Women and Anxiety

1. Women and Heart Disease (Coronary Microvascular Disease (MVD)
2. Women and Stroke
3. Women and Anemia
4. Women and Osteroporosis
5. Women and Insomnia
6. Women and Anxiety
7. Women and Depression


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Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state triggered by feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness and dread, etc. It is a normal reaction to a stress that allows a person to cope with the situation during emotionally difficult time. But when when anxiety symptoms escalate or become excessive, it can lead to anxiety disorder.

Women and anxiety
Statistic shows that women experience more episodes of anxiety overall than men, especially a few days in the beginning of the menstrual cycle.

Types of anxiety disorder
1. Panic disorder
Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder defined as a condition of sudden feelings of terror for no reason. It can happens any without cause. The condition affects more often in women mau ve as a result of stress or fear wiothout reason

2. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a type of anxiety disorder defined as condition of repeated absessions. A woman with obsessive-compulsive disorder tries to repeat the same complusive action over and over again to prevent something to happen with no reason. Example, some women with the disorder may try to clean away germs by clearing the same over and over again compulsively.

3. Post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic disorder is type of anxiety disorder defined as a condition of living through a horrible experience that can make you fear after the event was over. Some women may fear the sound of win after going the bad hurricane.

4. Phobias
Phobias is a type of anxiety disorder defined as a condition in which a person has strong fear of something which post no danger to him/her. Example, some people affaid of height,..

5. Generalized anxiety disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder is another type of anxiety disorder defined as a condition in which a person feels anxious from time to time when he/she is stressful. If the disease has affected the quality of life and daily activities, you may has general anxiety disorder.

6. Etc.

The effects of anxiety
1. Physical effects
When a person under thread, blood pressure and heart rate are increased, sweating is increased to stimulate the blood flow to the major muscle groups to exhibit a fight or escaped reponse, leading to pale skin, sweating, trembling, and pupillary dilation. In women with anxiety, because of constant under thread without reasons,it can lead to symptoms of muscle weakness, tension, fatigue, nausea, stomach aches, or headaches.

2. Emotional effects
Emotional, women with anxiety disorder are trapped in a bad mind feeling, and feeling like everything is scary, leading to symptoms of nightmare, trouble concentrating, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating the worst, irritability, restlessness,etc.

3. Cognitive affects
People who has preoccupied by processing of information in their mind such as such as fear of dying. When there is chest pain, the person may think about unrelated heart diseases, such as heart diseases and fear of dying for no reason at all.

4. Behavior affects
An past experience may cause a person to withdraw under normal circumstance when there is a unpleasant feeling, leading to nail biting and increased motor tension, such as foot tapping, etc.

Diagnosis and tests
After recording the medical history and physical and emotional exam. If anxiety is suspected, you may be recommended to take some tests and referred to A psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, or other mental-health professional for find out the cause of anxiety with specially designed interview and assessment tools to determine the specific cause of the diseases. For example, the specialist may diagnose panic disorder instead of anxiety if the anxiety is focused on excessive worrying about having a panic attack or separation anxiety disorder if there is an excessive worry about being away from home, etc.

Causes of anxiety
1. Bad experience from the past
Any adverse experience from a childhood, living through a horrible experience, etc can be a cvause of anxiety as the experiences have been encoded into the brain’s amygdala and may resurface when the person is an adult.

