Who knows about anxiety - question about blood tests

[Annie G]

Dd (20) is seeing a counselor for her anxiety problem and has been taking generic paxil prescribed by her family doctor. The prescription was running out and the counselor set up an appointment with a psychiatrist. So today dd goes and comes back with orders to get blood drawn.

 

They're doing a CBC, liver panel, thyroid check, lipid panel, and checking electrolytes. I'm sure the CBC is routine, and the thyroid check is welcome because this anxiety came on very suddenly and it's totally baffling.Maybe her thyroid levels are wonky. The liver panel is because she's taking paxil, perhaps? But can anyone tell me why the cholesterol and electrolyte checks? Dd was too timid to ask- we're doing a balancing act here- we pay the bills but she's an adult.

 

She said it all happened very fast- here, get this bloodwork done and come see me in two weeks. Here's your refill prescription, and btw, are you angry a lot? (Anger is NOT an issue at all). The doc was running 40 minutes late and probably was trying to get back on schedule, but dd should speak up when she has questions. We're working on that...

[SLT]

Paxil can have an effect on both LDL cholesterol and electrolytes.

[Annie G]

Thanks- that will make her feel better that it's just looking for any issues related to the Paxil. She was worried...anxiety disorder, ya know. g

[Ottakee]

Our psychiatrist orders all of that and more once a year just to make sure nothing is out of wack---either from the meds or contributing to the symptoms.

[Annie G]

Thanks- it just surprised us because this started 8 months ago and neither the ER or her family doc did any blood tests. The doc who prescribed the drug never mentioned any follow up testing, just suggested she get some counseling to deal with it. Good to know it's routine.

[momto5blessings]

Annie, it is very common to have these tests done when taking Paxil. I am very surprised she was on meds for 8 months, and they hadn't checked her before. I take meds for anxiety and have pretty extensive bloodwork done every 6 months or so.

Pamela

[AngieW in Texas]

The APN my kids have gone to does bloodwork right at the start just to make sure there isn't something physical that needs to be taken care of first. Nobody has seen her for an entire year yet, so I don't know how often she does the bloodwork.

[MomatHWTK]

At the office we see, psychiatrist appointments are very quick, he is just there to oversee prescriptions. He does ask questions, takes notes, etc, but it the counsellors who do the heavy lifting. The doctor who is getting a new patient probably wants to make sure they are not prescribing something that could be harmful for unrelated health issues and doesn't want to rely on third party information or a past doctor to make that call.

 

If over time you really feel that the psychiatrist isn't giving enough attention to DD before writing prescriptions then you might look for another practice. But I would actually see it as a good sign that he/she is doing some testing before giving a new prescription to someone.

[Annie G]

Thanks for the replies. I think dd fell through the cracks somehow. The ER didn't do any bloodwork, and when I made the first appointment with her family doc, they asked if the ER had done bloodwork. Told them no, thinking THEY would then do it. But they prescribed the Paxil without any bloodwork, and I didn't realize that until now, when the new doc requested what seemed like a lot of tests. Dd had this episode right at the time my mom passed away suddenly so I was pretty much out of it, having just returned from helping my dad decide to remove Mom from life support. Dh was trying to help both me and dd, so I'm not surprised that we're just now figuring out that maybe she needed some baseline bloodwork before they put her on this medication. We're more on top of things these days- time to get the bloodwork, evaluate where she stands and see where to go from here.

 

I really appreciate the advice/info from all of you- my IRL friends mostly treat this like it's a contagious disease- only one of my IRL friends even talks to me about it.

[Ottakee]

The blood work can help see if there is something else underlying going on as well as monitor any side effects of the meds. The first time our pdoc did this we found dd had a bladder infection, was anemic, and had low thyroid. She STILL needed the meds but addressing the other issues helped her over all health.

[Isabella]

I think it's a good sign that the psychiatrist ordered the tests. Hopefully next time he will be more communicative, and your dd will feel comfortable to ask. I haven't had experience with that medication, but my 20yo has been suffering from anxiety and a host of other symptoms ever since I had cancer nearly 3yrs ago. I can feel (I think) how you must have felt when your dd's anxiety came to a head at the time of your Mom's passing. Sometimes it feels like all the bad and hard things come crashing on you all at once. It seems like just your nose is out of the water, and sometimes a wave even washes over that! Hugs to you and her - I'm sure it's so hard on you both. :grouphug: