Anxiety Tip #1: Chamomile Tea

I started writing all my tips out and then suddenly realized I was writing a novel.  So I gave up the idea of writing all my tips for one post and instead, decided to give each tip it’s own little post.  What I’ll try to do is put one up each day so at least I can knock them all out in a short amount of time and make up for the fact that I’m not putting them all together.  Now, I may mention that research has been done on some of these tips, but I will not include the sources.  I have waaay too much going on to look everything back up again!  Most of it is pretty easy to find…or you can just take my word for it.  I’ve included my personal experience with each tip and what I would recommended you do with each.  I’m not a doctor so just be aware that in some cases you may want to speak to one and make sure that you’re given the okay to follow this advice.  Again, this is my personal experience with these tips.  What I did may not necessarily work for you.  Please don’t get discouraged if you don’t experience a profound change immediately, if at all.  For some of these tips you have to keep performing them in order to reap the benefits.  Okay! Let’s get started!

Oh man, chamomile tea has been a lifesaver! This little tip is very near and dear to me which is why I couldn’t wait any longer to share it.  

It all started when I was telling a classmate last semester about my test anxiety.  She told me that her roommate had suffered test anxiety, started drinking chamomile tea right before her tests and found that she no longer struggled with her test anxiety.  She then went on to tell me how she, too, had dealt with test anxiety (including the tingling in her hands!) and no longer experienced it once she started drinking the tea.  I immediately went out to buy the tea, drank it, and absolutely hated it.  I’m not a tea drinker, so the taste was new to me.  I, however, was willing to do ANYTHING to stop having test anxiety, so I kept making myself drink it.  After a few more tries, I found the taste wasn’t bad at all.  I haven’t struggled nearly as much with test anxiety since drinking the tea. Now, I bring chamomile tea with me anytime I go into a situation that makes me a little nervous. Turns out there’s a study that showed chamomile helps to reduce anxiety.  The great thing about this tea is that the side effects are hardly anything compared to some of the other anxiety reducing teas!

My recommendation: At the peak of my anxiety, I was drinking the tea twice a day.  I would also try to drink it right before a test.  Before you begin drinking the tea, make sure you read up on it as some people can be allergic to it.  Also, if you’re taking any medication, talk to your doctor prior to drinking the tea.  You want to be sure there aren’t any problematic drug interactions.  Remember, there can always be too much a good thing so be careful with this one.  I’ve seen several websites that say no more than 5 cups a day…but really, why even push that? The tea I buy is by Stash.  It’s organic, caffeine free and has a picture of flowers on the front with a little lady bug just above the first “m” in chamomile.

Let me know how this one works out for you!!! 🙂

Cadaver Lab: Day 2

Last week I faced my biggest fear; a fear so big that I spent most of this last year struggling with a panic disorder.  Despite the rocky start to last Friday, I eventually made it into the cadaver lab and was able to participate with the rest of the students.  And I’ve never felt more accomplished than how I felt  that day.  Sounds silly, but a panic disorder has the ability to knock you back down every time you try to get up.  After a while, you start to doubt whether or not it’s even possible to ever get back up again.  Fortunately, I kept on fighting and my efforts are now paying off.

Today I walked into the anatomy lab to face my big fear for the second time.  I knew the fear wasn’t 100% gone, but could tell it had faded significantly.  I decided to only stick to a half a pill of xanax right before class started but opted to skip the second half of the pill after the one hour lecture of histology.  I had taken the second half last week just to ensure the first half hadn’t worn off when I needed it most.  Feeling much braver than last week, I made up my mind to take my chances with just the one.

I got through the first two hours of class just fine.  Then came the lab.  Yes, I knew what to expect this time.  I couldn’t get the images from last week out of my mind if I tried.  But I still wasn’t quite sure how I would react.  I cried last week then had to slowly, and I mean SLOWLY, ease my way up to the bodies.  In undergrad, I struggled with the first day of cat dissection, found out it wasn’t as bad as I thought, got a little overconfident, and then had a harder time the 2nd time in lab.  So today I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t jump in too fast.

I got into the wet lab before most of the other students.  Compare that to last week when everybody else was in the wet lab while I was standing on the other side of the curtain crying and telling the TA how I just didn’t think I could go in.  I kept my distance initially but realized I could only do that for so long…the TA was showing my group the nerves of the lumbar plexus and I was SO excited to see them! As she started asking my group questions I began settling in.  The more questions I answered and the more questions I asked the less I had a chance to think about where I was and what I was doing.  Every now and then I’d get weirded out and have to take a step back and gather myself, but for the most part I did just fine! 

I’m still not comfortable with cadaver lab.  I’d rather avoid it, but I can see how important it is for not only learning anatomy but for continuing this positive progression toward conquering my phobia and panic disorder.  I see how important cadaver lab is.  You just get a way better understanding of the human body when you can see inside of it as opposed to looking at it in a book. I am absolutely blown away by how far I have come in a WEEK!!! It is incredible how much one day, shoot, one hour, can influence a very big part of your life.  We will see where the cadaver lab takes me, but, in the meantime, I can happily say I have had two very successful Fridays! 🙂

 

 

Week 3 of PT School:

This weekend I’ll be studying my booty off for my first anatomy quiz.  I usually don’t think much of quizzes but I heard this is a beast of a quiz.  I’m hoping that by the end of the weekend I’ll have all my lecture notes memorized, especially my notes on all the nerves, their roots, innervations and deficits (which is quite the task!) .  I have a physiology quiz and an anatomy quiz on Wednesday! Woo! 🙂