Hi everyone,
There are many very clever people on this forum, much cleverer than myself, so I am hoping some of them will run with this. I often get frustrated thinking about essential hypertension.
Hans Selye- (M.D.,Ph.D.,D.Sc.) the pioneer stress researcher and author of "The Stress of Life" conducted a series of animal experiments with rats. He found that when rats are placed under stressful conditions they exhibit the same diseases of adaptation as humans, he compared his rats with humans suffering from injury and disease. Selye concluded that stress plays a part in every disease. Stress was designated as any stimuli and if humans or rats can not cope with the stimuli they develop diseases of adaptation such as ulcers and high blood pressure.
Scientists in behavioral medicine have identified dissatisfaction with life as a possible cause of essential hypertension - people from a poverty stricken background, low educational level, suffering social dissatisfaction and unemployment have elevated rates of essential hypertension.
Dr Martin E.P.Seligman also claims essential hypertension is a symptom not a disease in his book "Learned Optimism".
My frustration, as a full time health practitioner is in treating and explaining how this all occurs and in educating the patient about their condition.
It is not hard to imagine how all the stimuli can create an outpouring of stress hormones to raise the blood pressure through the "Fight/Flight" response while the patient is under pressure and how important it is to burn them up at the end of the day.
But can anybody tell me why blood pressure can move in large increments whilst the patient is relaxing in a seated position, simply gazing out a window at a pleasant view. Blood pressure can go up or down for no apparent reason from minute to minute.
I have taken my own blood pressure whilst trying to meditate, to limit emotional thought, at 15 min intervals and it made no difference, my blood pressure was all over the place.Why ????????
Full Version: Essential Hypertension
QUOTE(John Bobbin BNat @ Nov 15 2007, 06:32 PM) 
Hi everyone,
There are many very clever people on this forum, much cleverer than myself, so I am hoping some of them will run with this. I often get frustrated thinking about essential hypertension.
Hans Selye- (M.D.,Ph.D.,D.Sc.) the pioneer stress researcher and author of "The Stress of Life" conducted a series of animal experiments with rats. He found that when rats are placed under stressful conditions they exhibit the same diseases of adaptation as humans, he compared his rats with humans suffering from injury and disease. Selye concluded that stress plays a part in every disease. Stress was designated as any stimuli and if humans or rats can not cope with the stimuli they develop diseases of adaptation such as ulcers and high blood pressure.
Scientists in behavioral medicine have identified dissatisfaction with life as a possible cause of essential hypertension - people from a poverty stricken background, low educational level, suffering social dissatisfaction and unemployment have elevated rates of essential hypertension.
Dr Martin E.P.Seligman also claims essential hypertension is a symptom not a disease in his book "Learned Optimism".
My frustration, as a full time health practitioner is in treating and explaining how this all occurs and in educating the patient about their condition.
It is not hard to imagine how all the stimuli can create an outpouring of stress hormones to raise the blood pressure through the "Fight/Flight" response while the patient is under pressure and how important it is to burn them up at the end of the day.
But can anybody tell me why blood pressure can move in large increments whilst the patient is relaxing in a seated position, simply gazing out a window at a pleasant view. Blood pressure can go up or down for no apparent reason from minute to minute.
I have taken my own blood pressure whilst trying to meditate, to limit emotional thought, at 15 min intervals and it made no difference, my blood pressure was all over the place.Why ????????
Hi People,
I am not going to attempt to answer my own questions, I have an opinion on what the answer will be but proof is very thin. I thought an example of a patient treatment profile might help. I know high blood pressure is a very serious problem both here and in most of the western world so there must be some people reading this that would like to know more about high blood pressure, and in particular "essential (primary) hypertension. It is scary when your physician says "we don't know what causes high blood pressure in 90-95% of cases", where do you start in attempting to address this problem?
Patient A has suffered from anxiety attacks (panic attacks) since 1978, he is a type A personality, highly competitive in sport and academia, a very high achiever. Second in anything is not an option. He has been happily married for more than 30 years with no complications. He trains hard, holds a 5th dan (Teacher) black belt degree in Karate. Drinks 3 glasses of red wine nightly, has been a champion tennis player but currently does not play. Walks for one hour daily at a rate of 132 steps/minute. He is now approaching 60 years of age and his weight has increased by 8 Kgs over the past 10 years. His diet looked pretty good, meat and 3 veg for evening meal, lunch consisted of a chicken and salad sandwich or sometimes cheese and tomato, breakfast was 4 pieces of toast with vegemite a handful of cashews and 3 cups of black tea, no sweets at all, no takeaways at all and he snacked on fruit.
6 weeks ago I placed him on my version of a DASH diet ( a minimum of 10 serves of vegetables daily), no wine at all until weekends, cereal for breakfast, lunch was only ever salad (lettuce/beetroot/onion/cucumber/carrot/tomato and a portion of grated cheese) salad dressing consisted of olive oil/balsamic vinegar/garlic and whole grain mustard. I attempted to get into his head to change his competitive style of debate and aggressive thoughts.
His weight has dropped 8 Kgs and his blood pressure dropped from between 175/ 95 - 195/100 right down to 132/72- 135/80 and it will continue to drop a bit further as he becomes better at adapting to stimuli and his weight can drop another 3 Kgs. Remember this was called "essential hypertension" no cause was found.
QUOTE(John Bobbin BNat @ Nov 15 2007, 06:32 PM)
Hi everyone,
There are many very clever people on this forum, much cleverer than myself, so I am hoping some of them will run with this. I often get frustrated thinking about essential hypertension.
Hans Selye- (M.D.,Ph.D.,D.Sc.) the pioneer stress researcher and author of "The Stress of Life" conducted a series of animal experiments with rats. He found that when rats are placed under stressful conditions they exhibit the same diseases of adaptation as humans, he compared his rats with humans suffering from injury and disease. Selye concluded that stress plays a part in every disease. Stress was designated as any stimuli and if humans or rats can not cope with the stimuli they develop diseases of adaptation such as ulcers and high blood pressure.
Scientists in behavioral medicine have identified dissatisfaction with life as a possible cause of essential hypertension - people from a poverty stricken background, low educational level, suffering social dissatisfaction and unemployment have elevated rates of essential hypertension.
Dr Martin E.P.Seligman also claims essential hypertension is a symptom not a disease in his book "Learned Optimism".
My frustration, as a full time health practitioner is in treating and explaining how this all occurs and in educating the patient about their condition.
It is not hard to imagine how all the stimuli can create an outpouring of stress hormones to raise the blood pressure through the "Fight/Flight" response while the patient is under pressure and how important it is to burn them up at the end of the day.
But can anybody tell me why blood pressure can move in large increments whilst the patient is relaxing in a seated position, simply gazing out a window at a pleasant view. Blood pressure can go up or down for no apparent reason from minute to minute.
I have taken my own blood pressure whilst trying to meditate, to limit emotional thought, at 15 min intervals and it made no difference, my blood pressure was all over the place.Why ????????
Hi everyone,
Doesn't anyone have an opinion on this?? What about the PhD's, MD's or even ND's, I'll ask my family we have 2 PhD's, 2 BSc's and a lawyer in the family I'll bet they will have an opinion on this, they do on everything else.
If you took someones blood pressure 49 times and it was just elevated most of the time 140 to 145 over 72 to 80 and 27% of the time it was in the 139 to 119 range would you suggest chemical intervention?
Hi People,
Today I found a practical example of what I have been saying,(I know one swallow doesn't make a summer either). This fellow used to play tennis with me in the eighties and he has worked as an accountant after transferring from the bank for most of his life. About twenty years ago his blood pressure started to rise until he required treatment, 3 years ago he retired and guess what, now he is relaxing and doing all of the things he wants to do his blood pressure has totally returned to normal and he is off all medication.
Today I found a practical example of what I have been saying,(I know one swallow doesn't make a summer either). This fellow used to play tennis with me in the eighties and he has worked as an accountant after transferring from the bank for most of his life. About twenty years ago his blood pressure started to rise until he required treatment, 3 years ago he retired and guess what, now he is relaxing and doing all of the things he wants to do his blood pressure has totally returned to normal and he is off all medication.
OK you have high blood pressure, it's not the end of the world, although it can be if you don't take positive steps to reduce it!!!!!!!!!A healthy diet and lifestyle, as this forum keeps promoting, can work miracles for health but you have to be committed, go all of the way, just as you can't be a little bit pregnant you can't be a little bit healthy, you are either healthy or unhealthy and often it is your choice because of the decisions you make, what to eat, how much to eat, how much exercise and the type of exercise, how you handle stress, some people can be a nation's leader and handle the stress while other people freak out from stress as garbage collectors. As Martin E.P.Seligman says it's the arguments you use to justify your actions internally, in other words it's how you talk to yourself, and nobody but you know what thought processes are going on in your head. In summary; look to the DASH diet for information on eating sensibly, increase your exercise, particularly cardiovascular (walking/jogging is cheap), learn to talk your stress down by positive reinforcement ( if you can't do this on your own see a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist). Supplements do not reduce your anxieties they merely help with coping, which is a bit like a bandaid on a bleeding artery, at best a crutch, you are much better off learning to reduce your anxieties internally by talk.
