Nearly everyone experiences anxiety some time to time, often due to a new or stressful situation. Anxiety creates feelings of fear and dread, and it is very normal to experience this once in a while.
If you are finding that you are anxious more often than not though, that means you might be suffering from an anxiety disorder. If you think this is the case, you should see your doctor because there are treatment methods that can help you feel more normal again.
Kind of Anxiety
There are many kinds of anxiety disorders. Your doctor can help you pinpoint which one you have to help treat it better.
Panic disorder is one that has the people who suffer from it have feelings of terror hit them without any warning, which is usually called a panic attack. Often a pain attack will feel a lot like a heart attack as it can include chest pain, heart palpitations and a feeling of choking.
Another anxiety disorder is Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). When a person is OCD, they feel the need to do everyday tasks in a certain way. This stems from an anxiety that something bad will happen if they do not follow their routine exactly the same way every time.
Social anxiety disorder is an extreme fear and feeling of anxiety in social situations. Usually this disorder comes from the fact that these people are always anxious about how other people look at them in public. It can also include a fear of not doing anything that would be even the least bit embarrassing in public.
Note: If you are anxious and it doesn’t fit into any of these categories, you may have generalized anxiety disorder. This is when you are filled with worried and constantly anxious with no clear reason.
Once your doctor is able to pinpoint which kind of anxiety disorder you may be suffering from, you can begin a treatment program. There isn’t a known cause of why people come down with anxiety disorders, but it is classified as a mental illness. Usually a doctor will rule out any physical illness before diagnosing an issue as an anxiety disorder just to be sure.
The first thing that a doctor will do to treat an anxiety disorder is to prescribe medicine. There are several anti-anxiety and anti-depression medicines on the market. Your doctor will take into account your medical history when picking a medicine to prescribe. You may need to try several medicines before you will find one that really works for you, but medicine can make a lot of difference when it comes to suffering an anxiety disorder.
In addition to medicine, a person has an illness of anxiety disorders can engage in kinds of therapy. By talking to a licensed therapist, you can often discover where your anxiety stems from. Once you have this information, you can begin to work on alternative treatment methods with your therapist that will help even more as you deal with this disease.
You can also talk to your doctor about diet and lifestyle changes. Often making these little changes in your life will help immensely when it comes dealing with your anxiety disorder. If you follow these methods by using medicine, therapy along with lifestyle changes, you may find that your anxiety is essentially cured. You will be able to live a normal life again without the constant worry and stress.
When you have an anxiety disorder, you may find it hard to do just about anything without having that anxious, worried feeling overwhelming you. But there is hope for a better life. If you see your doctor and find out what type of anxiety disorder you are suffering from, it can be treated.
Using a combination of medicine, therapy and lifestyle changes, you can begin a whole life without having anxiety ruling your life.