Anxiety.  What does it mean?

For many, it means feelings of fear, dread, and uneasiness that occur as a reaction to stress. Do you get anxiety? Relax, I do, and everybody does! It’s just that some of us can manage it a little more effectively than others. I used to suffer from BAD anxiety when I was growing up, and can relate to those who feel anxious at times for ‘no apparent reason’ at all. It can happen to anybody, so I want you to remember this one thing – we ALL get anxiety at some point in our lives because we are all human beings!

A person with anxiety may perspire a lot, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. Extreme anxiety that happens often over time may be a sign of an anxiety disorder. Anxiety can be seen as an unpleasant emotional state, an “unease” of the mind, the cause of which is less readily identified than many other emotional conditions. It is frequently accompanied by physiological symptoms that may lead to fatigue or eventually even to exhaustion. Because fears cause such similar unpleasant mental and physical changes, patients generally use the terms fear and anxiety interchangeably. So, in a sense, there is little need to differentiate between anxiety and fear.

Do You Ever Get Anxious?

Is anxiety really something that only people with mental illness suffer from? Judging by the number of people with physical complaints who have some type of fear or anxiety I have seen over the years, I’m sure that many people can relate to some form or another of anxiety.

Anxiety is one of the most common emotionally based health problems, and about 2 out of every hundred of us will experience an anxiety disorder. This month, let’s take a closer look at this common complaint, how it affects your body, and what steps you can take to identify and control your bodily responses to anxiety.

Physical sensations can include heart palpitations, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, stomach aches, headaches, shaky hands, excessive sweating, trembling, feeling like you cannot breathe or may be choking, tense muscles, and dizziness. I am sure that many of you have felt some of these symptoms at one point in your life.

Emotional symptoms such as worrying about what others may think about you, and thoughts about the anxiety never stopping, may occur. You may have fears about losing control or feeling like things are not real or that you’re losing your mind. Sometimes being anxious can make a person so edgy and wound up that they might even get quite aggressive. Emotionally, anxiety causes a sense of dread or panic, along with nausea and chills.

Behaviors may arise directed at escaping or trying to avoid the source of anxiety. I have a dentist friend who once told me that she has had the odd patient over the years who has literally taken off in the middle of their appointment, particularly if they needed an injection or a tooth extraction.

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Many people suffer from some form of panic disorder. Intense periods of anxiety coupled with physical sensations such as sweaty hands, palpitations, feeling sick which occur seemingly “out of the blue” without an obvious cause. This can range from mild to the extreme. You may want to escape, and a common scenario is “anticipatory anxiety”, which is a form of panic disorder.

It may happen just before a performance is given or the build up to an event, for example before your wedding, a test or exam,  going to the dentist, or it could even happen before boarding an airplane. I’ll bet many people can identify at some point in their life a time when they panicked. What do you do with panic disorder? You take a few nice deep and slow breaths and try not to focus on the physical sensations you are experiencing. They will only exacerbate if you do, increasing the level of panic and anxiety.

• Maybe you found yourself in the hospital’s emergency room because you thought you were having a heart attack only to be told later it was anxiety? Panic attack.
• Ever fear you might stop breathing because your chest feels tight and breathing erratic?  Panic
• When you drive do you fear the idea of getting stuck in traffic, on a bridge or at red lights?  Anxiety.
• Do you ever feel nervous and afraid you might lose control of your mind.  Anxiety or panic.
• Have you struggled with anxious thoughts that will not stop? Anxiety.
• Do you ever feel uncomfortable in enclosed spaces such as supermarkets, cinemas, public transport or even sitting at the hair dressers? Phobia, could lead to panic attack.
• Are you nervous and on edge in normal situations that never bothered you before? Anxiety.
  

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There are different types of anxiety that you may hear people talk about. The type you have really depends on the collective group of symptoms which you have. Here are some simple explanations:

This is when you get lots of worries about trivial things which other people aren’t generally worried about. You worry about what others may think of you, you worry about paying the bills on time, about getting to the shops or bank before it closes, about the health and/or safety of family and/or friends.

These are when someone has a specific worry about one particular thing or one situation, for example a fear of being in a crowd of people, fear of heights or fear of spiders. Try hypnotism – it has worked really well for several of our patients. A young man of about 20yrs of age came to our clinic, who couldn’t drive his car for more than a few miles without becoming physically sick and throwing up. It turned out that when he was a young lad, he was driving with his father in their car, when it was surrounded by a bunch of angry motor bikers who literally trashed the car at the lights. This young man had since developed a phobia of driving, for in his mind he was still trapped in that same vehicle, and was constantly anxious each time he heard any loud noises around his car, which triggered an almost immediate response – a feeling of dread and being sick. One session with a friend who is an excellent hypnotherapist got him right. I was truly amazed, and am now a convert!

This is when you get thoughts which sort of “jump” into your head that you can not control and start doing things to try and control them or reduce them. For example someone may get thoughts in their head that they may get disease from germs off door handles, so start not touching door handles, or open them whilst holding a handkerchief , they may have rituals like washing their hands very frequently to keep them clean. I had a patient who could not relax and watch TV unless he found the remote control first. He felt compelled to find the remote, regardless of what was on TV, or how much he wanted to see his favourite TV show – he was absolutely compelled to find that remote.Another man who saw me years ago, felt compelled to keep checking to see if the doors on his car were locked after he parked his car somewhere.

Nail biting can also be a compulsion for some. What about the perfectionist people who want everything so clean and tidy all the time. You may well know one of these people, they vacuum twice a day, the house has to be spotless or they can’t seem to relax. They find it hard to relax, never feel quite at ease and may even find it hard to get to sleep because they are thinking of all the things they have to do tomorrow.

They may be “list” people, who write everything down, they may be very (too much) organised and plan things meticulously down to the last detail. These people can be hyper critical and fussy and besides being a pain to be around, are very prone to anxiety. In my experience, they eventually develop adrenal fatigue and can be prone to an overactive thyroid complaints. Herbal or homeopathic treatments work very well here over time – but they do take time and are not instant in their effects, so be patient.

Keep reading about Natural Remedies for Anxiety: Effective Ways to Find Relief here

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In a sense, anxiety is the “alarm phase” of the body’s stress response, or the immediate stage of stress. Your body prepares to deal with the threat, which can be real or even imaginary, because your mind does not really know the difference between a real and imaginary threat. And this is what happens: your blood pressure and heart rate are increased, sweating is increased, blood flow to the major muscle groups is increased, and immune and digestive system functions are inhibited.

Blood is shunted away from your digestion to the muscles, preparing your body to escape the perceived threat.

Externally, the physical signs of anxiety may include pale skin, sweating, trembling, and dilation of the pupils. Now you can see how a person over time can actually develop a physical complaint like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), from anxiety and stress. Their blood supply to the digestive system becomes reduced, their immune responses become diminished, and a whole host of other physiological responses are involved.

If this all happens to develop slowly over a period of time, the person starts to get concerned about their bowel function and well pay his or her doctor a visit. And then the doctor refers this person to a gastroenterologist, who performs a colonoscopy and mentions that all is well. The specialist now gives the mystery illness a name: irritable bowel syndrome, and recommends the patient to start taking Metamucil©, because you have IBS from which there is “no known cure”.

The anxiety (the actual cause) is rarely addressed, and the condition may go on and on for years. The same goes for all too many physical complaints which relate to anxiety: tension headaches, muscle aches & pains, period problems, various bowel conditions, appetite problems, immune problems, and so the list goes on. It is important in these situations to assess the patient in terms of adrenal burnout and treat accordingly.