Follow this link to the DASH diet, and I hope I have helped some-one.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/hea...sh/new_dash.pdf :
Hi,
Isn't anyone interested in this extremely important subject, or is it to hard to even think about.
High blood pressure, particularly the kind without a physical cause such as Kidney disease, labeled Essential Hypertension is more likely to be a disease of maladjustment than anything else. During a lengthy discussion yesterday with a Psychologist this opinion was explored, he made the comment, that totally supports what I am saying here, that executives are continually reacting to mental adjustments (stress) daily, and they don't even know they are doing it, it becomes normal for them.
Suddenly they find they have dangerously high blood pressure, often found during a routine check up, and they are confronted by the need to make major changes to their methods of dealing with stress, as well as dietary modification along with an exercise program, all to often this fails because they can not change the way they live their life, the way they have become accustomed to dealing with stress.
Cheers
Isn't anyone interested in this extremely important subject, or is it to hard to even think about.
High blood pressure, particularly the kind without a physical cause such as Kidney disease, labeled Essential Hypertension is more likely to be a disease of maladjustment than anything else. During a lengthy discussion yesterday with a Psychologist this opinion was explored, he made the comment, that totally supports what I am saying here, that executives are continually reacting to mental adjustments (stress) daily, and they don't even know they are doing it, it becomes normal for them.
Suddenly they find they have dangerously high blood pressure, often found during a routine check up, and they are confronted by the need to make major changes to their methods of dealing with stress, as well as dietary modification along with an exercise program, all to often this fails because they can not change the way they live their life, the way they have become accustomed to dealing with stress.
Cheers
Hi Readers,
How Does Your Nervous System Work
We have two main parts to our nervous system, the voluntary nervous system which comprise of the brain and spinal cord, this system directs the movement of the limbs, head and trunk, and we can move them however we like. Paired nerves run from the spinal cord to the muscles they service.
The involuntary nervous system controls the internal organs, heart, blood vessels, lungs, intestine, even the flow of saliva and sweat. The control for this is a brain centre connected with a network of delicate fibres that run either side of the spine, from which numerous threadlike fibres run to the internal organs, this is not under our immediate control, but it does respond to our moods and this is very important when you are trying to understand nerves. When we are afraid our cheeks blanch, our pupils dilate, our hearts beat quickly and our hands may sweat, the only way we can stop this happening is to change our moods. This system is called the involuntary nervous system and it is in itself made up of two parts called the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system sympathises with our moods more demonstrably; hence it’s name. Fear begins with an impulse in the brain, which excites the sympathetic nerves (adrenaline releasing nerves) to stimulate various organs heart, lungs, intestines to produce the signs and symptoms of fear, quickly beating heart, deep breathing and sweating hands. Under normal conditions we don’t feel our body functioning because the parasympathetic nervous system holds the sympathetic system in check, it is only when we are angry, tense or excessively excited or agitated. When the sympathetic nerves dominate for too long your blood pressure rises, blood pressure can be a symptom of moods.
Cheers
How Does Your Nervous System Work
We have two main parts to our nervous system, the voluntary nervous system which comprise of the brain and spinal cord, this system directs the movement of the limbs, head and trunk, and we can move them however we like. Paired nerves run from the spinal cord to the muscles they service.
The involuntary nervous system controls the internal organs, heart, blood vessels, lungs, intestine, even the flow of saliva and sweat. The control for this is a brain centre connected with a network of delicate fibres that run either side of the spine, from which numerous threadlike fibres run to the internal organs, this is not under our immediate control, but it does respond to our moods and this is very important when you are trying to understand nerves. When we are afraid our cheeks blanch, our pupils dilate, our hearts beat quickly and our hands may sweat, the only way we can stop this happening is to change our moods. This system is called the involuntary nervous system and it is in itself made up of two parts called the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system sympathises with our moods more demonstrably; hence it’s name. Fear begins with an impulse in the brain, which excites the sympathetic nerves (adrenaline releasing nerves) to stimulate various organs heart, lungs, intestines to produce the signs and symptoms of fear, quickly beating heart, deep breathing and sweating hands. Under normal conditions we don’t feel our body functioning because the parasympathetic nervous system holds the sympathetic system in check, it is only when we are angry, tense or excessively excited or agitated. When the sympathetic nerves dominate for too long your blood pressure rises, blood pressure can be a symptom of moods.
Cheers
More Proof has come to hand.
1: Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2008 Apr;35(4):498-502.Links
Chronic mental stress is a cause of essential hypertension: presence of biological markers of stress.
Esler M, Eikelis N, Schlaich M, Lambert G, Alvarenga M, Dawood T, Kaye D, Barton D, Pier C, Guo L, Brenchley C, Jennings G, Lambert E.
Baker Heart Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. murray.esler@baker.edu.au
1. In searching for biological evidence that essential hypertension is caused by chronic mental stress, a disputed proposition, parallels are noted with panic disorder, which provides an explicit clinical model of recurring stress responses. 2. There is clinical comorbidity; panic disorder prevalence is increased threefold in essential hypertension. Plasma cortisol is elevated in both. 3. In panic disorder and essential hypertension, but not in health, single sympathetic nerve fibres commonly fire repeatedly within an individual cardiac cycle; this appears to be a signature of stress exposure. For both conditions, adrenaline cotransmission is present in sympathetic nerves. 4. Tissue nerve growth factor is increased in both (nerve growth factor is a stress reactant). There is induction of the adrenaline synthesizing enzyme, phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase, in sympathetic nerves, an explicit indicator of mental stress exposure. 5. The question of whether chronic mental stress causes high blood pressure, still hotly debated, has been reviewed by an Australian Government body, the Specialist Medical Review Council. Despite the challenging medicolegal implications, the Council determined that stress is one proven cause of hypertension, this ruling being published in the 27 March 2002 Australian Government Gazette. This judgement was reached after consideration of the epidemiological evidence, but in particular after review of the specific elements of the neural pathophysiology of essential hypertension, described above
Cheers
Here is another good book.
Advanced Search»
You are here: OUP USA Home > U.S. General Catalog > Medicine > Cardiology
Essential Hypertension and Its Causes
Neural and Non-Neural Mechanisms
Paul I. Korner
bookshot Add to Cart
ISBN13: 9780195094831ISBN10: 0195094832 hardback, 720 pages
May 2007, In Stock
Price:
$99.99 (05)
Shipping Details
* Description
* Reviews
* Product Details
* Author Information
Description
This new account of the pathogenesis of essential hypertension (EH) represents a detailed analysis of the main components of the circulatory control system. The latter's properties resemble those of man-made adaptive control systems in which regulatory parameters are altered when operating conditions exceed certain limits, often through neural mechanisms.
Inheritance of EH depends on both genes and environment. The high blood pressure (BP) genes have not yet been definitively identified, whilst the main environmental causes are mental stress, high dietary salt intake and obesity. EH occurs as two major syndromes, each initiated by chronic stress: 1) Stress-and-salt related EH, and 2) Hypertensive obesity. Stress is perceived by the cortex, from which increased dopaminergic (DA) neuron activity stimulates the hypothalamic defense area, raising sympathetic neural activity (SNA) and BP. Normally these subside quickly when the stress is over, but in those susceptible to EH the DA synapses become sensitized so that the defense response is evoked by ever lower levels of stress. Sensitization is common in memory circuits, but not in autonomic neurons, so that this property in EH may be genetically determined.
Stress-related hypertension increases hypothalamic responsiveness to high salt, resulting in further rises in SNA and BP. Later, non-neural functional changes (e.g. reduction in nitric oxide) and the structural remodeling of resistance vessels further enhance the vasoconstriction. In contrast, in those developing hypertensive obesity food consumption is excessive, which transiently alleviates stress-related anxiety. The brain ignores the leptin-mediated signals that normally curb appetite, contrasting with normal energy regulation in SSR-EH. In hypertensive obesity, the SNA pattern is similar to that in SSR-EH, but vasoconstriction is masked by vasodilatation and fluid retention due to hyperinsulinemia. This syndrome is a volume overload hypertension, where high cardiac output, renal impairment and other non-neural factors contribute to the elevation of BP.
Other topics include the role of various transmitters in autonomic regulation; the place of baroreflexes in the intact organism; why exercise training lowers resting BP; obstructive sleep apnea; non-pharmacological and drug treatment of EH; the role of the kidney in EH and in different types of renal hypertension and the pathogenesis of the Japanese spontaneously hypertensive rat, which provides a valuable animal model for EH.
The work suggests that physiological systems analysis in a complex disorder like EH is a valuable tool for using the great advances in molecular biology to best advantage.
