Anxiety Symptoms and Treatment

Acupuncture treatment for anxiety symptoms on the Gold Coast

It is important to be aware of anxiety symptoms and the best treatment options.

It is equally important to understand that we all feel a little anxiety from time to time. Short periods of feeling anxious are a normal part of life. When anxiety continues for extended periods and starts to negatively impact your day to day life however, then there may be some kind of general anxiety disorder.

We live in stressful times and anxiety is on the increase so it makes sense to be able to identify whether you may be experiencing chronic anxiety.

Firstly, anxiety and stress are often spoken about at the same time. Some people use the terms as though they are the same thing. So let’s start by looking at anxiety symptoms and comparing them to stress symptoms.

Anxiety Symptoms:

• Feeling ‘on edge’ and unable to stop worrying
• Headaches
• Difficulty sleeping
• Feeling restless, tense, wound up
• Feeling excessive fear
• Catastrophising (Imagining the worst possible scenario)
• Obsessive thinking
• Racing heart or uncomfortable awareness of your own heartbeat
• Tightening of the chest
• Quick breathing or shortness of breath
• Panic attacks

Stress Symptoms:

• Feeling ‘on edge’ or unable to stop worrying
• Headaches or muscle tension in the shoulders, neck or jaw
• Changes in sleep patterns or fatigue
• Feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope
• Changes in mood, irritability, or anger
• Changes in appetite including upset stomach
• Reliance on substances like alcohol to cope
• Difficulty concentrating
• Withdrawal from friends or family
• Thoughts of self-harm or suicide

As you can tell, the first three bullet points for anxiety and stress are the same, but then the difference is clear.

Anxiety symptoms lean more towards fear, panic, imagining worse case scenarios, feeling of restriction or suppression of the chest or throat, with changes in breathing.

With stress symptoms the pattern is more towards tension, frustration, irritation, being “worked up” to the point you may ‘bite somebody’s head off’. There may be appetite suppression, distancing from social groups and even thoughts of self-harm.

Do you experience disturbed sleep, difficulty concentrating, tiredness, muscle tension, irritability, chest tightness, uncomfortable awareness of your own heartbeat (palpitations) or the sensation of a lump in your throat or churning in your stomach.

If you have some or all of these symptoms and they are negatively affecting your life, you should think about acupuncture.

Acupuncture treatment not only helps reduce anxiety (stress) it does so with less side effects than other treatments.

And if you find the idea of needles stressful, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that our typical treatments only require 1-3 very fine needles that are practically painless.

If you’d like to find out more, book an appointment to see Dr Baker at Allied Acupuncture Gold Coast, 07 5522 1691.

 

Scientific Research: The Jargon, Numbers & References Behind The Claim
[Evidence: Potential Positive Effect]

Overall, there is good scientific evidence demonstrating effective outcomes for a course of acupuncture treatment to treat anxiety (stress) (1).

Acupuncture yields effective outcomes, with fewer side effects than conventional treatment according to a systematic review of 13 randomised controlled trials (1). More research in this area is required.

 

Allied Acupuncture Gold Coast

7a/2 Executive Drive, Burleigh Waters QLD 4220
0755221691

Located near Treetops Shopping Plaza, 5 minutes from the M1, just off Bermuda Street.

It is your local clinic for Varsity Lakes, Reedy Creek, Bonogin and Burleigh Waters.

Commute to work? Get a treatment on the way home while the traffic dies down.