Anxiety Juice: Adrenaline
So, when you feel an episode of anxiety and panic overtaking you, what exactly is going on inside your body? Most of the symptoms that I used to complain about the most were a racing heart rate, uncontrolled breathing, sweating, and the feeling that I wanted to bolt down the street running (FEAR).
Sometimes when we are overwhelmed by stress and anxiety our bodies react by releasing a chemical called adrenaline, or what I call ‘anxiety juice.’ You can think of adrenaline as the fuel behind a lot of the symptoms and sensations that you endure.
Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and neurotransmitter that activates the fight or flight mechanism in your brain and body. The flight or fight mechanism is turned on when your brain registers danger or a high stress situation. It’s basically a survival tool that all animals have.
Once your brain receives a message that your in trouble, adrenaline is pumped into your bloodstream and causes your heart rate to increase (increased oxygen), dilates pupils (for better vision), increases sweat production (keeps you cool in case you need to run), suppresses immune system (not needed in danger situations) and creates a general (but awful) feeling of fear.
This reaction is supposed to help you survive a potentially life threatening situation, but 99% of the time your reaction is a false alarm and even though you feel like your ready for action, there is nothing going on.
The anxiety juice is kept in adrenal glands (see the above image) that sit on top of the kidneys. All this anxiety juice production is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system, which help to control our bodies movements and control anxiety juice production (and associated organs).
When we are racked by stress and anxiety, which can be caused by either a chemical imbalance in the brain, heredity, or just high levels of stress, we lose the balance between the two systems and this can lead to the intensification of the bodies normal functions.
When we are in balance we normally don’t feel the heart beating or the speed and rhythm of breathing. But when we are anxious or highly stressed the body produces and releases anxiety juice which excites your organs and causes you to be fully aware of your bodies normal functions. This can of course freak you out and make you think your dying or that something serious is happening.
The truth is that this pattern of fear, anxiety juice, anxiety/panic is always the same. The body will always create the same type of sensations and these sensations will not harm you. Of course, you want to get checked by a medical doctor to make sure you don’t have any underlying conditions.
But once you have been reassured by a medical professional, then be confident that this anxiety juice and the things it makes you feel will not kill or harm you. I know this is hard to accept, but you have to know that this is your body and mind playing tricks on you.
I will expand on the best ways to cope with anxiety in other posts and will introduce you to natural anxiety remedies that can be used to cope and even eliminate this hated state of mind.
Related posts:
64 Responses to “Anxiety Juice: Adrenaline”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Leave A Comment...
-
The AG Wall
Latest on Fri, 12:13 pm: I listen to your podcasts over and over, and each time I come away with a different bit of info that pertains to how I [...]
: Thanks for all of your hard work and research!
: I do not know how much to thank you for all your dedication and caring thoughts you give us in this tremendous battle of beating [...]
Learn How to Stop Chest Pain and Palpitations with my free ebook. Get your FREE copy of my ebook by signing up.
I get panic attacks during the day. Sometimes daily and I will wake up in the middle of the night with my heart racing, sweating, I feel like a chemical bursts in my chest, I freak out. I have always suffered from fear. My husband or my kids will drive me to the ER and it passes and then we go home. Why do I get these attacks when I am sleeping? Can it be anxiety? I am always fearful about my health. I am such a mess. I will take Ativan 0.5 and it does nothing. I am driving my family nuts. Can I ever get past this????????
Faith…I stumbled upon this site this morning at work. I had a horrible night last night. I had about 3 hours of sleep if I’m lucky. I woke up out of my sleep in sheer terror. It took me forever to calm down. My heart was beating very rapidly in waves. I almost went to the ER. I am terrified something is wrong with me. I wanted you to know that you are not alone. I feel really depressed now. If you want to correspond, please let me know.
You are not alone, I have been having these feelings for about three years now and I always read that it is nothing and it won’t affect your health but that it’s not so. It has affected my overall health, the palpitations are unbeareable and it has been already three times that I have gone to the emergency because from this I have now supraventricular tachicardia and they wanted to to a catheterism but I refused. I feel always my body trembling inside as well as my brain and kind of hurts. This is terrible and unbeareable, I can’t sleep at night and I am awake until long hours. I take sometime a Xanas .025 but don’t like to take it too often since your body will want more and more the more you take them and it is not good to be dependent on any chemical to sleep. It is just terrible!!!
