ANXIETY

Anxiety that occurs during times of high stress or in the aftermath a traumatic event is normal. In most cases, the disruption and stress caused by this type of anxiety eases up on its own, when the underlying cause is no longer an immediate concern. However, when anxiety is severe, disrupts your day-to-day life, causes panic attacks or doesn't get better over time, you may have a disorder that needs to be diagnosed and treated.

Anxiety is a normal part of life. It can even be useful when it alerts us to danger. But for some people, anxiety is a persistent problem that interferes with daily activities such as work, school or sleep. This type of anxiety can disrupt relationships and enjoyment of life, and over time it can lead to health concerns and other problems.

In some cases, anxiety is a diagnosable mental health condition that requires treatment. Generalized anxiety disorder, for example, is characterized by persistent worry about major or minor concerns. Other anxiety disorders — such as panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — have more specific triggers and symptoms. In some cases, anxiety is caused by a medical condition that needs treatment.

Causes of anxiety/worry:

As with many mental health conditions, the exact cause of anxiety disorders isn't fully understood. It's thought that anxiety disorders may involve an imbalance of naturally occurring brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) such as serotonin, dopamine or norepinephrine. Life experiences such as traumatic events appear to trigger anxiety disorders in people who are already prone to becoming anxious. Inherited traits also are a factor. 

Other causes:

Excitement

Overwhelm

Fears

Fear of failure

Shyness

Lack of self-confidence

Unsure of one’s values

Medical causes:
 
For a significant number of people, anxiety is linked to an underlying health issue. In some cases, anxiety signs and symptoms are the first indicators that you have a medical illness. If your doctor suspects your anxiety may have a medical cause, he or she may order blood or urine tests or other tests to look for signs of a problem.

Physical problems that can be linked to anxiety include:

• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• Thyroid problems (such as hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism)
• Asthma
• Drug abuse

Symptoms:

Common anxiety symptoms include:

• Feeling apprehensive
• Feeling powerless
• Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
• Having an increased heart rate
• Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
• Sweating
• Trembling
• Feeling weak or fatigued

Specific anxiety disorders are broken down into several diagnosable mental health conditions:

• Panic attacks can start suddenly and cause apprehension, fear or terror. You may have feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath, heart palpitations or chest pain. You may feel as if you're choking, being smothered or that you're "going crazy."
• Agoraphobia is anxiety about, or avoidance of, places or situations where you might feel trapped or embarrassed to leave if you start to feel panicky.
• Specific phobias are characterized by significant anxiety when you're exposed to a specific object or situation and a desire to avoid it. Phobias provoke panic attacks in some people.
• Social phobias are characterized by significant anxiety provoked by exposure to certain types of social or performance situations and a desire to avoid them.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by persistent, recurring thoughts, images or impulses (obsessions) or an irresistible desire to perform irrational or seemingly purposeless acts or rituals (compulsions). Often it involves both obsessive and compulsive behavior.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by the feeling that you are re-experiencing an extremely traumatic event. It causes intense emotions and physical reactions along with a desire to avoid anything that might remind you of the event.
• Acute stress disorder is characterized by symptoms similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder that occur immediately after an extremely traumatic event.
• Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by at least six months of persistent and excessive anxiety and worry about small or large concerns. This type of anxiety disorder often begins at an early age. It frequently occurs along with other anxiety disorders or depression.
• Anxiety disorder due to a medical condition is characterized by prominent symptoms of anxiety that are directly caused by a physical health problem.
• Substance-induced anxiety disorder is characterized by prominent symptoms of anxiety that are a direct result of abusing drugs, taking medications or being exposed to a toxic substance.
• Separation anxiety disorder is a childhood disorder characterized by anxiety related to separation from parents or others who have parental roles.
• Anxiety disorder not otherwise specified is a term for prominent anxiety or phobias that do not meet the exact criteria for any of the other anxiety disorders but are significant enough to be distressing and disruptive.

Reference:

www.mayoclinic.com

 

Flower Essences for anxiety/worry:

Aspen- anxiety that has no known reason; panic attacks.

Cerato- excessive anxiety about failure, thus depending on others for advice: fear that one will let down or disappoint others.  Overwhelm. 

Chamomile- calming overly anxious states.

Dandelion- for those who hold their stress in their muscles.

Elm- overstriving for perfection.  Fear that one will let down or disappoint others.  Overwhelm.

Filaree- worry and concern about trivial problems of daily life.

Garlic- chronic anxiety and worry:  ghostly contenance.

Golden Yarrow- performance anxiety, especially when felt in the solar plexus.

Goldenrod- needing social approval; unsure of one’s own values.

