Posted by medlib on August 1, 2001, at 20:29:51
In reply to Can anyone help with a definition?, posted by grapebubblegum on August 1, 2001, at 15:31:06
Hi gbg--
Those of us who have a mental illness know that those who *don't* regularly misunderstand the considerable differences between the emotional episodes they experience and the illnesses we have to cope with. Situational depressions, anxieties or panics are associated with and sustained by events *external* to the individual. Sometimes, they are intense and/or prolonged, but they are always *reactive* in nature. Most are mild-to-moderate in severity and self-limiting. Treatment, if required, usually is brief.
Though they can be triggered initially by an external event, clinical major depression, GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) or Panic Disorder are *internal* illnesses, biochemical imbalances which may have genetic, endocrine, or cumulative stress components. They usually are moderate-to-severe in intensity and chronic or cyclical in length. Treatment may be extended and/or complex; the therapeutic goal may be correction or amelioration of the condition, rather than cure (as is the case in other chronic illnesses, such as diabetes or arthritis).
For me, the difference between anxiety and panic is time-related; roughly, anxiety is worry/fear of what may or will happen, while panic is a reaction to what *is* happening. I think of a situational panic episode as an experience of frenzied bewilderment, usually in response to a sudden unexpected event perceived as uncontrollable.
A panic *attack* is a sudden intense activation of the sympathetic nervous system ("fight or flight response) which is perceived as life-threatening. It's frequently accompanied by a "false suffocation syndrome"--the sensation that one's airway is swelling shut causing choking or feeling of oxygen starvation.
Recently, I had a series of panic attacks every 12 hours for 10 days when I discontinued Geodon. Each lasted 45min-1 hour and was terrifying. (The one other time I felt like that, my throat *was* swelling shut--from anaphylactic shock caused by a new antibiotic!)Perhaps, what you are experiencing is Panic Disorder. About.com has a good site with a detailed description, "identifying-type" questionnaire, etc. (The paid advertisements at the bottom are off-putting, but easily ignored.)
http://panicdisorder.about.com/cs/pdbasics/index.htmThe best-known site on the net dealing with anxiety and panic is tAPIR (the Anxiety and Panic Internet Resource) at:
http://www.algy.com/anxietyAre you taking any medications for your symptoms? My pdoc prescribed Valium (when I finally got hold of him), which helped a little with the drug-related muscle tremors, but did nothing whatever to ease or shorten the panic attack itself. I know that quick-acting benzos are often rxed, but, surely, a long-standing disorder requires something more. Has anything worked for you?
Hope these sites help you find some answers. Well wishes---medlib
poster:medlib
thread:72927
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010731/msgs/72977.html