For about 3 years I’ve been getting these horrible feelings day and night. Countless visits to the ER countless exams MRI’s CT scans, ECG’s, endoscopy, blood tests, stress tests (normal and nuclear) heart echo test, even cognitive therapy with a psychologist, etc. All good, came back normal!!!!! Last week I visited a new doctor just to get a fresh idea a fresh head to think what might be wrong. She asked me what tablets I take, at the moment I am on 50mg Atenonol (beta blocker) Valdoxan 3/4 (tapering up to a full dose) and Xanax .25 (ONLY WHEN I NEED IT BAD) I must also mention that all this time I thought that something is wrong with my heart! So this new Dr told me that because all these extensive but positive test results we can rule out heart disease specially because I am also pretty fit and cycle aprox. 35-40km 5+ times a week!!!! I haven’t had a full blown ER needing panic attack for about 8 weeks but chest pains around my sternum few times a day. Basically after heart problems were ruled out there is only two problems left that can cause pain, costocondritis (inflammation of rib joints) or ADRENALINE related stuff!!! Adrenaline can be released at any time from the glands and as it enters into the blood stream causes chest muscles to constrict, flight or fight response, and a chain reaction of madness. This humble Dr. asked me a simple but smart question though!! Does all these symptoms go away after I take Xanax, the answer is yes! It calms me down and once the adrenaline rush is over I am good as new! This morning I woke up with my heart racing and pain in my chest, my BP was 125/80 but my heart rate was 85 and I felt that a PA is coming on! I took half a Xanax .25 and started typing these notes, by now I feel almost completely normal my heart rate is down to 60 wanting to sleep. So its the adrenaline that causes all these crazy feelings!!! Before I was made to be aware I would work myself up to such frenzy that my BP would go up to 150/100 and my HR would be around 100-120 (and that is with beta blocker in my system)
If your Dr give you SNRI do not take it!!! ( it wont let adrenaline get out) SSRI has no affect at all (tried them for a year) Valdoxan is the first drug that is trying to work and do what it supposed to do even at the almost therapeutic dose! But the main thing is that now I am aware of my tendencies of my nervous system to send a false alarm to my adrenaline glads and start a war within, so I can relax a bit and even if it comes on it will pass!!! It always does! Lets face it a heart attack will either kill you or damage your heart, panic attack comes and goes has no bearing on anything but your mental state. Hopefully this Valdoxan will calm my nervous system and exercise will get rid of the excess energy so fingers cross! Alternatively with these new found knowledges I will also see if my adrenaline gland work fine (sometime benign tumors can cause excess adrenaline production) I would be happy to have one removed. Anyway by now I just wanna go back to bed, panic attack is over (I was so close to wake the wife and shoot off to the hospital! To be sure off all these don’t forget that I had copious amount off tests! If cardiac problems were not ruled out buy doctors do not assume nothing just go to ER!!! But start putting 2+2 together by getting a good Dr. and work together to narrow it down like I did.
I began having panic attacks fifty years ago and the solution that has allowed me a normal life is a beta-blocker called atenolol. It limits the effect of adrenaline and it doesn’t take much to do the job. 25mg, 1/2 in the AM, 1/2 in the PM. Many physicians prescribe too much of it, and that can really make a person sleepy and logy. I would recommend it before messing with anti-depressants, frankly.
And stay away from mind-altering recreational drugs, Marco. They are poison to people like us. Also, limit caffeine and sugar.
Mark, some people are born hyper-sensitive. I think a traumatic birth experience can bathe the brain in adrenaline, and predispose one to symptoms in this area thereafter. Good luck to all.
Thank you for your words Gaby,it is nice to feel you are being listened to.
I agree with what you say,i do feel incredibly sensitive to foods and have been looking at addressing that.
I have in fact,kicked out caffeinated coffee for over a month and I think it’s made me feel better. I’m never taking drugs ever agin,but i fear all the skunk i smoked in my teens may have permanently made me feel like this,I hope not.
I will look into Beta Blockers but I’m going to carry on with my zero caffeine and hopefully soon zero sugar diet. The Cigarettes will have to be addressed at some point too! I’d recommend all to give it a go!!
All the best,
Marco
I started getting night panic attacks about 5 years ago. It started with a stressful job and then spiralled out of control. I had a baby in Jan 2011 and my panic attacks went into overdrive all night. I lost 30lbs in two weeks, because I couldn’t eat or sleep due to my fear of my nighttime attacks. I went on Zoloft in March. In April I saw an ND/MD and she made me realize that my panic attacks were completely caused by my stomach signaling my brain. I have IBS. I also used to eat terrible and put all sorts of unhealthy things in my body. My job was stressful on top of all this, so when I got home and tried to relax from the stress of the day my adrenals would go into overdrive before bed and cause my night attacks. So to cure my attacks I first had to learn and BELIEVE that the attacks were an incorrect signal my body was sending out and that I could change it and make it stop. Getting over the fear of the attacks was my biggest hurdle, that and learning to eat well. Once I got past the fear the attacks happened less and less and now I don’t have them anymore. I still have a little nighttime anxiety some evenings, but nothing like I used to have and I don’t wake up in a panic. It is less and less anxiety each day. Oh and i’m off my Zoloft as of a month ago and I feel good. I’m in the process of cutting out gluten and dairy for a few months and i’ve started eating more fresh fruits & veggies. The Linden Method and Panic Away helped me get past my fear. I still use some of their tricks to calm myself down. My ND helped me realize it was my stomach signaling my brain to panic and now it is just up to me to eat right and exercise to reduce stress and cortisol in the evenings. Stress raises cortisol in your body. If it gets elevated at night, you’ll have panic attacks while you sleep. There is a product called Cortisol Manager that helped me with the night attacks too in the beginning. I took it right when I got home from work to reduce the cortisol that was elevated at bedtime. I hope this helps someone. It took me years to figure this all out and I wished I would have known sooner.
