I think its important to recognise the cause of the anxiety in order to try to treat it. You tend to have the initial cause (physical or emotional), the main symptoms (adrenal rushes, palpitations, sweating, etc.) and, in some cases, a secondary set of different or worsening physical symptoms caused by meta emotions (e.g. anxiety about the anxiety).
If the cause is hormonal (clue if started at puberty or peri/menopause) then rebalancing of hormones with HRT or ADs can help - or you can ride out the episodes if they're manageable. Beta Blockers can also be used to block the adrenaline and can be taken as and when. If its emotional, through trauma or the secondary type, then cognitive therapy to change what we are saying to ourselves (e.g. 'everything will be ok' instead of 'OH NO IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!!!') will do the trick. However, the latter cannot help purely hormonal physical adrenal anxiety, it can just stop it becoming much worse. Both types of anxiety feel the same, as the symptoms are the same where they all result in adrenal over-activity.
I'd always recommend therapy (self or assisted) either way as you will learn good coping strategies and a healthier way of looking at the situation, rather than feeling out of control and attacked by our own nervous system! I practice a blend of CBT and hypnotherapy but other types of therapy can help if there are underlying psychological issues at play.
In perimenopause we may have oestrogen surges that either come from out of the blue or hit when adrenaline is naturally high, at 5am for example. The dry heaving nausea was definitely oestrogen surges for me, caused by over-stimulation from the high oestrogen to low progesterone ratio. HRT can make things worse at such times unless you use it to over-ride the cycle like with the pill, as the more oestrogen you take in, the less your own ovaries will pump out.
Depression, where you feel numb and without feeling, a sort of 'what's the point' comes from either an emotional loss (including control, once you feel there are no more options) or from too high progesterone, which is the sedating hormone. Again, the symptoms are the same so you have to assess and back-track what was going on first. If you were sitting happily watching TV and were suddenly hit with an adrenal rush or a deep depression, then its likely to be purely hormonal.
Remember also that the physical nature of anxiety is exactly the same as excitement, so you can choose the latter to mentally adopt to help you through the worst peaks!
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Topic: Anxiety: say if you have it, despite taking HRT or anti-anxiety medications. (Read 31047 times)