[Thursdy]

Hi, my name is Mike and the past four months have been some of the hardest of my life. In Septemeber, I "thought" that I had a panic attack, occurring out of the blue. I didn't get any physical symptoms during the attack, but my mind was just racing and going crazy. I went to see a therapist and he told it was a panic attack. So ever since then, I have been getting worried over lots of things, and the therapist has told me this is anxiety. However, I never get any physical symptoms from anxiety(all i get usually is a headache, feeling my throat will close, or some minor chest pains). This has led me to beleive that I have schizophrenia. I think this because I have experienced a lot of derealization everyday, and my mind is just foggy. I also have lost interest in things I used to like, and I don't really care to do anything. Just recently I have been worried that there is a tumor in my head because of a bump on the back of my skull. My memory has recently gone to shti, and while in class I can barely focus on anything at all.

I have been on web sites reading about schizophrenia, and I don't know if I just make myself think I have all the symptoms or I actually have them. Could all of this really be anxiety, or is there really a problem? I keep thinking I have schizophrenia and it scares me.

Well, I'm not a doc and surely can't diagnose you but I'll give you some of my thoughts, k?

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Could all of this really be anxiety, or is there really a problem?

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Anxiety IS a problem. It's a legitimate disorder which people can be treated for with medication and therapy. You might consider talking to a psychiatrist about your symptoms. Those you've described such as racing mind, headache, minor chest pain, throat closing can all be symptoms of anxiety. Medication such as xanax or buspar can help.

In addition, a disorder which frequently accompanies anxiety is depression. When you talk about poor memory, inability to focus, loss of interest in doing anything - those are signs of depression.

The FIRST thing I would suggest is to see an MD to get the chest pains checked out, just to be on the safe side. He/she can refer you to a pdoc (psychiatrist) for the rest. Also, you should talk to the MD about getting Albuterol or some other kind of inhaler for that closed throat feeling in case a panic attack triggers asthma.

As far as the bump on the back of your skull, I think everyone has a bumpy skull. I just felt mine and sure enough, there is a bump back there.

And I've known a few people with schizophrenia, and nothing you've said makes me feel like you have that disorder. It sounds like a lot of very intense anxiety.

For more information on anxiety or depression, look at the top of the screen, and click on Disorders.

Take care and keep posting. emmy

[jmo531]

THURSDY,
I find your post very interesting as I can relate to it 100%. Back in December I was having what you would call the "text book case anxiety attack". I had the racing heart beat, sweating, numbness in my arms and so on. Day after day the physical symptoms of this anxiety would disipate until eventually all I was dealing with was the mental aspect of the panick attacks such as, fear of dying, fear of losing control and the biggest and scariest one, fear of going crazy. I still struggle with this nearly everyday, however, I currently take meds for this and the fear has become less intense for me but by no means has it gone away. The reason why I find your post so interesting is because I told my pdoc at my last visit that I thought I had schizophrenia because I was having more mental symptoms then the physical ones. My pdoc told me that I have ****severe**** anxiety and in my case I have developed a phobia of "going crazy". She assured me that this was an actual phobia as I was reluctant to beleive what she was telling me. Like I said I was sure I had more then the depression, anxiety and OCD that I was diagnosed with. I have read the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia and I do not have any of the symptoms. Sometimes I try to convince myself that I do but I dont. I do have paranoid feeling from time to time and those usually come from my fear of going insane. My pdoc actually wants to add a very low dosage of an anti-psychotic med that it supposed to help tremendously with anxiety in addition to the effexor xr i currently take. I don't mean to babble on but I wanted you to know that I know exactly how you feel because I have been there and until now, I thought I was alone. Please feel free to send me a pm if you would like to chat. I would be really interested in chatting with you. Please take care of yourself. My warmest thoughts for peace of mind are with you.

[nothemama8]

Hubby has panic/anxiety disorder and this sounds pretty much like it, as for foggy memory , i think we all go through that
Angie

sounds like anxiety to me...
and the fact that you are fearing that it may be schizophrenia, indicates anxiety.
fear of going crazy.
and maybe hypochondriasis.
(when you feel like you have all these illnesses)

just try to get on some antianxiety meds....
by the way, some of those meds DO cause paranoia... trust me, ive been on just about everything.

[sqrlb8]

Hi Mike, welcome, good questions. Chill dude, you can't really hope to diagnose yourself with this stuff no matter how comprehensivs a list of symptoms you may come across. The thing is, all of the dx's share symptoms. I'm bipolar for example, but have the combo sampler plate of symptoms. (I am hardly unique in that respect)

One of the most effective things you can do to help a therapist dx you correctly is to keep a journal to chronicle your symptoms, moods, and ideas. Many of us didn't do that, and had to start with dx's that only reflected what was most on our mind the day we sought the Dr.'s advice. See what I mean? Bipolars generally don't look for help when they are manic. They go in all depressed begging for pills. Doctors like happy customers too, and if you make it easy for them, well, they're human.

Sqrl's advice to Mike: stick around, read, post, share and learn, and keep a journal. Glad you're here.

P.S. I have all of the symptoms you mentioned, minus the lump on the head, and I'm not Schizophrenic. Now that I think of it, my head is sort of lumpy. lol.