Anxiety
Anxiety is well-treated naturopathic medicine.
To worry at times is normal, but if you are often worry without reason, or your worry disrupts your daily life you may have anxiety. Anxiety levels may decrease over time, but can also increase, sometimes leading to depression or substance abuse.
The cause of anxiety is not known, but it may be linked to certain medical conditions (e.g., heart disease, diabetes mellitus, thyroid illness, irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual syndrome [PMS], asthma, alcohol or prescription medication withdrawal) or be a side effect of some medications.
Seek professional healthcare if you feel you are not able to control your worries, or if your anxiety interferes with your ability to carry out your daily activities or you suspect your anxiety is related to an underlying health condition (e.g., thyroid illness).
Symptoms of Anxiety
Possible symptoms of anxiety include:
- Feeling nervous
- Feeling powerless
- Difficulty concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry
- Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
- Having an increased heart rate
- Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Feeling weak or tired
Treatment of Anxiety at Toronto Centre for Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of anxiety treatment are to reduce or completely eliminate anxiety symptoms, and determine and address triggers of anxiety in order to prevent recurrence of anxiety episodes.
Conventional treatment for generalized anxiety disorder may include psychotherapy, and a variety of medications, including anti-anxiety medications or antidepressants. These treatments may have short- or long-term side effects.
For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your anxiety symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves:
- Identifying specific treatment goals
- Development by your naturopathic doctor, of a thorough understanding of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors
- Development of a comprehensive treatment plan
- Implementation and maintenance of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment
At Toronto Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, a typical approach to treating generalized anxiety disorder may be to:
- Identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., stress, social isolation, dietary factors, general perspective, generally unhealthy lifestyle) or general health (e.g., hyperthyroidism) that may be contributing to your anxiety symptoms
- Reduce anxiety symptoms and frequency of episode recurrence using relaxation (meditation) training or botanical (herbal) medicines
- Support adrenal gland (the gland responsible for your body’s ability to respond to stress) using botanical (herbal) medicines
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
- Nutritional counseling
- Nutritional supplements
- Metabolic detoxification protocols
- Botanical (herbal) medicines
- Acupuncture
- Homeopathy
- Bowen Therapy
- Suikodo™
- Hydrotherapy
- Exercise prescription
- Relaxation (meditation) training
- Lifestyle medicine and counseling
As a first step in reducing the effects of stress on your quality of life, learn more about our Serenity Now Stress Management program.
Treatments provided by naturopathic doctors are covered by most extended healthcare plans.
References
Generalized anxiety disorder [Internet]. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; [cited 2009 Feb 18]. Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/generalized-anxiety-disorder/DS00502.
Anxiety [Internet]. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; [cited 2015 Mar 22]. Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/basics/symptoms/con-20026282.