“Panic Attacks: Biology or Psychology?” from The Doctor's Farmacy
“Panic Attacks: Biology or Psychology?”
Source: The Doctor's Farmacy | Dr. George Papaicolaou (Watch or Listen 38 min)
Contributor: Selena Garcia
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“It can be your baseline physiology, but it can also be impacted by the foods you eat, the cosmetics you put on your face, and… what we call Xenoestrogens that you come in contact with in your day-to-day activities.” - Dr. Papanicolaou
If you'd like to learn more about the brain/gut connection, particularly as it relates to anxiety, this is for you.
“Dr. Hyman sits down with Dr. George Papaicolaou to discuss the Functional Medicine approach to treating panic attacks. They explore the range of physiological considerations they explore when treating patients who are experiencing panic attacks, as well as how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma can be treated to reduce anxiety and eliminate panic attacks.”
We’re in the age of anxiety, and while it’s highly treatable, only 43.2% of those suffering receive treatment (at time of publishing). If you are struggling with anxiety, may this provide some insight and support. Take what you want and leave the rest.
For more research “exploring the connection between the foods we eat and our feelings of depression, anxiety and happiness,” check out What Is The Best Diet for Mental Health from Greater Good Magazine.
“What we’re learning now is that when the brain is not working, whether it’s depression, anxiety, ADD, autism, dementia, and I could go on and on, it’s usually inflammation.” - Dr. Papanicolaou
You can find the full transcript here.
(1:30) Dr. Papaicolaou: “Anxiety is extraordinarily common. It’s probably one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses that patients will come to an office for. They will sometimes come in with more of a depressive presentation only to uncover that a large part of their depression is driven by anxiety and fear in life. It’s extraordinarily common. You can see it in all age groups, and it’s very debilitating. When you have really bad anxiety, it’s extraordinarily debilitating, particularly if it is associated with panic.”
(4:29) Dr. Hyman: “What does a typical doctor do when someone comes in with a panic attack or anxiety disorder? What do we say in medicine to do?”
(4:33) Dr. Papaicolaou: “When you have 10 minutes to see a patient and you have a caseload of 28 more patients to see, and they say they have anxiety, that’s used as a way to catch up. You give them a pill. You tell them to go find a therapist and you tell them to follow up in three months. That’s typically what happens in primary care.”
They list through the different sedatives and anti-depressants they prescribe to patients while noting how they affect your brain chemistry without dealing with the cause.
(6:21) Dr. Hyman: “They [medications] don’t even work that great. Only between 15 and 45% of the time… It’s not like it fixes the problem. It’s like, if you have a broken ankle and you take enough pain medication, you might not feel it as bad, but the problem is still there.”
(9:34) Dr. Papaicolaou: “It can be your baseline physiology, but it can also be impacted by the foods you eat, the cosmetics you put on your face, and the other possible what we call Xenoestrogens that you come in contact within your day to day activities, because they’re everywhere.
(12:33) Dr. Hyman: “What we’re learning now is that when the brain is not working, whether it’s depression, anxiety, ADD, autism, dementia, and I could go on and on, it’s usually inflammation. Inflammation, the brain doesn’t feel like a sore throat or a swollen ankle, it actually creates all these psychiatric symptoms that we then mislabel as emotional or psychological, but are actually physiological.”
WATCH OR LISTEN HERE. (38 min)
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