Reviews
"Dr. Korner successfully integrates vast amounts of information learned from research on the pathogenesis of essential hypertension into one comprehensive reference. Initial alterations of neural pressure regulatory system are expertly detailed providing targeted areas for expanded research."--Doody's
"...an invaluable resource to physicians and researchers in hypertension."--British Journal of Hospital Medicine
"Overall Essential Hypertension and Its Causes offers a fresh perspective on the putative causes of hypertension. This perspective may shift the focus of some research to the further illumination of neural mechanisms in the hope of finding new therapeutic measures - or perhaps a way to prevent essential hypertension altogether."--New England Journal of Medicine
"...We have long been missing the publication of books giving a strong,personal, even if controversial, general view of hypertension, such as those once authored by Volhard, Pickering and Page. Now, Paul Korner has provided one."--Journal of Hypertension
Product Details
720 pages; 270 illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-509483-1ISBN10: 0-19-509483-2
About the Author(s)
Paul Korner is Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Monash University, and Emeritus Director of the Baker Medical Research Institute. He was Foundation Professor of Physiology, University of New South Wales (1960-68); Scandrett Professor of Cardiology, University of Sydney (1968-1974); Director of the Baker Medical Research Institute and Professor of Medicine, Monash University (1975-1990).
Cheers
1: Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2008 Apr;35(4):498-502.Links
Chronic mental stress is a cause of essential hypertension: presence of biological markers of stress.
Esler M, Eikelis N, Schlaich M, Lambert G, Alvarenga M, Dawood T, Kaye D, Barton D, Pier C, Guo L, Brenchley C, Jennings G, Lambert E.
Baker Heart Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. murray.esler@baker.edu.au
1. In searching for biological evidence that essential hypertension is caused by chronic mental stress, a disputed proposition, parallels are noted with panic disorder, which provides an explicit clinical model of recurring stress responses. 2. There is clinical comorbidity; panic disorder prevalence is increased threefold in essential hypertension. Plasma cortisol is elevated in both. 3. In panic disorder and essential hypertension, but not in health, single sympathetic nerve fibres commonly fire repeatedly within an individual cardiac cycle; this appears to be a signature of stress exposure. For both conditions, adrenaline cotransmission is present in sympathetic nerves. 4. Tissue nerve growth factor is increased in both (nerve growth factor is a stress reactant). There is induction of the adrenaline synthesizing enzyme, phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase, in sympathetic nerves, an explicit indicator of mental stress exposure. 5. The question of whether chronic mental stress causes high blood pressure, still hotly debated, has been reviewed by an Australian Government body, the Specialist Medical Review Council. Despite the challenging medicolegal implications, the Council determined that stress is one proven cause of hypertension, this ruling being published in the 27 March 2002 Australian Government Gazette. This judgement was reached after consideration of the epidemiological evidence, but in particular after review of the specific elements of the neural pathophysiology of essential hypertension, described above
Cheers
Here is another good book.
Advanced Search»
You are here: OUP USA Home > U.S. General Catalog > Medicine > Cardiology
Essential Hypertension and Its Causes
Neural and Non-Neural Mechanisms
Paul I. Korner
bookshot Add to Cart
ISBN13: 9780195094831ISBN10: 0195094832 hardback, 720 pages
May 2007, In Stock
Price:
$99.99 (05)
Shipping Details
* Description
* Reviews
* Product Details
* Author Information
Description
This new account of the pathogenesis of essential hypertension (EH) represents a detailed analysis of the main components of the circulatory control system. The latter's properties resemble those of man-made adaptive control systems in which regulatory parameters are altered when operating conditions exceed certain limits, often through neural mechanisms.
Inheritance of EH depends on both genes and environment. The high blood pressure (BP) genes have not yet been definitively identified, whilst the main environmental causes are mental stress, high dietary salt intake and obesity. EH occurs as two major syndromes, each initiated by chronic stress: 1) Stress-and-salt related EH, and 2) Hypertensive obesity. Stress is perceived by the cortex, from which increased dopaminergic (DA) neuron activity stimulates the hypothalamic defense area, raising sympathetic neural activity (SNA) and BP. Normally these subside quickly when the stress is over, but in those susceptible to EH the DA synapses become sensitized so that the defense response is evoked by ever lower levels of stress. Sensitization is common in memory circuits, but not in autonomic neurons, so that this property in EH may be genetically determined.
Stress-related hypertension increases hypothalamic responsiveness to high salt, resulting in further rises in SNA and BP. Later, non-neural functional changes (e.g. reduction in nitric oxide) and the structural remodeling of resistance vessels further enhance the vasoconstriction. In contrast, in those developing hypertensive obesity food consumption is excessive, which transiently alleviates stress-related anxiety. The brain ignores the leptin-mediated signals that normally curb appetite, contrasting with normal energy regulation in SSR-EH. In hypertensive obesity, the SNA pattern is similar to that in SSR-EH, but vasoconstriction is masked by vasodilatation and fluid retention due to hyperinsulinemia. This syndrome is a volume overload hypertension, where high cardiac output, renal impairment and other non-neural factors contribute to the elevation of BP.
Other topics include the role of various transmitters in autonomic regulation; the place of baroreflexes in the intact organism; why exercise training lowers resting BP; obstructive sleep apnea; non-pharmacological and drug treatment of EH; the role of the kidney in EH and in different types of renal hypertension and the pathogenesis of the Japanese spontaneously hypertensive rat, which provides a valuable animal model for EH.
The work suggests that physiological systems analysis in a complex disorder like EH is a valuable tool for using the great advances in molecular biology to best advantage.
Reviews
"Dr. Korner successfully integrates vast amounts of information learned from research on the pathogenesis of essential hypertension into one comprehensive reference. Initial alterations of neural pressure regulatory system are expertly detailed providing targeted areas for expanded research."--Doody's
"...an invaluable resource to physicians and researchers in hypertension."--British Journal of Hospital Medicine
"Overall Essential Hypertension and Its Causes offers a fresh perspective on the putative causes of hypertension. This perspective may shift the focus of some research to the further illumination of neural mechanisms in the hope of finding new therapeutic measures - or perhaps a way to prevent essential hypertension altogether."--New England Journal of Medicine
"...We have long been missing the publication of books giving a strong,personal, even if controversial, general view of hypertension, such as those once authored by Volhard, Pickering and Page. Now, Paul Korner has provided one."--Journal of Hypertension
Product Details
720 pages; 270 illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-509483-1ISBN10: 0-19-509483-2
About the Author(s)
Paul Korner is Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Monash University, and Emeritus Director of the Baker Medical Research Institute. He was Foundation Professor of Physiology, University of New South Wales (1960-68); Scandrett Professor of Cardiology, University of Sydney (1968-1974); Director of the Baker Medical Research Institute and Professor of Medicine, Monash University (1975-1990).
Cheers
Hi Readers,
If you have ever taken one of the simpler forms of nervous breakdown, panic attacks, you will understand the devastation it causes to your health. A lot of people dismiss stress as simply being a bit tired, rundown or tense from overwork, and certainly these people are suffering from the effects of stress but it can magnify until it totally takes over your life, and every waking moment is a struggle to shake off the manifestations of an over stressed body.
Hour after hour suffers experience headache, churning stomach, impaired vision, palpitations, dysentery, constipation, trembling, inability to take a deep breath, missed heart beats, giddiness, lump in the throat, nausea and vomiting, weight loss, muscle ache and a fog that engulfs the brain and will not clear. Tiredness sets in and suffer’s lose their way, how do you beat this thing; everything you do sends waves of weird sensations coursing through the body. Day’s turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, even years and still no respite from these horrible symptoms, and everybody says “ What are you worrying about”, they haven’t got a clue what they are talking about. Talking to people that do not understand makes you worse, it simply multiplies the symptoms, by creating tension. You seek medical advice and have a battery of tests that show nothing, you are referred to an “expert” in this field who takes a lot of money off you and in return, creates more stress by saying simply, “ It’s all in your head”.
Reoccurring neve attacks are the scariest thing you will experience, it is so difficult to believe mere nerves could cause all this. Dr Claire Weekes, a famous Australia scientist/medical doctor simplified nerve problems by writing several best selling books written for laymen.
In 2008 the Australian Medical Association was informed by the Specialist Review Panel that stress causes essential hypertension. It seems all sufferers of this malady knew this all along, I wonder how many people could have been saved if this had of been realised earlier, My father would have been one of them, but you need evidence.
1: Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2008 Apr;35(4):498-502.Links
Chronic mental stress is a cause of essential hypertension: presence of biological markers of stress.
Esler M, Eikelis N, Schlaich M, Lambert G, Alvarenga M, Dawood T, Kaye D, Barton D, Pier C, Guo L, Brenchley C, Jennings G, Lambert E.
