One explanation for why anxiety and dizziness often go together is to do with the fight or flight response.  When we are anxious our bodies natural protection mechanism, the flight or flight response, tries to protect us by focusing our energy and attention on the perceived threat. It draws blood towards our core and gives less resources to unnecessary functions.

Somewhere along the line our balance mechanism in our inner ear is disrupted causing what is a harmless although unpleasant symptom.  It should be noted that dizziness can be caused by other things than anxiety, so a trip to the doctor to rule out ear infections, viruses, labyrinthitis and other physical causes is important.

Assuming it is anxiety, the best thing to do is to come to terms with it. It is harmless and passes quickly as soon as you relax. The problem is that because it feels so unpleasant we tend to assume it is more serious than it is, and this causes us to worry more and feed the fear cycle.

If dizziness from anxiety is a serious problem for you then the normal anxiety medications like SSRI’s and Benzodiazepines may well help. There is also a drug called prochlorperazine (marketed as Stemetil and Buccastem) which is used to treat dizziness and associated nausea or vomiting.

Really though, drugs should be a last resort. Easier to say than do, but if you can accept anxiety symptoms they will pass, lessen and eventually disappear, and dizziness is no exception. Try taking some calming breaths and telling yourself that the dizziness you are experiencing is just an unpleasant symptom and nothing else.

More of a problem is when children start to experience unreasonable anxiety. Unreasonable anxiety is hard to define, but if it is interfering with education, development or socializing then you can be pretty sure it has gone too far.  Some children can develop phobias of school or of going out alone. These insecurities may manifest as panic attacks or move in different directions like eating disorders or self-harm.

Often childhood anxiety can manifest as irritability, panic attacks, phobias, fear of being alone, difficulty sleeping, bed wetting.

The most important thing to do is to get help. Schools, doctors surgeries and health clinics should all be able to offer advice. If the school has a counseling service then that is a good place to start.

Treatment wise, children are generally not prescribed medication such as SSRI’s or Benzodiazepines unless it’s really necessary. Indeed drugs like prozac may cause psychological symptoms to worsen in children.

Luckily, children are quick learners and can respond well to therapy and counseling, and can be taught to relax.

Lastly, it is important for parents and caregivers to make sure the child feels loved and accepted. This in itself can be a big part of the solution to childhood anxiety.

What’s the difference between anxiety and stress?

Anxiety has specific mental and physical symptoms, and is clinically identifiable. Follow this link for an explanation of anxiety symptoms. Stress on the other hand is a much more common phenomenon. Stress also much more commonly expresses itself as anger, irritation, short patience and irritability. Anxiety, on the other hand, tends to manifest itself as fear, hyperventilation, dizziness, feeling dislocated, or having stomach discomfort.

Both Anxiety and stress have been related to IBS .

If one lives constantly in a state of stress then anxiety and even an anxiety disorder are likely to follow. However this is not the case for everyone. Some people “thrive off stress” in the same way that adrenaline junkies effectively thrive off anxiety. but that does not mean that daily stress is good for you. In fact it is much better for you to be able to unwind and de-stress.  While stress might motivate you through the day and give you a buzz, when the working day is over your body needs a chance to relax.

The same tricks that help you overcome anxiety cam help you deal effectively with stress: meditation and yoga, exercise, herbal supplements and everything else mentioned on this site.

One of the main features of stress may be difficulty in getting to sleep. Insomnia can be caused by muscle tension, dwelling on the events of the day or worrying about the future or by having too many stimulants in your system.

Caffeine is an obvious candidate for removal if you want to sleep better. It can stay in your system for as long as twenty hours (although it effects different people in different ways.) Also, some people think they are unwinding from stress when they have an alcoholic drink. This is in fact not the case. Alcohol actually becomes a stimulant after it is broken down by your liver and this is one reason why many anxiety sufferers get anxiety with a hangover or even while drunk!

So what exactly is Seredyn? Well, as far as we know it is a blend of Valerian Root, Passion Flower and Suntheanine. Suntheanine is a registered trademark version of the amino acid L-theanine that I have blogged about before. L-theanine is basically a key ingredient of GABA, which when taken promotes anxiety relief in the same way as a Benzodiazepine such as Xanax.

Both Valerian Root and Passion Flower (Passiflora) have been used as stress-relievers and anxiety cures for countless years.

Although the ingredients are clear, the actual amount of each ingredient is not clear. Some say this is because Seredyn want to protect their intellectual property (after all, Valerian Root, Passiflora and L-theanine are available in pretty much any self-respecting health food store). Other, more cynical, people say that Seredyn doesn’t contain enough of each ingredient to be effective.

As products like Seredyn don’t need to be licensed in the same way as new drugs do, there will never be extensive, peer reviewed, clinical research. I guess that means you either take advice from people you trust, or try it yourself and see if it works.

Elsewhere on the Internet people have said you should watch Seredyn if you have low blood pressure, as it can supposedly exacerbate the problem. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but basically there isn’t much else in there that’s likely to do the normal person any harm!

What’s more, people who suffer from panic attacks often find themselves placing restrictions on their lives. For example someone who experiences panic attacks may become to a greater or lesser extent agoraphobic. Agoraphobia being basically a fear of panic attacks.  If you start to fear things that you used to do easily you may well become depressed and frustrated.

So depression and panic attacks might coexist because of the same cause, or because one leads to the other.

Certainly, the treatment you choose for one would most likely effect the other. For example SSRI anti-depressants like Celexa/Citalopram are often used to treat panic disorder, although the dose may need to be altered to be effective for panic.

Likewise, a course of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) will teach you how to think more rationally and not be afraid of the symptoms of panic attacks. The same techniques can happily be applied to depression and the negative thought trains which surround it.

So basically establishing the link between panic attacks and depression is not really necessary for effective treatment.