Anxiety Symptoms And Natural Treatments

Anxiety can be a super hard thing to live with, especially when it's a constant companion and takes over your ability to enjoy life or just to function on a daily basis.

If you experience anxiety you are certainly not alone.  Anxiety is the most common mental health condition affecting Australian women, and our hectic pace of life is likely to see numbers continue to rise.

Anxiety symptoms can vary but commonly include -

• continual or excessive worry

• negative self talk and poor self worth

• sweating, palpitations, flushing, trembling, feeling faint

• shortness of breath or holding breath

• avoiding social situations

• relying on drugs/food/alcohol to numb anxious feelings

• panic and fear

• insomnia and fatigue

• unrealistic perception of event/situation

• nausea, diarrhoea, constipation

Anxiety could be occurring due to ongoing stress and worries, or could be related to imbalances in the body such as nutritional, neurotransmitter, hormonal, digestive/bacterial or genetic conditions such as pyrroluria or MTHFR.

While anti-anxiety medication may be helpful in the short term, addressing these underlying factors will help you to reduce anxiety symptoms in the long run, without the reliance or side effects of medication. 

I've found a variety of practices and supplements have helped to reduce my anxiety over the years - you can read more about that here.  In particular food, exercise, stress management and working on my mindset, beliefs and self talk have had the biggest impact.

There's so much that can help reduce anxiety symptoms, so please don't feel hopeless if you haven't yet found the combination that works best for you.  Keep reading, talking with others and asking for help - you definitely do not need to struggle with anxiety alone - even though that's what anxiety ironically encourages us to do!

I loved reading Sarah Wilson's book - First We Make The Beast Beautiful - it's reassuring to know there are other people out there who feel like you, there are other ways to view our experience of anxiety rather than just as a negative, and how you can use anxiety to help you live a fulfilling life.

Anxiety can make us feel very alone so I think it's really important to talk about it with others and share our experiences to help each other deal with our beautiful beasts! 

If you would like to investigate which imbalances may be contributing to your anxiety symptoms, I would love to help you.  You can book online here or check out my Anxiety Ebook.

Marion McConnell is a degree qualified Naturopath who helps women with stress, hormone imbalances and thyroid issues.  The clinic is located in New Farm Brisbane, and consultations are also available via Skype.  You can contact Marion here.

Top 7 Causes Of Fatigue - Part 2

Top Causes Of Fatigue - Part 2

PROGESTERONE, ESTROGEN AND TESTOSTERONE

Many factors in our lives can impact our hormone levels including stress, chemicals, plastics, diet and medications.  Our hormones like to be in a happy balance so when this balance is disrupted we can experience a range of reproductive and other body symptoms including fatigue.

Low progesterone, high estrogen or low testosterone are the most common imbalances I see which contribute to fatigue.  We can assess your levels through a salivary hormone test which shows the levels of these hormones including the three types of estrogen.  Testing will help to ensure treatment is specific to your particular hormone imbalance which will result in quicker symptom improvement.

METHYLATION ISSUES

Methylation is a process which is involved in many essential areas of health including energy production, mental health and reproduction.  A genetic mutation can reduce your ability to activate and utilise folate, and thereby reduce the efficiency of this methylation cycle (by 30-70%!) and contribute to fatigue and many other health issues.  This gene mutation affects the enzyme MTHFR (for short!) and reports estimate 1 in 3 of us may have this defect.  This means taking certain forms of folate - such as folic acid in supplements and consuming foods fortified with folic acid are not a good idea for everyone!  

A simple salivary test can detect if you have a defect in the 2 most common and researched gene variants.  However even if the test comes back negative, you could still have impaired methylation due to other reasons.  This is why it is important to work with a qualified Naturopath or Nutritionist in this area, and utilise other blood tests to assess other markers of methylation efficiency.  There is more involved than just taking an activated folate supplement!

POOR BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL

If you rely on sugars and flour products (and caffeine!) for quick energy, or these make up the majority of your diet, it's likely you will have blood sugar regulation issues which will contribute to fatigue.  This will be experienced as short bursts of energy followed by energy slumps or crashes. This pattern usually continues in an unfortunate cycle - however you can make simple changes to stop it!

Eating adequate fat and protein at each meal will keep your energy more stable for longer and keep you full for longer, as there will be less of an impact on your blood sugar and insulin levels.  

Include good quality fats such as olive, macadamia, avocado and coconut oils, grass fed butter/ghee/eggs/meat, local wild fish, avocado and some nuts and seeds.  

Don't forget to include a variety of organic vegetables too - you can fill up on these instead of bread!

A guide to daily protein is 0.8g per kg of ideal body weight.  So 0.8 x 70kg = 56g of protein per day, spread over 2-3 meals.  Of course this is only a guide and recommendations can vary depending on your activity level, health issues or if you're pregnant or breastfeeding.

FOOD INTOLERANCES

Many women are intolerant to certain foods even if they don't have a diagnosed allergy.  The most common are

• Gluten in Wheat, Barley, Rye
• Casein and/or Lactose in Dairy
• Soy
• Eggs
• Peanuts or Tree Nuts
• Shellfish
• Corn

We can also be intolerant to natural plant chemicals in 'healthy' foods such as

• Oxalates (spinach, kale, nuts, soy)
• Histamines (fermented foods, aged cheese, wine, avocado)
• Salicylates (tomato, zucchini, blueberries, almonds)

Food intolerances may produce digestive symptoms or may present in other ways such as fatigue, headaches and irritability.

There are blood tests which test different panels of foods however it is not always completely accurate and will only pick up an intolerance if the tested foods have been consumed recently.  Working with your Naturopath and eliminating foods for certain periods of time can be another option to figure out the foods you feel best on.

Food intolerances can improve once gut health has been improved, so you may not have to avoid these foods forever.

If you would like to get to the bottom of your fatigue and improve your energy in 2018, book your consultation today! 

Marion McConnell is a degree qualified Naturopath who helps women with stress, hormone imbalances and thyroid issues.  The clinic is located in New Farm Brisbane, and consultations are also available via Skype.  You can contact Marion here.