Baker Heart Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. murray.esler@baker.edu.au
1. In searching for biological evidence that essential hypertension is caused by chronic mental stress, a disputed proposition, parallels are noted with panic disorder, which provides an explicit clinical model of recurring stress responses. 2. There is clinical comorbidity; panic disorder prevalence is increased threefold in essential hypertension. Plasma cortisol is elevated in both. 3. In panic disorder and essential hypertension, but not in health, single sympathetic nerve fibres commonly fire repeatedly within an individual cardiac cycle; this appears to be a signature of stress exposure. For both conditions, adrenaline cotransmission is present in sympathetic nerves. 4. Tissue nerve growth factor is increased in both (nerve growth factor is a stress reactant). There is induction of the adrenaline synthesizing enzyme, phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase, in sympathetic nerves, an explicit indicator of mental stress exposure. 5. The question of whether chronic mental stress causes high blood pressure, still hotly debated, has been reviewed by an Australian Government body, the Specialist Medical Review Council. Despite the challenging medicolegal implications, the Council determined that stress is one proven cause of hypertension, this ruling being published in the 27 March 2002 Australian Government Gazette. This judgement was reached after consideration of the epidemiological evidence, but in particular after review of the specific elements of the neural pathophysiology of essential hypertension, described above.
Cheers
Hi Readers,
This lady is perhaps the greatest scientist/doctor that has ever treated this condition, I refer her work to my patients all of the time and she makes such a difference, everyone improves after following her advice given in laymens terms.
Dr Claire Weekes - Pacific Recordings
Helping you to help yourself....
Biography
Dr Claire Weekes, MBE, MB, DSc, FRACP, has probably done more than anybody else to show people suffering from nervous illness how to help themselves and recover. She is renowned internationally for her special understanding and treatment of nervous illness (eg the anxiety state in all its forms). Her books, audio tapes, and video, are recommended by doctors and used in treatment centres all over the world. This remarkable woman, who pioneered self help in psychiatry, was nominated for the Nobel prize for medicine in 1983, and again in 1990. She was years ahead of her time and her work is as relevant now as it has always been.
Dr Weekes originally studied science and was the first woman to obtain a Doctor of Science degree at the University of Sydney. She worked in research for a number of years before going into medicine eventually being elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Being both a scientist and a physician, Dr Weekes knows that mind and body work together. She believes that nervous illness can begin very simply, developing from stress and nervous fatigue to produce a pattern of symptoms which can become more frightening to the sufferer than the original cause of their illness or breakdown. So afraid of “the state they are in” patients become trapped in a cycle of nervous suffering. Dr Weekes' methods show people how they can break out of this cycle. She teaches them how to reverse the pattern of its development by learning to think and behave differently. That way they can find their own inner strength by developing the right inner voice, which brings about permanent cure.
When she was cramming for her medicine finals Dr Weekes became nervously exhausted herself. Being a scientist first, she could figure out in scientific terms what was happening to her own biochemistry and work out what to do to put herself back together again by changing her attitude towards the situation she was in, seeing things from a different point of view and altering her mood. She found that over a period of time she could alter her stress hormones, increasing the ones that made her feel better and decreasing the ones that made her feel dreadful. Her genius lay not only in discovering this when she was down herself, but being able to communicate it to other people in simple language, so that tired minds could more easily absorb the information.
Her work, which is internationally acclaimed, is based on her own personal experience of nervous exhaustion, her experiences as a doctor helping and observing her patients with all forms of nervous illness, and her ingeniously applied scientific knowledge. She would never claim to cure people, she would always say she showed people how they could cure themselves. And many thousands have done the world over.
Cheers
This lady is perhaps the greatest scientist/doctor that has ever treated this condition, I refer her work to my patients all of the time and she makes such a difference, everyone improves after following her advice given in laymens terms.
Dr Claire Weekes - Pacific Recordings
Helping you to help yourself....
Biography
Dr Claire Weekes, MBE, MB, DSc, FRACP, has probably done more than anybody else to show people suffering from nervous illness how to help themselves and recover. She is renowned internationally for her special understanding and treatment of nervous illness (eg the anxiety state in all its forms). Her books, audio tapes, and video, are recommended by doctors and used in treatment centres all over the world. This remarkable woman, who pioneered self help in psychiatry, was nominated for the Nobel prize for medicine in 1983, and again in 1990. She was years ahead of her time and her work is as relevant now as it has always been.
Dr Weekes originally studied science and was the first woman to obtain a Doctor of Science degree at the University of Sydney. She worked in research for a number of years before going into medicine eventually being elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Being both a scientist and a physician, Dr Weekes knows that mind and body work together. She believes that nervous illness can begin very simply, developing from stress and nervous fatigue to produce a pattern of symptoms which can become more frightening to the sufferer than the original cause of their illness or breakdown. So afraid of “the state they are in” patients become trapped in a cycle of nervous suffering. Dr Weekes' methods show people how they can break out of this cycle. She teaches them how to reverse the pattern of its development by learning to think and behave differently. That way they can find their own inner strength by developing the right inner voice, which brings about permanent cure.
When she was cramming for her medicine finals Dr Weekes became nervously exhausted herself. Being a scientist first, she could figure out in scientific terms what was happening to her own biochemistry and work out what to do to put herself back together again by changing her attitude towards the situation she was in, seeing things from a different point of view and altering her mood. She found that over a period of time she could alter her stress hormones, increasing the ones that made her feel better and decreasing the ones that made her feel dreadful. Her genius lay not only in discovering this when she was down herself, but being able to communicate it to other people in simple language, so that tired minds could more easily absorb the information.
Her work, which is internationally acclaimed, is based on her own personal experience of nervous exhaustion, her experiences as a doctor helping and observing her patients with all forms of nervous illness, and her ingeniously applied scientific knowledge. She would never claim to cure people, she would always say she showed people how they could cure themselves. And many thousands have done the world over.
Cheers
Hi John
Your topics and discussion continue to interest me - in this case I am of particular interest in high blood pressure as it isn't prevalent in my family . . . low blood pressure has been in the family and apparently it is 'normal' in i.e. teenage girls.
Thanks again for all your input,
Tracey
Hi Readers,
This lady is perhaps the greatest scientist/doctor that has ever treated this condition, I refer her work to my patients all of the time and she makes such a difference, everyone improves after following her advice given in laymens terms.
Dr Claire Weekes - Pacific Recordings
Helping you to help yourself....
Biography
Dr Claire Weekes, MBE, MB, DSc, FRACP, has probably done more than anybody else to show people suffering from nervous illness how to help themselves and recover. She is renowned internationally for her special understanding and treatment of nervous illness (eg the anxiety state in all its forms). Her books, audio tapes, and video, are recommended by doctors and used in treatment centres all over the world. This remarkable woman, who pioneered self help in psychiatry, was nominated for the Nobel prize for medicine in 1983, and again in 1990. She was years ahead of her time and her work is as relevant now as it has always been.
Dr Weekes originally studied science and was the first woman to obtain a Doctor of Science degree at the University of Sydney. She worked in research for a number of years before going into medicine eventually being elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Being both a scientist and a physician, Dr Weekes knows that mind and body work together. She believes that nervous illness can begin very simply, developing from stress and nervous fatigue to produce a pattern of symptoms which can become more frightening to the sufferer than the original cause of their illness or breakdown. So afraid of “the state they are in” patients become trapped in a cycle of nervous suffering. Dr Weekes' methods show people how they can break out of this cycle. She teaches them how to reverse the pattern of its development by learning to think and behave differently. That way they can find their own inner strength by developing the right inner voice, which brings about permanent cure.
When she was cramming for her medicine finals Dr Weekes became nervously exhausted herself. Being a scientist first, she could figure out in scientific terms what was happening to her own biochemistry and work out what to do to put herself back together again by changing her attitude towards the situation she was in, seeing things from a different point of view and altering her mood. She found that over a period of time she could alter her stress hormones, increasing the ones that made her feel better and decreasing the ones that made her feel dreadful. Her genius lay not only in discovering this when she was down herself, but being able to communicate it to other people in simple language, so that tired minds could more easily absorb the information.
Her work, which is internationally acclaimed, is based on her own personal experience of nervous exhaustion, her experiences as a doctor helping and observing her patients with all forms of nervous illness, and her ingeniously applied scientific knowledge. She would never claim to cure people, she would always say she showed people how they could cure themselves. And many thousands have done the world over.
Cheers
Your topics and discussion continue to interest me - in this case I am of particular interest in high blood pressure as it isn't prevalent in my family . . . low blood pressure has been in the family and apparently it is 'normal' in i.e. teenage girls.
Thanks again for all your input,
Tracey
QUOTE(John Bobbin BNat @ Feb 25 2009, 02:39 PM)
Hi Readers,
This lady is perhaps the greatest scientist/doctor that has ever treated this condition, I refer her work to my patients all of the time and she makes such a difference, everyone improves after following her advice given in laymens terms.
Dr Claire Weekes - Pacific Recordings
Helping you to help yourself....
Biography
Dr Claire Weekes, MBE, MB, DSc, FRACP, has probably done more than anybody else to show people suffering from nervous illness how to help themselves and recover. She is renowned internationally for her special understanding and treatment of nervous illness (eg the anxiety state in all its forms). Her books, audio tapes, and video, are recommended by doctors and used in treatment centres all over the world. This remarkable woman, who pioneered self help in psychiatry, was nominated for the Nobel prize for medicine in 1983, and again in 1990. She was years ahead of her time and her work is as relevant now as it has always been.
