Researchers develop blood test for anxiety

> The current treatment doesn’t care about the underline reasons as much as immediately giving you a SSRI.

I had panic and anxiety a lot, it turned out to be ADHD. My brain wasn't getting enough stimulation from reward and good feelings so it apparently supplemented it with anxiety and bad feelings. It's also where my OCD came from.

Once I started on ADHD meds, all my depression, anxiety, and a lot of OCD just... went away.

So yeah, I also wish more doctors would consider things other than SSRIs.

Can you think of ANYTHING unusual around that time, physical or mental?

FYI, most of the time when you read an article that reduces complex functions to “methylation status”, it’s pseudoscience.

Methylation is a real biological function, but it has been co-opted by alternative medicine peddlers as a convenient (though incorrect) explanation for everything. It’s part of a new wave of alternative medicine that takes real scientific concepts (methylation, glutamate/glutamine cycles) and tries to work backwards from symptoms to assume the status of various cycles in the body.

One key feature of this pseudoscience is that it often has dual explanations for everything such that everyone will identify with it. For example, when they say that Vitamin B12 can make some people feel better but some people feel worse, they’re setting up an explanation that everyone will identify with: If you give someone a supplement and ask them to see if they feel better or worse over the coming hours, days, and weeks, eventually they’ll have a good or bad day and assign it to the supplement. The methylation pseudoscience people capitalize on this effect by claiming that all of their interventions will either worsen or improve people’s symptoms, which creates confirmation bias everywhere.

One of the easiest ways to debunk the methylation alternative medicine pushers is to examine how almost nobody claims to actually recover from their treatments. It’s always a back and forth of thinking they’re taking too much B12 or folate or other supplements because they’ve been conditioned to believe that all of their symptoms are traceable back to methylation.

To be clear, B12 and/or folate deficiencies are real and measurable conditions that should be treated if present. However, the idea that you can modulate all of the body’s processes up and down by taking varying levels of B12 and folate supplements is pseudoscience.

Heavy exercising, especially aerobic exercising. Something light like half an hour walk isn't enough, I have to properly exhaust myself calm the fuck down. Some different workouts that are usually enough are: one hour of heavy barbell training at the gym, 45 minutes of running, two hours of brisk walking.

Also interacting people in a non-bullshit way works but is often more difficult to do. Keeping up appearances and roles works the opposite, but if I tell people what I actually think and let myself be more emotional and less reserved around them, I actually feel more connected, which alleviates anxiety.

I think that at the hear, anxiety is born out of insecurity. Being connected (in a real, non-pretentious/bullshit way) with people raises my security. However, this is often easier said than done. I guess exercising works as a sort of a patch by reducing my energy levels so much that I don't any left for my anxiety.

I picked up a few useful tricks from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that I use to this day, but the best lessons came from eastern philosophy.

Anxiety isn't a disease - you don't 'have' it. Everyone experiences anxiety. It's a temporary signal, like stomach butterflies or being starstruck. What happens next after experiencing these signals is up to you. You can let your ego take control, or acknowledge the experience and let it pass. Sometimes it's a useful signal to act on. Many times it's not. Think of your body like a tuning fork, the anxiety is you vibrating in reaction to a new experience. There's nothing inherently good or bad about new experiences, it depends experience to experience. Therefore the anxiety reaction should be taken under advisement but confers no knowledge about what's to come, and shouldn't be treated like a warning indicator.

Cognitive behavioural therapy, specifically for this: evidence vs assumption.

Making assumptions is part of life, but it is important to verify a lot of them. The system responsible for keeping you out of danger fires in a "better safe than sorry" manner. If you never train this response then it'll be inaccurate and it'll fire off all the time and you get anxiety. Likewise if the system has been trained by an entire school career of bullying or negativity it'll need recalibrating (are you going to get bullied as an adult for standing out? At least it's much less likely)

For example I wasn't going to go to a meet-up because I thought I wouldn't like it, or fit in, or whatever other reason - I was feeling anxious.

