Anxiety States

These are frequent: as many as one person in five is affected in the West Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness in the face of a vaguely defined danger Anxiety has no precise cause, occurs at any time and has some very disagreeable symptoms, from vague feelings of illness to acute panic attacks. It is often associated with a lump in the throat or knots in the stomach, a feeling of suffo­cation, trembling, palpitations, vertigo, sweating.

Useful advice

As soon as you feel tense, you should: - keep an eye on the quantity and quality of your diet
- take some exercise, especially if this normally relaxes you
- engage in recreational activity
- arrange for periods of rest or recovery
- look after your most valuable ally, sleep.

Two natural foods

Brewer's yeast

Origin: a living substance specially prepared as a supplement, from a minute fungus that serves as a ferment in the preparation of beer It is different from baker's yeast, and much better tolerated by the intestine.

Composition: yeast is an extraordinary dietary supplement containing little fat, salt, sugar, or calories, but is rich in proteins, essential amino acids, minerals (chromium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium...), and group B vitamins.

Indication: it is a sedative and improves and calms the nerves, as well as reducing the sensation of hunger and the need for sugar.

Method of uses: you will find it in health food shops and pharmacies as tablets, capsules, flakes (be careful. it is very bitter). Take one dose three times a day.

Lecithin

Origin: a water and fat-soluble phospholipid that dissolves and distributes fats. Made by the liver, it is present in high concentrations in the vital organs (brain, heart, liver, kidneys), and sup. plies the nerve cells with beneficial unsaturated fatty acids.

Composition And Property: because it is rich in phosphorus and amino acids, it encourages the development of the nervous system and also has a regulatory role. It is sedative, helps the memory, aids concentration, and assists sleep.

Sources: comes in the diet, and is found particularly in runny egg yolk, walnuts, soya, and sunflower, safflower or linseed oil.

Method of use: you will find it in health food shops, most often as an extract of soya. Take one teaspoonful twice a day.

Oligotherapy

Lithium, magnesium

Supplies of these two elements are obtained from a varied diet of good quality You will find them mainly in cereals, chocolate, green vegetables, eggs, fish, meat, dried fruits...

• When there is a deficiency, which is frequent with these two elements, they can be supplied in the form of colloidal minerals such as Organic Minerals (Colloidals) which contains 70+ trace minerals
  - Available in 946ml bottles
  - Take 1-3 caps just before breakfast and/or evening meal
  - Children I teaspoon daily for each 20lbs of body weight
  Or Maximol (Ionized colloidals)
  - Available in 500ml bottles
  - Take capful once or twice daily on an empty stomach
  - One dose of magnesium to be taken three times a day, and one dose of lithium twice a day, for a few days or weeks
  Or Lithium orotate (Vitamin Research Products) 120mg
  - Available in containers of 120 capsules - One capsule twice daily with meals
• You can also take higher doses of magnesium by using remedies such as Magasorb@ (Lamberts) Containing 150mg of magnesium (as citrate)
  - Available in containers of 60 and 180 tablets
  - One to three tablets daily
• You can take Trispartate@ (Thorne), which contains calcium, magnesium, and potassium
  - Available in containers of 60 capsules - One to three capsules three times daily
• You can take Trisparate(thorne)., which contains calcium, magnesium, and potassium- available in containers of 60 capsules- One to three capsules three times daily.

Vitamins useful in anxiety states

These are mainly B group vitamins: they have their own independent activity besides the absorption of magnesium. You will find them in the husks of cereals (wheatgerm, oat flakes) pulses (haricot beans, lentils, peas.. .), brewer's and baker's yeast, wholemeal bread, fish, and meat (especially poultry). . .

Vitamin B1

• Thiamine (Lamberts): one tablet=100mg
  - Available in containers of 90 capsules
  - One capsule to be taken each day.
  

Vitamin B3

• NIASAFE@ (Thorne) non-flushing: one tablet = 51 Omg of Niacin:
  - Available in 60 or 180 vegetarian capsules
  - One to three capsules daily.

Vitamin 86

• Vitamin B6 (Lamberts): one tablet= 100mg:
  - Available in containers of 100 tablets
  - One tablet to be taken each day for adults, a quarter to half a tablet for a child.

