Thanks everyone for your insights. I took the screening exam which was the same exam one takes at the end of the course, and filled out a questionnaire that was focused mostly on listing and prioritizing my volunteer intersests. All this back in mid-May. Then I waited...and waited. Finally got my appointment for an interview confirmed by post-card last week, and I've got the 10 minute interview this afternoon. So I guess I'm on the definiite short-list. We'd all been given an orientation to the program and an opportunity to hear from some real live MGs when we took the screening exam. The Lehigh Valley MG program looks very, very good - great curriculum (from Penn State), great extension services, and many great volunteer ops. (Rodale's around here, too and they host events, call for volunteers, and even influences - to a certain extent - the pest and disease management approaches of less chemically-averse agricultural entities like Penn State's agricultural programs and extension services.) Thanks again, cranebill

believe it not,caffine is a huge contributor to anxiety. First panic attack I had was cuz I drank several cups of coffee.In fact,everytime I drink coffee (which I love the taste of) I have a panic attack. Usually I can tolerate a soda,but I have pretty much completely cut out all caffine. My family and friends think I'm wussy for this. I have been on .025 mil. of xanax for the last almost 5 years. it was the only real thing that helped my anxiety attacks. But I started slowly weaning myself off.One every other day,then every two days.Got to the point where I only began taking them if actualy really needed them,which for a while was once a week,then once a month.Sometimes I'd even break them in half and only take a half. Now I have been off for 5 months.I still kinda need one around PMS time,when anxiety runs the worst for me,but I deal without best I can. Exercise does help alot.It gets out pent up energy and tension. Hot warm baths to relax tense muscles. Also,you may look into getting one of those massage chairs. Intimate contact helps too. During my worst attack,I was shaking and having terrible thoughts.My husband layed beside me and just held me until I finally fell asleep out of exsaustion.Now when I'm really tense,I hate to be crude,but having sex helps alot too. I also find,I try not to dwell on being mad or upset.The more I do,the more likely to have an attack. You need to detox though before you do anything.Quiting cold turkey could be very dangerous at this point. And...you will have some side effects from quitting like insomnia. I do occasionally still deal with that as my biggest withdrawl. I really know how you feel though.It is so terrible to be run by anxiety.Alot of people dont understand or think you are making it up.

Tony, Metformin is a diabetes drug, used to control high blood sugar. But even if you found a drug for hypoglycemia (I'm sure they're out there!), most of the time the condition can be managed with diet. I've had hypoglycemia most of my life ("the" Dr. Atkins, who was my physician in NYC a long time ago, called my glucose tolerance test "a real clunker"). Two critical steps: First, give up sugar. Second, eat frequent small meals throughout the day, including protein whenever possible. Protein doesn't raise your blood sugar quickly, but it keeps it steady. Alisande, I haven't been following your story. Are you seeing an endocrinologist, or are you having the tests done by your regular doctor? I've been having trouble breathing for a year and a half, and none of the tests my doctor (an internist) ordered showed anything. I know low thyroid can do this, and in fact, it feels like the description of thyroid-related breathing problems that I've read: It feels like the muscles involved in breathing have become weak. I mentioned it to my doctor, along with the information that my mouth is sometimes dry, and he ordered the blood tests. My thyroid is at risk for problems because of the radiation I had when I was six years old (to remove my adenoids). I've been wondering how your joints are. Still painful? Forgive me if I've missed some posts! Coral, I feel like I'm falling apart! (However, I remind myself that I've said the same thing at other times in my life, beginning when I was 43--which was 23 years ago.) The knee pain came back on Tuesday, not nearly as bad, but bad enough to make me get out the ibuprofen again. It was preceded by the weird taste (like plastic) in my mouth that preceded the attack of joint pain just before Christmas. I don't know what to make of it, but I know my stomach isn't right, and hasn't been for some time. I saw a gastroenterologist (sp?) about a year ago. He was very nice and down to earth, but he kept telling me I looked good--so much better than most of his patients look. That's great, but it didn't help my symptoms. The stomach symptoms have gotten worse, as has the breathing problem. But as we all know, anxiety can produce breathing problems, or make an existing problem worse. So maybe that's a factor. I really don't know. Honestly, at this point feel like so many things are "off" that I'm reluctant to see any doctor because I know I'd sound like a hypochondriac for sure.

We routinely give drug tests where I work. We give the kind where it is an onsite test that gives just a positive or negative but that's it and we give the type where it lists the levels of a particular drug. The higher the level usually means the more of a drug taken (both legally and illegally). When we do the tests, we always tell people to write down any prescriptions and non-prescriptions taken in the last 30 days. Not long ago we had a supplier that sent us bad tests. We were getting false positives on every one tested with a certain batch of kits. This could certainly be the case. The only way we figured it out was we sent it to the lab that will give us the level of drugs. (Don't worry - no one was fired.) With that being said, could it be that they didn't want to hire your friend and just gave that as a excuse? Also, your friend may want to ask if they could know what the levels were or if it was an on-site test.