Anxiety and depression, panic and agoraphobia

Hi all, I have panic/anxiety problem too

 

Hmm very interesting...I can tell when i am getting anxious etc cause i get dizzy..my mind races...

 

I have panic disorder and depression. I have been fighting both for over 15 years now.

 

I have almost all of the above.Funny thing is,3 years ago I war Playing in a Clash oriented Punk Rock Band playing clubs every week.Now I wont leave my house.

 

I have PTSD, DIAGNOSED IN 1999, SO HAD BEEN GIVEN MEDS FOR THE SEVERE DEPRESSION, THEN HAD THE EAR PAIN, THEN FINALLY DIAGNOSED WITH MEINERES, I ONLY TAKE CLONAZAPAM STILL, MY EAR GETS WORSE WHEN I AM OFF IT..SO THAT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE, WAS WEANED BUT NOT LIKE I SHOULD HAVE BEEN, AS IT IS VERY ADDITIVE, IT TAKES @ A YR., HOWEVER AS IT IS A MED PRESCRIBED FOR MEINERES MY DR HAS ME ON .5MG 3X'S A DAY...I WAS SEEING A NEW THERAPIST BEFORE MY BACK SURGERY, BUT NOT ABLE TO DRIVE TILL I SEE THE SURGEON 3MOS ON MY HOPEFULLY LAST OFFICE VISIT TO GET MY P/T FOR MY BACK SO I CAN ONCE AGAIN SEE MY THERAPIST, TALKING HELPS, ALSO THIS IS ANOTHER ISSUE ON MY PLATE, BUT WE ALL NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO..THANK GOODNESS FOR MY SIS-IN-LAW, MY BROTHER AND MY BEST FRIEND WHO LIVES A FEW 100 MILES AWAY..MEINERES IS DEPRESSING...I KNOW THAT ONCE I CAN GET OUT IN THE SPRING AND TAKE WALKS WITH MY HUSBAND IT WILL HELP...I HAVE TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT THIS...I BELIEVE THAT I AM DOING EVERYTHING I CAN..NOT GIVING UP TILL ALL NON-SURGICAL OPTIONS ARE DONE AND THEN THAT WILL BE MY LAST RESORT...THANKS AGAIN FOR LISTENING..

 

There is a WONDERFUL chat room/site that I belong to. It's for all anxiety disorders and the people there are great. If I feel very panicked and want to be distracted they are wonderful.

www.anxietypanicsupport.com

 

Shelly, thank you for this link

Sparrow

 

I'm probably too late to post on this topic but a couple of things clicked for me so I thought I'd share.
I haven't had a really severe episode of Meniere's in about 15 years. Last week I began to have panic attacks, which I haven't had in about 20 years. I didn't do much about the panic attacks, although I have valium in the house. I'm the type of person who really has to be on death's door before I take something. I'm also on morphine for a severe back injury (part of the reason I was having an overload of stress is upcoming major back surgeries), so I didn't want to add valium to the mix even though my doc said it would be ok. One week after the panic attacks started BAM! I get one of the worse episodes of Meniere's I've ever had. I've had it for 5 days now (the episode on Monday was with the sweats and hurling etc and now I'm just so dizzy I can't function) and I think tonight I'm going to take a valium and see if it helps. My stress level is through the roof these days and I've been just pushing it all down and ignoring it soldiering through. I have virtually no support system at home (home is a major part of the stress) and don't see a pysch or counselor (although I'm thinking of it).
Since I've had this latest attack my anxiety level has skyrocketed since I can't function and I'm going through big time depression now too not knowing when or if I'll get back to normal. I hadn't been going through depression before.
So which comes first? The chicken or the egg? My body seemed to know "something" major was going to happen to me, I even said that to a friend of mine when the panic attacks started again. It's all very confusing. I don't think there really can be any conclusion to come from it all....

 

Update on the valium experiement from last night. It didn't help at all, just made me more loopy & dizzier. I woke up worse then I was yesterday, throwing up again, so dizzy I can't move. So much for valium.

 

For me, after a big attack it takes weeks (sometimes months) for all the daily dizziness, brain fog, etc to get back to normal. Have you tried the Cocculus Compositum from John from Ohio's regimen? It helps me with the daily dizziness/lightheadedness after attacks.

I'm also having major problems right now with panic, anxiety and depression. Worst of all, I seem to be medicating with food. I had lost over 50 pounds and have gained over half of it back just this year. I'm finally giving in and am scheduling an apt with a psychologist next week. I just can't get a handle on coping with MM, diabetes and working too.

Nancy

 

Nancy - It's good to go talk it out, best of luck!

 

This is me and OCD: generalized anxiety disorder 26 (34.7%)
clinical depression 15 (20%)
panic disorder 16 (21.3%)

Couldn't figure out how to vote.

 

Hi Candy

Do you take any meds that help your conditions, you have about everything i do!

 

hey guys... i had my first menieres attack on tuesday evening... vertigo is almost gone but i still dont have my hearing back in my left ear.... maybe someone knows if ill get it back... or will it stay like that? thanks!!

