PERSONAL GROWTH
ANXIETY
The dominant type of SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) is caused by the hypersensitivity of the SNS.
Typically, anxiety is caused by hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). However, hyperactivity of the SNS can occur in two situations.
Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS)
Firstly, external stimuli such as stress exaggerate the sympathetic nerve itself.
As a result, the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), which suppresses the sympathetic nervous system, has declined, and the sympathetic nervous system is relatively hyperactive.
We can understand sympathetic hyperactivity if we picture ourselves facing a bear in the woods. We need a great deal of blood flow to the muscles to fight or flee, and our heart rate increases to pump more blood. As digestion has little importance in a life-or-death situation, increased blood flow to the muscles naturally reduces blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract. The question of where to run continues to be asked immediately. There is no time for sleep. In real life, when the SNS is triggered by stress for a prolonged time, there will be confusion within the body in adjusting to daily situations properly. Thus, digestive issues arise, such as palpitation, inability to eat, heartburn, bloating, and acid reflux, along with sleep problems from being very alert to changes in surroundings.
Related to depression and anxiety?
A Chinese medicine perspective views depression and anxiety as disturbances of the shen, roughly translated as our spirit. When the spirit is disturbed, it is possible to feel inauthentic, worthless, and self-loathing. The emotions, such as fear, anger, or grief, may also get stuck if qi/energy is not moving smoothly within the body. These conditions can be treated with Chinese medicine by reconnecting the spirit to our most profound sense of ourselves and something more significant than ourselves. It can also assist qi in moving more smoothly, alleviating feelings of being stuck emotionally or spiritually.
The role of medication in anxiety treatment
Anxiety can be treated with many different types of drugs. Anti-anxiety medications such as Benzodiazepine are commonly prescribed for short-term relief. In addition to citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram oxalate (Lexapro) and fluoxetine (Prozac), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are often prescribed for longer-term use. Anxiety medications are known to relieve symptoms, not cure them. Within 4-6 months of drug use, benzodiazepines lose effectiveness, and most patients move on to SSRIs. Harvard Health Publishing reports that SSRIs are generally safe but may cause insomnia, rashes, headaches, joint pain, nausea, and diarrhea as side effects. Therefore, many doctors actively suggest alternative therapies (such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, yoga, meditation, etc.) to treat patients.
The disease is not important. The “patient” is important, because the patient has created the disease. The cause is in the patient; the disease is only a symptom. You can change the symptom, and another symptom will come up. You can force this disease by drugs, you can stop its expression, but then the disease will assert itself somewhere else and with more danger, more force – with a vengeance. So we will feel the “patient.” As we all aware education and experience equality important. But most important to get in tune with the “patient” and find the cause using both western and eastern medicine. We care and will build a rapport; and create a bridge on your healing journey!
Download this pdf if you would like more information, as this is one of the first English-language journals devoted to traditional Chinese medicine. This will help you to understand and you can discuss with the practioner more in detail for your faster recovery.
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Please call us or send email to find out how we can help you! Please download the a scientic journal to understand how tcm helps in your pain or illness.
How is eastern medicine different?
As a result of treating physical symptoms that are associated with and precede anxiety, eastern medicine is able to cure (yes, we said it) anxiety. As well as depression and insomnia, anxiety is often associated with chest pain, stomach aches, problems with the skin, acid reflux, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, and irregular periods, according to eastern medicine theory. In addition, these symptoms are also common side effects of anxiety drugs, which means eastern medicine can also treat drug dependency. To learn more about how eastern medicine treats anxiety and other health issues.
Is it okay to take herbal medicine along with pharmaceutical prescriptions?
It is not uncommon for patients to visit the clinic for anxiety treatment and to wean themselves off drugs. As directed by your physician, you must gradually reduce the dosage of drugs prescribed and allow the body to function on its own for some time. It is possible to treat physical symptoms and care for emotional well-being through the combination of acupuncture and herbal medicine.
Which symptoms do you have?