Larch- fear of failure. Paralyzed by anxiety.  A lack of self confidence.

Mimulus- excessive anxiety and nervousness about daily life; everyday fears; fretful, timid attitude.

Mustard- free-floating anxiety, especially when accompanied by depression.

Nicotiana- coping with anxiety by anesthetizing emotions; showing a “cool” exterior.

Pink Monkeyflower- inability to trust that others will accept one; shame or guilt.

Pretty Face- anxiety about personal appearance; wanting to be acceptable to others by appearing physically pleasing.

Trumpet Vine- speaking with greater expressiveness, despite fears; anxiety which blocks natural soul warmth and color.

Reference:

Flower Essence Repertory by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz

Supplements for Anxiety-

Kava- the key uses of kava are nervous anxiety, restlessness, depression and insomnia.  Recommended dosage is 45-70 mg. three times a day. Use a dose providing 180-210 mg. one hour before bedtime for sedative effects.

The Healing Power of Herbs by Michael T. Murray, N.D.

Valerian- most commonly used as a sleep aid, valerian has a sedative effect. It also relaxes the muscles.

B vitamins. These nutrients, particularly the B vitamin inositol, may help relieve anxiety by affecting the production of certain brain chemicals (neurotransmitters).

GAIA Herbs, Professional Solutions, Adrenal Support

Take 2 capsules 2 X day.  Take with B vitamins to nourish the Adrenal Glands.

Homeopathics for Anxiety:

Aconitum napellus- Anxious and fearful.  Suffers from a panic attack in a crowded place where they cannot easily get out.

Ambra grisea- Anticipatory anxiety in those who are shy and easily embarrassed.  Dreads the pressure of performing in front of others- an interview, oral exam, social event, etc.

Anacardium orientale- Extreme anticipatory anxiety with difficulty concentrating in those with low self-confidence and a fear of failure.

Argentum nitricum- Acute anticipatory anxiety with restlessness, before an exam, an interview or for stage fright.  They get so wound up that they may even forget everything when the ordeal comes.

Arsenicum album- Anxious, restless and fussy.  Dislikes being in a situation where they aren’t in control.  Increasingly fussy and critical when anxious.

Calcarea carbonica- Terrible worriers, particularly about their health.  They worry about catching an infection, especially if there is one going around.

Gelsemium sempervirens- Anxious and sluggish.  Seize up both mentally and physically, becoming almost literally paralyzed with anxiety- dull and dopey- especially before an exam or a public-speaking event.

Kali phosphoricum- Nervous exhaustion after a period of anxiety, especially when worrying about relatives.

Lycopodium- Anxious and lacking in self-confidence.  Dread taking on new things (jobs/interviews), exams (including driving tests), public-speaking or acting.  Irritable and indecisive but when the time comes they shine.

Natrum muriaticum- Anxious socially.  Hates parties and are wound up before an event where there are going to be lots of people.

Nux vomica- Anxious and irritable.  A difficult work period with many worries causes irritability and exhaustion.

Silica- Anxiety with poor self-confidence in bashful but strong-willed people.  Gets wound up about public speaking, exams and interviews because they don’t believe they can perform well enough.

Reference:

Homeopathic Guide to Stress:  Safe and Effective Natural Ways To Alliviate Physical and Emotional Stress by Miranda Castro

Lifestyle changes and home remedies

• Get exercise. Exercise is a powerful stress reducer; it can improve your mood and keep you healthy. It's best if you develop a regular routine and work out most days of the week. Start out slowly and gradually increase the amount and intensity of the exercise you do.
• Eat well. Avoid fatty, sugary and processed foods. Include foods in your diet that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins.
• Avoid alcohol and other sedatives. These can worsen anxiety.
• Use relaxation techniques. Visualization techniques, meditation and yoga are examples of relaxation techniques that can ease anxiety.
• Make sleep a priority. Do what you can to make sure you're getting enough quality sleep. If you aren't sleeping well, see your doctor.
• Quit smoking and cut back or quit drinking coffee. Both nicotine and caffeine can worsen anxiety.
• Keep a journal. Keeping track of your personal life can help you and your mental health provider identify what's causing you stress and what seems to help you feel better.
• Prioritize your life. You can reduce anxiety by carefully managing your time and energy.

DEHYDRATION

Summer is here and with it the heat.  One of the things that can cause us to feel tired and out of it during the summer is mild dehydration.  I want to remind you of the normal ways we loose water daily:

Sweating- you loose about two cups of water a day through perspiration.  If you exercise or your feet sweat, you loose more that that.  If it’s hot you will loose more.

