When Medication Makes Things Worse: Why Jenny Chose a Root-Cause Approach to Healing Her Anxiety

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Have you ever considered that the crippling anxiety might not actually be anxiety at all? What if that’s your body screaming that something much deeper is broken, something that can actually be fixed?

Jenny was 42 when she walked through our doors, and by that point, severe social anxiety had been systematically dismantling her life for over 15 years. She couldn’t travel. Flying was completely out of the question—the closed spaces and crowds would send her spiraling into debilitating panic attacks. She couldn’t even drive more than a few miles from home without her body going into full crisis mode. A simple trip to the grocery store? That alone would trigger a complete panic attack.

She’d exhausted every option the traditional medical system offered: medications, therapy, and years of trying different combinations and approaches. Nothing worked. And here’s the part that really makes you stop and think: Jenny worked in the medical and pharmaceutical industry. She had insider access to all of these drugs, all of these treatments, all of the “best” conventional care available. Yet after years of watching herself decline despite it all, she finally realized something terrifying… she wasn’t getting better. She was getting worse.

That’s when it finally dawned on her: What if Jenny’s panic attacks, gut problems, vertigo, and autoimmune disease weren’t actually five separate conditions each requiring their own prescription? What if they were all symptoms of one underlying problem—and what if fixing that one thing could make all of it disappear?

Fifteen Years Trapped: When the Pills Only Made Things Worse

By the time Jenny came to see us, her world had collapsed to almost nothing. She couldn’t fly. Being in a car for more than a few miles from home felt impossible. Even walking into a grocery store—something most people do without thinking—would send her body into full panic mode.

But the anxiety and panic attacks? Those were just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath, Jenny had been fighting serious gut issues for years. She dealt with vertigo that would hit out of nowhere. And she’d been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune condition where your immune system attacks your own thyroid.

Here’s what most people don’t realize about Hashimoto’s: your thyroid isn’t just some gland that controls your weight and body temperature. It’s intricately connected to your reproductive hormones and your adrenal glands, so all three systems are woven together. So when your body starts attacking your thyroid, it doesn’t stay contained. It triggers a domino effect. Your thyroid function drops, which throws off your reproductive hormones, which crashes your adrenal function. That entire cascade then spirals into blood sugar problems, brain chemistry chaos, sleep disruption, and a cascade of other issues that seem completely unrelated.

Jenny was caught in exactly that cascade, meaning her hormone imbalances were a direct result of her body attacking her thyroid. And she had every classic symptom in the book: her body temperature was all over the place, she had crushing fatigue, her hair was falling out, and she was experiencing weight gain she couldn’t control. Add the relentless anxiety, panic attacks, gut dysfunction, and vertigo on top of that, and it’s easy to understand why she felt like her body had completely turned against her.

Looking at her symptom sheet, the severity was striking. Jenny was rating symptoms like:

  • Severe anxiety and panic attacks
  • Shortness of breath
  • Decreased memory recall
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Dizziness
  • Mind racing
  • Trouble falling and staying asleep
  • Blurry vision
  • Heart palpitations
  • Chemical sensitivities
  • Constipation
  • Headaches
  • Severe gut bloating

Jenny was drowning. For over a decade, she’d been on a cocktail of heavy-duty medications: 10 milligrams of Valium every day, multiple psychotropic drugs, gabapentin, and levothyroxine for her thyroid. Her medicine cabinet looked like a small pharmacy. And despite swallowing all those pills, day after day, year after year? She was getting worse.

She’d done everything the traditional medical system told her to do. Medications. Therapy. Every recommended treatment. Fifteen years of following the protocol. And not one bit of it had actually worked.

Client symptom scores are tracked on a 0–10 scale, where 0 means no symptoms and 10 indicates the most severe intensity.

Our Holistic Approach: Addressing the Root Cause, Not Just Symptoms

When Jenny started working with us, we threw out the conventional playbook. We weren’t interested in piling on more medications or teaching her better coping strategies. We needed to dig deep and figure out what was actually causing her body to break down at such a fundamental level.

We looked at Jenny as a whole person—mind, body, and spirit—not just a collection of diagnoses to manage. We went hunting for the root causes driving everything: not just her anxiety and panic, but her autoimmune disease, her gut dysfunction, her hormone chaos, and every other symptom she’d been told to just “live with.”

