Do any doctors still post here?

[Berzerker]

oh Mtn Dew... I loved the stuff

I drink water, and low fat milk now

[Dr Strangelove]

It's nice to see a response from a real doctor

As far as your avatar, many were lost with the upgrade to new software. You will need to go into your account and reload your avatar.

How do I do that?

[Dr Strangelove]

I'm 31. How time flies. I have heartburn pretty frequently because of my terrible diet, but this chest pain didn't feel anything like that. It wasn't all that bad in terms of intensity, but it was persistent and fairly well centered on my heart. I am reluctant to get back on drugs, because in general I don't like having to rely on them to be functional. But also I'm on Medicaid, which means in order to get covered mental health treatment I have to go through the Maryland Public Mental Health System and get evaluated and sent to a specialist and... that all sounds terrifying and complicated.

Thanks to the fact that prescription controlled drugs now outrank guns and cars as a cause of death American Medicine has now decided that maybe psychotherapy is a reasonable choice in the treatment of anxiety. Cognitive therapy is the psychotherapy of choice, many psychologists are trained in its use, more than likely there are a few in your neighborhood, Maryland being a civilized state and all that. Take the Prilosec and give it 6 weeks, it couldn't hurt.

[Berzerker]

aren't mostl brain malfunctions from hormone/chem imbalances?

i tried prilosec, didnt like the side effects

then i read ppis were linked to kidney damage

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/heartburn-acid-reflux-drugs-ppi-associated-with-increased-risk-kidney-damage/

and while they might allow time for healing they dont modify behavior and i suspect virtually all cases are linked to bad habits, so modify your behavior first and you might not need to risk taking the drug

sorry Doc, dont mean to step on your advice

[Berzerker]

according to the article the researchers were looking at prescription strength

the ppi industry countered that otc ppis aren't as strong

wonderful, the weaker poison doesn't kill you as fast

[Ming]

How do I do that?

It's not very intuitive....
Go to the upper right hand corner and click on your handle... select "My Profile"
When you get to the profile page, scroll your mouse over the avatar on the left (or blank avatar in your case) A blue box at the bottom right of the avatar will appear saying edit avatar.
Click on that and you will get to the edit avatar menu.

Let me know if you have any problems.

[Lorizael]

Thanks to the fact that prescription controlled drugs now outrank guns and cars as a cause of death American Medicine has now decided that maybe psychotherapy is a reasonable choice in the treatment of anxiety. Cognitive therapy is the psychotherapy of choice, many psychologists are trained in its use, more than likely there are a few in your neighborhood, Maryland being a civilized state and all that. Take the Prilosec and give it 6 weeks, it couldn't hurt.

My therapist does CBT, but she's on maternity leave right now. She'll be back in a week and a half, thankfully, so we'll get to work on that. But I think I might be coming down from the worst of this month-long anxiety attack. Probably some combination of reduced caffeine+tools therapist has recommended+time.