Questions about taking medicine

[Helperneedshelp]

Before i begin I would like to add that I am not officially diagnosed with GAD but have been going to a therapist for a few months now. She has directed me to most anxiety calming methods (discoursing essential oils because I am allergic to lavender and some other calming oils) and the methods have no long term effect to reduce the excessive worrying, but we have now decided I should explore the possibility of a long term medicine to help me.

A week from now I have an appointment to officially diagnose and treat my anxiety with a real doctor. However I’m getting a little nervous about what the doctor will ask me (anxiety about having anxiety-yay). It’s just that I’ve been seeing my therapist for months and am very comfortable with her now, and I don’t know how the doctor will know what to do after one appointment. I know it might take a long time to get the right medicine or dosage, but I guess long story short what kind of questions were others asked when getting medicine for the first time so that I can be prepared. I’m often down play symptoms or severity with doctors because they make me nervous and this is too severe of an issue in my life to downplay.

Thank you for any help.

[tamka38]

What will happen?

Your first appointment with a psychiatrist will usually be 1–1.5 hours long.

Your psychiatrist will:

listen to you talk about your concerns and symptoms

ask questions about your general health

ask about your family history

take your blood pressure and do a basic physical check-up if it's required

ask you to fill out a questionnaire.

There will usually be a lot of questions. The long appointment gives the psychiatrist time to listen to you and hear your whole story.

They might also want to speak with other health professionals or members of your family.

Your psychiatrist may order some more tests to help them understand what is going on.

Getting a diagnosis and treatment plan

It might take a few appointments for your psychiatrist to make a full diagnosis.

The next step is to work out a treatment plan.

A treatment plan is a combination of therapies that suit your health needs, personal preferences, family situation and age.

You and your psychiatrist will work together to develop a treatment plan that's right for you.

[tamka38]

And have u already been to your family doctor to get medical problems rude out so ask your family doctor to do blood work on u to make you’re healthy

[Lm92]

Every time I've used antidepressants, it was prescribed through my family doctor. They would ask me about the symptoms I experienced during anxiety, frequency, if I noticed a pattern, and things like that. Then they would give me 2 questionnaires to fill out to see if depression and anxiety were a problem. They give them both because depression and anxiety often go hand-in-hand. Then it was a matter of finding one that worked for me. Luckily the only antidepressant I've ever had problems with so far was Zoloft and Prozac.

[Duneandy]

This is fresh for me, fresh as in six months in and still trying to get medicines “just right”. My concern with medicines was that it would make me not worry about the things I needed to worry about. As in, fixing my marriage. The medicine that has helped me with anxiety is Buspirone. It has calmed the physical effects of anxiety way down. Rapid heart beats, extreme blood rushes to my face, jittering, etc. Because of that, I have not been in a near panic state that I would usually get into when anxiety reared up. It let me feel calm enough enough make rational decisions. Coupled with medicines for depression, I have been able to finally get out of bad habits at home and at work that give me further anxiety - things like cluttering personal and work email accounts, doing small tasks at home that need to doing, and other small but tedious tasks. The best thing I can tell you is that it may take a while for you to find what works best for you but please, let your medical professionals know about any small side effects you may be having. That way they can “dial in” the right medicines and the right dosages.