Anxiety

When your anxiety is more than the typical day-to-day stress, you can develop symptoms that interfere with your ability to live and enjoy life. At Puentes Medical Consultants, Bobbi Bridges, AGACNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, provides integrative care that helps you overcome anxiety, whether you have generalized anxiety, social anxiety, a phobia, or any other anxiety disorder. Bobbi offers comprehensive treatment through the convenience of telemedicine. To schedule an appointment, call the office in San Antonio, Texas, or St. Petersburg, Florida, or use the online booking feature today.

When do I need help for anxiety?

In your everyday life, anxiety serves an important role. Whether you’re nervous over the first day on a new job or face a life-threatening situation, anxiety immediately alerts your brain. 

Then your brain triggers the release of hormones that energize your body to deal with the problem or make a quick, safe escape. As soon as the threat is over, your anxiety disappears. 

But if you often feel anxious, your body stays on high alert, leading to mental and physical problems. 

It’s time to seek help when anxiety:

• Makes you change your routine to avoid anxiety-causing people, places, and activities
• Makes it hard or impossible to keep up with your responsibilities
• Causes fear and dread you can’t control
• Persists even if you don’t face an immediate stressor
• Forces you to avoid social events and family

These behaviors signal that your anxiety has crossed the line from everyday stress to an anxiety disorder that needs treatment.

What symptoms does anxiety cause?

There are several anxiety disorders, and each has specific symptoms. For example, generalized anxiety disorder causes intense stress over everyday life issues, such as finances and children. By comparison, social anxiety disorder causes a severe fear of meeting new people or performing, such as giving a report at school or a presentation at work.

Despite their different symptoms, all anxiety disorders can cause any of the following:

• Fear
• Dread
• Nervousness
• Sweating
• Muscle aches
• Loss of appetite
• Difficulty sleeping
• Stomach aches and nausea

Anxiety may also cause a panic attack. Panic attacks rapidly appear, often mimicking a heart attack by causing symptoms like dizziness, difficulty breathing, and chest pain.

Does anxiety accompany other mental health disorders?

Many mental health disorders also cause some degree of anxiety. However, anxiety is often a significant problem for people with depression and bipolar disorder. More than 45% of people with either disorder also have an anxiety disorder.

How is anxiety treated?

Bobbi offers comprehensive treatment for anxiety, including diagnosing and treating any co-occurring disorders. Your treatment often begins with one of several types of therapy proven to help people overcome and control anxiety.

If you need medicine to ease your symptoms, whether for severe anxiety, panic attacks, depression, or bipolar disorder, Bobbi can prescribe and manage your medications.

You can look forward to enjoying your life without severe anxiety. If you need help, call Puentes Medical Consultants or book a telepsychiatry appointment online today.