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I agree with place. Anxiety is way more physically painful for me. On the other hand depression is tearing apart my family. I'm not sure which is worse. At least if I'm at home with depression I can sleep. I think I go into it mostly after I've suffered from anxiety. It catches my body up on sleep. Then I get anxious again. It's like this never ending cycle. At least meds ease it a little bit.

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ICKYDOG: Yes. I have the same cycle. The anxiety tears me apart on a daily basis. Eventually I crash and go into depression. The depression is manageable with SSRIs. I can never stop taking them, because the depression is too incapacitating. I have only recently discovered and admitted to myself the anxiety component. Can you believe that? Well, I simply didn't pick up on what was happening to me. This web site has helped me differentiate the stages.


I worry sometimes that I am bipolar, because I will be up most of the time for days. And I will be very talkative and appear to be an extrovert (which I am definitely not!). Then exhaustion and depression will crash down on me so quickly that I simply can't function any longer. I don't go on spending sprees or engage in risky or destructive behavior, though, so maybe I am just an extreme case of hills & valleys due to anxiety and depression.

Yes, the anxiety is the worst for me. For one thing, I haven't even talked to a doctor about it. I'm only beginning to understand myself and how my cycles work. So I get no help from meds in the anxiety department.

Periodically I want to throw all meds away and just be myself. I know this is a completely unworkable plan, but there were some wonderful highs associated with being med-less. I miss them.



Adieu