Anxiety
Natural Medicine Treatment of 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. There are also some effective natural treatments that can substitute for medications.
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 mimick 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.
A unique contribution to our ability to help patients with anxiety has come from my associate Dr Ross Hauser’s work with our in-house Nova panel which measures free minerals and blood pH. The vast majority of anxious patients seen here at Caring Medical over the last 10 years have had alkaline blood and low magnesium. Since venous blood pH is rarely measured in most hospital and clinical settings, patients are usually unaware of these abnormalities. In our experience when the blood pH abnormality is corrected, often the anxiety is gone. The basic treatment that we use to lower the blood pH is to increase carbohydrates in the diet (primarily complex) and increase vitamin C. Although I place many hypoglycemics on a low carbohydrate diet, it is important to track blood pH,perhaps test for food allergies, and determine the correct diet for each individual patient (diet typing). Sometimes Atkins like diets can cause the blood to become excessively alkaline. Below are a couple of his case studies that make the point.
A patient came in with some acute anxiety. This was the first time it had happened to her. Her blood pH was found to be 7.56 (normal on our pH meter is 7.5 to 7.52). She was given 50 grams of vitamin C which caused her anxiety level to go down by 50%. She was placed on a vegetarian diet and told to increase her oral intake of vitamin C until she had diarrhea. When she came back in one week her anxiety was much better. When she was seen in follow-in in 3 weeks, her anxiety was 80% better overall. Her blood tests showed that she had some significant food allergies including tomatos, diary and peanuts (among others). Her blood pH at the 2nd visit was down to 7.53. She was to continue her current regime. When she was seen in one more month her anxiety was 90% better. We have continued to follow her and she has had no more episodes of acute anxiety.
Another patient came to see us with chronic anxiety. Her history was significant in that a doctor about 4-5 years prior to seeing us put her on the Atkins Diet. She followed this religiously. Her blood pH was a whopping 7.57! Any other doctor would have hospitalized her, she was so anxious. She had a supportive husband so we felt comfortable treating her. She was given 25 grams of vitamin C and placed on the above recommendations. When we saw her in 1 weeks she was no longer suicidal and her anxiety was 25% better. She has been followed in the office for over two years now and is a totally different woman. In her case the high protein/high fat diet had caused too much blood alkalinity, it may have been the diet she needed originally but it because a detriment to her health in the long term.
Other supplements that I have found useful in anxious patients when a specific cause is not evident are niacinamide, B complex, various forms of chromium, calcium and magnesium, kava, and ginseng. Also, I employ the Bach Flower remedies (homeopathic) as a safe and often effective way to treat the entire personality, and reduce anxiety and associated physical symptoms.
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.
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