Because here’s what we understood that most practitioners miss: when your body is attacking its own thyroid, like in Hashimoto’s, it’s not doing that for no reason. When you have severe anxiety and panic attacks that laugh in the face of heavy medication, something much deeper is malfunctioning. And when you’re dealing with gut problems, hormone imbalances, vertigo, and chemical sensitivities all at the same time? Those aren’t random, unrelated conditions. They’re all pieces of the same puzzle.

Our entire approach centered on identifying and actually fixing those underlying root causes. We built a comprehensive, personalized plan for Jenny that would finally allow her body to stop attacking itself, rebalance every system that had gone haywire, and actually heal instead of just coping.

Ten Months Later: From Housebound to Road-Tripping Across State Lines

In just under a year, Jenny’s entire world transformed.

Her symptom tracking sheet tells the story in vivid color. Those deep red 8s, 9s, and 10s—the scores screaming “worst possible severity”—gradually shifted to oranges, then yellows, then light greens, and finally that vibrant green that means freedom. The woman who couldn’t make it to the grocery store without her body shutting down in panic was now living a life she’d forgotten was even possible.

Here’s what Jenny wrote to us in January 2023:

“My first call with you gave me so much hope and the feeling that I could heal and feel better. You shared with me the spark that ignited me to accomplish what I have achieved today. I was recently able to drive from LA to Sedona a few weeks ago without experiencing a panic attack—my first long-distance drive in over a year without feeling like I was going to faint on the road. My life has changed a lot. Thank you.”

Let that sink in for a moment. 

Jenny, who couldn’t drive to the grocery store just months earlier without her body going into full crisis mode, drove from Los Angeles to Sedona. That’s a journey of several hours through open desert, far from home, with no escape route. And she did it without a single panic attack, without once feeling like she was going to faint behind the wheel. For the first time in over a year, she could handle a long-distance drive.

By the end of our time working together, her symptoms were nearly non-existent. Those panic attacks that had controlled every decision she’d made for 15 years? Gone. The suffocating shortness of breath, the mind that never stopped racing, the heart palpitations that made her think she was dying—all of it dramatically improved. 

The chronic fatigue that had made every day feel like moving through concrete? Lifted. The gut issues that had plagued her for years? Resolved. The vertigo and dizziness? Better. Her sleep finally normalized. Even those chemical sensitivities that had made her reactive to everything in her environment started backing off.

Jenny doesn’t just wake up managing symptoms anymore. She wakes up feeling vibrant, energetic, and genuinely excited about her day. She’s not surviving. She’s actually living again.

Why This Approach Works When Medications and Therapy Haven’t

1. Anxiety and autoimmune disease are often connected at the root level

Jenny had severe social anxiety and Hashimoto’s disease. These weren’t two separate conditions requiring different treatments. When your body is attacking your thyroid, it creates a cascade of hormonal imbalances that directly affect brain chemistry, adrenal function, and your ability to regulate stress. You can’t fix the anxiety without addressing the autoimmune process, and you can’t heal the autoimmune condition without addressing what’s triggering your body to attack itself.

2. Medications manage symptoms but don’t address why your body is malfunctioning

Jenny was on 10 milligrams of Valium daily for over 10 years, plus multiple other psychotropic medications and thyroid medication. These drugs were suppressing her symptoms, but they weren’t addressing why her body was in such severe distress. That’s why she kept getting worse despite being heavily medicated. Until you identify and remove what’s causing the problem, medications can only mask it, never heal it.

3. The thyroid-hormone-adrenal connection creates a domino effect

When Jenny’s body started attacking her thyroid, it didn’t just affect her thyroid function. It triggered hormone imbalances, which impacted her adrenal glands, which led to blood sugar dysregulation, brain chemistry problems, sleep issues, gut dysfunction, and more. This is why treating just one symptom or one system doesn’t work. You have to address the cascade at its source.

4. Gut issues, hormone problems, and mental health symptoms are interconnected

Jenny’s gut bloating and digestive problems weren’t separate from her anxiety and panic attacks. Your gut produces most of your neurotransmitters, including serotonin. When your gut is dysfunctional and your hormones are imbalanced, your brain chemistry suffers. Fixing her anxiety required fixing her gut and rebalancing her hormones—it was all part of the same underlying problem.