Looking back at actual times I've gone beyond my comfort zone in this way I realised that most times I end up a better person, with a new friend, or at least enjoyed doing it. Worst case I didn't get harmed in any way. Evidence overrules the assumption.

You don't want zero assumption of course, feel free to assume jumping off a cliff without anything to stop you hitting the floor at high speed will be a bad time, but for things other people are able to do without harming themselves or others at least give it a quick pros and cons check before bottling it.

Unfortunately it needs it real world experience. Think of it like working out; you won't get ripped just because you know how to use the machines, you've gotta use them too. On the positive side every time you push yourself successfully - and these don't need to be massive, the snowball effect works here - it's more evidence for next time. I now write down my thoughts and feelings before and after so I can actually go back and look at them in future if needed.

I'd highly recommend nerdy types try out CBT if it's a possibility, especially if they don't feel like the "how does that make you feel?" type of therapy is worth doing (I need ideas and solutions, not a soap box!). It works really well for me anyway, it's like debugging my brain.

Standard disclaimers: Don't use this comment as an alternative to medical advice. What I know may not be what the therapist taught me, this is my interpretation of that information. This isn't the only thing I've learned in CBT but it is pretty foundational for it to work well. As far as I know so far. Works on my machine.

Therapy has worked for me in the past as well as some medications (very low doses of psychiatrist prescribed benzodiazepines). Mostly I find that exposure to what makes me anxious makes it lessen, but I've yet to find a way to deal with my generalized anxiety as it'll often go hunting for something else to be anxious about. I cope with the generalized anxiety by trying to be as structured in my life to reduce the chaos and noise.

Cutting out alcohol was probably the biggest one. The effects of alcohol on anxiety can last days for me. Low carbohydrate diets seem to really help as well for me. Minimizes highs and lows.

As an OTC supplement, I occasionally use Sceletium Tortuosum extract, which is marketed under the trademark Zembrin. Sceletium Tortuosum is a South African succulent plant that has been chewed by the San tribe people for thousands of years under the name Kanna. (recall Nǃxau ǂToma in "The Gods Must Be Crazy")

There have been recent peer reviewed studies showing it both safe and effective, and placebo or not, I have noted relief of my symptoms. It's also rather inexpensive compared to a lot of other supplements, at around $0.30 for a daily dose.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8124331/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3828542/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8762184/

Yes, I have. But yiou will really need your genetics to figure it out. There are many pathwyas that when slw or fast that can lead to anxiety.

I have my genome and found that I carry a change in a gene called NOS1AP. This means I do not produce enough NOS1 (Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase, nNOS, CAPON) which leads to an influx of calcium through the NMDA receptor.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25612209/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CAPON_Binds_Nitric_O...

So basically I have low NOS1 and typically higher amounts of glutamate and there for I am very excitable.

Klonopin as needed helps in emergencies but I rely on a few dietary changes to limit bio-active compounds from inhibiting NOS1. These include limiting a large range of phenol's that inhibit NOS1 and avoiding air pollution (air purifier with activated carbon).

P5P (B6) helps as well because I have issues truing glutmate to GABA via the GAD1 enzyme. I also eat lower protein and zero MSG like flavorings (Pea Protein Extract)

Doing these things has lead me off of all my meds, which is huge.

I also have latent CMV which at times effects me since it increases NMDA receptor function. CMV also gave me ankylosing spondylitis and lung nodules.

https://bmcneurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-23...

Therapy, Lexapro, and Meditation for me.

My therapist gives me a neutral, third-party perspective. I do talk therapy, but I have tried CBT and it wasn't a good fit for me. CBT felt very linear and goals based, where talk therapy feels more exploratory and relaxed.

Lexapro was a struggle in the beginning. The biggest hurdle to overcome was feeling like I was being "controlled" by a pill.

Meditation has done wonders. I aim for 5 minutes before I go to bed. Helps to clear the mind, process emotions and feelings, and let's me check in with my body to feel out stress and pain.