Dr Weekes originally studied science and was the first woman to obtain a Doctor of Science degree at the University of Sydney. She worked in research for a number of years before going into medicine eventually being elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Being both a scientist and a physician, Dr Weekes knows that mind and body work together. She believes that nervous illness can begin very simply, developing from stress and nervous fatigue to produce a pattern of symptoms which can become more frightening to the sufferer than the original cause of their illness or breakdown. So afraid of “the state they are in” patients become trapped in a cycle of nervous suffering. Dr Weekes' methods show people how they can break out of this cycle. She teaches them how to reverse the pattern of its development by learning to think and behave differently. That way they can find their own inner strength by developing the right inner voice, which brings about permanent cure.
When she was cramming for her medicine finals Dr Weekes became nervously exhausted herself. Being a scientist first, she could figure out in scientific terms what was happening to her own biochemistry and work out what to do to put herself back together again by changing her attitude towards the situation she was in, seeing things from a different point of view and altering her mood. She found that over a period of time she could alter her stress hormones, increasing the ones that made her feel better and decreasing the ones that made her feel dreadful. Her genius lay not only in discovering this when she was down herself, but being able to communicate it to other people in simple language, so that tired minds could more easily absorb the information.
Her work, which is internationally acclaimed, is based on her own personal experience of nervous exhaustion, her experiences as a doctor helping and observing her patients with all forms of nervous illness, and her ingeniously applied scientific knowledge. She would never claim to cure people, she would always say she showed people how they could cure themselves. And many thousands have done the world over.
Cheers
Hi Tracey,
Thank you for the kind words.
I haven't read about low blood pressure being normal for teenage girls so I tried unsuccessfully to find it today.
I found this study from Canada.
A Canadian Study finds that adolescence boys are at higher risk for high blood pressure than girls of the same age.// Researchers have found that the seeds of hypertension and its health effects start before adulthood. Cardiologists say that smoking, stress management, lack of exercise, obesity are some of the factors for the cause of high blood pressure, which can result in heart damages.
In the study which began in 1999, Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, a physician at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal and her colleagues studied around 1300 Montreal teenagers (614 boys and 653 girls) and found that the risk for elevated systolic blood pressure remained stable among teen girls while the risk for boys rose over time. (Systolic pressure is the top number in the ratio, over Diastolic).
Dr. Dasgupta added that “By the age of 15, the boys were twice as likely as the girls, and by 17 they were two and half times as likely as the girls, to have a blood pressure" in the top range for their age and height.
Dr. Dasgupta's research papers were published in Tuesday's issue of the U.S. journal Circulation. The research analyzed data from a 1999 to 2005 study on lifestyle behaviours among teens, including tobacco use and physical and sedentary activities. The study also measured blood pressure every two years.
The research concluded: "Boys are more likely than girls to develop high Systolic blood pressure (SBP) as they approach adulthood." "Even among overweight adolescents, reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity may lower the risk of high SBP."
"We were interested in the whole area of adult hypertension (high blood pressure) and the fact that men are more likely to get hypertension than women," she said. "So we wanted to look at this group of adolescents and see when during adolescence do boys and girls start differing in their likelihood for having higher blood pressure levels."
Page: 1 2
Cheers
Thank you for the kind words.
I haven't read about low blood pressure being normal for teenage girls so I tried unsuccessfully to find it today.
I found this study from Canada.
A Canadian Study finds that adolescence boys are at higher risk for high blood pressure than girls of the same age.// Researchers have found that the seeds of hypertension and its health effects start before adulthood. Cardiologists say that smoking, stress management, lack of exercise, obesity are some of the factors for the cause of high blood pressure, which can result in heart damages.
In the study which began in 1999, Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, a physician at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal and her colleagues studied around 1300 Montreal teenagers (614 boys and 653 girls) and found that the risk for elevated systolic blood pressure remained stable among teen girls while the risk for boys rose over time. (Systolic pressure is the top number in the ratio, over Diastolic).
Dr. Dasgupta added that “By the age of 15, the boys were twice as likely as the girls, and by 17 they were two and half times as likely as the girls, to have a blood pressure" in the top range for their age and height.
Dr. Dasgupta's research papers were published in Tuesday's issue of the U.S. journal Circulation. The research analyzed data from a 1999 to 2005 study on lifestyle behaviours among teens, including tobacco use and physical and sedentary activities. The study also measured blood pressure every two years.
The research concluded: "Boys are more likely than girls to develop high Systolic blood pressure (SBP) as they approach adulthood." "Even among overweight adolescents, reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity may lower the risk of high SBP."
"We were interested in the whole area of adult hypertension (high blood pressure) and the fact that men are more likely to get hypertension than women," she said. "So we wanted to look at this group of adolescents and see when during adolescence do boys and girls start differing in their likelihood for having higher blood pressure levels."
Page: 1 2
Cheers
Hi,
Here is some good advice on panic attacks, by people that know what they are talking about.
* University of Cambridge
* Counselling Service
* Self-help Resources
* Self-help leaflets
Self-help Leaflets on Common Problems
Anxiety & Panic
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a normal emotional and physiological response to feeling threatened. People differ as to how vulnerable they feel in different situations: this can be influenced by past experiences as well as by the beliefs and attitudes they hold about these situations.
Some general situations which often cause anxiety include:
* leaving home and / or adapting to life at university
* moving to a new area or new job
* giving presentations, or performing in social situations
* coping with work and exams
* dealing with relationships or the lack of relationships
* sexuality issues
* preparing to leave university.
But sometimes it is specific situations that are anxiety provoking
* apprehension about entering new or situations
* having to deal with people in authority
* worrying about whether you have chosen the right course or job
* panic about facing exams or making a presentation
* worrying about social acceptance and approval, or about failure, criticism or rejection from others
* fears about health.
The experience of anxiety can range from mild uneasiness and worry to severe panic. At a reasonable level, short bursts of anxiety can motivate us and enhance our performance, but if anxiety becomes too severe or chronic, however, it can become debilitating.
Anxiety typically involves an emotional component (e.g. fear, nervousness), a physiological component (e.g. fast breathing, trembling, dry mouth, heart racing, stomach churning) and a cognitive component (frightening or negative thoughts, e.g. I'm going to fail/make a fool of myself/loose control). These can then affect our behaviour, for example by putting off or stopping work, avoiding people or situations, not sleeping, drinking too much or taking illicit substances.
How you can help yourself
First of all, you need to know that anxiety is entirely normal. Everyone feels anxious when they are in a stressful situation where they feel vulnerable, so being anxious does not mean that you are 'weak' or 'abnormal'.
In fact, a certain level of stress can be very helpful - it can motivate us, be exciting or invigorating, and enable us to reach higher and meet new challenges. After all, if we never tackled things that we found challenging, that we were uncertain that we could succeed at, we would stop learning or moving on in life.
However, it is also the case that too much stress can seriously interfere with living a normal life. Nonetheless, acute anxiety states are time-limited and will start to fade away in a relatively short period of time. Even when the anxiety is intense, you can still probably function better than you expect, and other people are often unaware of how you are feeling.
Here are some strategies you can try for yourself:
1. Review the stressful circumstances in your life
Think about all the things that are going on in your life which might be causing you stress. When possible, try to find practical solutions to reduce these sources of stress. This might include:
* saying "no" to things you do not want to do
* giving up unnecessary, time-consuming activities and responsibilities
* confronting work problems by talking to your tutor, director of studies or supervisor/manager
* using an organised and realistic plan of action to tackle projects
* asking for information or feedback if helpful
* discussing a relationship problem.
Be prepared to acknowledge what feels right for you and be kind enough to yourself to respond to your needs. Increase your ability to cope with stress by looking after your health, which includes trying to eat well, exercise regularly and rest properly. Support from other people is very important, so spend time with supportive friends and/or family members. Doing enjoyable activities, either on your own or with other people, is also important, so continue with your hobbies or interests and consider taking up something you have been wanting to do for a while.
If you are uncertain about what is making you anxious, talk this through with a counsellor to explore and understand the anxiety and how to deal with it.
2. A rational approach to challenging negative thoughts
When people are very anxious they tend to exaggerate how threatening a situation is, and to underplay how effectively they can cope with that situation. Our thoughts are distorted by our emotional state, and it can help to "stand back" and evaluate the situation more realistically when you feel calm. Below is a rational approach to put the fears into perspective, to challenge their validity, or to find an alternative view of your situation. Ask yourself questions such as these:
Are you judging yourself harshly?
* Are you focusing on your failures and forgetting your successes? Have you managed to survive similar situations in the past (or even to succeed despite them!)? Are you judging your entire existence on the basis of this one event or one part of life, or are you expecting to be perfect?
Are you "catastrophising"?
* Are you seeing things in all or nothing terms, or assuming that to not succeed would be an absolute catastrophe?
Are you worrying about the future?
* Are you assuming that you know what will happen in the future?
* What evidence have you got that your fears are valid?
* Are you exaggerating the chance of something going wrong or minimising the possibility of your working it out fine?
* Are you spending time frightening yourself about situations that you aren't actually facing at present, and which may never happen?
Are you comparing yourself to others?
* Are you assuming that everyone else is doing fine except you, when you don't actually know how others are feeling or managing?
