Guest guest Posted October 25, 1998 Report Share Posted October 25, 1998 Colin, Drinking a tea or taking capsules of Kava Kava, St.'s Wort, or Valerian help with anxiety. Sage tea is also relaxing and helps the stomach. Elaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 1998 Report Share Posted October 26, 1998 Hello everyone: I'm making a big push now to get my 82 year old mother's RLS treated effectively. This is complicated by the fact that she has been treated for years for depresssion / anxiety. I have just discovered that the Triptafen M she is on is one of the amitryptiline (sorry about the spelling) family - which I know can make the RLS worse for some folks. Her main symptom is stomach churning anxiety attacks, and they are fairly prevalent at the moment, as we lost dearly beloved Dad last Friday night after a long and brave fight against cancer. Some of her other symptoms look like good ol' sleep deprivation to me. I would be grateful if anyone could just volunteer any ideas on anti- anxiety meds they have known to work with stomach churning. Generic info rather than brand names would help a ton, as many of them are different on this side of the puddle. Thanks in advance. Colin in England Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 1998 Report Share Posted October 26, 1998 Hi Colin, Remember me? I'm the nurse who works exclusively Geriatric Psych. Now, I am only a nurse, so my first suggestion is to try to find a Gero specialist in your area. But, I can tell you that we treat an awful lot of anxiety and depression and our number one medication is small doses of Ativan/Lorazepam (this is for the anxiety). I think Dr. Levin will agree, you have to be SO careful with medication for the older person, they don't metabolize meds as easily as they once did, and can overdose quickly. That's why we use small doses... 0.25mg, maybe 0.5mg. But it works well and the geriatric patient does better with it than Xanax. The depression is another ball of wax. You and the rest of us know what the SRRI antidepressants do to our RLS...so many of us have found they make the symptoms much worse. Maybe if her anxiety gets under conrtol, the depression will follow. Sorry, no real words of wisdom there, I'm struggling with the same thing! :-) Kelley RN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 1998 Report Share Posted October 26, 1998 Colin, Please accept my condolences on your father's passing. It must have been a soul crushing experience for both you and your Mum. For anxiety/panic attacks I use Kava-Kava. My son suffers with depression and anxiety and has found relief from depression with St. s Wort and Kava-Kava for anxiety. Dosages are tailored to the individual as taken. There's little side-effect problem to either one. I know there's prescription medication available like Prozac and Xanax but we try to stay away from meds that can be addictive (especially me as I'm a recovering alcoholic). Good Luck!! CHEERS! Jeanne and Mr. Biggles in Poultney, VT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 26, 1998 Report Share Posted October 26, 1998 Colin Bartram wrote: > > > > Hello everyone: > > I'm making a big push now to get my 82 year old mother's RLS > treated effectively. This is complicated by the fact that she has > been treated for years for depresssion / anxiety. I have just > discovered that the Triptafen M she is on is one of the amitryptiline > (sorry about the spelling) family - which I know can make the RLS > worse for some folks. > > Her main symptom is stomach churning anxiety attacks, and they > are fairly prevalent at the moment, as we lost dearly beloved Dad > last Friday night after a long and brave fight against cancer. Some > of her other symptoms look like good ol' sleep deprivation to me. > > I would be grateful if anyone could just volunteer any ideas on anti- > anxiety meds they have known to work with stomach churning. > Generic info rather than brand names would help a ton, as many of > them are different on this side of the puddle. > > Thanks in advance. > > Colin in England > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 30, 1998 Report Share Posted October 30, 1998 Collin, I am truly sorry for your loss and will keep both you and your mother in my prayers!!! As for the stomach churnning I have a problem with that too and was given a medication that they give cancer patients when they are undergoing chemo. Since it was quite a few years ago I, ofcourse can't remember the name, but I bet if you asked Dr Levin what is was he could tell you. It really did the trick for me. All I can remember was the pill was very very small, but boy did it pack a punch. Good luck in your search and again my deepest sympathy. Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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