re: Know anyone with ocd/anxiety/depression?

My ex-wife was diagnosed with anxiety/depression. It was a mofo. Medicated to the hilt, mood swings from hell, and if that's not bad enough, the meds caused a lack in sexual desire. Sometimes she would literally have a very difficult time getting out of the bed in the am. The whole guy/gal difference in how things are viewed didn't help the situation. My mind told me, "what the hell does she have to be depressed about". At first, as in 5+ years, I was extremely patient and tolerant. Out of the blue, I couldn't deal with it anymore, thus the ex status.

I'm somewhat like BOSCEAUX. I have mild OCD. I understand what it is and can function with it. My anxiety is not as bad. It started a few months ago and I take med for it. It sounds stupid but at its worse, I have to make a conscious effort to tell myself to breathe.

I struggled with depression for about 2 years, it seemingly went away just as fast as it arrived. It affected everything about me....my marriage, my job, my friendships. All ended well thanks to very supportive family and friends. For that short period of time, nothing was exciting, nothing was funny or sad, despite a lot of good things going on around me I just was never the happy and jovial person I typically am. I just was never the outgoing and jovial person I typically am. Never had thoughts of suicide or harming myself or any of that extreme stuff you hear about, but I definitely went through a tough bout where I just did not care about much and did not really want to do anything other than just sit around the house and watch TV .

Read on "somatization disorder" and "conversion disorder." It's a very possible, very real thing.

Also, so is Munchausen's syndrome and malingering.

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I see you stressed the word "think".

If you truly have symptoms of anxiety, it's not "in your head" so to speak. I've had anxiety for 4 years and although I know how to deal with it now, I have had two panic attacks that sent me to the ER. Couldn't breathe, and my heart felt like it was going to do something it's never done before. The only way I can describe it is to tell you that during the attack, you feel impending doom. It's not like I could suddenly snap out of it. Although the stress was manifested in my head, the symptoms it produced where unfortunately very real.

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Symptoms are not real. A slight BP spike or a hr just over 100-120 can be had but this passes quickly. I've asked many patients if they've checked the pulse? They did not.

I have anxiety myself. A true panic attack just causes fight or flight. That is real. The brain releases all the same chemicals. It's like somebody jumped behind you and said "boo"! But it lasts 2-3 minutes. Think about that for a minute. You realize you are no longer in danger and you've been "scared" by somebody. But that sensation of shock persists for 2 minutes.

I have anxiety.

Was taking Xanax for a short period of time, but I quit it.


Now I'm just on Lexapro

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Read on "somatization disorder" and "conversion disorder."

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Both fall under the realm of Somatoform Disorders. Key symptoms are pain in multiple body areas, gastrointestinal issues, sexual/reproductive issues, and pseudoneurological complaints (i.e., memory or attention problems). If you treat the underlying depression/anxiety the above physical symptoms will improve or resolve completely.

A good book about the effects of stress on the body:

Yes, my dad had a pretty rough stint with depression when he got back from his second tour in Afghanistan. As dumb as this sounds, I didn't really believe in anxiety/depression until I saw what he was going through and his thought processes.

However I know a lot of college aged girls that constantly post bs on fb about having anxiety and depression like it's some new fad. Sometimes 2-3x a day. Insanely infuriating

Mark me down as someone who used to think it was mostly "weak" people that suffered from anxiety or depression. I had no problem there were some people that had true issues due to something in their brain chemistry or hormones or whatever...I wasn't worried about the details.

Then it hit me about 4 years ago. I do a decent amount of public speaking. It was never something I enjoyed doing but I was pretty good at it and it wasn't a problem. Then one day I was presenting and my mind went blank. Then I start pouring sweat, going numb, heart jumping out of my chest. Same exact thing happened the very next day. Found it later it was a panic attack.

Those two events occurred while speaking to a group of about 100 people. Not the biggest groups I speak to, but bigger than normal. Then it happened when I was in a team meeting with just 5 people. And again soon after in another small group. At that point I became a complete wreck. Just thinking about presenting to a group would set off anxiety...and I thought about constantly.

At that point it was completely ruining my life. Definitely hit a major depression because I knew I couldn't continue doing my job if this didn't get fixed. I was fortunate enough to find a shrink that had a cancellation and got me in quicker than the 2-3 months everybody else was quoting. She put on 10mg of Lexapro and gave me 10 Xanax pills of 0.5mg each per month.

It took a good 4 to 6 weeks for the Lexapro to kick in. When that finally happened I pretty much went back to normal except I still dreaded public speaking. But I didn't stress over it until it was actually time to get in front of the group. That's where the xanax came in. 2 or 3 pills of 0.5mg each and all my nerves were gone. I've actually become a much better speaker.

Since then I've twice quit the Lexapro thinking everything was better. Each time everything was fine for a few months. Then the daily anxiety creeps back in and I'm having panic attacks in the middle of a meeting. They're not as bad now since I can recognize them coming on. I can stop what I'm doing (maybe fake feeling suddenly sick) and nobody would really know something was wrong. Then it was right back to the Lexapro.

I very much don't want to have to take a pill to feel normal. But I've accepted many people have issues with something and mine is anxiety. Thankfully I have a way to cope with it.