03 Feb Treating Anxiety with Acupuncture and All Natural Treatment Options
Approximately 40 million Americans suffer with chronic anxiety or depression and 10-15% of women suffer from postpartum depression.
Often times many people don’t seek help for fear of shame or judgment and are left untreated. Those that are seeking help, approximately one out of eight adults, are currently taking antidepressant medications. While these medications offer support, there are many that do not respond well to medications.
This can be due to a number of factors including:
- Numerous side effects that outweigh the benefits of the medication
- A developed tolerance to the medication that reduces the benefits
- Increased sensitivity to the concentration of the medications
- Beliefs that depression is not due to a biochemical imbalance
Based on my experience working with a number of anxiety ridden patients, I firmly believe that with the combination of Chinese medicine, nutrition, adding in good quality supplements and probiotics, meditation, and yoga can offer incredible support in healing the root causes of this epidemic. This is an all-natural approach which is much more comprehensive, less invasive to the brain than using medications and addresses the root causes of depression. This all-natural approach accounts for biochemical factors as well as energetic and nutritional influences.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a branch of Chinese medicine that has been practiced for over 2,000 years. The purpose of acupuncture is to treat the energetic level of the human body and mind. Most people are happily surprised to find that acupuncture is a profoundly relaxing experience that creates a deep restorative balance to the central nervous system. Most people feel relaxed, sleepy, lighter and sometimes invigorated after a treatment. These feelings will continue for a few hours afterward the treatment and will be longer lasting with repetitive treatments. How does Acupuncture work? Anxiety is most often a byproduct of weak Qi in the heart and or kidneys. Often times there are other symptoms that may accompany anxiety such as low back pain, insomnia, irritability and heart palpitations.
Chinese Herbs
There are a number of Chinese herbal formulas that can work wonders for anxiety disorders. I commonly use 6 different formulas for 6 different patterns in my practice. In addition to Chinese herbs, there are some western herbs can also be helpful.
Here is a brief list of herbs that can be bought at the local health food store:
- Valerian
- Chamomile
- Lemon balm
- Kava
- Passion flower
Nutrition
One of the most important factors in treating Anxiety through whole foods nutrition is to maintain stable blood sugar throughout the day. The majority of anxiety patients suffer from hypoglycemia. Most anxiety patients suffer from hypoglycemia but don’t realize that they do. Often times, when they do eat they tend to eat refined carbohydrates, sugar, or drink coffee to start their day, only to experience a ‘crash’ around 2-4pm. To avoid this and to keep blood sugar stable, start the day with a high protein meal such as eggs, turkey bacon, or a smoothie with hemp or some other protein powder and a good fat like almond butter or avocado.
Eat a low glycemic snack every 2-3 hours, such as apples and almond butter or hardboiled eggs. Eliminate coffee and other forms of caffeine. It is also a good idea to try an elimination diet to see if you are having any food allergies that are causing more intestinal issues, systemic inflammation and may be making the symptoms of anxiety worse. These tests can help you identify if there is an allergy to: wheat, gluten, dairy, and refined sugars.
Here is a brief list of nutritional supplements that can be very helpful in treating anxiety:
- 5HTP
- B vitamin complex
- Fish oil
- GABA
Yoga and Meditation
Yoga and medication have been instrumental for many of my patients as it has been their most powerful tool in helping them cope with depression. With regular practice of yoga and meditation people often feel that they have much more control over the depression and that isn’t running their life anymore. These practices are the gateways to the reset and restore the nervous system.
There is always a reason why symptoms of anxiety creep up and from a holistic perspective our symptoms are never random. It is is helpful to disengage from our personal feelings about it and look at the bigger picture. What is the anxiety telling us about where we are at in life? What is it we need to acknowledge or changed? Whatever the answer may be, the practices mentioned here can offer a profound level of support in getting to the root cause of the issue and start a gentle course in a new direction of calmness and insight.