Emily gripped the steering wheel with both hands. Her arms stiffly tried to guide the car as she became more nervous. Rigid. With pressure rising in her head and neck, she reached up to feel her pulse under her jaw. Boom. Boom. Boom…Panic was rising in her throat, and she feared where her emotions were going. What if she passed out? What if she had a stroke? She tried to take some slow breaths. She filled her lungs and tried to release the air in a slow, controlled breath. But, it wasn’t working. As terror rose, she took another long slow breath, and tried to pull her car over and park. Now her heart was racing, her hands were slick with sweat. She didn’t understand what was happening to her. If only she’d known a ketogenic diet could dismantle panic attacks.
She closed her eyes to try to block out the terror…and jammed her feet against the floorboard, desperately straining for control. What was happening to her?
She didn’t know. Was this a panic attack? This had never happened before. Finally, she dissolved in a flood of tears. She felt limp. Drained. Ashamed.
Cars whizzed by her, some honking, others screeching their brakes.
Tap – Tap – Tap!
She moved her hands off her face and looked toward the sound. It was the police, knocking on her window. She searched his eyes with a tear-stained face, and rolled down the window.
“Ma’am? You need to move your car. You’re parked on a busy boulevard. Are you alright?”
Emily blinked, wiped her face, and realized where she was.
“I’m sorry. I got scared and forgot where I was. This was the best I could do. I’ll move.”
She put her car in gear and moved forward, turning right into a nearby parking lot…then parked safely in a space, and turned off the engine. In a few moments, she saw flashing lights, and the officer pulled in beside her. Once again, he came to her window.
“Thank you for moving your car. That was a dangerous spot. You could have caused a collision. Can you tell me what happened?”
Emily closed her eyes, hard. So humiliating.
“I was driving along, and a terrible feeling started rising up inside me. My hands were sweaty, my heart was racing, I felt like I would throw up, and I was terrified. I don’t really understand what started it…”
“Maybe we should get you to a hospital. Please wait right here.”
He then picked up his radio and called for an ambulance to their location.
Within minutes she heard a siren. Then it got closer, and pulled into the same parking lot. The paramedics checked her pulse and blood pressure. By this time, she was much calmer.
They suggested she might have had a panic attack, and asked if it had ever happened before. She told them it hadn’t. And she assured them she didn’t need to go to a hospital. She just needed to go home and relax. After spending 30 minutes with her, they asked her to sign a release, and they drove away.
Emily thanked the officer for his help, and drove home.
Piecing It All Together
Once home, she made a cup of herbal tea, then sat on the sofa with her feet up, to sip.
What had happened?
She honestly knew she could not have driven any farther before parking on the road. Why?
As she thought about it, the memory began to come back. Someone had swerved and almost hit her…it frightened her…and the fear had become increasingly intense until she had felt it ballooning out of control.
So something had triggered it. Bizarre.
She knew she worried a lot. A LOT. Her family was always telling her to stop worrying. But this was much much worse than that. She had felt paralyzed. It felt like she was losing her mind. So frozen and afraid. So out of control.
Could She Find a Way to Dismantle the Panic?
After a couple hours, her husband, Tyler, walked in. He could see in her face that something was wrong. So he asked.
“Yes I’m ok. But something happened while I was driving that was rather traumatic. Someone swerved and almost hit me, and I started feeling more and more afraid and couldn’t calm down. In fact, I couldn’t drive. I did my best to pull over and park on Hartford Blvd. and was frozen, terrified… incapacitated.
“Emily. On Hartford??? That’s a busy road! I’m glad you weren’t hit!”
“I know…I am, too. The whole experience was awful. Just terrible. An officer called an ambulance, and they checked me out and stayed with me awhile, then let me go home. It was humiliating. But what’s important is knowing why it happened? What can I do to keep such a thing from happening again?”
“You know, Em, I work with a girl who sometimes has experiences like that. She calls them panic attacks and eats keto — says the food dismantles it. I guess that’s a Captain Obvious thing.
Anyway, lately, she’s been talking about a doctor who has helped her, and how it’s all about eating certain foods, and avoiding others. I’ll find out more from her tomorrow. Right now, I’m going to get dinner going so you can relax.”
Ketogenic Diet Dismantles Panic Attacks
The following evening, Tyler came in from work excitedly talking as he opened the front door.
“I got the doctor’s name, the program that’s helped my co-worker, and a website we can look at. The food she talks about eating is a ketogenic diet says it helps her achieve ketosis which just dismantled the panic attacks. She says you have to really reduce your carbohydrates so that you body can make ketones . At the same time, you add a lot of healthy fats. And that changes the fuel in your brain cells from glucose to ketones.
“When you do that, your body transitions to using ketones for fuel in the part of the cells where energy is produced and used: the mitochondria. I remember from biology class in high school — that the mitochondria are the power houses in every cell.
