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Anxiety problems
Sent to Health Experts October 04 04:08 PM

i am a 26 year old male I started using drugs heavely at the age of 18-25 I am clean now and am alchole and drug free basiically with cocaine and alchole abuse. Since then my anxiety has bee bad I get nervous easaly my jaw clinches and my beathing is faster. It get someti,mes bad to the point where my right arm feels numb and I almost feel like shaking uncontrolably. I have done some research myself and talked to my ant wich is a psycologist so I know it is anxiety. I know there is something one could take for that what do you think thank you.

 

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Male , Age: 26

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Customer (name blocked for privacy)
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Answer
October 4 4:15 PM (6 minutes and 42 seconds later)
         
REPLIEDCheck Mark
If you have anxiety that is fairly constant then a mediation that treats generalized anxiety disorder such as paxil, celexa, or lexapro may be helpful for you. These medications work on the serotonin levels in the brain and help you feel more relaxed. They are not addictive and will not change your personality. They are fairly well tolerated. You would need to see a medical provider to have them prescribed.
Other medicines like valium and xanax would not be a good choice for you as you have had problems with addiction in the past and these medications can be highly addictive.
I reccomend you see a psychiatrist or even a family doctor and see what they think. You should have labs too, just to check for things like anemia and thyroid conditions that can contribute to anxiety.

Sincerely, Jennifer. I hope my answer helped you. If it did please be sure to give me a good rating. If it did not please contact me as I would be happy to help you further.
Jennifer PA-C -- PA -- 100% Positive Feedback on 140 Health Accepts
Physician Associate, Masters of Health Science, 7years exp Internal Medicine
Reply
October 4 4:52 PM (37 minutes and 15 seconds later)
         
Reply to Jennifer PA-C's Post: I have been checked for Anemia and thyroid and everything was fine. I useI was on celexa for awhile but I did not like the way it made me feel and act. I tried xanax before seemed to help me sleep and I was in a good mood all day I do understand it's adicting sides i have battled all that and will not fall into addiction again but thanks your info is ecxatly what I was thinking myself so I should not depend on xanax to help me sleep or chill the anxiety attack when it comes more like a panic attack and just try to meditate or something:) thanks again
Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Answer
October 4 4:59 PM (7 minutes and 3 seconds later)
         
REPLIEDCheck Mark
There are other medications that may help as well, if you have any further questions let me know, otherwise I would appreciate if you accept the answer.
Take care,
Jennifer

Sincerely, Jennifer. I hope my answer helped you. If it did please be sure to give me a good rating. If it did not please contact me as I would be happy to help you further.
Jennifer PA-C -- PA -- 100% Positive Feedback on 140 Health Accepts
Physician Associate, Masters of Health Science, 7years exp Internal Medicine
Reply
October 4 5:03 PM (4 minutes and 2 seconds later)
         
Reply to Jennifer PA-C's Post: Like what other medications I understand u may be busy so sorry if this is takeing longer than u hope
Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Answer
October 4 6:13 PM (1 hour and 9 minutes and 40 seconds later)
         
ACCEPTEDCheck Mark
Well, if you have generalized anxiety and you did not like the way celexa made you feel there are newer types of medications available that work on three neurotransmitters in the brain such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin rather than just serotonin which is what celexa does.
Cymbalta is one of them.
There are also a whole slew of medications that are prescribed as mood stabilizers. These work well for people with severe anxiety. Medications such as lamictal, depakote or seroquel. These medications are often indicated in bipolar disorder but some doctors will prescribe them to people with anxiety problems that do not respond to the regular medications.
Certainly if you did well on xanax and you had no addiction problems then maybe that is the best choice for you. The only problem is people tend to develop a tolerance after a while and require more to have the same effect and this could lead to a dependence on the medication.
Your idea of meditation is a good one. Also yoga or cognitive behavioural therapy can be helpful to help retrain your mind to deal with anxiety.

Sincerely, Jennifer. I hope my answer helped you. If it did please be sure to give me a good rating. If it did not please contact me as I would be happy to help you further.
Jennifer PA-C -- PA -- 100% Positive Feedback on 140 Health Accepts
Physician Associate, Masters of Health Science, 7years exp Internal Medicine
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