Anxiety

7 January 2019

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope you are all doing well? Christmas is over and many people find this truly stressful. So this blog is discussing a topic I know very well from personal experience. Anxiety. It happens to all of us in one form or another.

Do you find yourself worrying before doing something? Do you find your heart racing, hands get clammy, racing thoughts, shallow breathing and inability to settle or even get to sleep? The symptoms are as diverse as we all are and yet most people recover quickly. However some people are anxious ALL the time. Everything and anything sets them off. They can’t seem to switch off and some don’t even know how to. Everything is overwhelming and exhausting and then we start to avoid certain situations or locations or even people. If you are feeling anxious all the time you could be suffering from GAD. This can only be diagnosed by your doctor or psychologist. We as naturopaths cannot diagnosed it, but we can treat it alongside you seeing your counsellor or psychologist.

Anxiety begins as a result of triggers. It is a result from flight or fight reaction and the pre-emption of perceived danger. This makes you become sensitised to perceived dangerous or problematic situations and it builds and becomes habitual or reactive. Having a connection to flight or fight reaction means you have a bodily reaction through stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. Now I have already touched on this in a video I did on my Lisa Hodgson Naturopath page on facebook. Yet it is warranted another mention as we are, after Christmas and New Year, coming down from the seasons celebrations and it can be stressful to many people in many different ways.

How can a naturopath help? Well for a start we like to listen. Then we take down your details comprehensively. We figure out the best course of action and then offer you herbal formulas, herbal supplements, tissue salts, sometimes homoeopathy and diet and lifestyle advice. There are specific herbs with constituents which target the nervous system. Or the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenals that help with stress and adrenal fatigue if you are at that end of the spectrum.

Herbs such as lavender, passionflower, ginseng help people to cope and to relax. Herbal formulas are powerful as the alcohol used extracts the specific constituents needed and even though teas and infusions are amazing sometimes something stronger is called for.

Anyway as you can see this is my area of expertise and I feel I can offer you help with a kind and friendly ear. I am happy to be there for you. Feel free to contact me to see if I can help and to book you in for a consult.

Lisa