I've only recently realised I think I have a problem. Last week had horrendous migraines and anxiety which I couldn't shift. I had to go to the doctors (UK) and beg them to help. I generally live healthy, don't really know what else to do.

I'm now noticing my WFH job is starting to get to me so looking to go into the office once a week or more.

These are mostly for managing your baseline anxiety levels:

Valerian capsules help, but get a good brand like Oregon's Wild Havest, valerian tends to pick up lead in the ground. Valerian helps a lot with panic attacks, too.

Make a habit of drinking rooibos tea. After it builds up in your system it counters cortisol (in my experience, very effectively). Mountain Rose Herbs sells quality rooibos.

Cut out caffeine, or try to limit it to green tea. Green tea has L-theanine in it, which helps with anxiety. I'd like to point out that caffeine doesn't leave your system completely for quite a while and reduces your quality of sleep leading to cognitive decline over time.

Eat well, sleep well and go outside more, preferably involving vigorous exercise.

(I have no affiliation with the brands mentioned above but if you're going the herbal route, quality is an important factor and those brands have worked quite well for me)

Therapy, Ativan, Running, Meditation in roughly that order.

Therapy helped defuse the worst of it quickly and gave me the tools to manage it moving forward. Easily some of the best time and money I've ever spent, though I consider myself incredibly lucky to have found such a compatible therapist.

Ativan was always more of a placebo for me. I never took it more than a few times per week and I haven't taken any in years. But I still carry one in my wallet at all times, and knowing I have that option puts me at ease.

Running for me is a very efficient way of generating that after-workout high that tends to eclipse anxiety, at least temporarily.

Mediation may be the best tool of the bunch, but I've never been able to adhere to a regular schedule. But even on an intermittent basis it can be helpful. I believe the form of mediation I've practiced would be called mindfulness.

Exercise. It's the silver bullet.

If you talk to yourself a lot I'd recommend a pet to talk to instead. Externalize your self-talk and try to make it nicer. Use the pet to rubber duck solutions to life's problems.

ADHD medication. My ADHD was so bad that I couldn't get out of bed consistently without having the blanket forcefully ripped away from my body. Didn't have a 24 hour schedule either because I'd randomly just become unable to get out of bed and fall asleep early even if I wasn't actually tired.

Obviously don't look into this unless you actually have ADHD. However, if you haven't actually done research on ADHD in adults, you shouldn't rule it out until you have.

lexapro, mindfulness meditation, and exercise (in that order)

someone else mentioned alcohol curbing too. definitely that as well, as well as overall attention to sugar, caffeine, protein intake, etc.

Supposedly Lavender can help with anxiety.

https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/lavenders-game-silexan...

Anecdotally, I bought a two weeks supply and didn't notice anything different, but my own self-assessment may have been flawed.

So far: alcohol, sympathetic friends. Gonna give zoloft a shot whenever they get around to filling the script.

Which meds have you tried? Usually after trying 1-5 types, people find one that helps significantly.

Cutting out gluten, oddly enough. I found this out while going on a keto diet and eating some bread on a cheat day. I later found online that gluten can digest into opioids so it made sense why I felt tired often as well.

When I have anxiety spells, I force myself to do something creative like draw or paint. It helps, but this is not exactly available if you have a panic attack in the middle of a work meeting or something.

I've found valerian root extract can be helpful sometimes but it doesn't seem to work for particularly long, whatever the underlying compound is it must have a short half-life.

Being in a long-term, stable relationship with a person I can fully trust helped me tremendously.

I had PTSD . Stellate gangelion block got rid of a decade worth of issues in a day .

Meditate for 1-2 hours a day for four years straight. It worked. But it's work.

Exercise, therapy concurrent with ketamine treatment.

I don't have it anymore. I think that anxiety is just a symptom of being disconnected from the body - just not having proper body awareness. I think that many people get pulled into anxiety (at least those visiting this site) through their work (and as for the general population, ever-present infinite scroll feeds have the same effect). When you spend a lot of time in front of a computer, you don't have to use your body at all, you get sucked more and more into the intellectual world and the body awareness you were born with gradually erodes. Now you have no control of your body, which means your emotional control is lower as well. You are more prone to the effect of random thoughts that create anxiety and don't know how to pull yourself out.