2. Hormone change
Hormones produced by glands or organs during menstrual cycle, pregnancy or in the stage of menopause can affect the feeling of anxiety

a. PMS

Pre-menstrual syndrome and anxiety (PMS-A) is a result of most strongly over estrogen excess and progesterone deficiency in the luteal phase by suppressing the type A-monoamine oxidase and promoting while enhancing type B-MAO which can affect on mood and behavior significantly, such as nervous tension, drowsiness, palpitations, water retention and inability to concentrate and perform, etc.

b. Perimenopause
Perimenopause is the period of time when the body is approaching menopause. It may last from two to ten years. During this time the menstrual cycle becomes irregular as the hormone levels keep fluctuating, causing some women to experience PMS-like symptoms.

c. Menopause
In an article of Menopause and Anxiety by Cathy Taylor, posted at Consumer Health Digest, the author expressed that in what is often referred to as a ¨midlife crisis,¨ this time of life forces women to re-evaluate themselves and the role(s) they play as they are getting older. And, often times we are not comfortable with what we find. A little voice in the back of our head is saying, “If you don’t make changes now … you never will!” Our hormonal imbalances (due to decreased estrogen levels) can contribute to feelings of depression or make us feel plain ‘indifference.’ Even if menopause isn’t actually causing these conditions, it can heighten underlying anxiety and bring it to the surface.

c. Following childbirth
The severe drop in estrogen and progesterone hormones following childbirth can cause a temporary feeling of depression or anxiety. In some women, if it is prolonged, it can trigger anxiety disorder.

3. Medication
Women who are taking the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for treating depression have a higher risk in developing of anxiety

4.Alcohol and benzodiazepine dependency
In a study of Alcohol and benzodiazepines generate anxiety, panic and phobias by S I Cohen, researcher found that Alcohol and benzodiazepine dependencycan worsen or cause anxiety and panic attacks.

5. Stress
prolonged exposure to stress environment such as a serious medical illness can increase the production of certain hormones such as cortisol, GH and norepinephrine which promote anxiety.

6. Lack of oxygen
Lack to oxygen can reduce the production of serotonin hormone, that can lead to anxiety.

7. Family
Increased risk of anxiety if a woman have a family history of the disease.

8. Low levels of GABA
Gaba is is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter of the central nervous system.
In a study of The role of GABA in anxiety disorders. by Lydiard RB., reseracher concluded that further support for the role of the GABA system in anxiety by summarizing the current evidence supporting the use of novel GABAergic agents including tiagabine in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

9. Etc.

Symptoms of anxiety
Most physical and non physical symptoms existed due to inability of the person to cope with the situation during constantly emotional-difficult time when there is a presence of stress.
1. Trembling
2. Nausea
3. Diarrhea
4. Headache
5. Heart palpitations
6. Sweating
7. Restlessness
8. Fatigue
9. Trouble concentration
10. Irritability
11. Heart palpitation
12. Etc.

Preventions
1. Regular physical activity and healthy diet
Research has discovered that consistent regular physical activity and healthy diet throughout pre menopause reduce the risk of possibility of anxiety symptoms before, during and after menopause

2. Reduce weight
According to a study of Obesity Linked with Mood and Anxiety Disorders, by Simon GE, von Korff M, Saunders K, Miglioretti DL, Crane PK, van Belle G, Kessler R. Association Between Obesity and Psychiatric Disorders in the U.S. Adult Population researchers found that The results appear to support what other studies have found—that obesity, which is on the rise in the United States, is associated with increasing rates of major depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder and other disorders.

3. Meditation or yoga
Meditation or yoga is a learning practice to bring your mind to a state of total relaxation and peace, thus reducing the stress cause of anxiety.

4. Healthy diet
Healthy diet provides necessary nutrients to prevent hormonal change that can affect the production of certain hormones, thus reducing the risk of anxiety a few days at the beginning of the menstrual cycle.

5. Avoid alcohol

6. Etc.

Treatments
A. In conventional medicine
A.1. Non Pharmacologic treatments
1. Behavioral intervention
The purpose of behavioral intervention is to reinforce the positive behavior and avoid bad behavior regardless the environment influence.

2. Relaxation therapy
relaxation therapy is a form of treatment by enhancing the person into a relaxation stage quieting the mind to allow thoughts to flow in a smooth and induce the relaxation response.

3. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
In this therapy, you learn to recognize and change thought patterns and behaviors that can lead to anxious feelings, such as panic attacks are not really heart attacks.

