Q: I am a 25 years old man having stress and anxiety. It started 10 months back when, because of recession in our company, people were fired and I was under a lot of stress. My mind was full of negative thoughts; I didnt understand what to do. One day while returning from office I suddenly felt anxious and got fast heartbeats, which scared me. This led to a sleeping problem and anxiety. Nowadays I am nervous, at night I get sleep within 20 min, but in the morning lots of office related thoughts start coming slowly and I cant get rid of them. Till morning I am uable to sleep and wake up with a heavy head, leg ache and I also don’t feel fresh. I tried homeopathy for 2 months, but it gave no relief. Last week a neurologist prescribed me Zapiz 0.5 to cure the sleeping problem. This medicine solved my problem, but when I miss it I again suffer the same thing again. I am an artist and it affects my creative skills too. Please advise.

A:You have symptoms that sound like stress-caused anxiety, and the anxiety has caused some panic attacks. The panic attacks cause you to feel frightened and make your hear go fast and beat hard, but they are NOT heart attacks. Anxiety shuts down creativity. The quickest treatment would be benzodiazepine medicine of a long-acting kind that can be taken once in the morning and once in the evening, such as CLONAZEPAM, CALLED KLONOPIN in the USA. Zapiz may be the same kind of medicine, but I am in the USA and don't know the names used for medicines in India. It would also be a good idea for you to talk to a psychologist or social worker about your worries and responsibilities, so that when you calm down you will not need the medicine any longer.