Anxiety and Panic Attacks

 
With older children facing the prospect of end of year exams, May is a good time to demonstrate how families can prescribe safely and effectively using a small number of frequently indicated remedies and other natural solutions, to counter the associated worries.

The following is a small selection of remedies that have been shown over time to have specific effects that justify their use in first aid type situations, providing commonsense is applied and medical advice sought when appropriate. Sometimes, especially with children, one prescription can provide relief; although as a general rule, the longer a condition has existed the more complex the homeopathic treatment programme, requiring repeated doses of the same or other remedies.

Experience with patients whose life had previously been disrupted by paralysing fears and phobias has however shown me that homeopathy can also be tremendously helpful, even when conventional approaches have provided little or no relief. This also confirms that holistic approaches can help us all transform personal crises into opportunities to broaden or adapt our coping strategies in general, without the risk of the debilitating side effects often associated with prescribed medication.

Understanding the context

Anxiety is an emotional state associated with feelings of apprehension and fearfulness about a specific, often unfamiliar, event. Symptoms reflect the “fight-flight” mechanism that can actually improve our response to this perceived threat by motivating us to prepare and focus our attention on the task; but can also include fidgeting, muscle tension, disrupted sleep, headaches and both physical and emotional hypersensitivity. In the more severe reactions known as panic attacks, we can experience rapid heartbeats and increased blood pressure, sweating, nausea and dizziness even to the point of fainting

In some senses homeopaths have an advantage in treating these cases, because rather than relying on a diagnosis, we concentrate on the focus of the anxiety and the patient’s unique reactions. We draw from over 3,000 remedies, using for reference resources known as Repertories that have been compiled over the last 200 years, detailing the outcome of research into the effects of each remedy – essentially “drug trials”. These contain impressively precise descriptions of fears, delusions, even the content of any nightmares that might be experienced:

Attacks of anxiety on going to bed…must breathe deeply, walk around, loosen clothes

 open windows …loss of control / hysteria, with faintness and aching / vomiting,

forehead covered with cold sweat … everything seems unreal / fears something

 terrible is going to happen / that he is dying

Although the aim of homeopathy is not only to remove symptoms but also ideally to cancel out the underlying susceptibility; my first choice for patients experiencing panic attacks is to use a combination of remedies that address the “fear of the fear” – the dread of “here we go again” based on previous experiences that compounds the current ordeal. This has worked whether the fears stem from phobias associated with flying, school attendance, leaving the house, contact with animals etc; anticipation of ordeals e.g. making presentations or are due to post traumatic shock. One child for instance was able to return to school after a year of becoming increasingly distraught, after just one dose. Such terror however is like a “default setting”, in that certain personality types will be generally more prone to react in this way. So it is important to follow this with remedies that counter e.g. a high need for control so that the patient becomes more relaxed in new situations,

For children who have been adopted, my sense is that the “normal” levels of anxiety can be heightened to produce fearful apprehension about loss of control and may involve violence to match what are perceived as threateningly dangerous events. In these cases it is even more important to try to understand what additional issues are being brought into play, especially if the “trigger” itself may be apparently trivial. It is here that the PACT service is particularly useful, since it allows for the family to be treated as a whole, which means that parents’ and sibling’ understandable anxieties can also be addressed. Referrals to professionals within the child’s health and educational networks are often helpful in providing behavioural and/or psychodynamic approaches that benefit the whole family. Other natural solutions to consider include relaxation and visualisation exercises, that encourage abdominal breathing to counter the tendency to hyperventilate when stressed; reducing stimulants (both dietary and social e.g. computer games); and using essential oils such as lavender to encourage refreshing sleep.

If you have any experiences relating to this article that you would like to discuss, you can email me on chris.hmatters@tiscali.co.uk. or make an appointment by contacting Sam Darley on 0118 9387600 or e-mail info@pactcharity.org