4. Etc.

A.2. Pharmacologic treatments
1. Benzodiazepines
a. Benzodiazepines is referred to as tranquilizers and used to treat anxiety as its can you feeling calm and relaxed.
b. Risk and side effects
b.1. Drowsiness and dizziness.
b.2. Stomach upset
b.3. Headache,
b.4. Confusion
b.5. Impaired coordination
b, 6. Fatigue
b.7. Memory loss
b.8. Trembling
b.9. Etc

2. Antidepressants
a. Antidepressants have their effectiveness in treating but with some side effects anxiety disorders.
b. Risk and side effects
b.1. Bladder problems
b.2. Loss of libido
b.3. Dizziness and drowsiness
b.4. Inability to achieve an orgasm
b.5. Headaches
b.6. Nervousness
b.7. Etc.

B. Herbs
1. Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis):
Chamomile, a time-honored sedative herb, is widely used in teas for its relaxing and calming effects, specially in South America, and Mexico it is used as a herbal medicine to treat restlessness and irritability, particularly in children.

2. Lavender (Lavandula officinalis):
Lavender is a gentle strengthening tonic for the nervous system to treat moderate depression and for generalized anxiety disorder.

3. Passion flower (Passiflora incarnata):
Passion flower is an important herb to treat insomnia caused by anxiety, epilepsy, neuralgia, and withdrawal syndromes from opiates or benzodiazepines due to its sedative effect of centrally acting substances such as benzodiazepines, barbiturates, alcohol. in a study of Passionflower in the treatment of generalized anxiety: a pilot double-blind randomized controlled trial with oxazepam by Akhondzadeh S, Naghavi HR, Vazirian M, Shayeganpour A, Rashidi H, Khani M., researchers found that Passiflora extract is an effective drug for the management of generalized anxiety disorder, and the low incidence of impairment of job performance with Passiflora extract compared to oxazepam is an advantage. A large-scale trial is justified.

4. St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum):
St. John's Wort has been used as sedative agent as imipramine or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to treat mild to moderate depression causes of insomnia. In a study of Equivalence of St John's wort extract (Ze 117) and fluoxetine: a randomized, controlled study in mild-moderate depression by Schrader E., researcher found that Although hypericum (St. John Wart extracted, Ze 117) may be superior in improving the responder rate, the main difference between the two treatments is safety. Hypericum was superior to fluoxetine in overall incidence of side-effects, number of patients with side-effects and the type of side-effect reported.

5. Valerian (Valeriana officinalis):
Valerian has been used as a sedative agent to treat against insomnia, nervousness, and restlessness by many herbalists.

C. Chinese herbs
Traditional Chinese medicine defined anxiety is associated liver qi stagnation as a result with loss, repressed expression, and other stressful events cause of restraining flows of qi.
1. Chai Hu
Chai hu is also known as Radix Bupleuri, the bitter and sightly cod herb has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to disperse heat and fever, improve yang and promote liver function by enhancing the channels of liver, gall bladder, pericardium, triple fire channels, thus enhancing the liver qi.

2. Bai Shao
Bai Shao is also known as white peony root or Radix Paeoniae Lactiflorae, the bitter soul and col herb has been used in tradtional Chinese medicine to dilates peripheral blood vessels, coronary arteries and anti-inflammatory by enhancing the function of channels of liver and spleen resulting in promote blood flow to the lower burner.

3. He Shou Wu
He shou hu is also known as Radix Polygoni Multiflori, the bitter, sweetness and neutral herb has been use in traditional Chinese medicine to relieve of heat toxicity, secure kidney essence (jing), treat spermatorrhea and liver qi deficiency by enhancing the function of liver and kidney channels.

4. Gan Cao
Gan Cao is also known as licorice root, the sweet herb has been used in TCM to promote qi, clear heat and get rid of toxins and control the secretion of insulin by enhancing the function of all channels.

5. Etc.

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