I was just recently diagnosed with depression and anxiety, after going to a CNP per my husband's suggestion. He had noticed an increase in my irritability, my lack of enthusiasm toward things, and overall listlessness. What I find strange about my "depression" is that I don't really feel depressed.

Instead, my symptoms range from extreme mood swings (intense anger/irritability to complete lack of emotion/listlessness to extreme elation (joking, laughing, wanting to be around everyone), spurts of creative energy, and spurts of productivity. When I'm feeling angry or irritable, I'm usually also very creative and productive. When I'm feeling elated, I'm highly productive, interested in everything, and the life of the party. When I'm feeling listless and calm, I just don't want to do anything or be around anyone, and my work suffers.

I have been taking an antidepressant, Fetzima, for the past two months and have noticed a dramatic decrease in my mood swings. However, I don't really feel less depressed. In fact, I've noticed an increase in my anxiety levels since taking meds, which I'm not sure is due to the meds themselves or due to the fact that now I have something to call my symptom, so I'm more hyper-aware of my state of mind.

Just two days ago, I was driving home from work, after not being at all productive (this whole week has been like this), and I started to get severely anxious about the traffic. I had nowhere to be, my husband was at band practice, so no one was waiting at home, and I normally don't mind traffic because it gives me time to think by myself and listen to my favorite music.

However, this time I found myself becoming increasingly agitated and anxious. I started tapping my hands on the steering wheel to occupy my nerves, humming to myself (my calming method, similar to breathing exercises), and changing the songs on the radio until I found something soothing. All of these things though, did not stop me from having a mild panic attack in my car, completely out of the blue.

I have a prescription of Xanax for the anxiety, but I don't like taking it during the day because it completely knocks me out (I fall asleep within 20 minutes of taking it - no matter where I am.) Before I started taking Fetzima, my anxiety didn't feel nearly as pointed. I hadn't had a true panic attack since 2007, my anxiety usually just manifested itself through small fidgeting and rituals: biting my nails, tapping my foot, twirling my hair, pacing, etc.

After reading through this forum and the psych central articles, I'm starting to wonder if I may have been misdiagnosed?