Archive for August, 2009

Home Remedies For Panic Attacks You Can Try Today

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Panic attacks are common manifestations of a mental condition known as panic disorder.

In panic disorder, the person is continually confronted by the fear that something unpleasant will happen to him. These attacks are temporary, usually lasting several minutes at the most. Panic attacks may happen anytime, anywhere. This disorder may render some persons to be confined in their homes for fear of encountering the cause of their anxiety and the stigma of society.

Therefore, licensed professionals recommend several home remedies for panic attacks. First of all, since the attacks are rooted to the person’s brain activities, he must see to it that he has a diet of healthy “brain foods” that will help send out positive signals to it. This includes vegetables, fish, oats and grains and nuts. Drinking tea also has a calming effect to the whole body.

A calm and stress-free environment is also another home remedy for panic attacks. The person should make sure as an area of relaxation, all stress factors are left outside the door. He has to make sure that he has enough time for himself for relaxation, to wind down before dinner or before going to bed. Avoid drinking too much coffee since it increases the heart rate while smoking cigarettes constricts the flow of blood to the brain.

Aromatherapy can also be helpful. Certain scents have been said to have a direct calming effects to the brain. Lavender and other bath oils are mixed with water in the bath tub and an hour of soaking proves very effective.

In extreme cases where panic attacks are uncontrollable and disruptive, it will be best to seek the help of a professional therapist to properly guide him with a specific program to treat the cause of his ailments. It may not have the quick solution of prescription drugs, but it is sure to make the person stress-free and anxiety-free for life.

Tips on How to Fight Anxiety

Monday, August 31st, 2009

There are several suggested ways on how to fight anxiety. Trigger factors of anxiety can be physical or mental. So in order to minimize, if not totally eliminate anxiety, the person has to learn to manage the specific causes of his condition.

Anxiety can be a manifestation of a person’s reaction to mental stress as in the case of financial burden, failure of a relationship or threats to life. Physical factors may include ailments such as heart diseases, asthma, or the use and abuse of drugs like cocaine, amphetamines or even caffeine. Some people even experience anxiety even when trying to withdraw from these drugs.

Psychotherapists have come up with scientifically proven methods on how to fight anxiety. Drug therapy is one of these methods. However, it only provides temporary relief from the symptoms of anxiety. It can also cause undesirable side effects such as dizziness, nausea, irritability, and can also cause drug dependency to a point of addiction.

The best solution on how to fight anxiety is to know what exactly caused the anxiety in the first place, and to treat that cause properly. One should seek the help of a licensed professional who can guide him through recovery by applying several scientifically proven methods designed according to his own capacity.

Two methods are highly recommended: exposure therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. In exposure therapy, the person is made to confront the source of is anxiety. They learn by this experience that his fears are unfounded, and will eventually diminish. In cognitive-behavioral therapy, the patient is taught to acknowledge his fears, and to control and manage the reactions to the stimulus.

It may take a longer period of recovery as the person undergoes these therapies. They do not have the “quick fix” promise of anti-depressant and ant-anxiety prescription drugs. But what they do promise is a depressant-free and anxiety-free life.

The Difference Between Anxiety And Depression

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Every individual has varying reactions to different unpleasant events or experiences that they may have encountered. In order to properly treat these disorders, one has to know the difference between anxiety and depression.

Anxiety is commonly an uncomfortable feeling prior to doing of encountering something. It is usually situational – manifesting itself when a person is confronted by what he may think as an unpleasant experience. Even the mere thought of possibly encountering the situation makes the person uncomfortable and uneasy. Anxiety can occur without warning, or at gradual levels lasting several minutes. It is the emotional state of having a nagging worry that something wrong might happen, anticipating a negative outcome. The person with anxiety disorder avoids the cause of his fears to a point that renders him dysfunctional.

Depression, on the other hand, traces the cause of fear to an unpleasant experience that is very emotionally painful. It may be the loss of something or someone, that sometimes the afflicted blames himself as the reason for the loss. The person experiencing depression may show signs of lack of interest on anything, or even the will to live. He feels so hopeless and believes that the future holds no bright possibilities.