Choose the closest type which you suffer from the symptoms
Symptom Group A
- Extroverted, active, expressive and talkative
- Strongly competitive with high self-esteem
- Easily irritated and angry
- Face often becomes red when stressed or in an argument
- Strongly competitive with high self-esteem
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Sensitive skin
- Experience heartburn with strongly flavored and spicy food
- Chest tightness and frequent palpitation
Symptom Group B
- Introverted and prefers to be alone
- Especially sensitive to caffeine
- Easily tired from things like bright lights, strong smells or loud sirens coming from nearby
- Require some relaxing time alone in a quiet spot or dark room after a busy day
- Shy or easily startled
- Easily stressed, timid and anxious about someone watching you work or having to compete
- Often feel cold
- Difficulty falling asleep and wake up frequently
Symptom Group C
- History of traumatic experiences
- Startled and frightened easily
- Fear of horror movies
- Don’t like being alone
- Developed sleep problems after specific incidents
- Frequent sighing and chest tightness
- Frequent heart palpitations
- Dry lips and mouth
Symptom Group D
- Severe chest tightness (stuffiness)
- Depressed AND anxious
- Hard to express anger and holds it in often
- Wake up early in the morning (1am-5am) and difficulty falling back to sleep
- Feeling flushed in the face (hot flashes)
- Often experience dizziness
- Consume excessive amount of alcohol OR cannot drink at all (or very little)
- Sensation of heat in local parts of the body such as your hands and feet
Find out our success stories
SNS (Sympathetic Nervous system) Dominant Type – Due to hypersensitive SNS
Recently, Jennifer (fake name) has been stressed out because of her relationships with her co-workers. Meetings often cause her to feel hot and palpitated, making it hard to converse normally. Even after she returns home, she finds it difficult to relax and falls asleep after 1-2 hours. Occasionally, she experiences abdominal pain and frequent heartburn.
Indeed, not everyone reacts rapidly to stress like Jennifer. One of our friends will always be able to sleep through a fire alarm without a problem. Thus, hot-tempered strongly opinionated quickly develop symptoms like Jennifer. However, introverted patients will not experience skin sensitivity or redness (heat flare-ups) despite hyperactivity of the SNS. In Jennifer’s case, Huang Lian (Resinus Coptidis), Ban Xia (Root Pistillae Tematae), and Gua Lou Shi (Fructus Trichosanthis Kirlowil) were the most commonly used herbs. The bitter herb Huang Lian is often used to calm down hyperactivity in the SNS. Because Ban Xia regulates mucosal secretions, it is effective for nausea and acid reflux. As well as relieving pain and tightness, Gua Lou Shi is also very effective at easing chest discomfort. Combining these main herbs and other supplementary herbs significantly reduced Jennifer’s symptoms; three months of continuous acupuncture and herbal treatment eliminated all of her symptoms.
A dominant SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) is caused by a hyposensitive PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System)
She has been suffering from anxiety disorders for two years. Diana (false name) is in her early 30s. Stress or nervousness causes her palpitations, breathlessness, and digestive issues such as bloating and nausea. Running daily errands, such as getting groceries, can be challenging for Jessica since she often feels nauseous, has palpitations when in a crowded area, gets cold easily, urinates frequently, and has severe menstrual cramps. Additionally, she prefers to spend her time alone in quiet places due to her introversion. Her insomnia is exacerbated by caffeine intake, which makes it harder for her to fall asleep. A slender body with low stamina and fatigue characterizes her.
Anxiety is often caused by hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Hyperactivity of the SNS occurs in two situations. As a result of external stimuli like stress, the sympathetic nerve itself becomes exaggerated. This causes the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), which suppresses the sympathetic nervous system, to decline, resulting in a relatively hyperactive SNS. If we imagine confronting a bear in the woods, sympathetic hyperactivity is easy to understand. The muscles require a large amount of blood supply during fight or flight, which increases the heart rate. In life-or-death situations, digestion of food is not important, so increased blood flow to muscles naturally reduces blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract. Running decisions continue to be based on immediate judgment.
When a wild animal leaves, the PSNS, which restores heart rate and relieves muscle tension, does not function properly. Our bodies feel as if they are still in the presence of a bear even when the bear is no longer present. Your body will react too quickly to the slightest sound, smell, stimulation, or stress. Consequently, Jessica suffers from sympathetic hyperactivity, the second type of hyposensitivity. In this type of patient, the patient enjoys staying in a quiet place where he or she can be alone because any stimulus can aggravate the SNS. The herbal medicine Diana was prescribed was called “Fu Ling (Poria/ Scierotium Poriae Cocos).” Fu Ling grows as a lump on the roots of old pine trees that were lumbered. A diuretic and mental stabilizer, Fu Ling is often found skewing around pine tree stalks (up to 50 centimetres deep) when the PSNS is down. In addition to nourishing the body, it activates the brain and stabilizes the mind. Jessica’s anxiety disorder symptoms have all disappeared after she received continuous acupuncture and herbal treatments for three months. Also, we asked her to do OSHO kundalini Meditation as this meditation helps calm the mind and relax, so SNS and PNS can normalize.
