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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by UgottaHaveHope on January 6, 2007, at 23:20:04
This is the best way I have found to describe the anxiety I feel.
It's like a fire alarm is going off, and my mind is frantically searching to find out why. And when the alarm is not going off, then my mind is also working frantically to try to find out why not.
Does that make any sense? Is that free-floating anxiety? Cycling?
Posted by cgd092 on January 6, 2007, at 23:30:55
In reply to Can you relate to this type of anxiety?, posted by UgottaHaveHope on January 6, 2007, at 23:20:04
I've noticed that something about us depressives/anxious people makes us want to define what we're feeling. I've been doing that lately, too, so that I could better tell my pdoc what I'm feeling, so that she can better prescribe. I think we're always doing that; trying to nail down our symptoms so that we can get the best treatment.
You wrote, "It's like a fire alarm is going off, and my mind is frantically searching to find out why."
I have the thing where I'm frantically trying to find out why I'm feeling anxious. I've learned, that since I have a good life, to try to stop looking so hard. It's coming from inside my brain, not outside. But the chemical imbalance wants to *force* me to scan, scan, scan for reasons. They call that hypervigilance, right? One of my fave coping skills lately is to "pass the time" coping. Waiting for meds to kick in, waiting for the panic to pass. Not to listen to my brain at all when it's anxious for no reason. Sometimes I even say, 'I'm not listening to you, Demon!'
The symptom I have that I can't quite tease out is how come when my anxiety ramps up, my "sad" feeling ramps up right along with it. E.g., if I'm clear up to panic, then you can be sure that at the same time I'm feeling really, really, sad. So to me, this is the "persistent sad and/or anxious mood" they use when describing depression. So the question is: For treatment, am I feeling anxious and need to calm down, or am I feeling sad and need to be stimulated? I think currently, the meds are too broad. I can't wait until they invent better ones.
--Katy
Posted by UgottaHaveHope on January 6, 2007, at 23:48:59
In reply to Re: Can you relate to this type of anxiety?, posted by cgd092 on January 6, 2007, at 23:30:55
Are you able to calm yourself down at all by changing your thoughts? Do you or have you seen a CBT therapist? What gives you hope you will one day get better?
Posted by cgd092 on January 7, 2007, at 0:49:42
In reply to Re: Can you relate to this type of anxiety? » cgd092, posted by UgottaHaveHope on January 6, 2007, at 23:48:59
You wrote, "Are you able to calm yourself down at all by changing your thoughts? Do you or have you seen a CBT therapist? What gives you hope you will one day get better?"
I finally (after about, oh, five tries) found a great psychologist. He clicked for me. I talk myself out of going to see him but make myself, because every time I do, I get some nuggets of wisdom. And I take notes when I'm there and type them when I get home. Then I keep them in a binder. This is me trying to get my money's worth; if I forget what he says, what good is that? So if anxious/depressed, I look over my notes. Helps immensely. Have learned lots of little coping skills from him. The hope I have is not of getting better: my psychologist says 'don't hate your illness; manage it. So I manage it. I learn skills on how not to make it worse, or "spiral." I stay on my meds, because altho they aren't perfect, whenever I've gone off them I can see how they helped. I have hope that if having a depressive episode, it will remit at some time, because it always does. Remember that one line from "The Simpsons," where Lisa gets home from Church on Sunday, bursts in the front door and says, "Yay! The longest possible time before more Church!" I love that. That's what I say to myself when I'm at the worst point in a depressive episode: it can only get better, and if I look at it that way, then it's always darkest before dawn; it's always the longest possible time before more depression!--Katy
Posted by Phillipa on January 7, 2007, at 12:06:03
In reply to Re: Can you relate to this type of anxiety?, posted by cgd092 on January 7, 2007, at 0:49:42
But my feeling don't change so what coping stadegies are you using? My ad's don't seem to work and the benzos are pooping out. Love and thanks Phillipa
Posted by UgottaHaveHope on January 7, 2007, at 13:11:43
In reply to Re: Can you relate to this type of anxiety? » cgd092, posted by Phillipa on January 7, 2007, at 12:06:03
Katy, can you share some of the random things that help you? Thanks, Michael
Posted by cgd092 on January 8, 2007, at 0:02:59
In reply to Re: Can you relate to this type of anxiety? » Phillipa, posted by UgottaHaveHope on January 7, 2007, at 13:11:43
> Katy, can you share some of the random things that help you? Thanks, Michael
Yeah, actually, since I have them all transcribed into the computer, I should post them on my web space and then give you guys a link to it. Now, they might not all make sense, because they are *notes* to what we discussed at length, but perhaps they'd make sense to other depressives.-Katy
Posted by UgottaHaveHope on January 8, 2007, at 0:17:11
In reply to Re: Can you relate to this type of anxiety?, posted by cgd092 on January 8, 2007, at 0:02:59
Katy, please email them to me at sportscarvell@yahoo.com
This is the end of the thread.
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