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“Living with anxiety isn’t just a psychological strain, it affects us physically too. The sense of being on edge all the time weighed on me and gave me the impression that things were never letting up or improving“, Adrian Smith @adrian3d, artist

Anxiety

We’re back to highlight another mental health issue for Mental Health Month. We understand that some of these topics can be triggering so please take care of yourself while reading.

Today, we’ll be focusing on anxiety. Most of us have felt anxious to a certain degree. Usually it happens at periods of heightened stress, such as getting ready for a job interview, moving to a new place or being in an uncomfortable setting. This is normal as your body produces adrenaline and cortisol that triggers a physical stress response in those situations. In most cases, these anxious feelings go away after the stressful situation is over.

However, some people are diagnosed with anxiety conditions that affects them daily—regardless of what’s happening in their life. These types of anxiety disorders include: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and various phobia-related disorders. For them, even everyday experiences like going to work, seeing friends, or even just getting out of the house can trigger those same stress responses.

With an anxiety disorder you might feel overwhelmed with emotions of extreme worry and fear on a regular basis. Anxiety affects a person both physically and mentally. You could just be sitting at home with your hands sweating, your heart racing, and heat flushing your face. If your anxiety escalates to a panic attack, you may experience shortness of breath, dizzy spells or the inability to talk. In some cases, you might feel like you are having a heart attack or even dying.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental disorders in the US. Below are some facts about anxiety:

It’s estimated that approximately 32 percent of teenagers and 31 percent of adults suffer from an anxiety disorder of some kind at some point in their lives

Anxiety affects a person both physically and mentally. Here are some physical symptoms: shortness of breath, shaking, nausea, headache, rapid heartbeat, dizzy spells, and more.

Although anxiety disorders can be triggered by extended environmental stress or traumatic life events, anyone can be affected with anxiety no matter their age, gender, socioeconomic status or sexuality.

If you’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, we want to remind you that you are not alone in these feelings. Having an anxiety attack might make you feel helpless or lost. In the thick of it, it can feel like there’s no end. We see you and your community is here for you to help you remember that a panic attack is just the product of brain chemistry. It’s okay to have these moments, and it’s important to find the coping skills that work for you. Many people have found things such as breathing exercises, meditation, physical movement, cutting down on caffeine and alcohol and going to therapy as ways to help them with their anxiety.

Check out these resources at the bottom if you have more questions.

National Alliance on Mental Illness- @namiorg It Get Gets Better- @itgetsbetterproject Ditch the Label- @ditchthelabel

Here are some resources UK, & Germany. if you are outside of U.S. Germany, UK, check out Mental Health Europe’s resources.

Tumblr, what are some of your techniques for managing your anxiety? Use the hashtag #postitforward to share your stories.

staystrongandalwaysloveyourself

PSA: LONG post, but it’s a little dive into parts of me a lot of people don’t know about that I am now ready to share.

When I was 16 I was diagnosed with an incurable disease called Achalasia. I am not going to get into all of the details surrounding Achalasia, but here’s a little information I have gathered from doctors or my personal experience, so you have some idea:

This is a rare disease. About 1 in a million people develop this. It is also a progressive disease and not all of the factors, symptoms, or characteristic of Achalasia are known. The majority of the patients are elderly people, often times with dementia or Alzheimer’s. It is also stress induced.

Achalasia is the paralysis of the esophagus and esophageal sphincter making it very difficult and painful to eat and drink.

Of the patients that have Achalasia, a select few also experience esophageal spasms where the outer muscles of the esophagus contract, resulting in a lot of pain.

I am not here to write a sad story about any struggles that I have faced, but actually the opposite. Because of my Achalasia and esophageal spasms I was put on many pain relievers and muscles relaxers that didn’t help my pain or my condition. And I never really liked the idea of putting excess chemicals into my body, especially if the results were very underwhelming. Because of all of the failed prescribed medications, I became almost desperate for real relief that would last, and I turned to a more natural approach.

I discovered medical marijuana. I did a lot of research on the plant, read studies of patients with chronic conditions and diseases who have little to no control over their body/pain, and how the cannabis plant helped them. I researched the different cannabinoids and how they contribute to the overall effects of the plant, both medicinal and psychoactive. Ive done my own experimenting with the cannabis plant, and I have been able to create a mostly pain free life for myself.

Before cannabis I was missing classes, missing work, spending minutes/hours crying in pain, fighting panic attacks because the pain was so bad. Not every day was bad, but most days I experienced a lot of pain, and when I had these spasms, I was done.

I couldn’t move much or talk much. I had to use all of my focus and energy to try to calm myself and remind myself that I’m okay, that this is just how my body works, and fight off panic attacks, because those panic attacks would always make the spasms so much worse and last much longer.

I fell in love with the cannabis plant because it changed my life. I can live mostly pain free and the spasms that I do have are SIGNIFICANTLY less severe and much more manageable. And the different cannabinoids reacting with my body helped other areas than just my pain. It calmed my anxiety around my spasms, helped me not have to fight so hard to prevent panic attacks, helped with my depression, helped me sleep (a lot of my spasms happen in the middle of the night and keep me up for hours) and so much more!

I know cannabis is not for everyone and I am in no way trying to push the use of it on to anyone. I am simply sharing my experiences and gratitude for the plant!

The whole point behind this long post is this:

I was offered a position at my favorite medical dispensary as their full time edible chef, and I accepted the position with the biggest smile on my face. I am so excited to be able to work with something that has changed my life for the better. And more importantly, I am so excited to be able to use my love for cooking AND my passion for the plant to help others who are in need of the same miracles that I experienced.

I know parts of this post were a little vague, and I am sure this post may raise some questions. If anyone has questions about Achalasia, or how I have learned to manage my condition with cannabis or anything else, please message me!

***I am in no way a cannabis expert, all of my information is based off of research and personal experience!