Anxiety

What causes anxiety?

Anxiety refers to the uncontrollable emotional and physical responses that occur when you face a stressful or challenging event. You may face an external event, like the first day on a new job or financial problems. Anxiety can also arise from events inside your body, such as an illness or hormone imbalance.

As soon as you feel anxious, the emotion activates a surge of hormones. These hormones serve an important role because they ramp up your heart and breathing, giving you the energy needed to meet the challenge. When the event is over, your hormones reset back to normal levels.

Problems arise when you have frequent or constant anxiety. Then your stress hormones stay chronically elevated. High hormones cause many mental and physical conditions, including depression, insomnia, weight gain, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes.

What symptoms occur due to anxiety?

Anxiety causes a wide range of symptoms, including:

• Dread
• Fear
• Irritability
• Nervousness
• Nausea
• Sweating
• Headaches
• Stomachaches
• Muscle aches
• Chronic pain
• Difficulty sleeping
• Fast or pounding heartbeat

 Severe anxiety may also trigger a panic attack. Panic attacks occur suddenly and escalate rapidly, causing symptoms like chest pain and difficulty breathing.

How is anxiety treated?

At Oasis Therapeutics, the team takes a holistic approach, helping each person overcome their anxiety with treatments that draw from different specialties. The providers at Oasis Therapeutics work with your team of other providers to develop a comprehensive approach to treating anxiety. Your anxiety treatment may include:

Therapy

Therapy is one of the cornerstones of your treatment. Several types of therapy have a proven history of improving anxiety.

For example, cognitive behavioral therapy teaches you how to change thinking and behavior patterns that cause anxiety. Mindfulness techniques and goal-setting also effectively reduce anxiety.

Medications

In some cases, anxiety is treated with antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. However, you can develop a dependence on anti-anxiety medications, so they're used for a limited time. And only half of all people improve with antidepressants.

Ketamine infusion therapy

As one of today's most innovative anxiety treatments, ketamine balances brain chemicals needed to maintain a positive mood. In most cases, ketamine can improve your anxiety even if you didn't respond to other medications.

Ketamine often produces a rapid improvement in your anxiety. You may feel better within an hour of your first infusion or after several treatments.

Intravenous ketamine (IV) infusion is not FDA-approved for treatment of anxiety. IV ketamine infusion for treatment of anxiety is considered off-label use and is not covered by insurance. 

Alternative treatments

Alternative practices help many people relax and let go of stress and worry. Oasis Therapeutics often recommends options such as yoga, acupuncture, and meditation.

You can overcome anxiety with support and holistic care from the team at Oasis Therapeutics. Call or book an appointment online today.