Despite the difference between anxiety and depression, these feelings may co-exist. Persons with anxiety feel depressed of their inability to normally react when confronted with a normal situation, while those who are depressed feel anxiety about what their future may hold for them.

Both conditions can be treated either with drug therapy, behavioral therapy or sometimes a combination of both. The difference between anxiety and depression treatment is the level of care given to the patient. Depression may call for a more extensive, deeper mind adjustment. Anxiety will only need exposure therapy or cognitive -behavior. Both , however have lifelong benefits. With proper treatment, a person can be guided to full recovery so he can go back to leading a fairly normal life.

Does Magnesium Work For Anxiety?

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Magnesium is one of the essential elements that is rarely given notice to be an important health supplement. This element may not be in the same league as calcium of potassium but they have been known to be a key factor in the treatment of anxiety attacks.

Health practitioners usually recommend taking in more magnesium for anxiety treatment. It helps in the absorption of essential elements such as calcium and potassium. If calcium is not properly absorbed by the body the nerve cells will become overactive, the heart beats faster than usual and may eventually lead to anxiety attacks. On the other hand, eating foods rich in the supply of potassium helps in lowering blood pressure. So taking magnesium supplements together with calcium and potassium helps boost your brain activities. This natural medicine is safe and costs much less than prescription drugs.

Good sources of magnesium for anxiety disorder can be found in simple everyday food, like chicken, nuts and seed, green leafy vegetables and even cereals and oats. As opposed to taking prescription drugs, patients taking regular dosage of magnesium for anxiety treatment never complained of any side effects although it may have adverse reactions to the other types of medications taken by the patient to treat some other diseases.

Positive recovery from anxiety attacks is highly expected when supplementation is combined with daily exercise and a proper diet. Of course it is also best when nutrition therapy is hand in hand with behavioral therapy to determine the exact cause of the person’s anxiety. These behavioral therapy sessions can also guide the person on how to cope with the symptoms of anxiety and manage them properly in such a way that it will not render the person unproductive.

How Beta Blockers Can Actually WORSEN Your Panic Attacks

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Beta blockers are types of medicines commonly used in the field of psychiatry. They are often used by persons who are about to engage in public speaking or performance. By taking beta blockers panic attacks symptoms are kept at a manageable level so as that the patient can still be functional and be more tolerable when they are confronted with the causes of their anxiety. The most familiar beta blockers are propanerol and atenolol. Propanerol has a shorter time of effectivity than atenolol. What these drugs actually do is control the physical manifestations of panic attacks such as sweating, shaking, palpitations and shortness of breath. The person under these drugs experience a calming feeling that they become mentally conditioned to perform or face the public. Taking beta blockers for panic attacks are ideally done before the person’s encounter with the anxiety-triggering situations. They do not induce sleep, which means that even when relaxation is encouraged, the person is still fully alert to engaged in activities, or in this case, public performances.

But because persons lead busier, more active lives, they often seek the temporary relief brought by these prescription drugs. With the “quick fix” given by these beta blockers panic attacks often recur on a higher level when they stop using them. It is just one of the side effects of using these anti-anxiety drugs, aside from the physical manifestations of dizziness, nausea and an unusually slow pulse rate.

When taking beta blockers panic attacks are usually kept under control. However it is just one of suggested ways to address the ailments, and, as mentioned, only gives temporary relief. To have a lifelong treatment for panic attacks, the person must seek the help of a professional who can properly guide him with the most effective ways to deal with anxiety. One method is exposure therapy wherein the patient is asked to confront the object of his fears to make him realize that his fears are unfounded. Another effective method is the cognitive-behavior therapy patients are taught to have a more adaptive behavior so that it will not hinder their productivity.

Like with any other ailments, it is much better to treat the cause and prevent that cause from destroying their lives. Alternative remedies are also available for you so you can have the choice which method can best answer your needs.

What Are The Homeopathic Remedies For Anxiety?