That was me in my teenage years and early 20s. At some point I started doing Zen meditation (and not just like 20 min / day, way more). The basics of Zen practice are basically body awareness, being mindful of the surroundings and dismissing thoughts / calming down the mind - in other words, learning naked attention. My problem with anxiety was that I was sometimes hyperventilating when walking alone outside. What did that look like internally? Drowning in my own thoughts, no awareness of the body, hyperventilating, poor, fog-like awareness of the outside. Pursuing Zen aggressively allowed me to fix everything about that internal imbalance, it took some time and effort though. Maybe I have just learned to ignore it (by refocusing on the practice) and the negative pathways in the forest of the brain grew over, that surely is at least part of what happened, but I also do experience slight anxiety comeback from time to time (but nothing near hyperventilating) and I am able to defuse it in 20 minutes - and it always follows the realization that, oh I'm just too much in my head, I don't have proper body awareness, so I just focus on that again, to focus on the outside, to bring my centre of attention to hara, I start to feel much more control of my body and anxiety cannot co-exist in that state.

The gist of it is that, Zen practice or not, anxiety is a physiological state and you can exert a lot of control on your physiological and emotional state through regular practice in the long term.

I can only speak from my own experience, but I'm pretty confident that this would work for the majority of cases but the most severe perhaps. Of course, we would never ever see this is as the mainstream cure for anxiety - it's too much effort (10000x ?) vs. a quick-fix med. But if you are really really determined to fix this and put a lot of time into it, you probably can. To me, my day to day internal state is just as important as general health, I have long term goals but I live for the moment and cannot envision going through negative mental states on a daily basis, I would just do everything to fix it, and having it done (and continuing to do it - practicing Zen, use it or lose it), I would say without a doubt that was one of the best time investments in my entire life (past and future).

>The test examines biomarkers that can help them objectively determine someone's risk for developing anxiety, the severity of their current anxiety and which therapies would likely treat their anxiety the best.

It actually sounds more interesting than the headline suggests.

It's common for a patient with a chronic mystery symptom to be dismissed with "You seem very anxious. Anxiety can cause blah blab blah." plus a useless-to-harmful prescription. A legible-to-doctors test for 'anxiety', which doctors are expected to use, might help reduce this kind of stupidity.

If there is a possibility for a simple test that gives a quick and precise answer, it could be better than someone asking someone and interpreting an answer.

IMO if you're getting a blood test for anxiety, that also implies one is anxious.

Be wary of over use . I.kmow.of.1 person who has had permanent issues after a single course

https://selfhacked.com/blog/5ht2a-receptors-a-root-cause-of-...

Ashwandgha is known to knock down 5ht1a receptors and increase 5ht2a receptors if im not mistaken.

The reason why theres many reddit threads of people worrying about long term depression and axiety when it comes to ashwandgha

> In most situations medical professionals can just ask someone if they’re feeling anxious.

Except they literally refuse to believe your answer. You can swear up and down "I was not anxious, I actually felt great" and they fire back with "many people don't know when they're anxious. You can be anxious without realizing it." It's completely unfalsifiable, like the old asylums where everything you could ever say is just more confirmation of whatever mental illness they already decided you have.

If they don't know what's wrong with you and you don't have symptoms that very specifically fit their pre-determined list of the 100 things that might ever be wrong with anyone, then some use "anxiety" as a catch-all, regardless of whether you claim to have it or not. Everyone feels stressed occasionally, so there's no objective way to self-report it. My "very anxious" might be your "normal Tuesday night". They capitalize on this to make it completely impossible to argue with their "diagnosis" so they can get you out the door with a magic pill to fix all your woes, while they move on to the next patient they can give 3 minutes to out of their overbooked 12-hour workday. I would do the same if I were completely overworked in a trainwreck of a system run by incompetent hospital administrators and faceless insurance companies.