Hi Everyone, and Happy Sunday!
It's a beautiful day here in the far western suburbs of Chicago...
Submitted an article yesterday on what I believe is a huge topic for panic sufferers. It's something called the HPA axis. Yep, image of the workings is above and a blurb from the article following. I've provided a link to the article on Idea Marketers at the end. Come on, let's talk! Bill
The HPA axis involves the interaction of the brain structure known as the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland (just below the hypothalamus), and the adrenal glands (at the top of the kidneys). These three pieces of anatomy work together to regulate functions and states, such as stress response, mood, digestion, immune response, sexuality, and energy usage. Now, to really capture the purpose and functioning of the HPA axis one needs to become familiar with a little bit of physiology (I go on to discuss CRH, ACTH, and cortisol - the "stress hormone," norepinephrine, and our flight/flight response).
Now, in so-called “healthy” individuals the noradrenergic (having to do with norepinephrine) system and the HPA axis work in harmony through, as we discussed, feedback loops, in maintaining a sense of stress-balance. When everything is operating as it should, as activity in the noradrenergic system increases, activity in the HPA axis follows suit. But in panic sufferers this delicate balance is interrupted by chronic and/or situational overproduction of norepinephrine, which messes up the whole works. As a result, the HPA axis becomes cut off from any and all noradrenergic activity, leading to an unmanaged increase in stress.
The term dysregulation refers to the inability of a neural system to maintain a balance of its intended neurotransmitter activity. If you haven’t caught on as yet, noradrenergic activity in panic sufferers is theorized to be highly susceptible to dysregulation because of all of the funny business mentioned in the last paragraph. Most are aware of the success of the antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) in the treatment of panic. Well, this success may well be due to normalization of a “dysregulated” noradrenergic system by the enhancement of serotonergic (having to do with serotonin) activity. Remember, as serotonin levels rise, levels of norepinephrine fall.
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Your dime, your dance floor. My only requests are to watch your language and really consider where people are coming from if you're directing comments at what someone's expressed.