Undiagnosed symptoms that don't link with anxiety. Also, should I have received better treatment?
Posted , 6 users are following.
I'm a 17 year old girl that, back in late 2014, was diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder. I think it was pretty severe considering the physical symptoms (i.e severe dizziness, digestive problems, tunnel vision, feeling faint trembling, feeling unable to walk, along with multiple panic attacks a day, forgetfulness...) and the mental symptoms (fears of dying, sadness, feeling like I couldn't go on, even agoraphobia for a couple months). Before I knew too much about anxiety, I went to the hospital thinking there might have been some physical cause, but they said I was fine. Then I was sent to a psychiatrist who then sent to me a psychologist, who I'm still seeing regularly to this day. However, I was never diagnosed with depression. I also was never prescribed anything, but do you think I should have? Was a situation like this severe enough to be prescribed Xanax or Valium?
Along with this anxiety, I've had other symptoms I haven't really told anyone about in fear, but I think about them every day as I can't see what they could be linked to, as they are not linked to anxiety disorders (that I know of). The symptoms I'm talking about are psychological, being:
-Not exactly auditory hallucinations, I didn't confuse them for real life voices, but it would be like an internal voice in my mind telling me terrible things. Thoughts like "you want to die, you want it" "you want your family to die", things along that line. And I thought that if I thought these things, they'd actually come true. I got to a point where it'd sometimes interfere with me sleeping, and I'd say outloud "Stop telling me these things, I don't want this!". These would happen on occasion, definitely not an everyday occurance and mainly at night in bed. I don't get them anymore.
-Suspicion of family members. I got to a point with my mental health that for no reason at all, I started being suspicious of family members on a severe scale. I had convinced myself that someone did something to me as a child, but I just don't remember it. Looking back, I realise how bad that was, and I feel crazy for even having those thoughts and I feel bad on how I could put that on my family members, knowing how awful they would feel if they ever found out that I thought that about them.
-Wreckless thoughts, such as wanting to try hard drugs like heroin or cocaine if I ever got the chance.
-Not exactly suicidal thoughts. I know I didn't want to die, but I would wish for things deep down like "I hope I get into a car accident so I end up in hospital".
-Constantly thinking about death, and dying young, and how I could be dead in 6 months because there's no guarantee in life.
Things I need to stress:
-I'm not or ever was depressed (that I know of, I dunno, I just wasn't diagnosed and when taking the psychological avaluation, it didn't come up)
-I don't want to die
-I never self harmed, although there was been a few moments of anger I've had over this past year where I wanted to hurt myself to feel relief but I didn't do anything.
-The only medication I was taking is a herbal sedative that didn't do hardly anything, and dizziness tablets that I stopped taking after a month.
Thank you so much for your help!
1 like, 6 replies
laddidaaa56605
Posted
myc1 laddidaaa56605
Posted
Stress is the single, worse thing we must deal with. A certain amount of stress is beneficial, but when it has us believing we are dying, or whispering dreadful thoughts into our inner ear, then it becomes completely out of control. If you take a few minutes to read posts from other people on this site, you will quickly realise that there are hundreds and hunreds and hundreds of different sensations that are brought on by stress. Some people suffer from numbness of certain parts of their body, others suffer intense cold, others from over bearing heat, some from a pain in their face, others from voices in their head, some experience panic attacks, others from a fear they might suddenly die.
No two people will have all the same symptoms because we are all unique. But we are all suffering from the same cause - too much stress. Stress causes us to become overly aware of ourselves. I'll say that again because it is so important you understand this. A normal, healthy human will spend most of their waking hours living in the world outside their own brain and very little time inside their head. When stress overtakes us, we change our view point, our perspective, and we become overly aware of ourselves. I think that is exactly what happens when we develop a phobia. We become super aware of ourselves. When we decide to write to a forum such as this, we detail every sensation we are experiencing because those symptoms are incredibly real to us and we believe someone can tell us how to avoid them. Each of us will experience different sensations caused by stress. Most of us then seek solutions to our symptoms instead of dealing with the stresss itself.
So all those symptoms are actually meaningless. They are just the outcome of being overly stressed. Instead of dwelling on these many different symptoms, we are better served trying to find the underlying cause of our particular stress.
That is where a good psychologist can help you.
Laddi, you are not going to die. Everything you have written about, every single symptom you have detailed, is all perfectly normal and is the end result of being overly stressed. Your brain is working exactly as it should when it is being stressed out of shape. Ask your psychologist for ways to help reduce your over awareness of self. Trust me, I've been where you are and I understand the misery you are going through. You aren't crazy, you aren't any different to the millions of other people trying to cope with stress.
Does you psychologist use hypnosis at all? It is one of the most powerful ways to reduce stress and to get your life back on track.
You know you have the support of everyone on this web site, Laddi and we are all wishing you well and hoping for your swift recovery.
myc all
leahandrea myc1
Posted
pauline95899 myc1
Posted
tonia_2003 myc1
Posted
Does the hypnosis help with anxiety? Does it last or do you have to keep getting hypnotized?
ren_vincent laddidaaa56605
Posted
Did you try gaba? We both same symptoms. I had xanaz for two weeks, but shift to gaba calm mind. And then, no more panic attact now. Also try to be aware of your acid reflux... Acid reflux cause pain and trigger panic attack. Control your breathing. Do some advices from youtube. You will learn a log there. I was a truck driver and so much stress for three years.