Breathing- you expel between two and four cups of water every day when you breathe out.  Don't believe me?  Exhale onto a mirror and look at the moisture.  How many times do you exhale every minute, every hour or every day?

Urination- each time you urinate you loose about a cup of water.  If your urine is an intense yellow or a dark color, you are probably not drinking enough water.  You want it to be pale yellow or clear.  (Some medications and supplements can change the color of your urine.)

When we loose fluids we need to drink more water and add electrolytes to the water.  Two easy ways to do that are:

Alacer Corp.  Electro Mix- just dissolve an individual packet into a liter of water and drink.

Hyland’s Bioplasma Sport with Electrolytes- this has electrolytes and the 12 Cell Salts in individual packets that you drop onto your tongue.  Follow with lots of water.

HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST THE KILLER E. COLI

June 8, 2011

By LOUANN SAVAGE

 

When my son was in college, he was, what I thought, lazing around on a summer Sunday. He is a hard worker and an avid athlete. I thought on this Sunday he was making up lost sleep by taking a long nap. But about two in the afternoon, he came to me and asked what it meant to have blood show in a bowel movement. At that, I was alarmed and said, "That's not at all normal," then quizzed him about it.

 

My mind flashed to E.coli, but couldn't be sure. I'd never seen it before and knew he needed to see a doctor sooner rather than later. He was getting sicker by the minute. Being Sunday, I packed my 6' 2" boy into the car and off we went to the emergency room. I learned on the drive that he had eaten a burger from a favorite fast food burger place in California the day before, a place where you would never expect to find E.coli.  

 

Lying on a hospital gurney with his 6'2" frame hanging over the end, he could barely lift his head let alone describe his symptoms to the gastroenterologist. Fortunately, the doctor was very familiar with E.coli and he diagnosed it immediately, prescribed antibiotics, said he would be better in twenty-four hours or so and told us it was a very good thing we got there when we did. That was more than fifteen years ago.

 

Today, in Germany, they are facing an outbreak of E.coli far more devastating than that my son experienced. This incidence is one of a different character called haemolytic uraemic syndrome [HUS]. As of June 8, it has killed 23 people--22 in Germany and one in Sweden.

 

The German authorities and scientists beamed in on cucumbers from Spain. When that proved to be incorrect, they looked for a pattern in restaurants and canteens visited by E.coli patients. Currently, they are looking at raw vegetables. On May 13 a restaurant in Luebeck, northeast of Hamburg, had served dinner to a large group of women of whom 17 had gotten ill and one had died.

 

Sprouts were blamed for awhile. Cultivated in steamy temperatures, they have the ideal conditions for microbes to grow. An E.coli outbreak in Japan in 1996 was traced to sprouts. Eleven people died. In 1997, an outbreak in the U.S. came from alfalfa sprouts. However, the exact source of the German outbreak is yet to be determined.

 

The most frightening aspect with the most alarming consequences of this occurrence is how deadly this strain is. On June 3, the Beijing Genomics Institute identified this new E.coli as a "highly infectious and toxic" strain. According to kidney specialist Professor Rolf Stahl of Hamburg University Medical Clinic, E.coli turns into HUS when bacterial or "Shiga" toxins enter the bloodstream. Without treatment this can lead to potential kidney and neurological damage, trigger epilepsy and in some cases cause death.

 

Most disturbing about this strain is its resistance to antibiotics. The prescribed treatment is one without use of antibiotics and with the administering of medicine that repairs intestinal flora, encourages the drinking of plenty of fluids of which good water is best. Dr. Hiromi, in his best selling book, The Enzyme Factor, speaks to the importance of drinking the 'best water' you can. Tap water does not fall into this category. Ionized alkaline water does.²

 

Add to those treatments redox signaling molecules and you have the best defense and strengthening of the immune system any combination of remedies can offer. Redox molecule messaging is the newest and most advanced science in wellness today. Gary Samuelson, Ph.D., an atomic/medical physicist who has discovered how to stabilize redox signaling messengers and molecules in a dietary supplement, says, "[They] regulate the processes that allow life to heal itself, defend itself and thrive in adverse environments."³

 

Key to protect against E.coli is to wash your foodstuffs well. This includes fresh produce and raw meats. Wash with 2.5 pH acidic water that can be produced with a water ionizing machine. If a machine is not available, create a strong acidic washing solution using 1 to 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar to 10 oz of cold water. Soak or marinate for two to 5 minutes and rinse with cold water. Put salad greens in a lettuce spinner to get excess water off the leaves and then refrigerate. The strong acidic solution will kill E.coli if left on the leaves at least 30 to 45 seconds. There are other natural and non-toxic compounds on the market that you can find at specialty stores like Whole Foods that offer up protection as well. But the most important thing to remember, never ever eat produce or meat without cleaning it and/or cooking it well. To be safe the temperature should reach a minimum of 165º F. And if you get a very pink or rare hamburger, send it back and get one cooked all the way through the middle. I have done this whenever it is pink to very pink and the restaurant is most obliging.