In my case there was little doubt what sent me in into an anxiety state. I was working full-time, going to grad school at night, consuming high amounts of caffeine to stay awake to do homework, bad diet. not working out, etc….. Not to mention I had the boss from h-ll during that period which significantly added stress and fear to my life. Then, one night while sitting in class it all came crashing down. My body was shaking uncontrollably. It was something that I had never felt before. I was bewildered beyond belief spending countless hours researching and worrying about my condition. This was in June 2007. I was put on 50mg of zoloft for 30 months. I worked with my Dr. to ween myself off of zoloft. In January 2010 I was drug free.
I credit the zoloft for alleviating the symptoms, but more importantly I credit Claire Weekes for sending me on a permanent path to recovery. And this is what so many of us seek. I had never heard of Claire Weekes until two years into my illness. Purchasing her book will be the best $9 I will ever spend in my life. Everything she mentioned in her book made so much sense. In my case, I actually put on a few pounds instead of losing weight as she indicates in her book. My abdominal area was little heavier. And I am usually a very fit person. I think the weight gain had more to do with physical and chemical changes brought on by the stress response than it did with any medication I took.
Som many of us in this anxiety state feel as if we are the only one feeling what we are feeling. But not so. It took me two years to find the book that would explain everything I needed to know. I was also shown how many people truly suffer from oversensitized and exaggereated nerves. We are not alone and you can and will recover once you understand the path to recovery!
I am trying to find out how much adrenaline/epinephrine your body releases when you have a bad scare. In others words, the MAXIMUM amount that the body could release. Someone told me 2 QUARTS. I found that unbelievable – but I also found out that no one is saying anything about the quantity that is released. I have MS and when I am scared, or something out of the ordinary happens suddenly, i.e., car almost hitting him, my adrenaline rush hits me from head to foot, instantly, and it is very painful – albeit for only a short time, especially if I get out of the car, (or situation), I walk for awhile and it helps. Do you know how much the body realeases in fight/flight response? I understand that the “fight” response will increase the amount of epinephrine where walking away lowers it. Sorry I don’t know much about it, somehow I feel like I should know these things – thanks for your help and taking the time to do this. Best Regards, Dorothy Stolte
I am trying to find out how much adrenaline your body releases during a “fight/flight” response. Someone told me 2 quarts – that seems like a lot to me . . . could this be right?
Thanks, Dorothy Stolte
what does awaiting moderation mean??
It means I get to view and approve the comments that appear on the site. =)
Hi all, I am also a sufferer of this adrenaline/anxiety/whatever the heck this is crap also.
I had suffered years ago with my hubby’s first deployment, and it lasted for 3-4years. I did not have any medicine to help me as I am prone to adverse or allergic reactions in even the most simplest of medications.
Thankfully it just went away one day.
I just had surgery back in November this past year, and a week after my surgery, I went to lay down to sleep and got this huge surge of adrenaline rushing through my body, kinda like I just drank a whole Starbucks!
I got extremely cold, pretty much freezing, and felt like I was shaking inside. My muscles started twitching, it made me feel like I was going mad, and I could not sleep at all.
I started researching natural ways to treat this, so I don’t have to suffer another 3-4 years with this.
I picked up some valerian root capsules which I take twice a day, I also take Suntheanine a pure form of Ltheanine, 3-4 times a day, I also take melatonin at night to help me get some sleep.
They help me to feel calm normally.
However, last night, I did not sleep but maybe 3 hours, and I had to wake up early for an appointment. I rushed, so I did not take my supplements until after I got back home, and now I am still feeling the adrenaline/coldness 2 hrs after I took them.
I am going to drink a couple of cups of whole flower Chamomile tea, and hopefully it will finish calming the adrenaline and warm me up.
If anyone out there has any other herbal/vitamin supplement that helps calm the adrenaline, I am open to suggestions.
My idea is to exhaust every natural/herbal/vitamin I can try before going on some chemical compounds, that will more than likely give me an adverse reaction at best.
Thanks for listening