PsychCentral has a great newsletter with a myriad of topics. I'm on the mailing list and thought you might be interested in this Anxiety Screening Quiz (like I needed one to know!)

It's very short and has these Instructions:
This is a screening measure to help you determine whether you might have an anxiety disorder that needs professional attention. This screening measure is not designed to make a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder or take the place of a professional diagnosis or consultation.

http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/anxiety.htm

Results are immediate. I scored 38 - severe anxiety and should probably see a professional. Ha, beat ya to it! I used to take Ambien for sleep. I would awaken feeling so refreshed. Now 10 mg of
Ambien does nada. But a 1 mg of Xanex at night helps me relax. Maybe I should take it more often? I'll talk with my doctor.

I'd just be interested how many of "us" suffer from anxiety.

I scored 18, little or no anxiety. I am not anxious about my disorder, depressed, but not anxious I guess. It is what it is. My back is definitely worse and so is my pd, so that upsets me, but doesn't make me anxious? Who knows, I am a terrible body detective unfortunately.

I hesitate to take this because anxiety can be a parasympathetic symptom of PD, so I don't know how to get a "true" reading on how anxious I really am due to outside factors. Is this addressed, Peg, in the design of the quiz?

I was off the charts anxious before I started levodopa therapy, so I'm sure that it was due to imbalance of neurotransmitters. What begins to upset me most about PD (these days) is that I feel robbed of my entire adult life- I've been super anxious since my 20's and now feel that this was an early sign of the disease for me. I feel so much more 'at peace' now with drugs and experience anxiety only between med dosages (and not all the time) that I feel most of my energy in my early adult life was sucked away by feeling anxious. Bummer.

Laura

Laura

From Jan's experience, anxiety seems to be influenced by an imbalance of the amino acids. She has felt much, much better since finding the right amount of L-Tyrosine, currently at about 5,000 mg per day. It's tricky to get the right balance of L-Tyrosine, 5-HTP and L-Dopa. Things have gotten much better since she starting taking 4,500 mg of L-Cysteine, key to supporting liver function. I hope you can find someone who really understands amino acids and the brain to at augment your treatment plan with this approach. It works so quickly to help the mood and seems worth handling difficulty in getting the right balances. Of course, Jan's neurologist thought this was far-fetched until he saw it working for her.

Trisha

How did you come up with the 5,000mg of l tyrosine? And how do you find a balance between the three you mention? Did you go to someone to help find this balance or did you experiment on your own, and also, does Jan take any other supplements (if you don't mind my asking, of course). Thanks.

Scored 12 but would have been lower if not for being honest about physical pd symptoms. I am a very laid back person, but wasn't always, pre dopamine was quite uptight and very annoyed about my own failings! Have been mostly anxiety free since meds were optimised, but can have a brief flare up when wearing off or on - questionnaire did not really ask about times like that!

Lindy

That the symptoms of both anxiety and depression, i.e., shaky hands or masked emotions, are often the same as some PD symptoms makes the dx of either depression or anxiety in PD patients extremely difficult. It can be like trying to disentangle necklaces in my top drawer or the mess of Christmas tree lights you left piled in the box last year. It takes patience - and in the case of your brain, a knowledgeable doctor.

I think I've done a pretty good job of finding and dealing with the thread of depression that runs through my mind and body - but that only more strongly revealed the thread of anxiety that is my current challenge.

When I took the test, I separated out the stuff like tremor and shakiness, giving them a lower score to account for the fact that I think they stem from the PD itself. I took the test twice, scoring a 29 last night and a 32 this morning - right in the middle of "moderate". Which is a good thing, because I've been working with my docs extensively (talk and occupational therapy and different meds) to deal with anxiety that kept me from even wanting to leave my house to go to the grocery store for much of last summer and fall.

It's felt like it's been working - maybe the quiz results are one objective assessment of that feeling!

(Peg - I love your title to this thread! The other day I went to pick up my anxiety medication and it wasn't ready. So I deadpanned to the clerk, "That really makes me anxious." She didn't get it.)

Hi Peg,
Well I scored 9, (mild to little anxiety.) I am surprised at the result since I have always thought of myself as a born worrier, but that was when I worked. You have met me, do you think it is a fair score??
I will have a good worry now until I get reassured by your answer!! LOL.
Ron

I scored a 23 but to be honest they got me with the questions about feeling "shaky", "trembling hands". "feeling unsteady", "difficulty sleeping"
May have skewed my data because it's hard to decide what to attribute those symptoms to - guess it depends on the situation! That's one of the difficulties with questionnaires developed for people without a chronic medical condition that may influence the outcome. Not that anxiety is not a serious issue in PD and looking at the results objectively I have definitely found a personal increase in my feelings of anxiousness over the past years.