 

Hi! You should move this to Living Room, will get a lot more answers. I have gotten my hearing back a number of times, totally too. So yes, most likely it will come back. Have to find out your vertigo triggers though because the vertigo is what kills the hearing.

 

I agree. I think once the attack begins, you get anxious and it can almost lead to a panic attack! Also, when I was having more problems with meniere's I would be anxious about going out to the store because the florescent lights used to give me the attacks. That was before I knew what I had. Now that I know, my anxiety is less.

 

Where do you get your information from?
holly

 

When I went for testing at the U of P Balance Center it was discovered that my brain was injured as a result of an auto accident. Since I also suffer from migraines and have herniations in my c-spine PLUS my TMJ was dislocated, the Head of Neurology believed the chronic dizziness I experience is coming from more than one source. I have also had the lightheadness and dizziness experienced from anxiety and this is totally different. I think many people are confused because ALL types of chronic dizziness can be helped with central nervous system depressants (benzos.) Here is a recent article I found about chronic dizziness.

Cause Of Chronic Dizziness
Approximately 9 million to 15 million people in the U.S. suffer from recurrent bouts of dizziness and 3 million experience symptoms of dizziness nearly every day. As per a paper that appears in the recent issue of Archives of OtolaryngologyHead & Neck Surgery, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine observed that chronic subjective dizziness (CSD) may have several common causes, including anxiety disorders, migraine, mild traumatic brain injuries, and neurally mediated dysautonomias disorders in the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary actions.

Among the various forms of dizziness, clinicians have found CSD to be especially vexing. "Patients with CSD experience persistent dizziness not correlation to vertigo, imbalance, and hypersensitivity to motion, which is heightened in highly visual settings, such as walking in a busy store or driving in the rain," says Jeffrey P. Staab, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Otorhinolaryngology at Penn, and coauthor of the paper.

Staab and coauthor, Michael J. Ruckenstein, MD, Associate Professor Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Penn, studied 345 men and women age 15 to 89 (average age 43.5) who had dizziness for three months or longer due to unknown causes. From 1998 to 2004, the patients were tracked from their referral to Penns balance center through multiple specialty examinations until they were given a diagnosis.

"All but six patients were diagnosed as having psychiatric or neurologic conditions, including primary or secondary anxiety disorders, migraine, traumatic brain injury and neurally mediated dysautonomias," said Ruckenstein. Most patients (59.7%) had CSD with anxiety, 38.6% had CSD and illnesses of the central nervous system (migraine, traumatic brain injuries, or dysautonomias), and 1.7% had CSD and irregular heartbeats.

Two-thirds of patients had medical conditions linked to the onset of dizziness, whereas one-third had anxiety disorders as the initial cause. Therefore, CSD may be triggered by either neurotologic or psychiatric conditions.

Key diagnostic features were identified in the clinical history for each illness. For example, those with migraines often had nausea or vomiting, anxiety disorders were linked to fear and worry, and those with dysautonomias tended to become dizzy when they exerted themselves. "Careful inquiry about these key features during exams may lead to better diagnoses and more specific therapy recommendations for the a number of patients with chronic dizziness who have not found a cause for their symptoms and those who have been given diagnoses that have not brought them relief," says Staab.

 

I found most of this thread very interesting, so thought I'd resurrect it.

I think I've have had mild anxiety issues most of my life, usually brought on by moving, new jobs, feeling lonely. Then I got fatigue/depression that required meds. Looking back, some of the stress was anxiety about work. Celexa and counselling helped, but then Celexa gave me migraines. I was on Effexor which propped me up for a few years before I hit the wall. Then I was on a higher dose of Effexor plus Wellbutrin for about a year, which made me need Imovane/rhovane/zopiclone for insomnia. Since then (about 4 years) I've been trying to get off these drugs to see if that will bring my energy back. But withdrawing from Effexor brought on my first vertigo spells. Then the hearing/tinnitus/fullnuss in my ear happened. Once I was off the Effexor for about 6 months, my ear seemed fine. Then this fall I started messing with the Wellbutrin, and the whole Meniere's picture has been with me since, and confirmed as diagnosis.

Okay, that was my long-winded story. Back to the anxiety - after a vertigo attack, I am in a total state of anxiety for about a week or more (but feels like an eternity in hell.) It's similar but worse than any anxiety I've had before, and feels very physical, not just from mental worry.

So, I'm wondering, for those of you who get this, too, what do you do? I still want to try to get off Wellbutrin and Imovane (they say it is non-benzodiazepine, but it does work on benzo receptors)... I don't want to get addicted to Valium etc, but I'm desperate when I'm like this. I even get kind of suicidal - no joy, can't enjoy anything, can't see the point in carrying on in this hell, except that I don't want to make my family suffer.
AnneT

 

I din't know that this will help but I take Zanax for a two-fold reason. It's calms my tinnitus and helps with the anxiety attacks (from agorophobia) when I have to leave the house. Problem is they are addictive but I've told my doctor I'd rather be addicted right now at this time in my life and be able to live a better quality life. He agrees...