5. Chemical sensitivities signal a body under toxic stress

Jenny had developed chemical sensitivities—her body was reacting to substances in her environment. This is a sign that your detoxification pathways are overwhelmed and your immune system is hyperreactive. When we addressed the root causes and her body started healing, those sensitivities decreased. Her body wasn’t overreacting anymore because it wasn’t in constant crisis mode.

6. Long-term Valium use indicates the conventional approach isn’t working

Jenny was on 10 milligrams of Valium daily for over 10 years. Valium is a potent benzodiazepine that’s not meant for long-term use, especially at that dose. The fact that she needed it for that long, at that dose, and was still having severe panic attacks proves the conventional approach of medication management wasn’t addressing what was actually wrong.

7. Real healing happens fast when you address root causes instead of managing symptoms

Jenny had suffered for 15 years with severe anxiety and panic attacks that kept getting worse despite medication and therapy. Within 10 to 11 months of addressing the actual root causes, not just suppressing symptoms, she went from being unable to drive to the grocery store to driving from LA to Sedona without a single panic attack. When you fix what’s actually broken, healing can happen remarkably fast.

8. You can reclaim your life even after years of being trapped

For over 15 years, Jenny’s world had shrunk to just a few miles from her home. She couldn’t travel, couldn’t fly, couldn’t even go to the grocery store without panicking. That kind of imprisonment creates its own trauma and hopelessness. But Jenny’s story proves that even after years of severe limitation, you can get your life back. You can travel again. You can feel excited about your day. You can wake up feeling vibrant instead of terrified.

Could Root Cause Healing Work for You?

As you’re reading Jenny’s story, you might be seeing yourself. Maybe you’ve been dealing with severe anxiety or panic attacks for years. Maybe you’ve been on medications (Valium, SSRIs, other psychotropic drugs), and they help a little, but you’re not actually getting better. Maybe you can’t travel anymore. Maybe you can’t even leave your house without feeling like you’re going to have a panic attack or faint.

Or maybe you have other symptoms alongside the anxiety: gut issues, fatigue, hormone problems, an autoimmune diagnosis like Hashimoto’s. And nobody’s ever connected the dots for you. Nobody’s ever explained that maybe these aren’t separate problems, and maybe—just maybe—they’re all part of the same underlying dysfunction.

You might have been told you have a mental health disorder that requires lifelong medication management. You might have tried therapy, breathing exercises, mindfulness apps, and a dozen other coping strategies. And maybe they help you get through the moment, but they’re not actually healing you.

Here’s what Jenny’s case proves: severe anxiety and panic attacks that don’t respond to medication and therapy aren’t just “treatment-resistant mental illness.” They’re often symptoms of deeper physiological problems like autoimmune processes, hormone cascades, gut dysfunction, and toxic overload that create the brain chemistry imbalances manifesting as anxiety and panic.

When you address those root causes, the anxiety often resolves. The panic attacks can stop. Your life can open back up.

After 15 years of medications and therapy that left her getting worse, Jenny found an approach that actually worked. In less than a year, she went from being unable to drive to the grocery store to driving from LA to Sedona without a single panic attack.

If that kind of transformation is possible after 15 years of suffering, what might be possible for you?

You don’t have to spend the rest of your life managing anxiety with medications that aren’t really working. You can investigate what’s actually causing your body and brain to malfunction, and address it at the source.

Why This Approach Works When Medications and Therapy Haven’t

1. Anxiety and autoimmune disease are often connected at the root level

Jenny had severe social anxiety and Hashimoto’s disease. These weren’t two separate conditions requiring different treatments. When your body is attacking your thyroid, it creates a cascade of hormonal imbalances that directly affect brain chemistry, adrenal function, and your ability to regulate stress. You can’t fix the anxiety without addressing the autoimmune process, and you can’t heal the autoimmune condition without addressing what’s triggering your body to attack itself.

2. Medications manage symptoms but don’t address why your body is malfunctioning

Jenny was on 10 milligrams of Valium daily for over 10 years, plus multiple other psychotropic medications and thyroid medication. These drugs were suppressing her symptoms, but they weren’t addressing why her body was in such severe distress. That’s why she kept getting worse despite being heavily medicated. Until you identify and remove what’s causing the problem, medications can only mask it, never heal it.

3. The thyroid-hormone-adrenal connection creates a domino effect

When Jenny’s body started attacking her thyroid, it didn’t just affect her thyroid function. It triggered hormone imbalances, which impacted her adrenal glands, which led to blood sugar dysregulation, brain chemistry problems, sleep issues, gut dysfunction, and more. This is why treating just one symptom or one system doesn’t work. You have to address the cascade at its source.

