Anxiety disorders often go unrecognized, yet they are the most common form of mental illness in the United States, with nearly one in five people struggling with some sort of anxiety. Symptoms can be debilitating and keep you from enjoying life and relationships. The good news is that plenty of treatment options are available; however, to choose the right one, it’s critical to get an accurate diagnosis.
At The Riegel Center in Plano, Texas, Dr. Christopher Riegel has developed unique treatments that are holistic, all-natural, and designed to target the root cause of anxiety.
There are many types of anxiety, and understanding which type affects you is critical when developing a treatment. The most common type of anxiety is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This disorder is easy to treat, but unfortunately, many people who have it are never diagnosed, and their symptoms are written off as stress, lack of sleep, or even mood disorders.
Another, more severe type of anxiety can cause intense, unexpected episodes related to panic disorder, which is also rarely diagnosed properly, leading to a lack of appropriate treatment. Panic disorder often appears in tandem with social anxiety disorder, causing you to isolate yourself from people and social situations to avoid triggering a panic attack.
There are five easy-to-miss or dismiss signs that anxiety is taking over your life:
It’s normal to worry about things, such as whether you did well on a test, if your child is on the right path developmentally, or if you’re going to get the raise you were promised. However, when worry pervades every aspect of your life, and you can’t stop thinking about how everything can go wrong, you might be suffering from anxiety, not just responding to stress.
Agitation can cause fidgeting, such as tapping a pencil on a hard surface or jiggling your knee incessantly. It can also manifest in less obvious symptoms, such as dry mouth, sweaty palms, and a racing pulse. Constant agitation is a hallmark sign of anxiety but is often written off as caffeine jitters or just being “quirky.”
If your ability to concentrate seems to have left you, anxiety could be behind it. Lack of concentration is often connected to disruption of short-term memory. Constant anxiety can leave you in a “brain fog,” unable to focus on completing even simple tasks.
There’s a strong connection between anxiety and sleep disorders. If you have trouble falling asleep every night due to racing thoughts, or you wake up over and over and can’t get back to sleep, anxiety could be preventing you from getting valuable deep sleep. This isn’t just annoying; it can be dangerous, as sleep deprivation often impairs judgment, especially when driving or watching after children.
Anxiety can cause you to tense up, leading to muscle cramps and pain. If you notice you’re dealing with constant aches and pains, you might be hunching your shoulders, clenching your jaw, and or experiencing tension in other parts of your body.
Anxiety and depression are typically treated by adjusting brain chemistry for better balance and reduced symptoms using pharmaceutical medications.
Imbalanced hormones also affect brain chemistry, and natural treatment with bioidentical plant-based hormones can often naturally rebalance levels of “feel good” chemicals in the brain and reduce levels of chemicals that make you anxious.
To learn more about natural hormone rebalancing for anxiety, contact our Plano, Texas, office today or book your appointment online.
