Is my anxiety caused by an anxiety disorder?
While it’s entirely normal to experience mild to moderate anxiety, an anxiety disorder can cause you to feel intense, persistent, and excessive worry or fear that can interfere with your ability to complete daily activities.
Anxiety disorders may manifest in immediate, intense bouts of anxiety that can peak within minutes, called panic attacks. It may also cause an elevated level of baseline anxiety that can make it difficult to get through the day. For some people, specific situations or stimuli, like crowds or loud noises, can cause or exacerbate panic and anxiety attacks.
Some of the most common types of anxiety disorders include:
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Social anxiety disorder (social phobia)
- Separation anxiety disorder
- Specific phobias, like agoraphobia
Some people can also have multiple anxiety disorders that compound each other. Most anxiety disorders cause some or all of the below symptoms:
- Feeling tense, nervous, or unable to relax
- Sense of impending danger
- Increased heart rate
- Rapid breathing (hyperventilation)
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Feeling weak or tired
- Trouble concentrating on anything but a source of worry
- Trouble sleeping
- Gastrointestinal distress
In many cases, you may feel an overwhelming urge to avoid situations or places that trigger your anxiety.
Does an anxiety disorder qualify for treatment with medical cannabis?
If you’re experiencing chronic anxiety and have tried other treatment methods in the past but have not found satisfactory results, you may qualify for treatment with medical cannabis. If you’ve ever been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, you may also qualify. Talk to Dr. Mintz about your symptoms, and ask him if medical cannabis is right for you.
How can medical cannabis help people with anxiety disorders?
Medical cannabis can help people with anxiety disorders in a variety of ways. Medical cannabis can reduce gastrointestinal symptoms, lower baseline anxiety, and help you get to sleep. Some people also report that it can treat the symptoms of a panic attack.
If you’d like to avoid the psychoactive component of cannabis (THC), there are a variety of cannabidiol (CBD) products that can reduce the symptoms of anxiety as well.
To learn more about using medical cannabis to treat your anxiety disorder, call the office of Matthew Mintz, MD, LLC, today or use the online scheduling tool to book an appointment online.a