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Homeopathy is considered as a natural medical science. It deals less with the diagnosis of the ailment and more on the cause of the sickness, why the person fell ill, and the other factors that may have contributed to the illness. This may be due to emotional changes, intellectual stressors or hereditary factors. Homeopathy is also called Holistic Medical Science as it often treats the ailment on a more holistic approach. As an alternative to drug therapy, homeopathic remedies for anxiety treatment have since gained worldwide recognition.

Homeopathic remedies for anxiety treatment is said to have highly scientific approach, safer than prescription drugs and are being administered by trained professionals. As more and more people become health conscious, they keep a close tab of what goes in their body and what treatments they have.

As an alternative medicine, homeopathy centers mainly on the person’s response to unfavorable factors which may have caused the disease. In the case of anxiety disorder, homeopathy heals the trigger points of anxiety attacks with a mind-body relationship approach. It addresses the bodily factors that could have contributed to the mind stress, or in reverse, analyze the mind to relieve the physical ailments of the body.

Homeopathy also relieves the “clutters” of the mind with medicines that are sourced naturally without the harmful effects of chemical substances. This is likewise one of the suggested homeopathic remedies for anxiety treatment. Eighty percent of homeopathic medicines are made from vegetable sources. While only twenty percent are combined chemical sources, snake venom and bee sting, while some are from microbes, bacteria and viruses. Others are from certain hormones and body secretions. The natural ingredients of these homeopathic medicines keep the brain in proper balance to prevent the recurrence of another anxiety attack as the brain’s reaction to chemicals.

As a whole, homeopathic remedies for anxiety attacks can be the best permanent cure for these ailments as it promotes a natural approach to a complete healing of the whole being.

How Long Do Panic Attacks Last & How To Shorten Them

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Scientific studies have not come out with a specific amount of time as to how long do panic attacks last. The signs and symptoms may differ depending on the reasons for the attacks, or the patient’s ability to cope with the onset of the panic attacks, or how he deals with them during the episode itself. Being a common manifestation of mental and physical anxieties, panic attacks have less to do with the timing of the attacks. It may happen before the patient is confronted with the object of anxiety, as in the case of “anticipatory anxiety”. Or, it may continue on even several hours after the unpleasant experience. Panic attacks may be in the form of sudden, short outbursts. These events may continue on for several minutes at gradual levels.

These panic attacks are brief periods of discomfort, and as it is often an unforeseen event, no one has a specific time frame as to how long do panic attacks last. It depends on the individual’s abilities to cope with and manage the trigger points of these panic attacks. Some panic attacks mellow down immediately after the patient is removed from the place or object of his anxiety. Others, however, become so affected that it becomes so hard for them to detach themselves emotionally and mentally from the unpleasant episode. They lose interest in their normal activities for fear of having another attack, or for fear of even the possibility of encountering of being subjected to the object of their anxiety.

Since there are no specific methods to determine exactly how long do panic attacks last, it will be best to learn to manage these panic attacks. To do this, one as to seek the help of a trained professional who can properly guide him with the alternative methods and suggest possible programs specifically designed to help the individual cope with panic attacks. By working together, the psychotherapist and the patient will be able to work out a lifelong method that can make the patient bounce back to being a productive family member and an asset to society as well.

Best Natural Medicine For Anxiety That WORKS

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Anxiety is one of the manifestations of physical and mental stress. Experts have varying views on how to treat anxiety. Common remedy includes taking prescription drugs such beta blockers for anxiety that only give temporary relief from anxiety. Recent studies, however, recommends seeking for natural medicine for anxiety. As this disorder is centralized on the brain’s activities, feeding your brain with the proper nutrients can give a boost to the nutrients that carry positive signals to it.

The best natural medicine for anxiety treatment is to supply your body with a healthy diet of food rich in amino acids. Amino acids are essential elements that produce neurotransmitters that act as messengers to your brain. One of the key neurotransmitters is the gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA. Healthy neurotransmitters, in turn, promote healthy brain activities.