 

Here's to healthy eating!  

 

¹http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-ecoli-hunt-idUSTRE75627S20110608

 

²Shinya, MD, Hiromi. The Enzyme Factor. San Francisco: Coucil Oak Books, 2007. pg 94.

 

³Samuelson, Ph.D., Gary L. The Science of Healing Revealed. Copyright, 2009. pg 56.

 

Enjoy and use this article, but please be legal. Include this resource block and all is good...LouAnn Savage is publisher and editor of The Weekly Healthline, an online health publication.

The best defense is a healthy immune system.  Get enough sleep, eliminate whatever stress you can, cut sugar, alcohol and excess fat from your diet while eating more fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.  
Repeat your constitutional remedy when it is appropriate- check with your homeopathic doctor.  Take your vitamins and minerals.  Get some exercise, enough to sweat out toxins and drink more water!  See my article on "The Benefits of Drinking Water" in the archive section.
Warmly,
Dr. Jeanne 

TOXIC OVERLOAD

by Jordon Rubin Garden of Life Newsletter 2011 Each year we’re exposed to 2.5 billion pounds of toxic material that comes from our atmosphere, soil, water and food. Since the Industrial Revolution—which alone added about 80,000 toxic chemicals—and post-World War II petrochemical revolution, toxins have accumulated in the human system faster than they can be eliminated. Hence, toxic overload. The fact is that our bodies carry around various industrial chemicals, pesticides, food additives, heavy metals (like lead) and anesthetics plus the residues of pharmaceuticals—to name a few. It’s no wonder, either. We’re exposed to chemicals in far greater concentrations than previous generations were. Over 69 million Americans live in areas that exceed smog standards; most drinking water contains over 700 chemicals, including excessive levels of lead; some 3,000 chemicals are added to the food supply, and as many as 10,000 chemicals in the form of solvents, emulsifiers and preservatives are used in food processing and storage. All of these can remain in the body for years. You don’t have to have some age on you to absorb toxins, either. Even newborns feel the effects of exposure to toxins. The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization, says that the average newborn baby has 287 known toxins in the umbilical cord blood. You can imagine what happens to the toxin levels as time goes on. Fortunately, our bodies have a built-in system for detoxifying through the lungs, skin, kidneys, liver and the colon. The lungs take in pounds of pollutants and eliminate toxic gases each minute. The skin is our largest eliminative organ, and every skin pore of the body is an escape route for waste material. The kidneys eliminate fluid wastes from the body and purify the bloodstream. The liver is probably the most important detoxifier of all the organs because it takes poisons, neutralizes them, and what it cannot render harmless, it stores—protecting the body from harm. Finally, the colon eliminates solid wastes and absorbs water from foods. This built-in detoxifying system can get bogged down, however, with the overwhelming amounts of toxins the body’s exposed to. When this happens, key detoxification organs like the intestines and liver are unable to fully detoxify themselves or the body, says William Rea, M.D., an environmental physician from Dallas, Texas. When the body can’t keep up with toxic overload, these toxins quickly move from the bloodstream and get stored in fat, the brain and other tissues—causing systemic problems. Realistically, it’s not possible to fully avoid toxins, but you can take some steps to fight against them. Here are some basic tips to reduce toxic load in the body: Eat Organic: Avoid conventional and processed foods. Organic foods are free of contaminants, synthetic pesticides and herbicides, hormones, preservatives, dyes, artificial colorings, antibiotics and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Drink Clean Water: Drink 8 to 10 glasses of pure water each day. Tap water is a major source of the toxic chemicals that the liver is required to process. Get a water filter for the home and office or use purified and bottled water. Live Clean: Remove chemical contaminants and household cleaners from your home or work environment. Use an ozone or ionizing air filter or houseplants for your home or work area. Bulk Up Your Diet: Eat 8 to 10 servings of organic veggies and fruits each day—especially those that are detoxifiers such as broccoli, kale, cabbage and spinach. An added bonus is that these raw veggies and fruits add bulk to keep things moving along digestion-wise. Exercise Regularly: Work out at least five days a week for about an hour—and work up a sweat, since sweating helps to detoxify the body. The good news is that you don’t have to let toxins overload your system. You can fight back!

This information is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be used in place of an individual consultation or examination or replace the advice of your health care professional and should not be relied upon to determine diagnosis or course of treatment.