Natural Anti-Anxiety

This was definitely one of those days where I needed some good news. Our refrigerator is on the fritz, the sky can’t decide whether rain or sleet is better for pelting, and my son made a huge deal about walking to school this morning~ not a fun way to start the day. It was sunny then, by the way, when we chose to walk, OK I chose to walk them, and that is one of the reasons I thought they should walk~ the forecast was not a happy one so all the more important to take advantage of the sun, right? Well, my oldest didn’t agree and he certainly knows how to make his feelings well-known. But, here’s the good news: I saw our family naturopath today to talk about my oldest son’s needle phobia which is causing him to dread turning 10 in a month b/c then he’ll turn 11 and have to get some shots. I know kids in general hate shots, but his fear goes well beyond the norm~ he has seriously talked about his fear of turning 11 due to shots at least once a week for about two years now. The last time they tried drawing blood to test something they literally could not do it b/c he was screaming and hitting and thrashing around so much. They actually gave up after one person tried to control him while the other tried to poke him and all the while I tried distraction techniques, not that he noticed. (I guess I don’t have a future in puppeteering.) So, that’s how badly he dreads needles, but our naturopath gave me some great suggestions and I have a sliver of hope they might actually help him. The biggest piece of advice is to use GABA which apparently is a neurotransmitter that helps keep the body calm, in other words a natural anti-anxiety supplement. After looking around the web a bit for side effect information, this article seemed to sum up what I found, and WebMD has similar information. There is actually a ‘listen’ option on WebMD which is nice if you are sick and tired of reading articles on your screen, and believe me, I can relate. I guess I got so excited about this because I know so many people with anxiety triggers and I’m always talking about kava and other herbal sedatives with them, but this is something that’s found in the brain already and is supposed to keep you calm but alert, something herbs don’t necessarily do as well. Everyone is different, so herbs might be one person’s answer and GABA another’s, or a combination of both. Of course, talk to your own doctor first, or better yet, your naturopath (who has actually studied these things.) And if you want a recommendation for a naturopath is Bellevue, I think ours is the best and I’d be happy to pass along her info.