Panic Attacks: Serotonin levels 7 times higher than normal in untreated women with panic attacks

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> SSRI-Research

> Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:06:23 -0400

> [sSRI-Research] Panic Attacks: Serotonin

> levels 7 times higher than normal in untreated

> women with panic attacks

>

> Paragraph five states: " Professor Esler's group took

> blood samples from 35 women with untreated panic

> disorder, and found they had seven times the level

> of serotonin in their blood than those who do not

> panic " .

>

> It would appear that giving an SSRI to a person with

> panic attacks would exacerbate the condition.

>

>

> Panic attacks a killer of young women

> By Amanda Dunn

> Health Reporter

> April 12, 2004

>

> Panic attacks can cause heart attacks in otherwise

> healthy people by inducing spasms in the coronary

> arteries, Melbourne researchers have found.

>

> Young women, who are generally at lower risk of

> heart attack before menopause, are particularly

> susceptible to heart attack from panic disorder,

> which affects about 1 to 2 per cent of people and is

> far more common in women than men.

>

> Baker Heart Research Institute associate director

> Murray Esler told The Age that panic attacks,

> triggered by the brain, send the sympathetic nervous

> system into overdrive. It is this system that sends

> a message to the heart to beat faster when we are

> excited or scared, delivered by a chemical messenger

> called noradrenaline.

>

> At the same time, another chemical messenger called

> neuropeptide Y is released, which can cause spasms

> in the coronary arteries that induce cardiac arrest.

>

> Professor Esler's group took blood samples from 35

> women with untreated panic disorder, and found they

> had seven times the level of serotonin in their

> blood than those who do not panic. Serotonin is a

> transmitter in the brain that responds to anxiety,

> and it is this transmitter that is treated by

> anti-depressants often prescribed for panic

> disorder, called selective serotonin reuptake

> inhibitors (SSRIs).

>

>

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>