![]() Prolonged anxiety or regular panic attacks can have longer-lasting effects too. Adrenaline also mobilises a lot of glucose and energy which can leave you feeling drained and exhausted afterwards." ![]() If less of your body’s resources have been used on digestion and your immune system, it might lead to feeling a little more run down and could affect how your tummy feels. It stands to reason that this rush could make you feel ill, as Chloe Brotheridge, hypnotherapist, anxiety expert and author of The Anxiety Solution explains: “Adrenaline has a number of functions, one of which is directing blood flow towards your muscles and away from functions not needed during an 'emergency' (of course, in the case of an anxiety attack, it's a false alarm). ![]() "Too many dramatic changes or too much adrenaline sloshing through our system too often is draining, causing fatigue." "The body is beautifully designed to meet the ‘fight or flight’ need, but only once in a while,” Lucy agrees. The body is also focusing on what could be an emergency, so blood is carried away from the stomach to the major muscle groups such as legs for running or arms for fighting.”Īll very well if you’re in a situation that might require you to fight it or leg it, but when you’re standing on the tube in rush hour it’s the last thing you need. "The body is preparing for ‘fight or flight’, so it releases hormones such as adrenaline, increases blood pressure, dilates the pupils to receive more light (and therefore more information about the situation) and accelerates breathing. But it’s just the body’s way of dealing with what’s happened Lucy Beresford, author of Happy Relationships: at home, work and play explains what’s going on during an attack. Take a look at any mental health forum and there are hundreds of posts from sufferers who feel the same, and who are even concerned that those after-symptoms are something to worry about (and so the vicious anxiety cycle continues). The body is beautifully designed to meet the ‘fight or flight’ need, but only once in a while. I’ve dubbed this the anxiety ‘hangover’ - like an emotional jet lag, the comedown from all those heightened sensations that leaves you feeling a little broken and spaced out. Drained, exhausted, emotional and always shivering uncontrollably, after a panic attack it feels as though my body has gone into shock shut down, and given up on me until I can have a good sleep and try another day. After a recent spate of anxiety, I realised it wasn’t so much the anticipation of having one, nor the having one itself that I was struggling with most (after all, I’ve read the books, had the counselling, and know what I should do in that situation whether it works or not) but the state I was in afterwards. I’ve experienced anxiety attacks for as long as I can remember - though I only realised that’s what they were in my early twenties, when rather than simply feeling hot, faint, dizzy and sick in certain situations, my breathing became affected, chest tight, and I finally twigged what was happening to me.īut what’s less documented is what happens after either because not everyone feels this way or perhaps because, once it’s over, you’re OK - so why dwell on it? But living with panic is not only difficult because of the onset of the attacks themselves. A tight, constricted throat, a pressure in your chest that feels as though your lungs are being crushed, clammy palms, an erratic, pulsating heart and lightheadedness that stops your eyes from focusing properly if you’ve been unlucky enough to have had a panic attack or have read any of the many accounts of them online, you probably recognise the symptoms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |