Jamescato

(1976 - Present) Nashville, Tennessee. Upon graduation from high school, he enlisted in the United States Navy. During the first 12 years of his career, he was rated as a Machinists' Mate (Auxiliaries), assigned to the submarine fleet, and served aboard 3 different classes of submarines. After attaining the rank of Chief Petty Officer, he certified as a U.S. Navy Fleet Diesel Engine Inspector (DEI) and was rate converted to Engineman, serving two tours in Forward Deployed Naval Forces, Japan. Throughout his career, he and his wife Stephanie lived in Italy, Spain, Japan, and the Pacific Northwest. He retired from the Navy after 22 years of military service, choosing Washington state as his home of election. He is currently a student at Olympic College, studying for a degree in mechanical engineering. Additionally, he is also a huge fan of the alternative bands Rage Against the Machine and Tool.

Wikipedia has been my "go-to" reference in recent years. Due to their guiding principles and enforcement policies, Wikipedia has evolved into one of the most reliable sources of information on the internet. I use Wikipedia everyday for school, news, and basically researching topics for my own personal enrichment. I plan on studying issues pertaining to mental illnesses, in particular anxiety and addiction, after having both of these conditions affecting me personally and professionally. Maybe one day, I might become somewhat of a "Subject Matter Expert" on the topics that it would enable me to speak more intelligently and be able to reference studies in order to help remove the negative stigma associated with mental health illnesses.

Article Review

I have suffered from anxiety for the past 15 years, however I was unaware that I had this condition and what exactly it was until 3 years ago. During the first 12 years, I was misdiagnosed with other ailments, some of which I had and some that I did not have. It was not until my most recent primary care doctor performed a complete physical exam and ran a battery of tests on everyone of my fluids and recognized the issue. Just like in the past, everything tested within the normal ranges with one exception, my adrenaline was highly elevated. It was only then, had I ever been asked, "have you ever thought of hurting yourself?", my answer was "everyday". We both agreed that I needed to see a psychiatrist, which at that point in time, I was so desperate, I'd be willing try anything. The psychiatrist listened to me very carefully and simply told me that I have Generalized anxiety disorder. He then told me that I will need some behavioral health therapy and prescription medication to help adjust my brain chemistry. After suffering in silence for 12 years, I've been learning some breathing exercises that will stop an anxiety attack before it starts, and how to lower my heart rate by breathing which will stimulate the Vagus nerve to calm my vital signs. So I turned to Wikipedia to do some research on anxiety and what references I would need to encourage others not to suffer needlessly from anxiety attacks. I visited the Vagus nerve page on Wikipedia, and found three aspects of it worth commenting on: its relevance, lack of citations, and why I believe there should be a section devoted to how this nerve assists in calming you during an anxiety attack.

Relevance to Anxiety Attacks

On the Wikipedia page for the Vagus nerve, there are 5 sub-headings with detailed descriptions of what it does within the human body and how interconnects the brain, heart, and lungs. From a medical student's stand point, it is has some good information with references that would be so useful, if I were pursuing a neurological degree. However, for someone who is trying in earnest, to be able to articulate what this nerve does and how it can help you, there really is no sub-heading or section on its effect on calming someone down who is panicking. I recently learned about it while I was being taught breathing techniques by a psychologist. He told me how the mind can stimulate it to slow your heart rate and how it can help you stop sweating. Since this piqued my interest, I decided to do some further research. While the article does contains information on how it does control heart rate and sweating, it does not emphasize how to it can be triggered to slow your heart rate during an anxiety attack. There is only one mention of a mental health condition in the article but, it is only in the context of stimulating it for treating patients with clinical depression who are drug-resistant.

Citations, References, etc.

While carrying out my due diligence, I checked the references and sources listed at the bottom of the article. I was surprised to see only 19 references for such a long article and the latest source was from 2014. There were also 4 "citation needed" tags, 2 instances of dates missing concerning clinical trials of implanting a non-invasive neurostimulator, and a source not linked in the citation given. The more I dig a little deeper within the article, the more I realize that is it not as up to date as it could be and it wouldn't hurt to insert some additional information on how breathing can stimulate the Vagus nerve, that in my opinion would be within the scope of the article. For example, adding a section on manually stimulating the Vagus nerve with cognitive behavior therapy to calm you down in an anxious situation.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive is just another word for thinking and during some of my therapy sessions, I was trained on how the mind can be used to manipulate involuntary body functions. I also learned how to use my breathing to calm down when I feel an anxiety attack coming on, so I can stop it before it escalates. What my psychologist explained in the simplest of terms is that you can alternate your breathing in ways that can lower your heart rate. Additionally, I learned how holding your breath in certain ways can help you release chemicals that slow down release of adrenaline and can flush out excess cortisol. But above all, the main reason that I found this therapy so much more beneficial is that you can act before needing to use anti-anxiety medications such as, benzodiazepines like alprazolam, most people know this pill by it's trade name Xanax. It is because of how fast acting all anti-anxiety medications, they can be habit forming and addictive. This is something that concerns me, after having to fight off opioid addiction from 5 foot and heel surgeries due to having life long struggles with plantar fasciitis.

Summary

I have never been too proud to use my experiences in order to help others. I really enjoy referring other sufferers of anxiety to Wikipedia articles, because not only can you read reliably-sourced information on the subject matter, the pages can also link you to other relevent articles for further study. It would be nice to be able to direct others to check out the page on the Vagus nerve to see within the article that something as simple as breathing exercises can help you overcome anxiety attacks without being dependent on medications such as Xanax. By adding some additional information on stimulating the Vagus nerve, I feel that this article could really contribute to a better understanding of how the nerve works and to further expound upon triggering it, to calm the nervous system for someone who has anxiety.