Natural Anxiety Cures That Can Save Your Sanity

I am a survivor of severe anxiety symptoms. I truly believe you have to walk in someone's shoes before you can really understand their situation. Looking back, I would not take anything for the experience I had with Panic and Anxiety Disorder. Yes, I just said that and I mean it. It made me a stronger person in the end. Of course, at the time, I was not at all pleased with my circumstances.

My panic and anxiety started in my mid 20's just after I got married. I went from doctor to doctor looking for answers to my strange set of symptoms. I was tired, had muscle aches, felt jittery, had skipped heartbeats and racing heart, easily startled (in fact my husband could walk in a room and say hello quietly and I would jump out of my skin). I also worried about everything, I would have "obsessive thinking" where I would get one thought in my head and obsess over it (too bad it wasn't a preoccupation with cleaning or exercise!)

I went to see a church counselor, a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Nothing was helping. I was even taken to the ER more times than I can count, including once by ambulance and once while on a business trip.

I felt like I was losing my mind. It got so bad that I was afraid I would "nut out" and accidentally hurt my children (I had 2 at the time who were toddlers). One day, I asked my husband to admit me to the psych ward so they could take care of me and free him up to take care of the kids. He refused, thankfully, but at the time I really meant it.

My mom tried to help by "kicking me in the butt". She is not a real nurturing type and could not understand why I could not just get it in gear and move on. There was "nothing to be anxious about". What people don't understand is that this condition is often hormonal or physiological in nature. It is not an "attitude problem"!

My family tried to take me out on little day trips to "get my spirits up". When you are anxious, depressed and plagued with panic attacks, visiting a local museum is just another place to go and worry. You cannot escape your own MIND. You feel trapped inside with no way out. You cannot find the key and no one else can unlock the door it seems.

I would want to stay in the bed all day to avoid any issues with going out in public. I had to take a leave of absence from work for 3 weeks once just because I could not stop crying. I just stayed in bed, barely showered and worked on my laptop occasionally.

Obviously, my anxiety and panic had begun to turn into depression too. When I started thinking my family would be "better off without me", I had to tell my husband that I really needed help.

The psychiatrist I went to put me on Celexa. I had a terrible reaction (serontonin syndrome) and my husband had to call an ambulance. Then I tried Prozac, but it made me edgier and I would not stop walking up and down my driveway. I just don't do well on SSRI's at all.

I started to feel hopeless when I read about St. John's Wort. I went to a natural MD in a local town and he gave me pharmaceutical grade St. John's Wort. Being a worrier, I was afraid to take it for a few days but finally got my courage up and took it. Within ONE WEEK, I was starting to feel normal again!

I then went and had some hormone testing done and realized I was low in progesterone (the calming hormone). I started using over the counter progesterone cream (ProGest) and I calmed down after the first dose.

I started taking vitamins (especially B vitamins) and noticed my energy returning.

Will this work for you? Maybe not, but you have to start somewhere. FInd a doctor who CARES about you. Try and find a Naturopath or an MD who practices Holistic Medicine.

I spent almost a year of my life in terror and so embarrassed that I had this problem. Here I was, a college graduate, career woman, mother of 2 kids at the time and I could not convince myself that I wasn't going insane. You are not alone and there is help to be had. You just have to start somewhere.