Phobias, panic attacks and chromium

Today I had a shock given by a cat. It is a open restaurant located in a hilly area. Cats are roaming around that area and they survive on the waste food from the restaurant. The cats are freely roaming inside the restaurant. I always have an inhibition to touch an animal and if an animal touches me, I used to have hypersensitivity. I was eating fast and i heard a miaw sound from below the table. I saw a cat between my legs and looking at me making the sounds. Last week, I had a big shock. That event came to my mind and immediately my anxiety became very high and I could not sit at that place. I got up and moved away. Last week, at the same restaurant, a cat was below my table and made the sound. With some sounds I was chasing a away the cat. The cat was reluctant to go away. Then another big cat came. These two cats touched their noses and made a different kind of sound. Suddenly they started fighting vigorously and they both entered into my leg area which made me to have heightened hypersensitivity and panic. I started screaming. The people at the surrounding table looked at me strangely at my sounds and actions. Since cats are harmless in general, they might have thought that I was doing something unusual.

So, this incident came to my mind today and I became restless and I could not continue sitting there.

Similar incidents happened to me with stray dogs.

These kind of heightened sensitivity and panicking seems to be related with increased noradrenaline, adrenaline levels as well as low serotonin and GABA levels. The shock reaction was persistent for some time today. It subsided after I took GTF chromium 200 microgram.

GTF chromium seems to increase serotonergic neurotransmission.

Effects of serotonergic neurotransmission enhancers

After the treatment with lot of nutraceuticals and drugs for the past 1.5 years, I feel that my serotonergic system is unable to buffer itself against even little variations. If I take any food/drug which has effect on serotonergic system, my serotonergic system has a profound effect thereby suppressing the dopamine and noradrenaline systems. If I don't take anything, I used to feel worthlessness and anxious indicating the relapse of depression.

The foods/nutraceuticals which produced profound effect on my serotonergic system are given below.

Food/Nutraceutical	Positive Effects	Negative Effects
Instant Oats - Morning breakfast	Less anxious but not much when I started stutter	Tiredness, stomach bloating, increased stuttering
Supradyn recharge multivitamin capsules - 1 capsules per day	Less anxious, Alertness while driving	Tiredness
GTF (Glucose tolerance factor) chromium 200 - 400 micrograms per day	Great reduction of anxiety, music is enjoyable, can do tasks if already programmed like a robot	Tiredness, unable to focus or concentrate on a particular task (concentration dependent jobs required more time to finish), less clarity in thinking, mental cloudiness, unable to pursue reward oriented tasks even though the reward is known already, confusion in decision making

I feel that the enhanced serotonergic system suppresses the dopamine and noradrenaline systems thereby affecting my focus, concentration and reward circuitary. But I feel that the combination of Supradyn recharge and GTF chromium is very much suitable for reduction of stuttering and reducing anxiety. However, to increase the focus, attention and reward seeking behaviour, either vitamin C (500mg-1g/day) or DL-phenylalanine can be added.