When The Fire Comes: Walking the Path to Heal Anxiety

Fire burning up the back of my neck. Chest tightening. Head spinning. Heart pounding. Can’t breathe. I want to scream. My hands go numb. Every moment feels like an eternity—painful and endless. Unrelenting.

I endured daily, continuous panic attacks for the better part of three painfully endless years.

I have been the person crying on the floor of a Starbucks back storeroom. I have been the person internally screaming, heart pounding, navigating a difficult situation in customer service. I have been the person who tracks my heart rate religiously from morning until night, watching for any blip or pattern of indication that something is wrong. I have been the person trapped on the side of a mountain, unable to breathe—paralyzed by PTSD and fear from panic, unable to complete activities that I love.

I have been the person sitting on the bathroom floor during a cold dark night where I truly and honestly felt that death was preferable to the terror I was experiencing every waking moment of my day.

I have been the person wasting my life away living in endless moments of fear.

And then it happens. My body finally succumbs to the loss of control. I am overwhelmed, my heart still racing in my chest as adrenaline floods my bloodstream. The physical sensations—those terror-filled, heart-pounding moments—slowly begin to dissipate. The tension in my muscles softens, and my breathing, once shallow and quick, starts to slow down. It's as if my body has recognized that the threat was never real, even though my mind had been convinced otherwise.

This is what a panic attack is—a false alarm. Your brain pulls the fire alarm and your body responds, even when there’s no actual smoke. The amygdala, the brain’s fear center, gets hyperactive and screams DANGER, kicking your sympathetic nervous system into overdrive. That’s your fight-or-flight response: heart racing, breath quickening, blood being diverted to your muscles. All signs that your body is ready to run or fight—even if you're just standing in line at the grocery store.

You’re not broken. Your brain is doing its best to protect you. But somewhere along the way, the system got stuck in overdrive. And if you’re anything like me, that feeling—the loop of panic, recovery, and fear of it all happening again—starts to feel like a prison.

But here's the truth that changed my life: the body wants to heal. It wants to come back to center. The nervous system knows how to return to balance. It just needs support.

That healing starts with breath. Deep, slow breaths that cue the parasympathetic nervous system—your “rest and digest” state—to come online. It continues with stillness. With movement. With nourishment.

I began rebuilding my life piece by piece, starting with the things I could control.

I started with sleep—real, deep, uninterrupted rest. Not five hours of tossing and turning, but consistent rhythms. I built an evening routine. I protected my wind-down time like my life depended on it—because it did. Sleep is the reset button for the nervous system. Without it, anxiety festers in the cracks.

Next came movement. Not punishment, not obligation—just movement. Walks outside. Lifting weights. Stretching. Sweating. Moving my body helped burn through the adrenaline my brain kept pumping. It taught my body that I was safe, that I could move with the panic, not just freeze inside it.

I cleaned up my diet. Not to be perfect, but to be powerful. I started feeding my brain the nutrients it was starving for: whole foods, good fats, clean proteins. I cut back on the blood sugar rollercoasters—no more skipping meals or surviving on caffeine and vibes. I learned that anxiety feels a lot like low blood sugar, and the two love to tag-team each other. Balanced meals became my medicine.

And when I really dove deep—I found the gut.

Not just the “gut feeling” kind of gut. I’m talking about the actual gut. The microbiome. The colony of bacteria inside me that was directly influencing my mood, my cravings, even my stress response. Dr. Steven Gundry’s work in conjunction with findings from the Human Microbiome Project helped illuminate how profoundly our gut health affects our mental health. Our guts produce around 90% of our serotonin. When the gut is out of balance, our emotional state often follows.

So I supported my gut. I added probiotics. Fermented foods. Cut down the inflammatory junk. I listened to my cravings—and learned to understand what they were really asking for. I began feeding not just me, but the trillions of little friends living inside me who were screaming for balance.

Supplements helped, too—carefully chosen tools to support my journey. Magnesium to calm my muscles and mind. L-theanine to take the edge off. Omega-3s to feed my brain. Adaptogens like ashwagandha to help regulate my stress response. These weren’t magic fixes—but they gave my body the raw materials it needed to come back to baseline.

Healing didn’t happen all at once. It wasn’t a light switch—it was a dimmer. But little by little, I found my way back. Not just to functioning—but to living. To laughing. To moments of peace that didn’t feel foreign.

And here’s what I know now: panic is not the end of your story. It's your body crying out for help, for balance, for connection. You are not weak. You are not crazy. You are not alone.

Your body has everything it needs to return to calm.

You just have to help it remember.

Supplements for Nervous System Support:

• Magnesium Glycinate – promotes calm, helps regulate cortisol

• L-theanine – gentle relaxation without sedation

• Ashwagandha – adaptogen that helps the body cope with stress

• Omega-3s (EPA & DHA) – brain and mood support

• Probiotics – supports gut health and serotonin production

• B-Complex Vitamins – supports mood, energy, and stress resilience
  

Citations:

• Dr. Steven Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age (2019).

• The Human Microbiome Project Consortium, Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome, Nature (2012). https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11234

• Magnesium"Magnesium in Depression" – Eby & Eby, Medical Hypotheses (2006)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2006.01.047This study suggests that magnesium deficiency is strongly linked to depressive and anxiety symptoms, and supplementation may be effective in reducing these symptoms.

• L-theanine"L-theanine reduces psychological and physiological stress responses" – Kimura et al., Biological Psychology (2007)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.06.006Demonstrates how L-theanine can reduce heart rate and salivary immunoglobulin A responses to acute stress.

• Ashwagandha"Examining the Effect of Withania somnifera Supplementation on Stress and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis" – Pratte et al., Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2014)https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2014.0177Reviews multiple studies showing ashwagandha’s potential to significantly reduce stress and anxiety levels.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids"Omega-3 fatty acids for mood disorders – efficacy and mechanism of action" – Su et al., Current Opinion in Psychiatry (2015)https://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0000000000000200This review supports the use of EPA and DHA in reducing anxiety and mood instability.

• Probiotics / Gut-Brain Axis"Probiotics and prebiotics for depression and anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials" – Huang et al., Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (2016)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.018Shows how specific strains of probiotics can reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms through the gut-brain axis.

• B-Vitamins"Vitamin B complex supplementation improves depressive and anxiety symptoms in adults with depression" – Young et al., Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental (2019)https://doi.org/10.1002/hup.2632Supports B-complex vitamins’ role in reducing stress and improving mood regulation.