Amygdala hyperactivity caused by trauma-induced sympathetic hyperactivity
Several years ago, Anita (false name) was robbed and suffered panic disorder. She is generally fine, but she feels breathless, palpitating, and trembling when stressed or alone. The fact that this doesn’t happen often made her think it would get better eventually. However, panic attacks have become more frequent in recent years. As well as the panic attack, Maggie has frequent urination, diarrhea and constipation that alternate, and cold and numb hands and feet. Sometimes she gets hot flashes, has a dry mouth, and is easily scared. A panic disorder is PTSD(Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) that occurs after an accident or incident that is not easily experienced in everyday life like Anita. Not only after a robbery, assault, hostage incident, natural disaster, fire, motor accident, war, and similar traumas also lead to PTSD, where soldiers are especially vulnerable to the disorder. Like Anita, they often suffer insomnia, are terrified, and are startled frequently. Sudden panic attacks trigger palpitation and breathlessness, and reoccurring symptoms can lead to depression.
To understand the PTSD that Anita is experiencing, we must take a look at the function of the ‘amygdala’ in the brain. Amygdala is known to detect fear and prepare for emergency events. For example, rabbits will perceive life threats when they encounter wolves. At this point, the amygdala is activated. It sends a danger signal to the hypothalamus, and the sympathetic nerves in the affected area are excited, accelerating the heart rate (chest pounding) and breathing rate because of the extra oxygen needed to make more energy that allows the rabbit to run away with all its strength. In modern society, it is common for humans to encounter such situations that activate the amygdala. Therefore, when an amygdala is overactivated due to a traumatic experience, it becomes difficult to stabilize on its own.
Anita was in a quiet, deserted setting when her amygdala was activated after being robbed. Then the memory of that experience triggers her fear response (amygdala) automatically when she is in a similar situation or surrounding, even when there is no danger. Eastern medicine in treating PTSD focuses on stabilizing the hyperactivity of this amygdala. The two herbs, Long Gu (Fossilia Ossis Mastodi) and Mu Li (Concha Ostreae), are often used as calcium medicines. Excitable cells such as neurons are susceptible to changes in the concentration of calcium ions, and large amounts of calcium ions activate the calcium channel in the amygdala, leading to a marked change in the amygdala. Thus, maintaining calcium homeostasis reduces feelings of fear and anxiety. After taking a Long Gu and Mu Li-based herbal medicine for two months, her symptoms have disappeared.
Hyperactive Hepatic type – Due to hyper-metabolism of liver
In her early 20s, Emilie (false name) has been suffering from severe depression for two years. Having trouble adapting to school and a new environment, she sighs frequently, experiences stuffiness(tightness) from the pit of her stomach to all around her chest, loss of appetite when stressed, has indigestion and feels dizzy after eating. She gets hot flashes and has no energy when in a hot environment. Emilie doesn’t have any problem falling asleep, but she feels exhausted when she wakes up in the morning, no matter how long she sleeps. She also tends to get constipated a little, has low stamina, and all the symptoms worsen before menstruation. Nowadays, there are often feelings of alexithymia beyond traditional depressive symptoms, leaving the patient with little to no emotional expression or emotion. Like Emilie, presenting a combination of the psychological and physical symptoms, as mentioned above, is quite common in other neuropsychiatric patients with insomnia and panic disorders. In severe cases, the patient feels the need to pound their chest to relieve the stuffiness, whereas some mild cases will only show as frequent sighing as signs of chest tightness. This symptom is a common manifestation when there is stagnation of the vascular and lymphatic circulation in the chest. The presence or absence of this symptom is used as an index to distinguish neuropsychiatric diseases.
In many cases, the symptoms that Emilie complains about are treated with herbs called Zhi Zi (Gardenia, Cape Jasmine Fruit, Fructus Gardeniae Jasminoidis) and Fructus Immaturus Citri Aurantii (Bitter Orange Fruit).) Gardenia is a medicinal herb used as a natural dye due to its beautiful and vibrant colour. It clears the congestion of the blood vessels and promotes smooth bile secretion. The young fruit of bitter orange contracts the myocardium and promotes cardiac output to boost circulation in the chest. In addition, it stimulates the peristalsis of the intestines and helps digestion. In particular, synephrine – similar to ephedrine but less potent – the bitter orange is found to act as an antidepressant currently being developed as a new antidepressant. Young bitter orange is the most effective medicine that can be used to reduce chest tightness and indigestion.
Emilie was treated with acupuncture and herbal medicine consisting of Zhi Zi (Gardenia) and Zhi Shi (Young Bitter Orange) for three months, after which all her symptoms improved, and the treatment was terminated. In addition, Emilie’s main symptoms of depression, such as chest tightness and indigestion, also significantly improved, as well as all the other symptoms described above.
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