Let me say at the outset that I am not a Dr. of medicine nor have I suffered myself but a family member has and I have done some limited research to understand it.

As far as I can determine there is no physiological link between LC and panic attacks. However if you, for whatever reason worry about your diet, get concerned about the scales not working or perhaps become concerned about different but quite normal workings of the body e.g. insomnia, slight headaches etc. which sometimes occur with LC, then it is the "worry" not the food that triggers the attack. It is very difficult to always know what the trigger is because, if you are like others the onset is quite rapid from feeling fine to feeling dreadful and yet the worry may have been building slowly all the time.

It is like a simmering ember that suddenly erupts into flame.

Your own Dr. will have told you that the feelings are indeed due to a rush of adrenalin. This powerful chemical is very useful when we really are in danger it gives us energy to fight or run away. "Fight or Flight" as it is known. With some people this chemical reaction which is produced by a signal from the brain will spring into action by a threat which is not real but vividly visualised in the brain. If you can visualise clearly someone coming at you with an axe the brain does not wait to work out real or imagined it sends signals to the body to get the H out of their.

We ALL experience this in some form or another. Who has not jumped in their seats in the cinema or had prickly sensation on their neck.

The good news is that for most panic attack sufferers it is possible to overcome them. The symptoms vary from individual to individual and can include feelings of:

electric current moving through the body
hot prickly sensation moving through the body (itchiness)
intense heat or burning pain moving through the body
"unusual" intense flows of energy throughout the body
rushes of 'energy' shaking the body
tingly sensation moving through the body
creeping sensation moving through the body
wave-like motion of energy moving through the body
vibration moving through the body
white hot flame through the body
ice cold sensation through the body
"ants crawling" sensation over the body.

Of course there can be other explanations for any of these symptoms and only a Dr. should rule out other possibilities. But your Dr has said what he thinks it is.

Fortunately there is something you can do and it is the perfect compliment to LC.......EXERCISE. Yes simple exercise. What has been proved to help is breathing exercises, Yoga, stretches, and most other exercises. It is you taking control back of you body and telling it what to to rather than it doing its own thing.

So you need to learn any of the relaxation methods that appeal of takes your fancy. There are some that you can do lying down in bed that combined with breathing can actually calm an attack in progress. This combined with general fitness will put you firmly back in control.

This is not to say that we will never have any worries in life if we exercise, of course we will, but fortunately axemen round the corner are very rare. Many people who do extreme sports try to create the rush that you are desperately trying to stop.

I hope I have taken one worry away by telling you that LC does not cause panic attacks.