* Are you blaming yourself for things that you cannot control, or are not your responsibility?
Two examples of challenging irrational thinking:-
* Irrational: "I'll make a fool of myself in front of all these new people and they won't like me."
* Rational: "A lot of people will be feeling anxious like me. If I try to be friendly and pleasant, people have responded well to that in the past - I should be able to do it this time as well."
* Irrational: "I'm going to fail my exams."
* Rational: "I have been doing some revision. I've done OK with the course work. The work is supposed to be more challenging. I've passed exams before."
3. Distract yourself
Some people find it more effective to distract themselves from their frightening thoughts, perhaps by repeating a calming phrase to themselves such as "Stay calm and relaxed. I will feel better soon", or by doing mental arithmetic or saying the alphabet backwards. You can also try to distract yourself by focusing your attention on some external stimulus such as listening to a conversation, watching television, or becoming aware of what is going on around you. If you can stop attending to frightening thoughts, these will no longer be able to fuel your anxiety.
N.B. This is not the same as avoidance! It aims to help you stay in the stressful situation, not to opt out of it.
4. Face the situation
Confronting, rather than avoiding anxiety-provoking situations also helps. When anxiety occurs in certain situations it has become a learned response to those situations and it is a question of learning a new (relaxed) response. If you make yourself stay in the feared situation for long enough, the anxiety will reduce over time until it is completely extinguished. You could draw up a hierarchy of your feared situations, confronting the least threatening situation first and experience the diminution of your anxiety in that situation before progressing to a slightly more threatening situation in your hierarchy.
5. Learn to relax
The physical symptoms of anxiety occur because adrenaline is released by the nervous system into the blood stream and affects organs such as the heart, stomach and muscles. Relaxation and breathing exercises can help you to control these symptoms. You can learn how your body feels when it is relaxed if you tense different parts of your body (e.g. arms, hands, legs, neck, shoulders, forehead) for a few seconds, and then allow them to relax. Try to keep your breathing slow and regular so that you do not hyperventilate, which makes the physical symptoms worse.
It may help you to join a relaxation class. Relaxation exercises need to be practised initially when calm - you will become better able to relax in stressful situations with increasing practice.
Panic Attacks
A panic attack is a severe experience of anxiety. People may feel intense dread, experience various physical symptoms and have extreme thoughts of losing control, going mad, having a heart attack or dying. It is also possible to become afraid of panic attacks themselves because the experience can be so unpleasant. Paradoxically this tends to make a person even more prone to having an attack!
Although panic attacks can be very frightening, they are not actually harmful - people do not actually have heart attacks, develop psychiatric illnesses or die from them!
Here are some strategies to help in the event of a panic attack:
* Remind yourself that a panic attack will end!
* Remind yourself that panic attacks are not actually dangerous!
* Remind yourself of any previous occasions when you handled a similar situation well.
* Picture a person you trust or who cares about you and imagine the person is with you offering encouragement.
* Focus on the present moment and on the things around (outside of) you - observe their shape, colour, sounds...
* Stop what you are doing and slow yourself down for a moment! Breathe more slowly and gently (though not actually holding your breath). Then continue what you were doing slowly.
* Take a big sigh, stretch out, and then flop and relax.
* If you are able, take some gentle exercise, e.g. go for a stroll.
* Get angry! Don't let this anxiety (or situation) get the better of you!
When to seek further help
Anxiety can affect your health only when it becomes chronic and severe, so it is important that you seek help if you think that this is the case:
* if the anxiety problems do not start to improve despite trying the ideas above
* if your fears are persistent and difficult to control
* if your anxiety is stopping you from living a normal life, or if you are avoiding important activities.
Where to get help
* Speak to a close friend or family member, Tutor, Supervisor, Director of Studies or College Nurse.
* Talk to your G.P.
* Speak to someone at the University Counselling Service where counsellors can help you understand and deal with your anxiety. For students a psychologist can help with cognitive-behavioural work - you can be seen on a one-to-one basis or join an anxiety management group.
Cheers
Here is some good advice on panic attacks, by people that know what they are talking about.
* University of Cambridge
* Counselling Service
* Self-help Resources
* Self-help leaflets
Self-help Leaflets on Common Problems
Anxiety & Panic
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a normal emotional and physiological response to feeling threatened. People differ as to how vulnerable they feel in different situations: this can be influenced by past experiences as well as by the beliefs and attitudes they hold about these situations.
Some general situations which often cause anxiety include:
* leaving home and / or adapting to life at university
* moving to a new area or new job
* giving presentations, or performing in social situations
* coping with work and exams
* dealing with relationships or the lack of relationships
* sexuality issues
* preparing to leave university.
But sometimes it is specific situations that are anxiety provoking
* apprehension about entering new or situations
* having to deal with people in authority
* worrying about whether you have chosen the right course or job
* panic about facing exams or making a presentation
* worrying about social acceptance and approval, or about failure, criticism or rejection from others
* fears about health.
The experience of anxiety can range from mild uneasiness and worry to severe panic. At a reasonable level, short bursts of anxiety can motivate us and enhance our performance, but if anxiety becomes too severe or chronic, however, it can become debilitating.
Anxiety typically involves an emotional component (e.g. fear, nervousness), a physiological component (e.g. fast breathing, trembling, dry mouth, heart racing, stomach churning) and a cognitive component (frightening or negative thoughts, e.g. I'm going to fail/make a fool of myself/loose control). These can then affect our behaviour, for example by putting off or stopping work, avoiding people or situations, not sleeping, drinking too much or taking illicit substances.
How you can help yourself
First of all, you need to know that anxiety is entirely normal. Everyone feels anxious when they are in a stressful situation where they feel vulnerable, so being anxious does not mean that you are 'weak' or 'abnormal'.
In fact, a certain level of stress can be very helpful - it can motivate us, be exciting or invigorating, and enable us to reach higher and meet new challenges. After all, if we never tackled things that we found challenging, that we were uncertain that we could succeed at, we would stop learning or moving on in life.
However, it is also the case that too much stress can seriously interfere with living a normal life. Nonetheless, acute anxiety states are time-limited and will start to fade away in a relatively short period of time. Even when the anxiety is intense, you can still probably function better than you expect, and other people are often unaware of how you are feeling.
Here are some strategies you can try for yourself:
1. Review the stressful circumstances in your life
Think about all the things that are going on in your life which might be causing you stress. When possible, try to find practical solutions to reduce these sources of stress. This might include:
* saying "no" to things you do not want to do
* giving up unnecessary, time-consuming activities and responsibilities
* confronting work problems by talking to your tutor, director of studies or supervisor/manager
* using an organised and realistic plan of action to tackle projects
* asking for information or feedback if helpful
* discussing a relationship problem.
Be prepared to acknowledge what feels right for you and be kind enough to yourself to respond to your needs. Increase your ability to cope with stress by looking after your health, which includes trying to eat well, exercise regularly and rest properly. Support from other people is very important, so spend time with supportive friends and/or family members. Doing enjoyable activities, either on your own or with other people, is also important, so continue with your hobbies or interests and consider taking up something you have been wanting to do for a while.
If you are uncertain about what is making you anxious, talk this through with a counsellor to explore and understand the anxiety and how to deal with it.
2. A rational approach to challenging negative thoughts
When people are very anxious they tend to exaggerate how threatening a situation is, and to underplay how effectively they can cope with that situation. Our thoughts are distorted by our emotional state, and it can help to "stand back" and evaluate the situation more realistically when you feel calm. Below is a rational approach to put the fears into perspective, to challenge their validity, or to find an alternative view of your situation. Ask yourself questions such as these:
Are you judging yourself harshly?
* Are you focusing on your failures and forgetting your successes? Have you managed to survive similar situations in the past (or even to succeed despite them!)? Are you judging your entire existence on the basis of this one event or one part of life, or are you expecting to be perfect?
Are you "catastrophising"?
* Are you seeing things in all or nothing terms, or assuming that to not succeed would be an absolute catastrophe?
Are you worrying about the future?
* Are you assuming that you know what will happen in the future?
* What evidence have you got that your fears are valid?
* Are you exaggerating the chance of something going wrong or minimising the possibility of your working it out fine?
* Are you spending time frightening yourself about situations that you aren't actually facing at present, and which may never happen?
Are you comparing yourself to others?
* Are you assuming that everyone else is doing fine except you, when you don't actually know how others are feeling or managing?
* Are you blaming yourself for things that you cannot control, or are not your responsibility?
Two examples of challenging irrational thinking:-
* Irrational: "I'll make a fool of myself in front of all these new people and they won't like me."
* Rational: "A lot of people will be feeling anxious like me. If I try to be friendly and pleasant, people have responded well to that in the past - I should be able to do it this time as well."
* Irrational: "I'm going to fail my exams."
* Rational: "I have been doing some revision. I've done OK with the course work. The work is supposed to be more challenging. I've passed exams before."
