Hi Sally - I have also gotten some help from a nutritionist in the past to help with balancing out hormones, gut health, and other things that affect anxiety. I saw a HUGE improvement by doing an elimination diet - just helping my gut heal and get back to producing that good seratonin that my brain needs. I also started taking magnesium and adrenal support, so it sounds similar. I'll be curious to hear how this goes for you!
You asked about EMDR - I haven't done EMDR, but I've done brainspotting, which is very similar. Basically, talk therapy accesses the conscious parts of your brain, while EMDR and brainspotting work on the unconscious parts, where your trauma and "fight or flight" responses live. It's pretty weird stuff, and I am still learning about how and why it works...but basically, you work on re-programming the parts of your brain that are storing unhealthy responses to outside stimuli. They are particularly recommended for post-traumatic stress or anxiety that comes from trauma or childhood experiences, etc. That's me, so it's been really effective for me. The main difference I've sensed is in just the intensity of how my body reacts to anxiety triggers. For example, panic attacks used to shut me DOWN. I frequently dissociated from reality and kind of "blacked out" in a way - felt like I was having a heart attack, but also loud ringing in my ears, stomach symptoms, etc. Now, when the anxiety comes on, it doesn't reach that point - I'm able to identify it more and deal with it earlier. And some of the "triggers" are starting to lose their power over me and just feel less scary in general. It's hard to explain it - I just feel safer. I did sessions for a few months last year.
Thanks for sharing, and keep us posted!
