Managing Anxiety Using Functional Nutrition - Jessica's Story

Managing Anxiety Using Functional Nutrition

After having an ovarian cyst explode, Jessica felt lost. She was anxious and worried about the state of her health. Her mind would race constantly, going through the worst-case scenario, did she have cancer?

Anxiety paralyzed her; she could barely leave her house. Once she had only made it to the first stoplight away from home and finding herself unable to wait for it to change, she turned back home. At night, her chest was so tight with fear that she couldn’t sleep.

To combat this, her doctor gave her prescription after prescription. She was on meds for nearly every issue: anxiety, depression, reflux, etc. However, to Jessica, the medication seemed to make her problems worse.

Inspired by her family’s history of a long life despite never going to the doctor, she decided to quit her meds*. Jessica started looking into her health, herself.

Using the internet as her guide she trialed various home remedies, and they helped to an extent, but they weren’t the solution Jessica was looking for.

Most importantly, her research allowed her to stumble across the concept of functional medicine.

“Another prescription! No way am I taking this stuff!”

Oswald Digestive Clinic helped her take responsibility for her own health. Working with our clinic and a nurse practitioner, Jessica began to address problem areas and identify their root cause, something she didn’t even know was possible!

Through careful monitoring of her diet, she was able to eliminate and pinpoint problem food, optimize her stomach and small intestine health, reduce inflammation, and support the health of her thyroid.

Jessica underwent micronutrient testing to determine if any deficiencies were contributing to or potentially causing her symptoms. Results showed that Jessica was deficient in serine and folate and borderline low in choline and inositol, among other things. These specific micronutrients are correlated with an increase in anxiety-related symptoms.

Micronutrient testing is done by taking a blood sample and observing the growth and function of white blood cells. This makes it possible to examine the ways that nutrients interact with the cells on an individualized level since each person’s body is different.

If you are interested in learning more about micronutrient testing or your own micronutrient status you can schedule an appointment at our clinic.

Jessica also learned to use stress reduction techniques to regain her freedom and independence to participate in daily life. In order to best support a healthy sleep cycle, Jessica prioritized following a specific schedule by going to bed around the same time every day. She began to take sleep-promoting supplements and integrated physical activity and mindfulness techniques into her daily routine.

Jessica’s life has changed completely thanks to functional medicine. Leaving the house became easier and easier.

Now she doesn’t even notice until after a trip out is over that she didn’t experience any anxiety symptoms. She feels that she has been given the tools to manage her anxiety and make it through her day-to-day.

She only takes medications that are absolutely necessary and can sleep through the night once again.

Image: Symptom questionnaires as filled out by Jessica before and after receiving treatment from Oswald Digestive Clinic.

Symptoms are rated on a scale from 0-5 with respect to their frequency and severity. A score of 0 indicates that the patient does not experience the symptom, a score of 1 indicates that the symptom is experienced occasionally and mild, and a score of 5 indicates that the symptom is frequent and severe. If you would like to see changes in your troublesome symptoms like this, you can schedule an initial appointment with us.

Stories like Jessica’s show us that we can take control of our chaos. Life doesn’t have to be this hard, we shouldn’t be stuck inside our houses. Just like Jessica, anyone can take responsibility for their own health.

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If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic. We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.