A Functional Medicine Approach to Anxiety
Feeling overwhelmed by constant worry, racing thoughts, and physical symptoms like a racing heart or shortness of breath? Anxiety can be debilitating, but there is hope.
At Revivo Health, we take a Functional Medicine approach to anxiety, focusing on uncovering the root causes and creating a personalized path to relief.
We understand the emotional and physical toll anxiety can take. We’ll listen attentively to your story and experiences, creating a safe space for you to express your struggles.
There’s more to anxiety than symptoms. Functional Medicine goes beyond just managing anxiety with medication. We aim to identify the underlying factors contributing to your anxiety, paving the way for long-lasting improvement. This will likely reduce your need for medicines.
Understanding the Triggers
Anxiety can have various contributing factors, including:
- Nutritional deficiencies such as vitamins B6, B12, vitamin D, and magnesium can impact the nervous system and contribute to anxiety.
- Hormonal imbalances like hypo- or hyperthyroidism, sex hormones, or stress hormones can affect mood and increase the risk of anxiety.
- Chronic inflammation throughout the body can impact brain health.
- Gut health: Dysbiosis, or an imbalance of gut bacteria, can affect neurotransmitter production and influence anxiety.
- Chronic stress can trigger the “fight-or-flight” response and worsen symptoms.
- Sleep disturbances can worsen symptoms of anxiety and vice versa.
- Neurotransmitter imbalance of GABA, dopamine, serotonin, or glutamate may contribute to the development of anxiety. These chemical messengers helps neurons communicate with one another and regulate variety of body functions like mood, sleep, and memory.
To identify the root cause of your anxiety, we may employ a comprehensive diagnostic approach. This may involve both conventional and Functional Medicine tests:
- Conventional blood tests are used to assess deficiencies, thyroid function, hormone levels, and inflammation markers.
- Functional Medicine tests provide further insights regarding your health:
- Stool tests can be helpful to identify food allergies, gut microbiome composition and the presence of gut pathogens.
- Advanced nutrient deficiency testing can provide greater details about your nutritional status, including an assessment of essential vitamins, minerals and trace nutrients.
- Food sensitivity tests may be used to identify potential food intolerances that can contribute to mood swings and anxiety.
- Saliva tests: Assessing stress hormone levels like cortisol and DHEA.
The Revivo Health Approach
Our goal is to empower you to manage your anxiety. Through a personalized Functional Medicine approach, we can help you identify triggers, address underlying causes, and develop strategies to manage anxiety symptoms effectively. With renewed energy and a sense of calm, you can live a more fulfilling life.
A personalized treatment plan will be devised taking your history, symptoms and test findings into account:
- Nutritional deficiencies are addressed with dietary adjustments and targeted supplements.
- Hormonal adjustments can be achieved with lifestyle changes, natural remedies, or Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT).
- Gut health restoration with dietary changes, probiotics, and prebiotics is often required.
- Stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises.
- Sleep hygiene improvements to promote quality sleep.
- Supplements may be required to support neurotransmitter production and nervous system stabilization.
- Mind-body therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to address negative thought patterns to calm the mind and the body.