3. Distract yourself
Some people find it more effective to distract themselves from their frightening thoughts, perhaps by repeating a calming phrase to themselves such as "Stay calm and relaxed. I will feel better soon", or by doing mental arithmetic or saying the alphabet backwards. You can also try to distract yourself by focusing your attention on some external stimulus such as listening to a conversation, watching television, or becoming aware of what is going on around you. If you can stop attending to frightening thoughts, these will no longer be able to fuel your anxiety.
N.B. This is not the same as avoidance! It aims to help you stay in the stressful situation, not to opt out of it.
4. Face the situation
Confronting, rather than avoiding anxiety-provoking situations also helps. When anxiety occurs in certain situations it has become a learned response to those situations and it is a question of learning a new (relaxed) response. If you make yourself stay in the feared situation for long enough, the anxiety will reduce over time until it is completely extinguished. You could draw up a hierarchy of your feared situations, confronting the least threatening situation first and experience the diminution of your anxiety in that situation before progressing to a slightly more threatening situation in your hierarchy.
5. Learn to relax
The physical symptoms of anxiety occur because adrenaline is released by the nervous system into the blood stream and affects organs such as the heart, stomach and muscles. Relaxation and breathing exercises can help you to control these symptoms. You can learn how your body feels when it is relaxed if you tense different parts of your body (e.g. arms, hands, legs, neck, shoulders, forehead) for a few seconds, and then allow them to relax. Try to keep your breathing slow and regular so that you do not hyperventilate, which makes the physical symptoms worse.
It may help you to join a relaxation class. Relaxation exercises need to be practised initially when calm - you will become better able to relax in stressful situations with increasing practice.
Panic Attacks
A panic attack is a severe experience of anxiety. People may feel intense dread, experience various physical symptoms and have extreme thoughts of losing control, going mad, having a heart attack or dying. It is also possible to become afraid of panic attacks themselves because the experience can be so unpleasant. Paradoxically this tends to make a person even more prone to having an attack!
Although panic attacks can be very frightening, they are not actually harmful - people do not actually have heart attacks, develop psychiatric illnesses or die from them!
Here are some strategies to help in the event of a panic attack:
* Remind yourself that a panic attack will end!
* Remind yourself that panic attacks are not actually dangerous!
* Remind yourself of any previous occasions when you handled a similar situation well.
* Picture a person you trust or who cares about you and imagine the person is with you offering encouragement.
* Focus on the present moment and on the things around (outside of) you - observe their shape, colour, sounds...
* Stop what you are doing and slow yourself down for a moment! Breathe more slowly and gently (though not actually holding your breath). Then continue what you were doing slowly.
* Take a big sigh, stretch out, and then flop and relax.
* If you are able, take some gentle exercise, e.g. go for a stroll.
* Get angry! Don't let this anxiety (or situation) get the better of you!
When to seek further help
Anxiety can affect your health only when it becomes chronic and severe, so it is important that you seek help if you think that this is the case:
* if the anxiety problems do not start to improve despite trying the ideas above
* if your fears are persistent and difficult to control
* if your anxiety is stopping you from living a normal life, or if you are avoiding important activities.
Where to get help
* Speak to a close friend or family member, Tutor, Supervisor, Director of Studies or College Nurse.
* Talk to your G.P.
* Speak to someone at the University Counselling Service where counsellors can help you understand and deal with your anxiety. For students a psychologist can help with cognitive-behavioural work - you can be seen on a one-to-one basis or join an anxiety management group.
Cheers
Do You Feel Like A Pea.
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Proteins From Garden Pea May Help Fight High Blood Pressure, Kidney Disease
ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2009) — Researchers in Canada are reporting that proteins found in a common garden pea show promise as a natural food additive or new dietary supplement for fighting high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Those potentially life-threatening conditions affect millions of people worldwide.
See also:
Health & Medicine
* Kidney Disease
* Hypertension
* Cholesterol
Plants & Animals
* Food
* Cell Biology
* Molecular Biology
Reference
* Inflammation of the kidney
* Dialysis
* Kidney transplantation
* Excretory system
The study, which was presented March 22 at the American Chemical Society's 237th National Meeting, is the first reporting that a natural food product can relieve symptoms of CKD, the scientists say.
Peas long have been recognized as nutritional superstars, with healthful amounts of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins wrapped in a low-fat, cholesterol-free package. The new research focuses on the yellow garden pea, a mainstay pea variety enjoyed as a veggie side-dish and used as an ingredient in dozens of recipes around the world.
"In people with high blood pressure, our protein could potentially delay or prevent the onset of kidney damage," says study presenter Rotimi Aluko, Ph.D., a food chemist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. "In people who already have kidney disease, our protein may help them maintain normal blood pressure levels so they can live longer."
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for CKD, a condition that has been affecting an increasing number of people in the United States and other countries. Estimates suggest that 13 percent of American adults — about 26 million people — have chronic kidney disease, up from 10 percent, or about 20 million people, in the 1990s. CKD is difficult to treat, and may progress to end-stage kidney disease that requires kidney dialysis or a kidney transplant. That situation is fostering a search for new ways of treating CKD and preserving kidney function.
Working with University of Manitoba colleague Harold Aukema, Ph.D., Aluko purified a mixture of small proteins — called pea protein hydrolysate — from the yellow garden pea. The researchers fed small daily doses of the protein mixture to laboratory rats with polycystic kidney disease, a severe form of kidney disease used as a model for research on CKD. At the end of the 8-week-long study period, the protein-fed rats with kidney disease showed a 20 percent drop in blood pressure when compared to diseased rats on a normal diet, the researchers say.
"This is significant because a majority of CKD patients actually die from cardiovascular complications that arise from the high blood pressure associated with kidney malfunction," Aluko notes.
In both rats and humans with polycystic kidney disease, the condition causes urine output to be severely reduced and the kidneys are unable to properly remove dangerous toxins. The researchers showed that their pea extract caused a 30 percent boost in urine production in the diseased rats, bringing their urine to within normal levels.
"That's a huge improvement," says Aluko, adding that there were no obvious adverse side effects from the pea protein.
Based on those promising results, the researchers plan to test the protein extract in humans with mild hypertension within the next year at the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, University of Manitoba, in collaboration with co-investigator Dr. Peter Jones. Scientists do not know exactly how the pea extract works. However, it appears to boost production of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), a protein that boosts kidney function, the researchers say.
Aluko points out that eating yellow peas in their natural state won't produce the same potential health benefits as the purified protein extract. The potentially beneficial proteins exist in an inactive state in natural peas, and must be activated by treatment with special enzymes.
But the pea extract does have a very welcome social advantage over fresh peas: "It won't give you gas," notes Aluko. That's because the purified proteins don't contain the complex plant-sugars found in fresh beans that are known to trigger flatulence. The extract itself does not appear to have any unpleasant taste or odor, he adds.
If studies continue to show promise, Aluko estimates that the extract could hit the consumer market within the next two to three years. The extract could be made into a soluble powder that can be added to foods and beverages or it could be developed into a pill, the scientists say.
The government of Canada funded the research through its Advanced Foods and Materials Network of Centre of Excellence (AFMnet), whose scientific director is Dr. Rickey Yada and executive director is Ron Woznow. Nutri-Pea Ltd., a private Canadian company that specializes in making food products from yellow peas, was the industrial partner for the project.
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Proteins From Garden Pea May Help Fight High Blood Pressure, Kidney Disease
ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2009) — Researchers in Canada are reporting that proteins found in a common garden pea show promise as a natural food additive or new dietary supplement for fighting high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Those potentially life-threatening conditions affect millions of people worldwide.
See also:
Health & Medicine
* Kidney Disease
* Hypertension
* Cholesterol
Plants & Animals
* Food
* Cell Biology
* Molecular Biology
Reference
* Inflammation of the kidney
* Dialysis
* Kidney transplantation
* Excretory system
The study, which was presented March 22 at the American Chemical Society's 237th National Meeting, is the first reporting that a natural food product can relieve symptoms of CKD, the scientists say.
Peas long have been recognized as nutritional superstars, with healthful amounts of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins wrapped in a low-fat, cholesterol-free package. The new research focuses on the yellow garden pea, a mainstay pea variety enjoyed as a veggie side-dish and used as an ingredient in dozens of recipes around the world.
"In people with high blood pressure, our protein could potentially delay or prevent the onset of kidney damage," says study presenter Rotimi Aluko, Ph.D., a food chemist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. "In people who already have kidney disease, our protein may help them maintain normal blood pressure levels so they can live longer."
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for CKD, a condition that has been affecting an increasing number of people in the United States and other countries. Estimates suggest that 13 percent of American adults — about 26 million people — have chronic kidney disease, up from 10 percent, or about 20 million people, in the 1990s. CKD is difficult to treat, and may progress to end-stage kidney disease that requires kidney dialysis or a kidney transplant. That situation is fostering a search for new ways of treating CKD and preserving kidney function.
Working with University of Manitoba colleague Harold Aukema, Ph.D., Aluko purified a mixture of small proteins — called pea protein hydrolysate — from the yellow garden pea. The researchers fed small daily doses of the protein mixture to laboratory rats with polycystic kidney disease, a severe form of kidney disease used as a model for research on CKD. At the end of the 8-week-long study period, the protein-fed rats with kidney disease showed a 20 percent drop in blood pressure when compared to diseased rats on a normal diet, the researchers say.
"This is significant because a majority of CKD patients actually die from cardiovascular complications that arise from the high blood pressure associated with kidney malfunction," Aluko notes.
In both rats and humans with polycystic kidney disease, the condition causes urine output to be severely reduced and the kidneys are unable to properly remove dangerous toxins. The researchers showed that their pea extract caused a 30 percent boost in urine production in the diseased rats, bringing their urine to within normal levels.
"That's a huge improvement," says Aluko, adding that there were no obvious adverse side effects from the pea protein.
Based on those promising results, the researchers plan to test the protein extract in humans with mild hypertension within the next year at the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, University of Manitoba, in collaboration with co-investigator Dr. Peter Jones. Scientists do not know exactly how the pea extract works. However, it appears to boost production of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), a protein that boosts kidney function, the researchers say.
Aluko points out that eating yellow peas in their natural state won't produce the same potential health benefits as the purified protein extract. The potentially beneficial proteins exist in an inactive state in natural peas, and must be activated by treatment with special enzymes.
But the pea extract does have a very welcome social advantage over fresh peas: "It won't give you gas," notes Aluko. That's because the purified proteins don't contain the complex plant-sugars found in fresh beans that are known to trigger flatulence. The extract itself does not appear to have any unpleasant taste or odor, he adds.
If studies continue to show promise, Aluko estimates that the extract could hit the consumer market within the next two to three years. The extract could be made into a soluble powder that can be added to foods and beverages or it could be developed into a pill, the scientists say.
The government of Canada funded the research through its Advanced Foods and Materials Network of Centre of Excellence (AFMnet), whose scientific director is Dr. Rickey Yada and executive director is Ron Woznow. Nutri-Pea Ltd., a private Canadian company that specializes in making food products from yellow peas, was the industrial partner for the project.
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Hi Guys,
Essential Hypertension has been a life-long fascination for me, as it has effected so many of my father's family, and I am sure this is the form it is taking. Some of the family appear to be beating it now and I think they may have stumbled onto the answer by accident..
Essential Hypertension
By the time you read this we will be into our Christmas holiday period and a lot of people will be feeling very stressed. I would love to see a blood pressure monitor automatically calibrating the blood pressure of drivers as they made their way through traffic, I am sure it would be very interesting. A lot of motorists are pedantic about their health all through the year and then jeopardise it all in a flash of madness, on the highway, en route to a relaxing holiday.
Over worked shopkeepers are just another stressed group in our community at this time; almost everyone would feel some discomfort with work demands and the volume of people. This will all return to normal in a short time, and be forgotten until next year, but spare a thought for those people living with chronic panic attacks. Panic attacks usually occur out of the blue after some minor event, such as jumping up out of bed too quickly, but the stage had been set for years.
People that seem to always be on high alert, people that concentrate all of the time are candidates for panic attacks. These people seem to indestructible and their battery never runs down, they can outlast the field, and it is these qualities that set the stage for panic attacks, they are simply too alert and produce small squirts of adrenaline too easily. Curtis Stone, of “Surfing The Menu” fame said recently, and I wish it were true, “Australians are so laid back, they are half asleep most of the time”. If we were so relaxed we probably wouldn’t achieve much, but our anxiety problems wouldn’t exist either. People sometimes suffer panic attacks for life, once they occur. Panic attacks are now considered a cause of essential. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18307749
Cheers
Essential Hypertension has been a life-long fascination for me, as it has effected so many of my father's family, and I am sure this is the form it is taking. Some of the family appear to be beating it now and I think they may have stumbled onto the answer by accident..
Essential Hypertension
By the time you read this we will be into our Christmas holiday period and a lot of people will be feeling very stressed. I would love to see a blood pressure monitor automatically calibrating the blood pressure of drivers as they made their way through traffic, I am sure it would be very interesting. A lot of motorists are pedantic about their health all through the year and then jeopardise it all in a flash of madness, on the highway, en route to a relaxing holiday.
Over worked shopkeepers are just another stressed group in our community at this time; almost everyone would feel some discomfort with work demands and the volume of people. This will all return to normal in a short time, and be forgotten until next year, but spare a thought for those people living with chronic panic attacks. Panic attacks usually occur out of the blue after some minor event, such as jumping up out of bed too quickly, but the stage had been set for years.
People that seem to always be on high alert, people that concentrate all of the time are candidates for panic attacks. These people seem to indestructible and their battery never runs down, they can outlast the field, and it is these qualities that set the stage for panic attacks, they are simply too alert and produce small squirts of adrenaline too easily. Curtis Stone, of “Surfing The Menu” fame said recently, and I wish it were true, “Australians are so laid back, they are half asleep most of the time”. If we were so relaxed we probably wouldn’t achieve much, but our anxiety problems wouldn’t exist either. People sometimes suffer panic attacks for life, once they occur. Panic attacks are now considered a cause of essential. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18307749
Cheers
Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure.Hypertension or high blood pressure is a condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is chronically elevated. With every heart beat,the heart pumps blood through the arteries to the rest of the body.Blood pressure is the force of blood that is pushing up against the walls of the blood vessels.
essential hypertension can be caused by 1. over activity
2. stress
3. lack of sleep
4. anxiety
6. a burst of emotion
7. a sudden motion requiring extreme effort
8. and simply quarreling with someone else.
2. stress
3. lack of sleep
4. anxiety
6. a burst of emotion
7. a sudden motion requiring extreme effort
8. and simply quarreling with someone else.
Hi johnson,
I think you have confused "essential hypertension" with a normal rise in blood pressure that is simply transient.
QUOTE(johnson @ Jan 12 2010, 08:05 PM)
essential hypertension can be caused by 1. over activity
2. stress
3. lack of sleep
4. anxiety
6. a burst of emotion
7. a sudden motion requiring extreme effort
8. and simply quarreling with someone else.
Essential Hypertension is the term used by doctors for elevated blood pressure attributed to unknown causes, you see it written on a lot of death certificates as well.
Panic attacks of a chronic nature has now been declared a cause by nature of the similaries involved in their production of symptoms http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18307749
Cheers
I wonder why the big pharmaceutical firms are not formulating a medicine that is not taken for life. Prolong intake can shorten lives, just in case you forget. Hmmm, is this a matter of staying in business longer than the average living man? One example is the medicine for hypertension. Too costly for a middle class man to live longer what more for the poor? Just some points to ponder from me, an advocate of only toxic-free "anything" from food to naturally made medicine.
Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure is elevated. It is also referred to as high blood pressure or shortened to HT, HTN or HPN. Hypertension is one of the most common complex disorders.
There's also evidence that some hypertension can be caused by vascular compression. My aunt recently had microvascular decompression neurosurgery for hemifacial spasm. The doctor that performed the surgery "fixed" (won't say cure, as MVD is still not accepted by some neurologists as such) not only her hemifacial spasm, but also "fixed" something in the cranial nerve region during the surgery and as a result she no longer has hypertension. Interesting, to say the least!
Hi health-buddy,
That's extremely interesting, I would never have suspected it as a cause of chronic hypertension, congratulations on a well written post, no cutting and pasting.... and you didn't even try to sell anything... amazing.
For anyone wanting to understand a bit more about this condition, and I did, here is a link.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1170722-overview
Cheers
That's extremely interesting, I would never have suspected it as a cause of chronic hypertension, congratulations on a well written post, no cutting and pasting.... and you didn't even try to sell anything... amazing.
For anyone wanting to understand a bit more about this condition, and I did, here is a link.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1170722-overview
Cheers
Hypertension is a condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is chronically elevated.Hypertension is high blood pressure.Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of arteries as it flows through them. 
Hi Shane,
The discussion was not about hypertension, which was adequately covered and described earlier, but about " essential hypertension" , which means cause unknown, but now they have concurred as to one cause, and that is panic attacks are now recognised as a cause, and Australia led the charge.Martin E.P. Seligman has said for years hypertension is a symptom not a disease.
http://www.healthcastle.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1264
This is also very closely related to panic attacks, it often is the driver behind the attacks and goes unnoticed often for many, many years, usually the patient suspects it and tells the GP who confirms it and charges you for the diagnosis.
Cheers
The discussion was not about hypertension, which was adequately covered and described earlier, but about " essential hypertension" , which means cause unknown, but now they have concurred as to one cause, and that is panic attacks are now recognised as a cause, and Australia led the charge.Martin E.P. Seligman has said for years hypertension is a symptom not a disease.
http://www.healthcastle.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1264
This is also very closely related to panic attacks, it often is the driver behind the attacks and goes unnoticed often for many, many years, usually the patient suspects it and tells the GP who confirms it and charges you for the diagnosis.
Cheers
Hypertension is high blood pressure.Hypertension provides a forum for the presentation of scientific investigation of the highest quality in the broad field of blood pressure regulation and the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying hypertensive diseases.Hypertension is a major health problem, especially because it has no symptoms.Many people have hypertension without knowing it. 
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