Though sometimes it may be complicated to analyze the food that is good for the brain, it is best to supply the brain with a considerable amount of protein to act as brain stimulants, while carbohydrates encourages relaxation. Since the person’s environment play a major role in stress factors of the brain, most people suffering from anxiety seek temporary relief in prescription drugs. Taking these drugs has become a habit they become heavily dependent on them, to a point of addiction. Aside from possible addiction, these drugs most often have side-effects such as headaches, trembling and nausea.

Natural medicine for anxiety does not have any side-effects. If at all, they only promote physical and mental well-being by encouraging you to eat healthier foods that fight anxiety. It is safe and free from toxins usually present in the chemicals used to produce the drugs. Eating foods that are rich in both protein and carbohydrates keep your brain activities in a normal level, eliminating anxiety.

But even if you already considered natural medicine for anxiety treatment, it is still best to consult with a trained professional. As every person has different coping abilities, an expert advice is still recommended. He may also suggest for you to undergo psychotherapy sessions to go hand in hand with your diet for a more effective and permanent solution to a person’s ailment.

Can Marijuana Cause Panic Attacks?

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Panic attacks, as a result of anxiety, may be the traced to one of the several reasons: substance abuse. And sometimes even the withdrawal from these chemical substances can also cause anxiety leading to panic attacks. With the consumption of alcohol, cocaine, opiates and even the considered “harmless” marijuana and panic attacks become their ultimate result.

Marijuana can have some therapeutic abilities such as being an anesthetic agent, can serve as a treatment of glaucoma and stimulate the appetite. But it often causes more harm when taken as a recreational drug. As each person’s reactions to various drugs widely vary, it has been widely associated that marijuana and panic attacks most often go hand in hand. Some may experience an ultimate high on their first hit of the pot. A majority of users, however, become immediately sweaty; their hearts race in an unreasonable beat, and suffer the loss of ability for proper reasoning. Significant loss of one’s ability for short-term memory retention has also been scientifically observed.

In many instances, marijuana and panic attacks are almost always related to each other. It has little to do about solving the panic attacks experienced by an individual who smokes marijuana. It is more about teaching the person to totally abandon the habit. You can have better alternatives to treating the behavior of the user to completely eliminate the habit. It will also be helpful if the person consults a psychotherapist who can guide the person to total recovery. Management of these panic attacks is just temporary solutions. They are just manifestations of the real nuisance – marijuana. By teaching the person, and conditioning his mind to stay away from any substance, particularly marijuana, may be a lifelong solution. It is often more effective to treat the reason behind the problem and not what merely is the problem.

Hidden Connections Between Menopause And Panic Attacks

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Many women in their late 40’s or their early 50’s experience a cessation of their monthly period. They may experience one or several symptoms related to this event such as light-headedness, fatigue and anxiety, among others. As such many relate menopause and panic attacks caused by anxiety to go hand in hand.

Women usually begin to experience panic attacks in their pre-menopausal stage, which is the transition period before menopause itself. During this period, the body produces female hormones estrogen and progesterone in a much slower pace. They become more prone to mood changes and hot flashes, resulting to anxiety. If left untreated anxiety can often lead to panic attacks which affect the personal and social behavior of these women.

Most women believe that medications and other medical procedures may be the answer to the lifelong question of treating the symptoms of menopause and panic attacks that result with this stage. As such, these drugs may often cause more harm than treatment as the side effects could worsen the physical symptoms of menopause.

But still, all women cannot avoid this stage in their lives. Although some resort to artificial methods to treat the symptoms of their menopause, it is more advisable and mentally healthy to learn the natural methods of coping with these changes. As women undergo menopause and panic attacks become frequent, it will be best to rather teach oneself the best ways how to effectively manage the unavoidable fact of menopause and control panic attacks.

Aside from self-help methods like exercise, a well-balanced diet and proper relaxation techniques, it is always best to seek the help of a trained professional to assist you in gracefully accepting this unavoidable phase in your life, and manage stress that causes panic attacks. There are methods which can give you the best alternatives and a more natural approach to dealing with menopause. Behavioral adjustments can make one deal properly with menopause and panic attacks are kept to a minimum, if not totally eliminated.