Question: I have severe anxiety, and nothing seems to help. The worst of it is in the middle of the night and into the morning, when I feel weird things going on in my head that I don't think I can live with much longer. Psych drugs don't seem to work anymore and I thought I'd see if I could get any help with nutrition. There's diabetes and candida in the mix here. Can anybody help me? I'm about at the end of my rope.... XXXX. YYYY@YYYY I've just been put on diethylpropion for weight loss, but after 10 days I'm not noticing any suppression of the appetite. Please please help me!

Hello, Dr. XXXXXXX -
Thank you so much for your positive uplifting words, that I will overcome this. I've been seeing a psychiatrist ( a very good one) for the last 6-1/2 years since I had a bad breakdown, but he only deals in medication management, and we've tried MANY different psych meds. At first they might work for awhile then stop OR I would have bad side effects occur. My doctor thinks my high blood sugars are causing the meds not to work much anymore. I recently went to another psychiatrist for a second opinion--a doctor who also uses nutrition to treat the anxiety, etc, and he put me on the Diethylproprion for weight loss, since I had gained 70 lbs from the drugs (and was plenty overweight to begin with). He was very concerned about my now being morbidly obese. He also prescribed 90 days of Nystatin since I have Candida which seems to be strong, and which has been giving me bad health issues more and more.

The worst and scariest problem I have is every night/early morning my mind seems to "roll around" giving me very bad fearful feelings. Is that the anxiety or the drugs I'm on (Lorazepam we're down to a very small amount; Busbarone. and Quetiapine (Seraquel), also very small amount now) that are doing this? I feel like I can't go on during those times.

There was a lot of info you didn't have (my fault) when I wrote my question, so it has to be very hard to give an answer. But I appreciate it so much.

I will work harder at thinking positive. What do you give your patients in this kind of situation. And can you tell me what is making my mind "swim with fearful thoughts" every night/morning?

Again, thank you so much for the encouraging words. They are helping me to want to keep hanging on.

Blessings to you.
XXXXXXX XXXXXXX (sorry I took so long to answer and that this is probably a lot longer "question" than I should have written).

Regarding the psychiatrist's diagnosis (I assume you mean the 2nd one I just went to), he noticed how on edge I was and agreed I have pretty strong anxiety. He also confirmed the Candida was strong, thus the Nystatin for at least 90 days. But his greatest concern was my weight and insisted I lose weight. He said if I did that--lost a HUGE amount of weight and stayed on the Nystatin for at least 90 days, most of my problems would go away or diminish--that I'd be a different person and feel wonderful. I'm not sure he was indicating that all my problems would be gone (or a lot better) or just most of them. I'm certainly not a doctor, but I can see what he's saying--maybe it would help greatly.

My blood sugars now are almost always in the 200's, so I don't think I have hypoglycemia at night(?). Do Topiramate and Cipralex help anxiety, as well as depression?

I appreciate your offer to help my blood sugars. And I may take you up on your generous offer, but my doctors here have tried for a long time to help me. The problem is I think I wanted to not take care of my diabetes as a way to commit slow suicide without knowing that's what I was doing. But I'm very serious about lowering my blood sugars now that I'm feeling so bad, and I'm having a little success already.

I'm going to ask my doctors about the two meds you mentioned. I wrote a question for the online doctors (you) mainly because I felt desperate about the weirdness going on in my head. I really appreciate your answers and, again, I appreciate you reminding me I need to be positive and I will overcome these problems.

Thanks a lot for taking so much time to give me a great response. I don't want to take up any more of your time. You've helped me a lot. It's wonderful that you're so caring. You sound like a terrific doctor!!

Best wishes to you also!

Hello again--
My first psychiatrist's diagnosis was Depression and Anxiety disorder. Over the years several things occurred: Agoraphobia, panic/fear, along with some other things over the last 6 years that I've gone in and out of (along with trying SO MANY different psych meds). But one of the worst things that is happening since my 2008 breakdown is separation anxiety, which makes it impossible to be alone (away from my husband, etc) and I haven't been able to go on trips, etc. And the latest is that when we're in the house I sense that my husband is someone else, i.e.my mom or dad or the cat (I know at the time this happens that it's not true, that my mind really knows better)! My mind also does other things along this line. My first psychiatrist said the meds were causing that last thing and said Lorazepam is one of the main culprits, and we're now weaning me off of it.

I'm very interested in asking my first psychiatrist (or my primary doctor) about the meds you mentioned in your last email, especially the one that may also bring about weight loss. It seems that now it doesn't matter if I take my BS in the middle of the night, or in the morning, or at any time really, it's almost always in the 200's, almost never too low anymore. Also, I'd also like to ask him about the Somogyi effect. How are you doctors able to learn and remember so many things?! You have my admiration!

I guess I don't really have any other real questions, and again, you have been so helpful. It's been so long since I've heard any "fresh" information about anything that may help my situation. I will look into everything you've written with my doctor.

Thanks for caring--your input has helped and it's made me feel better. But I don't want to use up any more of your time. You've been so generous with it.

Have a wonderful day and thanks again!
XXXX.