Improve Life PLLC

Improve Life PLLC

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We provide therapy & medication management to young adults, & pregnancy care both before and after pregnancy.🚨Kids of ALL ages accepted starting SEPT 2026 with our board certified child psychiatrist, Dr. Suman!! We take the approach of high quality individualized care for a few patients rather than the “assembly-line” approach used to treat a large number of patients. Dr. Waggel specializes in wom

Photos from American Psychological Association's post 06/18/2026

This is good context to know before using AI for any mental health advice - 🧐Charlotte

Nearly 375,000 bottles of popular antidepressant recalled over high levels of carcinogen 06/17/2026

Please check your bottle if you take Cymbalta.
-Dr. Waggel

Nearly 375,000 bottles of popular antidepressant recalled over high levels of carcinogen Nearly 375,000 bottles of a generic antidepressant are part of a recall after a potentially cancer-linked chemical was found above FDA limits. (Adobe Stock)

06/13/2026

A very helpful medication.
-Dr. Waggel

📝 Narrative Review: , a long-standing mood stabilizer, demonstrates convergent neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects relevant to and .

Evidence across cellular, preclinical, human , and studies indicates that lithium upregulates anti-apoptotic proteins, boosts neurotrophic factors, inhibits tau-relevant kinase pathways, and stabilizes function.

Low-dose lithium, which is below standard dosing, preserves neuronal viability and gray matter, and cumulative exposure is associated with reduced dementia risk.

Early clinical trials in mild cognitive impairment suggest favorable biomarker and cognitive outcomes, supporting prospective studies of low-dose lithium as a disease-modifying treatment.

https://ja.ma/4xmAid0

06/11/2026

I suspected those energy shots were filled with chemicals 🤔- Charlotte

That energy shot on the gas station counter can contain a compound that acts on the same receptors as an opioid. It is sold as a harmless focus aid. Nobody is checking what is in it.

Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD, a psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist, treats people who got hooked on what they thought was an energy drink.

The products look harmless. Sleek bottles, gummies, shots, powders, pills, lined up next to the register and marketed for energy, focus, and sleep. A lot of them contain kratom or 7-OH (7-hydroxymitragynine), botanical compounds that act on the opioid receptors and can build genuine physical dependence. Some of the people he treats now need months of medication just to get off a daily habit they picked up at a convenience store.

Here is the part that should stop you. Only 19 percent of Americans even recognize the word kratom, and these products are marketed straight to teenagers. So a parent can have no idea their kid is buying something opioid-like at the v**e shop down the street, labeled as a focus aid, with zero clinical trials behind it.

And we will distrust our own doctor's prescription while trusting the stranger behind the counter with a shiny bottle. Rifai sees it constantly: patients who refuse a prescribed medicine but take the unregulated thing the clerk recommended. The FDA has chosen not to regulate these products, so when you ask what is actually inside one, the honest answer is that no one knows.

He was asked the obvious question. Is there any over the counter supplement he feels comfortable recommending for energy or concentration?

His answer was one line:

"There is no unicorn supplement."

Other than a cup of coffee, nothing on that shelf does what the label promises. If you take something, bring the bottle to your doctor and have the conversation.

Listen to the full conversation on The Podcast by KevinMD. Link in the comments.

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11250 Roger Bacon Drive
Reston, VA
20190

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Wednesday 9am - 10pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
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