The Anxiety Report

This little tidbit appearing in the Start-Telegram from Ft. Worth, Texas, annoyed me. You be the judge. Somehow I am not impressed with that, why did they bother to print it? Was it filler space for the Women’s Section? Was it to tell us watch out in case we get stuck worrying about one thing?
Anxiety to me, and I suspect to anyone that reads here, is not as easy as not worrying so much. My anxiety had nothing to do with worry. Did yours?

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Here is a good story: Bipolar Disorder Over diagnosed? Read the Study Shows Many People Who Are Told They Have the Disorder Don’t Meet Standard Criteria.

About 20% had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But only 13% met the criteria, says Mark Zimmerman, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence.

“In about half of patients previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, we couldn’t confirm the diagnosis,” he tells WebMD.

Why is this happening? How did it get so far?

Patients with anxiety , agitation, irritability, and restlessness that does not persist are sometimes misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, Zimmerman says.

I wonder if that could be because only therapists see us now, Psychiatrists have been turned into Diagnosis and Prescription writing machines, with expensive degrees.

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That’s all the news for today, but I want to ask a question: do insurance and and functionaries decide what treatments and drugs are right for us, or do the Physician’s do it?

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First, let us start with an almost uplifting bit on news. Brain boosters the drug of choice for the anxious intellectual. It’s back to those brain boosting, smart drugs. They are using Beta Blockers of course, for what strikes me as vanity reasons. However, I understand that before you give THE big speech, a little to calm you down might not be amiss.

Since the late 1990s golfers have been rumoured to use beta-blockers to steady nerves when they’re putting under pressure. Campaigning for drug testing in his sport, champion Australian golfer Craig Parry said he knew of three players who had won majors who had been on beta-blockers.

In a way I want to say, so what? But another part of me feels a little insulted by the occasional use people, such as those who wish to steady their nerves. I mean, I take what I take just to survive. For these people though, they do not need it to survive, but they do have to do something about stage fright, fear of public speaking, etc., I’m sure the list is nearly endless.

They should build their own drugs and not try to push in on the ones that keep us functioning, thereby raising problems for us because of their usage.

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It seems the Brain Blogger is someone I should visit more often. Check this out. It does my heart good when doctors ask,

While it has long been known that GAD can affect someone physically, new research is pointing to potential causes for GAD. Reported in Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers are studying the effects of some conditions such as thyroid disease, arthritis, migraine and respiratory disease and their connection to the onset of GAD. They approached this study knowing that physical illness often leads to depression. They wanted to find out if physical illness may cause GAD or other anxiety disorders.

That is a challenging stance, at least it seems so to me, because when GAD started with me, I was nine years old.

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As always the Archives of General Psychiatry  produce a beautifully designed sit and layout.  Bear in mind as you read it that escitalopram is really Lexapro.  Our old friend.  That is all that I have for you today.  Check tomorrow for more from the world of anxiety.

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It’s great! That’s what it is. Finding the right combination of drugs, which is no easy thing since most doctors only have a 50/50 guess on whether what they prescribe for you is going to work for you, or not. That’s because, you are unique. Every person has their own biochemistry, so when your doctor prescribes, he is hoping as much as prescribing.

Klonopin does it for me. I want all of you to know that. That is why I can be the Mad Anxiety Evangelist. I have the inner freedom for the first time in forty-one years to actually feel how much room anxiety took up inside of me, and with it gone, I am blessed by something even more rewarding. I can let God fill it up. Some of you may stop reading right here. I’m not going to say anything more about it if it bothers you, but if you know what I mean, then… yeah.

Action track to find your right medication.

I suggest that each one of you take a piece of paper and write down every medication that has been prescribed for their anxiety condition, be it OCD, GAD, whatever. Look through that list, and write down what effect each one had on you. For instance, Zoloft had me sitting on the toilet a lot more than was needed, in my humble opinion. Write them down, and how they worked, side effects, the whole shebang.

What you will have is a list of things that you can say to your doctor, and I beseech you, if you do not have a doctor, get one right now. If you cannot afford a doctor, there are clinics that will see you. But take your list to the doctor, you have or are going to get tomorrow, and then talk what other options are available. You want to find that one chemical preparation that is just the thing to stop your anxiety disorder.

You Must Have A Doctor

This can not be stressed enough. But some of these psychiatric drugs, well most of them, are dangerous if handled wrongly. The coming of of a drug, especially a benzodiazepine, you need to be monitored, because sometimes the sudden cut off can cause all manner of dangerous complications.

If money is a problem, and let’s face it, many Americans do not have enough health insurance, then there are places like Find a Health Center Feel no shame about using it. The drugs we take are serious.

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