Question

Kristen is a 38 year-old divorced mother of two teenagers. She has had a successful, well-paying career for the past several years in upper-level management. Even though she has worked for the same, thriving company for over 6 years, she’s found herself worrying constantly about losing her job and being unable to provide for her children. This worry has been troubling her for the past 8 months. Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t been able to shake the negative thoughts.

Ever since the worry started, Kristen has found herself feeling restless, tired, and tense. She often paces in her office when she’s there alone. She’s had several embarrassing moments in meetings where she has lost track of what she was trying to say. When she goes to bed at night, it’s as if her brain won’t shut off. She finds herself mentally rehearsing all the worse-case scenarios regarding losing her job, including ending up homeless. She was seen by her medical provider and was started on Lexapro 10 mg a day and Ativan 1 mg every 6 hours as needed for anxiety.

Discuss the pathophysiology and signs and symptoms of anxiety

Discuss the reason for Lexapro

Discuss the purpose of Ativan

Discuss nursing intervention and rationales for patients receiving drugs for anxiety disorders

What are the most common adverse reactions, drug-to-drug, drug-food/herbal interactions of the prescribed medications.

Answer 1