How to stop fear and anxiety from creating health problems

I’ve been hearing so much venting from my colleagues, patients, and friends that this constant stress and anxiety has us in a bind - creating new symptoms of insomnia, palpitations, anger, overeating, a constant buzzing/shaking feeling, constipation, abdominal bloating or even abdominal pain, and chronic fatigue. 

Fear and anxiety show up when we feel that life’s situations are truly out of our control, when we think we can’t overcome health challenges or diagnoses we receive, or when we feel we’re stuck in a job we don’t align with, that doesn’t fulfill us, or maybe worse a relationship we don’t think we can get away from either because of consequences regarding family, children, or even finances.  

One of My Stories with Anxiety and Catastrophizing

I will tell you one story first -though I’ve had several experiences with anxiety. I didn’t call it anxiety at first. When I experienced insomnia, anger, fatigue, constipation, chronic fatigue - I suppose their true name was anxiety, stress, disconnect, fear, and ultimately grief. 

I remember when I received a diagnosis of  ovarian tumors - that had to be taken out in order to make sure it wasn’t cancer. And this had me in a tailspin for several weeks - crying about why did this have to happen to me and what did I do wrong.

Thinking it was all my fault that I caused this tumor - that I must have been eating too unhealthily or not taking care of myself well enough because of medical residency and all the stress that went with it. That I should have done better.

And then I beat myself up over it, blaming me and all the future implications of having most of your ovaries removed. Not to mention the fact complications from having minimal adrenal gland function and immune system with a severe autoimmune disease. 

All this catastrophizing just made everything much worse. I couldn’t sleep for weeks before the surgery - creating a terrible healing environment for myself. The pain of the tumors worsened and the fatigue that came with all that stress and anxiety and fear had settled in to my body.

Catastrophizing

Catastrophizing or “fear spirals” or “melting down” or “sitting in the puddle of our own making” is one of our natural reptilian processes, but we do have to recognize it before it worsens our health symptoms.  Stress, fear, anxiety can perpetuate health issues and stop healing. And sometimes, we might have to go on medication (think serotonin reuptake inhibitors) in order to reset this negative feedback cycle because it can get so bad.

You are not alone if you experience anxiety or catastrophizing. Anxiety is actually one of the most common mental health symptoms worldwide.  As human beings, we actually have neuronal circuits that create and perpetuate anxiety. But we also have the power to inhibit and repurpose them creating a calm and healthy neurocircuitry. 

There are many methods to stop catastrophizing in its tracks before we end up depressed and without any energy to move past it. We are powerful human beings and I know I’ve said this before but I”m going to keep saying it, because we cannot succumb to this belief that we can’t heal and move on. 

One of the methods (besides releasing it through psychoanalysis, therapy, talking with your friends, spouse, and family to know that you are safe and always going to be okay) -  I have used and recommended “tapping”, meditation, prayer, and hypnosis. Medication is definitely okay in the short-term to get your circuitry reset but the integrative approaches to healing is what’s going to prevent anxiety/stress/fear spirals from recurring so you don’t need to stay on medication forever. 

Tapping or "Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)"

Tapping is based on a method called “Emotional Freedom Technique” which I previously thought didn’t have much evidence to it at all, until a colleague of mine Dr. Melanie Gold, one of the most well respected adolescent medicine physicians and published researcher discussed at a conference.

It involves stimulation of 12 acupressure points while speaking certain affirming phrases or words that help you release that which no longer serves you in your body. Stimulating acupressure points with the power of your voice actually activates the parasympathetic nervous system to calm down and help you move the anxiety, stress, grief through and out of your body. 

A meta-analysis has been done for tapping showing promising results for anxiety itself. There may be a free tapping video at the tapping solution app which I have used in the past (and I don’t have any current conflict of interest/financial interest with them) - it’s just one of the easiest ways to use tapping. 

One of the most basic tapping methods I commonly use to calm anxiety is holding my hand near my heart with light to moderate pressure. I don’t think this has been studied by any means, but somehow it slows my heart rate and redirects my focus so I can come out of a fear spiral. 

Meditation

Meditation and prayer and hypnosis are my go to to help more chronic symptoms of stress - the one that is percolating underneath that is not as clear to us.  I discussed the type of meditation I do in episode #18 The Secret Health Manifest, but just to recap:

 I have a mindful affirmation/mantra which is usually more about getting in touch with my spirit.  When fear and anxiety and stress rear its ugly head - we tend to become more disconnected with our spirit. Our spirit that is grounded and sure that we’ll be okay no matter what. 

My mantra is “I am with Anna” or in your case "I am with 'your name'" repeated several times until I feel this calm peace that spreads from within, of me walking towards myself and as a believer of God or if you are of the universe or other type of higher being, I feel that presence - a golden glowing light fill me up, and then during the meditation - I simply ask what needs to be healed and what needs to be released.

And I am usually shown where fear, where anxiety, where grief, where stress lives in my body and I breathe it all up - giving it away to this higher power, to God, to whatever your belief system guides you to. And then I begin to manifest the health that I want - to sleep better, more deeply, to be happier or more grateful, to have more energy, and I breathe that in - this golden glowing light again.

This doesn’t take more than 10-15 minutes a day and helps me so much. Because when I’m relaxed, when I’m present with my higher self, I know the healing is already taking place. I feel better not just immediately but notice after a month or two that some of these health symptoms I’ve been working on are actually already improving.  

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is something I also use as I’m certified in clinical hypnosis and teach this to many patients. I especially use this myself when there are pain flares, or stress that is preventing me from getting work done. 

We talk about hypnosis in episode #14 and I show you what hypnosis looks like with Anne Clark, RN, CPT, one of our HIP team members who has raynaud’s and is not so fun in the winter time for her. So check that out if you want to learn more.

But just to review, in a meta-analysis of 17 trials, hypnosis improved anxiety and moreso when it was combined with psychological treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy.  That is huge! 

More to come on meditation and hypnosis in our members club that we’ll teach you several methods and it launches this November 1st. Signup starts this week!  

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