Client Testimonial: Complete Recovery using Integrative Psychiatry
Question: How does one go from severe anxiety, decades long history of severe IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), and psychiatric med side effects (weight gain, lethargy, lack of symptom relief, feeling like losing oneself) to a calm, balanced, grounded mind that is joyful and grateful with a healthy body/physiology – complete recovery from IBS; and to come off of all psychiatric meds and even a BP med???
Answer: All it takes is the following: diet/lifestyle change, Ayurvedic herbals, Alpha-stim device, meditation, exercise, and psycho-therapy. And, commitment to these changes.
Question: How long does it take for this level of recovery?
Answer: February 2020 to May 2020.
Let’s hear it from the patient himself….
This is the testimonial from a 54-year-old male.
“I have been an extremely high achiever my entire life. People often said I worked on a different frequency One would surmise that I suffer from moderate OCD, but I have always used that as positive in my life and my daily tasks. I use it to stay organized, on top of my life and to keep my possessions in tip top shape. Approximately one year ago, I had a major life change and my emotional healthy finally caught up with my fast-paced lifestyle. It started with a small mild panic attack while I was driving and at a stop light. A few weeks later the same thing happened again. Granted, I was multitasking while driving and watching TV on my iPhone. A week or so later I was at my General Practitioner for my annual physical and I mentioned what I experienced. He confirmed that I had a minor panic attack and suggested I take Lexipro as a prophylactic med. The fact that I had a panic attack in and of itself caused me immediate anxiety. As far as anxiety goes, I have always had moments of anxiousness, but like my OCD I didn’t let it define me and when it arose, I quickly could compartmentalize my feelings and the anxiousness would subside. A week later I was on a day trip to Philadelphia around my birthday and after sitting on the runway for a few hours to return home my flight was cancelled. I missed my birthday celebration with my girlfriend and was disappointed and frustrated that I was stuck in Philly. Five hours later I was back on a plane, very late at night and was taxing out to the runway and noticed that there was a line of planes waiting to take off. To be clear, I fly 100K miles per year and have millions of air miles as I have been around the world many times over. For no reasonable reason when I saw the lineup, I had another panic attack and took a 1/2MG of Xanax to calm myself down. The realization that I now had a mental health problem hit me hard and I made an appointment to see a very talented and well-respected Psychiatrist. We saw each other every week and we played with a lot of combinations of meds, ultimately settling with 2 MG of Extended Release Xanax and 20 MG of Lexipro in the AM and .5 MG of Xanax at bedtime for sleeping. I have had stomach issues my entire adult life and have had my share of upper and lower GI’s, but was ultimately diagnosed with IBS, which I believe is a nice way of saying, “We don’t know why you have a stomach ache, gas and diarrhea after every meal.” Over the course of my treatment I added a Psychologist to the mix, and we began to dig deep into my feelings, challenges etc.… I also saw more doctors regarding my stomach issues, but even with an elimination diet, I still had issues. Over the course of the next 6 months my meds were working, but my stomach issues were still prevalent. I also had extreme anxiety when I traveled, as I was afraid how my stomach would feel or if I was going to have another panic attack while being away from my comfort zone aka my house. I finally decided to see Dr. Tummala in conjunction with my Psychiatrist at the request of someone extremely close to me that had been helped immensely by her. When I presented to Dr. Tummala I told her about my issues and that I would love to get off my meds as they have made me lethargic, tired, and me not feeling or acting like myself. We started by adding Ayurvedic medicine (“Ayurveda” for short) is one of the world’s oldest holistic (“whole-body”) healing systems. It was developed more than 3,000 years ago in India. It’s based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit. We started my treatment by adding a more holistic approach to my treatment. We added a breathing mediation as well as a device called Alpha Stim to my daily rituals. We didn’t touch my meds until coincidentally my Psychiatrist went on a short leave. When I became more stable and my body became more balanced, we began to very slowly taper me off my meds. First, we reduced the Lexipro from 20 Mg to 15 to 10 to 5 to 0. Shortly after we took my XR Xanax from 2 MG to 1.5 and then my nighttime dose from .5 to .25. We continued to lower the XR to 1.0 to .5 to 0 as well as the .25 Xanax to 0. I am now 100% off all of my meds and feel 100%, dare I say I feel better, stronger, more grounded than ever! My stomach is also 100% healed and I am able to eat whatever I want without issue. Dr. Tummala was by my side throughout this process providing comfort, advice, expertise, confidence and love. I will be forever grateful to Dr. Tummala and have already recommended her to anyone I believe could benefit from her expertise.
Side note: Due to COVID-19 we changed from in person sessions to Zoom and didn’t miss a beat…”