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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by vladimir on January 11, 2006, at 22:39:16
hi, i am new to the board and would like to get some opinions to help me out because i am wondering if what i experience is a dysphoric mania. i have been doing research and there are a lot of different definitions of dysphoric mania, including it just being depression. but i have read some other definitions and i am wondering if what i experience at times are dysphoric manias.
so here is what i experience. i suddenly become overcome with a feeling of inner squaler that is extremely, extremely uncomfortable and it feels kinetic. i feel like i have just done something incredibly awful because i feel extremely dirty and and experience intense feelings of horror. i feel unbelievably uneasy. it is really difficult to explain. it feels completely unlike a standard human emotion. i have jump up and walk around really quickly while it is happening until i am able to push the feeling down.
the worst i have experience this feeling was two years ago and i was hospitalized. i was diagnosed by one doctor with depressive type schizoaffective disorder and by another doctor with bipolar.
so i don.t know what to think about it anymore. i want the feeling to be dyphoric mania because i need some sort of definition for it, i guess. because it makes me feel like i am not so essentially strange if there were some sort of catagory i could put it into.
but i was just wondering if anyone else feels something like this and if so, is it dysphoric mania. and i am pretty sure they are not panic attacks because i know people who have had them and this is not what they describe.
thanks, and i would appreciate any input i can get.
Posted by Racer on January 12, 2006, at 12:58:18
In reply to Is this dysphoric mania?, posted by vladimir on January 11, 2006, at 22:39:16
We can tell you a bit about our experiences, but that's about all. You really should ask your doctor about this, and if you don't feel comfortable asking your doctor, it's time to find a new one.
This did just come up for me, though, when I saw a new pdoc for the first time. She told me that the current thinking is that for many people with both anxiety disorders and major depression, they're really somewhere on the bipolar spectrum. That the agitation experienced with depression, for many people, is actually dysphoric mania. She didn't say how the differential diagnosis is made, though, so I can't help you there. I suspect, though, that next week she'll be talking about it again.
And if she doesn't bring it up, I will.
The bottom line, though, Vladimir, is that the diagnosis doesn't really matter if the treatment works. Have you talked to your doctor about how to treat these episodes? That's the first step. My guess is that it doesn't matter which it is, but that the differential will be in the treatment: "Well, he didn't improve on a mood stabilizer, but did on an anxiolytic, so..." That sort of thing.
What meds, if any, did you try?
(Oh, and schizoaffective is sometimes culture specific, if you ask me which no one did. Are you in America? Are you native born? Did you grow up in a mainstream family? I didn't grow up in a mainstream sort of environment, and I know that a lot of people think I'm pretty eccentric, but that's culture-syntonic for me. If your name is any indication, you may be experiencing something similar there. Unless you really do experience the sorts of delusions involved in schizoaffective disorder...)
Posted by 4WD on January 12, 2006, at 20:54:13
In reply to Is this dysphoric mania?, posted by vladimir on January 11, 2006, at 22:39:16
> hi, i am new to the board and would like to get some opinions to help me out because i am wondering if what i experience is a dysphoric mania. i have been doing research and there are a lot of different definitions of dysphoric mania, including it just being depression. but i have read some other definitions and i am wondering if what i experience at times are dysphoric manias.
>
> so here is what i experience. i suddenly become overcome with a feeling of inner squaler that is extremely, extremely uncomfortable and it feels kinetic. i feel like i have just done something incredibly awful because i feel extremely dirty and and experience intense feelings of horror. i feel unbelievably uneasy. it is really difficult to explain. it feels completely unlike a standard human emotion. i have jump up and walk around really quickly while it is happening until i am able to push the feeling down.
>
> the worst i have experience this feeling was two years ago and i was hospitalized. i was diagnosed by one doctor with depressive type schizoaffective disorder and by another doctor with bipolar.
>
> so i don.t know what to think about it anymore. i want the feeling to be dyphoric mania because i need some sort of definition for it, i guess. because it makes me feel like i am not so essentially strange if there were some sort of catagory i could put it into.
>
> but i was just wondering if anyone else feels something like this and if so, is it dysphoric mania. and i am pretty sure they are not panic attacks because i know people who have had them and this is not what they describe.
>
> thanks, and i would appreciate any input i can get.
Hi Vladimir,If it helps at all, I know just exactly what you are talking about. I've described it to people as feeling like I'm a prisoner on death row for a murder that I committed and tomorrow is the day set for my execution. I'm filled with horror and guilt and remorse and shame and despair and fear. But I haven't done anything wrong. But I still have those feelings. I used to wake up like that every morning (and still do sometimes).
What meds are you on? Do you have a psychiatrist? Do you have other symptoms or a diagnosis?
Marsha
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