Folic Acid

• Folic Acid (Lamberts): one tablet = 400ug:
  - Available in containers of 100 tablets
  - One tablet to be taken each day.

Vitamin B12

• Vitamin BI2 BIO-B12@ (Thorne): one capsule = 1000mcg BI2, 800mcg Folic acid, Zinc picolinate 15mg and Papain 75mg:
  - Available in containers of 120 or 60 vegetarian capsules
  - For adults, one capsule daily.
• You can take Lamberts@ B-1 00 complex, a mixture of vitamins B I, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, folic acid, biotin,choline, inositol and PABA:
  - Available in containers of 60 and 200 tablets
  - One tablet to be taken each day.
  

Homeopathy

Aconite, Ignatia

- Four granules of one of these remedies at 7c, to be sucked like sweets every 15 minutes, three or four times in succession until the symptoms improve.

• You can take Nervoheel@ (Heel) which contains Ignatia 04, Kalium Bromatum 04, Sepia 04, Acidum phosphoricum 04 and Zincum valerianum 04...
  - Available in packs containing 50 or 250 tablets
  - One tablet to be dissolved under the tongue three times daily

You can also add a constitutional remedy decided upon after consultation with your homeopath, which in this case will often be Argentum nitricum, Arsenicum album, Actaea racemosa..

Aconitum napellus

Vegetable origin: aconite, a plant from the mountains.
- Homeopathic remedy for nervous
conditions with 'a fear of imminent death'
- Characteristic sign: extreme agitation

Ignatia amara

- Vegetable origin: a shrub, St Ignatius' bean
- A great remedy for nervous hypersensitivity
- Specific signs: the subject is contradictory, paradoxical. and even hysterical Rated as the homeopathic tranquillizer, it is too often used wrongly: the specific signs should definitely be present if it is to be prescribed.

Herbal treatment

Hawthorn, passionflower

These plants can be prepared and made up by your herbalist as a mother tincture, as powder in capsules, as dried extracts...

Possible Precription : You can ask your herbalist to prepare a 60ml bottle of fresh whole plant suspension of hawthorn or passionflower. Take a half teaspoonful in a little water morning and night for a few days or according to the symptoms. For adults only.

Special Note : thanks to a method of cold stabilization, the suspension provides the full therapeutic effect naturally present in the whole plant.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn has been used since antiquity for many different purposes: it has been made into execution blocks as well as being taken to dissolve kidney or bladder stones. Its considerable car diosedative properties were only recognized in the 19th century.

It regulates and slows the rhythm of the heart, and reduces awareness of distressing palpitations. It reduces nervousness and the signs of anxiety, in children as well as in adults, without producing drowsiness or memory loss.

• You can use Lamberts@ Hawthorn 2500mg:
  - Available in containers of 60 tablets - One tablet daily for a minimum of 6 weeks.
• You can also make an infusion with a dessertspoonful of flowers in a cup of boiling water.

Planet essential oils

Lavender, sweet marjoram, bitter orange...

-Two drops of one of these essential oils to be taken in a little honey, twice a day.

• You can also pour six drops of essential oil of lavender in your bath at night, for complete relaxation.

Lavender

This is not just the aromatic plant that perfumes our wardrobes and repels insects; it is also very sedative and slightly antidepressant.

Sweet marjoram

This cousin to oregano has a stronger sedative action: the ancient Greeks planted it on the tombs of their next of kin to bring peace to their spirits.

Bitter orange

Native to China, bitter orange is used both as a food and as a medicinal plant. The essential oil of neroli, which is very sedative, is produced from the flowers. Petitgrain essential oil comes from the leaves and young shoots. Distillation produces the orange flower water used by confectioners.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture has proved not merely useful but sometimes indispensable, thanks to its sedative action and ability to restore the equilibrium.

Treatment Schedule: An initial weekly or twice weekly treatment can be suggested in periods of great stress, followed by maintenance treatment once a month for several months.

Relaxation

Relaxation is essential in learning to take charge of the emotions and control muscular tension, and in reducing, channelling, and even suppressing the effects of stress.