Anxiety
Millions of Americans suffer some degree of anxiety, phobia, or panic disorder. The usual treatment is tranquilizers or anti-depressants and some form of psychotherapy which sometimes are quite helpful. Side effects can be a problem, however, with the drugs, and therapy, unfortunately, often doesn’t lead to the breakthroughs necessary to get to the root of the problem or even to provide much relief of symptoms. I know. I used both of these methods early in my career when I was still in psychiatry. While I am not opposed to traditional treatment, I do think everyone with an anxiety disorder should also have a natural medicine consultation and workup. The reason is that there are several important physiologic conditions that often accompany anxiety that, if treated, will significantly reduce the patients tendency to anxiety symptoms.

Anxiety conditions are much more common in women than men. Every woman with any emotional symptoms should track the onset and severity, and plot them against the menstrual cycle. Often there is a cyclic component, which when present, points strongly to the presence of hormonal factors. Related to this, any menopausal aged woman, whether she is still having periods or not, who is anxious and is having trouble sleeping through the night needs to get hormone testing. The sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) are hugely important in maintaining psychological balance.

One of the first books I read in my journey towards a shift in career to natural medicine away from psychiatry (Hypoglycemia and You by Carlton Fredericks) lead me to make the observation that the vast majority of my anxiety patients overused sugar, caffeine, and nicotine, and sometimes alcohol. I soon discovered that most of them were suffering from reactive hypoglycemia and felt much better when they eliminated these things from their lifestyle, changed the way they ate, and took supplements that helped stabilize blood glucose. Hypoglycemia can cause symptoms identical to an anxiety attack, or can act as a trigger which makes the patient more vulnerable to their usual anxiety attacks. The palpitations or cardiac awareness so common to anxiety are also a premiere symptom of hypoglycemia. Making this connection in my patients allowed me to write many fewer tranquilizing medication prescriptions, as patients started doing well without them.

Thyroid and adrenal disorders are extremely common. Both underactive and overactive gland function can produce symptoms of anxiety. Some thyroid patients actually swing from high to low, especially those with autoimmune thyroid disorders. Hyperthyroidism is classically associated with symptoms that mimic anxiety attacks. Adrenal fatigue and exhaustion are almost ubiquitous in psychiatric conditions because of the stress level. This can be associated with over or undersecretion of the main adrenal hormone, cortisol. Exhausted adrenals are often in the background of many cases of hypoglycemia, and comprehensive testing opens the door to effective treatment.

Anxiety disorders are common, and cause a great deal of suffering for patients and their loved ones. When seeking help, by all means consult your family doctor or a skilled psychiatric professional, but be aware that the offered solutions coming out of that are often limited to just medication prescriptions. Sometimes people need tranquilizers and antidepressants, but certainly not always. And psychiatric medications can only cover the symptoms, and never address the cause(s) of the problem. Should you or someone you know need help with this problem, take advantage of our expertise in this area by seeking a consultation with a natural medicine physician here at Caring Medical.