“When you eat carbohydrates, your cells get a spike of glucose for fuel, then it just drops out, and they’re in crisis as a result. But when you transition to ketones — which are produced when your body breaks down fat — the cells have an abundance of fuel, and the mitochondria can produce all the things you need, so you can be in the best health and balance.”
Emily and Tyler hopped on the internet to look up all the terms he’d mentioned, and to learn more about ketones and a ketogenic diet to dismantle panic attacks. They also looked up this doctor’s program, the one Tyler’s coworker had written down for them.
Touchpoints 180™ Is Keto for Panic Attacks
Through reading together, they learned that what Emily experienced probably was a panic attack. They learned that a ketogenic diet could reverse anxiety and dismantle panic attacks. And they read about Touchpoints 180™, that doctor’s program for this.
Together, they went into their kitchen and dumped the rice, potatoes, bread, buns, potato and corn chips, coffee cake, donuts, and cookies into the trash.
The next morning they started the day with eggs, until they could figure out what else they could eat on this ketogenic thing.
After Tyler left for work, Emily called this doctor’s practice to ask about Touchpoints 180™ and made an appointment.
The doctor evaluated her psychiatrically and evaluated her metabolic health, and the registered dietitian/nutritionist worked with her to create a personal plan (that they call a ketogenic metabolic therapy) that incorporated her likes, dislikes, that would address medical conditions, and help her psychiatric symptoms slowly go into remission.
She went on to explain that the program offered walks, talks, lots of opportunities for answers to questions, making connections, and encouragement. She even mentioned a fun book club to learn more.
When Emily left, she felt armed, like she had her power back. By eating different foods than she was eating, she could feel better, worry less, have more energy, and reverse all this fear.
Team-Focused Ketosis Dismantles Panic Attacks
Tyler enthusiastically listened that night to all Emily had learned. They started making dinner together, following the plan designed for her. It was so easy. Then they put their heads together to pack lunches from her meal plan, and to be sure they always had the foods they needed. They were learning that food was their medicine to reverse these anxiety symptoms. And they stuck close to their food “prescriptions.”
Even though Tyler didn’t struggle with panic per se, he worried about Emily, and felt she could do this more effectively if they were in it together. (A little aside: he had his own issues, and was curious to see if this program would help.)
They learned that her symptoms of panic and anxiety could be eased by neurotransmitters like GABA (the calming neurotransmitter) and serotonin (a ‘feel-good” neurotransmitter). That certain ketones can raise GABA levels in your brain which calm anxiety and those panicky reactions, and eating foods like salmon, eggs, avocados, and meats provided excellent and nutrient-dense, nourishing foods for her brain and her whole body.
In addition, they learned more about why eating sugar was harmful. That it triggers inflammation, and also feeds the wrong bacteria in the gut microbiome…those that promote depression and anxiety.
Learning all this opened their eyes. Neither Tyler nor Emily had any idea all this went on inside their bodies… and depended on what they actually ate… for better or for worse.
Ketogenic Diet Dismantled the Panic
Within only a couple weeks, they both realized how clear their minds were. So that was brain fog…! They had no idea until it was gone. What a relief!
After a few more months, they both noticed more and more that Emily wasn’t talking about worry nearly as much. She seemed to be taking life in stride instead of worrying a hole in everything. She had not had another panic attack. That was progress!
Who knew something so simple and straight forward could make such a dramatic difference?
She also noticed she felt more comfortable meeting new people, going out with friends, and inviting them over for a keto dinner.
In 6 months, she realized she’d never felt so free…so “normal.”
Tyler couldn’t get over the change in his wife… and his own blood pressure came down to normal limits. They both lost some unwanted pounds, to boot. But most important, they both felt relaxed and at ease with themselves and each other. In fact, with life in general.
Do You Need A Ketogenic Diet for Panic Attacks?
Or maybe just anxiety…and possibly depression? By eating a ketogenic diet, you can enter a state of therapeutic nutritional ketosis. In this state, your brain is empowered to heal and restore balance through a cascade of processes in your liver, your microbiome, and your mitochondria. It can make more GABA, serotonin, and more of those components that help you feel relaxed, at ease, and resilient.
If you struggle with panic attacks and worry, and nothing you’ve tried has helped, call us.
Our Touchpoints 180™ program is designed to help you transition from using the toxicity of glucose to the abundance of ketones in mitochondria in every cell of your brain and body. You’ll enjoy the new energy, clear mind, and balanced emotions that you can experience through therapeutic nutritional ketosis.
You’ll have access to walks and talks, personalized dietary intervention by our wonderful registered dietitian/nutritionist, phone calls, and your questions answered.
Join us as we learn together and thrive.
To the restoration of your best self,
