I thought back to my second year in medical school when I was one of those 23 million. Things were different then, however, and no one in the medical profession seemed to know how to help me.
Working and studying at a furious, never-ending pace, my second year in medical school became overwhelming. Holding down four part-time jobs and finding it necessary to study long into the night each day of the week, I was steadily becoming more and more frustrated, lonely and unhappy. While my non-medical student friends were seemingly enjoying an active social life with plenty of leisure time, my life seemed empty and overbearing.
Initially, I noticed difficulty in sleeping. Then one day while sitting in class I noticed my heart pounding rapidly. When the overhead lights were turned off to allow the professor to show slides, I underwent a feeling of panic. I could not sit still and had to exit through a side door to catch my breath and attempt to calm the feelings overwhelming my 23-year-old body.
I could not concentrate or study, and my grades were suffering. I was becoming concerned that whatever was happening to me was serious and might prevent me from obtaining a medical degree.
Not understanding my symptoms, I sought medical care from a variety of practicing physicians in town. Despite an extensive in-hospital work-up for adrenal tumors, diabetes, cardiac disease and cancer, none of the experts could determine what was wrong with me.
Requesting and receiving a two-week medical leave of absence from school, I went home. Alarmed by my condition, my mother attempted to nurse me back to health. From holding me in her arms while I tried to fall asleep in my well-lit room at night, to feeding me copious amounts of my favorite foods, my loving mother could not alter my "condition."
Suddenly and dramatically during my second week at home, a breakthrough occurred. Totally frustrated and worried, my mother gave me one of her tranquilizers called Miltown.
During the early 60"s Miltown was one of the first of a class of tranquilizers soon to be replaced by hundreds of other more effective medications. Having a few pills in her medicine cabinet to use for occasional premenstrual stress, my mother was willing to try anything in hopes that something would help.
How right she was. Within 72 hours after beginning this medication, I was cured, back in school and once again functioning normally.
Anxiety disorders include phobia and obsessive/compulsive behavior, as well as what I had, panic disorder, and are the most prevalent forms of mental illness. They are also the most expensive, costing this country approximately $47 million in 1990. 75 percent of these costs are indirect and include lost productivity, absenteeism and disability. The remaining 25 percent are for more direct costs including medication, hospitalization and physician care.
The article on anxiety disorder that caught my attention noted that because of the stigma associated with mental illness and the inadequate training which prevents doctors from making the proper diagnosis, only about one-third of individuals with these disorders receive treatment.
The sad thing about that is the fact that by using medication, psychotheraphy or a combination of these, anxiety disorders can be effectively treated. My late mother proved that to me over thirty years ago.
Whatever our government decides to put in its basic medical package for all citizens to receive, I hope it includes some form of treatment for anxiety disorders.
(Frank H. Boehm, MD is a professor of OB/GYN and Director of OB at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, TN. He can be reached at his web site http://dr-boehm.com. Dr. Boehm resides in Boca).