Navigating Stormy Waters: Panic Attacks on the Infertility Journey

One of life’s unfortunate circumstances these days is the increasing epidemic of anxiety and panic attacks. It is estimated that one-third of the entire population will experience a panic attack at least once, and for many people it will happen much more than that. 

While symptoms vary from person to person,  they can include a pounding heart, shortness of breath, light-headedness, sweating, trembling, nausea, tingling or numbness in the fingers and toes, and an overwhelming sense of impending doom.  People often fear that they are having a heart attack, and have a terrible sensation of suffocating and feeling near death.  

It is a terrible and terrifying sensation. 

So, where does a panic attack come from?  

A panic attack is a perfectly normal physiological response to fear that happens at a completely inappropriate time or level.  Why would someone feel as if they are suffocating, or having a heart attack, when their situation is often completely benign?   Why do they come without any warning? Many trips to the ER happen as a result of a panic attack, and unless it happens right on the heels of a stressful event, it makes no sense. 

The Western science discipline that studies panic attacks is known as neuropsychology, a branch of psychology that studies how the brain and behavior are related to the entire body response.  For panic attacks, how does your brain incite a riot from your adrenal glands, pumping out high levels of cortisol and epinephrine, when you aren’t under attack?

For a panic attack to occur, something has to trigger a response from the amygdala, the “fear center” of the brain.  This isn’t scary movie fear, though, this is ancient hard-wiring, survival-mode fear.  The kind of fear that keeps us alive by navigating out of harm’s way.  Over time, our survival mode has shifted as we are less likely to be under the attack of a bear. Instead, it has warped into surviving our bosses, the car line, and emotionally toxic environments.  Our hard wiring for survival has rewired into chronic, subclinical stress that keeps our adrenals pumping when we should beat rest. 

Our physiology hasn’t evolved to keep up with our expectations and we have created a panic crisis as a result. We don’t have significant times of rest anymore, and we create pressures and expectations on ourselves that keep the fear pedals pumping. 

Learning how to live life in a way that reduces persistent stress and decreases the adrenaline pump takes time, but making the decision to do so is often the first step in reversing the panic disorders the are plaguing us. 

While working on creating a less stressful life, here are some steps to take while having a panic attack:

1. When you’re having a panic attack, talk to yourself about it.  Remind yourself that you’re not dying, you are having a strong visceral reaction and you need to actively calm your system to help it pass.  Remind yourself that your physiology is designed for this, but the timing is inappropriate. 

2. Repeat to yourself “I’m not dying. I am safe. This will pass,” and slow down your breathing.  Say each phrase while exhaling, and then inhale a little more slowly before the next one. Keep repeating and slowing down until your nervous system gets the message. 

3. Try some acupressure in the moment:  massaging the area between your thumb and index finger is good, as is massaging or tapping across and under the clavicle area or upper ribs.  

4. Step into cool air, or get into an open space.  The cool air helps revive your sense of presence and calms a hot, adrenaline-filled system.  Get into open space, especially if you have any claustrophobia.  

5. Find a calming scent that you love and breathe it in.  Breathing in a scent reminiscent of something positive is a quick trigger for your brain.  The connection between scent and memory is strong, so breathing something that feels familiar and calming can switch your wiring quickly and you reconnect with your body and the present moment. 

Lifestyle factors to reduce panic attacks:

1. Get into nature by taking long walks or hikes, from 40-60 minutes.   Paddle boarding, kayaking, gardening or any other low-stimulation outdoor activity is proven to reduce stress and anxiety.  Humans used to spend our days and nights in the soothing sounds of nature, and in order to recreate that sense of belonging and righteousness, go back outside as often as possible. 

2. Reduce stimulation by limiting screens and television.  Anxiety has sky-rocketed since the 24-hour news cycle was born in the early 2000s and the constant noise, chatter, opinions, and controversy are very unsettling to the spirit.  Let it go.  

3. The same goes for social media, as most of it produces more negative feelings than positive ones: inadequacy, isolation, longing, envy, jealousy, rage, animosity… the list goes on.  Unplug and give yourself a break from social media.   Set a limit of time for each day, under 20 minutes in total, only a few times each week.  

4. Reduce caffeine and alcohol.  Caffeine revs the engine and promotes adrenal activity.  Alcohol triggers a depressive mood, depletes minerals and disrupts the gut flora, which inhibits your natural production of feel-good chemicals. 

5. Reduce refined carbohydrates and artificial sweeteners, which also strip your body of minerals, trigger blood sugar spikes and alter the gut microbes' ability to function.  If your gut is unhealthy then proper hormone and enzyme production becomes insufficient and can destabilize how your nervous system perceives the world. 

Improving your nervous system through food:

1.  Be sure to eat a living diet of colorful and fresh foods, which have the highest concentration of active vitamins and minerals.  

2. Use nutritional yeast several times a day, which contains naturally occurring B vitamin complex, which is often very deficient in people who feel a sense of impending doom.  Unless you’re eating whole food B vitamins, which are concentrated in nutritional yeast and liver, then you aren’t getting the whole complex, even if you’re taking a standard B complex supplement. 

3. Drop some trace minerals into your water, or take as a supplement, especially magnesium. Not having enough trace minerals prevents you from making all the neurotransmitters you need to feel well and balanced. 

4. Probiotics and prebiotic foods help your guts do their work of creation, not just digestion.  The microbes of the gut have a huge role in neurotransmitter production, so feed them well and keep your gut-brain axis happy. 

5. Add some adaptogenic herbs to your daily routine to assist in toning your nervous system.  Adaptogens don’t stimulate or sedate, they help your body become more elastic in it’s ability to do both.  It supports the up and down functions of your system so that you can respond to each situation appropriately.

Meditation:

My answer for everything involves meditation, and panic is one of the most important reasons to get on board.  Practicing meditation trains your brain’s ability to focus, to be calm, to ignore stimuli, be comfortable, and be still.  So many people struggle with this, especially anxious souls who always feel like a cat on a hot tin roof.  The harder it is for you to sit quietly, the more you need to learn to do it. 

Panic attacks can be situational and for most people will resolve in time, if they pay careful attention to healing the dysfunction.  If you suffer from panic attacks, start building these adaptations into your life to help restore a more normal physiological state. 

If you need help with panic and anxiety, be it through therapy or medication, get it.  Support those endeavors using the above behavior modifications and you might reduce your reliance on external support sources over time.