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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Treatment For Panic Attacks And Depression

I'm 19 years old and since I began to take Concerta a little over 10 years ago to manage my very active ADHD. I have been very successful on Concerta. I now take around 90mg per day. I've been on this dosage for at least 2 or 3 years. I also suffer from depression and anxiety which I believe are related to my ADHD, possible the psycological affect. I've had both anxiety and depression for my whole life but didn't know thats what it was until maybe a year ago. I've had anxiety attacks before, where I feel overwhemled, and have trouble explaining my feelings or understanding things. But in the last 6+ months I've noticed I began clenching my jaw, not just at night but during everyday situations my jaw will unconsiously lock and clech very tightly. I've noticed it becoming more severe and now I feel like I'm at the point where i cant control or refrain from it. In addition to that I've started to get panic attacks. This has been with in the last 2 months and they are different from the attacks I'm used to. They are sudden and frightening. I've had multiple panic attacks with in a few hours or less of each other. I've had little ones that only last 20 minutes or less and ones that have last up to an hour or even seem to not end. The more severe ones are the most alarming. During one that last a little over an hour I felt like I was having a heart attack. My heart was out of control and my breathing become rapid and irratic, my body was on fire and i was drenched in sweat. I felt like I couldnt function, I didnt understand what was going on around me. I was so dizzy and when I stood up i was convinced I'd faint, vomit or die. The scariest part was my vision went blurry, it felt like I was looking through a kelidascope minus the pretty colors, everything was just distorted. Now my concern is that I am on a stimulant, which I worry is causing my anxieties or not helping at least. I'm starting to wonder if its time to change to a different medication for my ADHD but Concerta was the first medication I tried and it has been very successful with as far as I believed no severe side effects. What do you make of my situation? How would you evaluate it? Would you recommend changing my medication? And if so, where would I start on finding a new medication. Take into account I'm going into my 3rd semester of college with in the month, I'm a straight A student. But do understand I have not 'grown out of' my ADHD, have learned to cope and understand it but going off medication just isn't an option for me at this time. Also I am currently in between nuerologists (I've been seeing the ssame neurologist that diagnosed me 10+ years ago). I did try to explain to my DR a year or so ago about issues and concerns I had but he wasnt very helpful, his response for everything is to keep an organizer -_-. I understand this is a lot of information, but I havn't had an appointment with my dr in a very long time, his practice become part of Winthrop a few years ago and i believe now he is just a childerns nuerologist. He had told me that since I had already been his patient for 8 or so years at the time that he'd keep me as long as he could even after I turned 18, I usually see him every 3 months, but the office keeps moving and now canceling my appointments since January. If all you can do is point me in some sort of direction or advise me on where I should start that would be helpful. ---Thank you Kiersty
Mon, 25 May 2015
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Psychologist 's  Response
Dear
Welcome to HCM
We understand your concerns

I went through your details. Panic attacks are due to underlying anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are a category of mental disorders characterized by feelings of anxiety and fear, where anxiety is a worry about future events and fear is a reaction to current events. These feelings may cause physical symptoms, such as a racing heart and shakiness. There are a number of anxiety disorders: including generalized anxiety disorder, a specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, and panic disorder among others. While each has its own characteristics and symptoms, they all include symptoms of anxiety. I need to know more about your anxiety so that I will be able to diagnose it properly and provide you tips to overcome and manage your anxiety.

If you require more of my help in this aspect, please use this URL. http://goo.gl/aYW2pR. Make sure that you include every minute details possible.

Hope this answers your query. Available for further clarifications.
Good luck.
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Suggest Treatment For Panic Attacks And Depression

Dear Welcome to HCM We understand your concerns I went through your details. Panic attacks are due to underlying anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are a category of mental disorders characterized by feelings of anxiety and fear, where anxiety is a worry about future events and fear is a reaction to current events. These feelings may cause physical symptoms, such as a racing heart and shakiness. There are a number of anxiety disorders: including generalized anxiety disorder, a specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, and panic disorder among others. While each has its own characteristics and symptoms, they all include symptoms of anxiety. I need to know more about your anxiety so that I will be able to diagnose it properly and provide you tips to overcome and manage your anxiety. If you require more of my help in this aspect, please use this URL. http://goo.gl/aYW2pR. Make sure that you include every minute details possible. Hope this answers your query. Available for further clarifications. Good luck.