Anxiety? Depression? confused about diag.

[idleize350]

Well about a year ago i had a Panic Attack about death before going to sleep. Ive never really been a stressful or anxious person before so it was wierd. I had a family member and friend die recently before that and i guess it was a reality check. Well after that for about a month i had depression random thoughts, feeling out of it, etc for about 2 months. Things would be ok some days and worse the next. I got about 90% better but still wasnt about 100% better as i was before the attack. Well felt like that for a while. Im in college so spring semester i was pretty good. Well Summer came along and i was about the same. Since december after the first attack in september, i saw a doctor told him i was feeling fine now and he told me take vitamins from now on to keep a healthy balance. I did all the way up until summer. Well randomly one day i stopped and said i dont think these are doing any good. About 2 days after that i felt great! i felt 100% back to normal! had my 21st birthday everything was awsome. Then about 5 days after my b-day i had kinda another attack. I all of a sudden i felt like i was loosing my mind. I paniced and finally went to sleep. Ever since that day (was about 7/19/07) till now ive been dealing with thinking im loosing my mind, dream like states, brain fog. I would constantly worry that i had a tumor in my head for about 2 weeks. Then it was back to im loosing my mind. I would constantly go in and out of a dream like state or unrealism. Also depersonalization. Another wierd feeling is how i know it my house or my best friend but they just dont seem the same. If that makes sense. I have been going in and out of that lately. I saw a doctor about 4 days ago and i had a history of migraines and plegic ones a couple times and he thinks these symptoms arent anxiety related that anxiety only last a couple minutes and i should be feeling like this in a dream, etc. for this long in and out some days in some days not. He prescribed me with inderal and i have been on it for a couple days now to see if my anxiety will stop due to migraines. At first it made the dream like feeling real bad but it has been diminishing.

My first ? is do people feel like this on and off like 30 min you are then 10 your fine? Like one minute im like oh its def. anxiety i need to go on medication. Then i get a window where im feeling fine for like 20min. and im like i got this im fine. Then i go back to that state and i think my world is comming to an end and im loosing it. Basically where im getting at are these typical of anxiety sufferers or does it seem like something else. Im debating on wether i should go on meds or not still. I guess ill see if inderal does anything first after 2 weeks or so. In the mean time im getting blood work, eeg, etc to make sure its nothing serious. Sorry for the long rant just trying to get a little info and relief.

[Robbed]

Here's my theory, based on what I have read about anxiety. You have not one, but TWO people who are VERY important to you die. This REALLY stresses you out. So you start to have panic attacks, depression, and anxiety. And this COMPLETELY freaks you out. After all, panic out of nowhere, depression for apparently no good reason, and unreality are all REALLY scary things, especially given popular beliefs about mental health problems. So now, you are REALLY bothered by this stuff - especially since it came back after almost completely going away. In other words, the REAL problem now is that you are scared of what has happened to you. Is this starting to make sense? Basically, this sounds like a typical case of anxiety disorder.

So what do you do about it? The best way to deal with this is to break the cycle of fear. Yes, these symptoms are VERY scary. Even MORE scary is the thought that they may never go away. And these fears do nothing more than keep things going. You really need to try to not react to your symptoms with fear. Only by doing this can you recover. Yes, this is not a very easy thing to do - especially given the fact that MANY health care professionals seem to have the belief that anxiety is permanent. But people certainly DO recover. You might want to consider some good self-help reading such as 'Complete Self-Help For Your Nerves' by Claire Weekes or the similar program at anxieycentre.com. The methods promoted by these sources - one of accepance rather than fighting - seem to be more helpful than ANY others when it comes to overcoming anxiety.

As for medication, I would stay away from it as much as possible until you have exhausted non-pharmaceutical approaches. On the other hand, taking 'as-needed' type medications for dealing with sleep problems tends to be MUCH less problematic in terms of side effects and dependency than taking long-term meds like SSRIs.

[idleize350]

i see...well thanks for the help. Im definately feeling better just accepting my feelings and going with it instead of panicing everytime i get them. Its hard but it seems to be working. Thanks for the advice. If anyone has any other advice it would be greatly appreciated.