraid of being the grocery store. Her panic attack was just a generalized anxiety panic attack.
For the latter, we see how a phobia was developed. Once Maria had experienced a random panic attack in the grocery store, she developed a phobia. A neural pathway was formed through which Maria learned to fear a particular situation.
So how can taking phenibut for panic attacks help to alleviate these issues?
For Situation-Specific Panic Attacks:
For phobias, taking phenibut for panic attacks is a no-brainer.
The neural pathway to fear a stimulus can be unlearned the same way it was learned.
To do this effectively, we recommend something called exposure therapy.
In Maria's case, what we would recommend is that she slowly exposes herself to the grocery store again.
This can start as simply as having her visualize herself walking through the grocery store, from the comfort of her own home.
Next, we might have her drive past the grocery store a few times until she eventually feels comfortable going inside again.
Here's where phenibut comes in:
Maria is working to unlearn her fear of the grocery store. Neural pathways will be formed no matter what state Maria is in.
If Maria walks right in and has another panic attack, the phobia will be strengthened. Her fear and her panic attacks will be worse than ever.
We need Maria to go in and have a pleasant experience.
By taking about 1g to 2g of phenibut for panic attacks, Maria will be able to take on her fear with confidence. Even under the influence of a supplement like phenibut, we are constantly building neural pathways into our brains.
Due to the brain's surge in GABA brought about by phenibut, Maria should not have a panic attack in the grocery store while on an appropriate dosage of phenibut.
After successfully repeating this action several times, Maria will have unlearned her fear of the grocery store. She will likely feel that she no longer even needs the phenibut to go grocery shopping. Maria's will have unlearned her phobia.
For Situation-Specific Panic Attacks:
Using phenibut for panic attacks that are generalized is a bit trickier.
This is because panic attacks are often short in duration and, for some people, phenibut can take well over an hour to fully kick in.
While a high dosage is great for tackling a phobia, a high dosage is not meant to be taken every day.
If you can predict that a particular day may be more stressful, it becomes significantly more useful. This may be the case when your panic attacks are generalized but still somewhat situation-specific, as with social anxiety.
Our recommendation for anyone suffering from a generalized panic disorder is to try a few days on followed by a few days off at a low dosage (Less than 1g). A low dose of phenibut may not prevent panic attacks entirely but it will certainly take the edge off the severity of them.
If you struggle daily with panic attacks, also known as panic disorder, you are better off avoiding dependence on any drug and learning more natural methods to deal with your anxiety. Some examples include deep-breathing techniques, meditation, and exercise.