Online Medical News blog

Let us assume you discovered that in fact your anxiety was due to your trying to push your nervous system beyond its capacity. If you just stop doing that, your anxiety will subside. No harm done. The alarm mechanism has done its job.

However, like many other people, you may not think it is possible for you to reduce the load on your nervous system. You may have convinced yourself that there is no alternative to pushing yourself beyond the comfortable limits of your nervous system’s processing capacity. I have to ask you then some more questions.

1.  Are you sure you can’t get any help, or is it your pride that makes you determined to do this work or face this problem without help?

2.  Are you doubling your problem by setting time limits on work when you have no way of guaranteeing the performance of others who are also involved?

3. Are you fruitlessly trying to work out by yourself, in advance, how to deal with problems that may arise, when in reality the solution to those problems will require the cooperation of others?

Perhaps you might find after answering all these questions that you are in fact a person who has no alternative except to continue putting up with the anxiety because nobody else can really help. You may in fact be the only person who can stay up all night with a sick child or a dying relative, or you may have to see a task or problem through because you may be the only person qualified or able to do the job.

In this case, you might still be able to avoid further stress breakdown if you realize that immediately after the urgency has passed, you must pay back the psychic energy you borrowed in order to keep going under the stress. And remember, you are like Cinderella: your magic will definitely run out. However, Cinderalla had the advantage of knowing it would run out at the stroke of midnight; you aren’t sure how long you can keep going under stress, ignoring the warning signals.

If you decide you cannot slow down or avoid the stress, you must make sure that you get as much sleep as possible, snatching forty winks here and there as you can. You must eat regularly and you must not try to drive yourself to keep going by using stimulants. You should not take alcohol or sedative drugs. When the worst of the stress is over, you should rest and be looked after for a few days.

Above all, you must not make wrong assumptions about the anxiety symptoms you experience. Anxiety is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of a normally functioning nervous system.

*73/129/5*

ANTI-DEPRESSANTS

There is an ever-increasing variety of natural therapies available today, some complementary to orthodox medicine and some alternative; those most appropriate to sleeplessness are described in the next chapter. What they have in common is the principle that we all have our own powers of self-healing. They aim to remove blockages to health and self-healing by restoring harmony and balance, rather than zapping symptoms with drugs which can actually deplete the patient’s life force. While their methods vary, they work on the basis that body, mind and emotions are a single, interdependent unit, and that for a healthy system, all three need to be attended to.

As well as curing or relieving medical problems, natural therapies can help you to relax, and can relieve pain and anxiety. Many practitioners are also good counsellors who will provide emotional support to deal with the causes of your insomnia, or with withdrawal from tranquillizers or sleeping pills.

By contrast with conventional medicine, practitioners of natural medicines treat the person rather than the disease, which can involve a multiplicity of approaches, even within the same disciplines. They take into account the patient’s personality and lifestyle, recognizing that people vary in their responses to the same treatment. (To be fair to doctors, an increasing number nowadays also aim to treat patients in this holistic way.)

Another difference with conventional medicine is the speed at which treatments work. We have become used to a course of antibiotics, for instance, taking effect very speedily (and there are certainly emergency occasions when antibiotics are very useful). But antibiotics work by suppressing symptoms; natural medicines treat the mind and body which have become sufficiently depleted for bacteria or viruses to flourish, and symptoms are regarded as the body’s efforts to defend itself.

This means that restoring health to the whole person can take time. In addition, cure often involves what’s known as a healing crisis, when symptoms temporarily worsen as the body starts fighting back. So don’t be disappointed if results aren’t instant; give whatever therapy you choose at least a couple of months to see how it’s affecting you. A good practitioner will be happy to discuss your progress with you after the first few visits, and may then be able to give you an idea of how long treatment will take.

As far as insomnia is concerned, however, since natural treatments can be very relaxing, this is often one of the first symptoms to go.

*72\169\2*

Anti-Depressants/Sleeping Aid