4. Gut issues, hormone problems, and mental health symptoms are interconnected

Jenny’s gut bloating and digestive problems weren’t separate from her anxiety and panic attacks. Your gut produces most of your neurotransmitters, including serotonin. When your gut is dysfunctional and your hormones are imbalanced, your brain chemistry suffers. Fixing her anxiety required fixing her gut and rebalancing her hormones—it was all part of the same underlying problem.

5. Chemical sensitivities signal a body under toxic stress

Jenny had developed chemical sensitivities—her body was reacting to substances in her environment. This is a sign that your detoxification pathways are overwhelmed and your immune system is hyperreactive. When we addressed the root causes and her body started healing, those sensitivities decreased. Her body wasn’t overreacting anymore because it wasn’t in constant crisis mode.

6. Long-term Valium use indicates the conventional approach isn’t working

Jenny was on 10 milligrams of Valium daily for over 10 years. Valium is a potent benzodiazepine that’s not meant for long-term use, especially at that dose. The fact that she needed it for that long, at that dose, and was still having severe panic attacks proves the conventional approach of medication management wasn’t addressing what was actually wrong.

7. Real healing happens fast when you address root causes instead of managing symptoms

Jenny had suffered for 15 years with severe anxiety and panic attacks that kept getting worse despite medication and therapy. Within 10 to 11 months of addressing the actual root causes, not just suppressing symptoms, she went from being unable to drive to the grocery store to driving from LA to Sedona without a single panic attack. When you fix what’s actually broken, healing can happen remarkably fast.

8. You can reclaim your life even after years of being trapped

For over 15 years, Jenny’s world had shrunk to just a few miles from her home. She couldn’t travel, couldn’t fly, couldn’t even go to the grocery store without panicking. That kind of imprisonment creates its own trauma and hopelessness. But Jenny’s story proves that even after years of severe limitation, you can get your life back. You can travel again. You can feel excited about your day. You can wake up feeling vibrant instead of terrified.

Could Root Cause Healing Work for You?

As you’re reading Jenny’s story, you might be seeing yourself. Maybe you’ve been dealing with severe anxiety or panic attacks for years. Maybe you’ve been on medications (Valium, SSRIs, other psychotropic drugs), and they help a little, but you’re not actually getting better. Maybe you can’t travel anymore. Maybe you can’t even leave your house without feeling like you’re going to have a panic attack or faint.

Or maybe you have other symptoms alongside the anxiety: gut issues, fatigue, hormone problems, an autoimmune diagnosis like Hashimoto’s. And nobody’s ever connected the dots for you. Nobody’s ever explained that maybe these aren’t separate problems, and maybe—just maybe—they’re all part of the same underlying dysfunction.

You might have been told you have a mental health disorder that requires lifelong medication management. You might have tried therapy, breathing exercises, mindfulness apps, and a dozen other coping strategies. And maybe they help you get through the moment, but they’re not actually healing you.

Here’s what Jenny’s case proves: severe anxiety and panic attacks that don’t respond to medication and therapy aren’t just “treatment-resistant mental illness.” They’re often symptoms of deeper physiological problems like autoimmune processes, hormone cascades, gut dysfunction, and toxic overload that create the brain chemistry imbalances manifesting as anxiety and panic.

When you address those root causes, the anxiety often resolves. The panic attacks can stop. Your life can open back up.

After 15 years of medications and therapy that left her getting worse, Jenny found an approach that actually worked. In less than a year, she went from being unable to drive to the grocery store to driving from LA to Sedona without a single panic attack.

If that kind of transformation is possible after 15 years of suffering, what might be possible for you?

You don’t have to spend the rest of your life managing anxiety with medications that aren’t really working. You can investigate what’s actually causing your body and brain to malfunction, and address it at the source.

9 out of 10 clients see real, lasting recovery. Your breakthrough starts here.

Modern Holistic Health specializes in helping people heal from "unexplainable" chronic illness, unresolved trauma, anxiety, depression, autoimmune conditions, metabolic issues, and neurological disorders.

We use an evidence-based approach with data-driven solutions to help create a holistic healing plan to enhance your quality of life and give you a deeper understanding of what's truly driving your symptoms and how to heal from the root cause.

If you're ready for real answers and lasting results, we're here to help.
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