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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Mike_Cohen_2 on July 14, 2008, at 15:28:15
o.k., so I'm anxious like all day long. So bad, that I can't work right now. Been an RN x 15 years and this all started 16 mos. ago at age 39. I get depressed here and there, but I attribute it all to the anxiety. I mean it takes such a toll on my body, that I always feel like crap. That is depressing in itself. I'm not agoraphobic, although I don't leave the house much because I feel terrible. If my anxiety lowers, than I can go just about anywhere.
Be definition, people who suffer from GAD, have fears about this and that. They constantly worry about this and that.
Well for me: I don't sit and worry about much except when am I ever gonna get rid of this anxiety. I don't fear anything except a life of missery due to anxiety. I have no financial worries. Even if I have a worry, it's not right there in front of me constantly consuming me, yet I have all the symptoms of GAD.
It's hard to find information on this, as any google on GAD explains it as worries and fears as above.
Sure, I have GAD by symptoms, but not by definition. So with this in mind, what the hell good does going to therapy do. I don't feel like I have any issues causing the anxiety, nor the depression. i.e. I feel like it's all chemical and I want to get rid of it and get my *ss back to work and to life.
Everyone on this board talks about meds, myself included. Look around, we are all the same posters, were all trying the same drugs, were all still here because were not getting better.
I just had a crying spell out of nowhere. Why ? Where did it come from. I wasn't thinking about anything sad. A deep rush of depression came on out of nowhere, I cried, and now I don't feel depressed.
Just for the hell of it, I took a percocet the other day I had left over from a back surgery I had over a year ago. I was feeling so anxious and depressed prior to taking it. It was just a 5mg pill. An hour later, I was on top of the world, no anxiety, no depression. I was ready to go out and party.
This is obviously a chemical disruption of some sort in the brain, but I don't think the docs have a clue. Lets put our heads together and figure out what the hell is going on here. I know I'm not alone and I know the meds suck for most of us.
My wife had an Oxycontin addiction, and she is no longer my wife, but I know she got on Suboxone, which satisfies the opiate receptors without getting one high. Would this do anything for us? I'm just throwing this out there, all of this.
What a great resource this board is, but come on people, were all looking for a magic pill including me. What do we do? Every med we try takes a few weeks to work if it's going to. Everytime they fail us, that 2-3 weeks of wasted life and then another week or so of wasted life getting it out of our systems.
Please excuse my frustrations, but thats exactly what I am. Anxiety / Depression interferes with every aspect of our lives. For me, it's having good times with my two little kids, going to work, which I once hated, but now miss. Finding a mate to share a love life with. Are you getting my point. Right now, my life is pointless except for my kids. Can it be any worse? I guess for quadriplegics and the like it could be.
Love you alll.............
Gary
Posted by Phillipa on July 14, 2008, at 16:44:12
In reply to Is it truly Generalized Anxiety Disorder ? (GAD), posted by Mike_Cohen_2 on July 14, 2008, at 15:28:15
Gary same thing happened to me with one percocet when broke my arm. I really do think some of us are opiate responders. Right or wrong what is the difference between benzos and opiods if benzos no longer work for me as I'm old and had to quite being an RN as now l3 years later no change. I've heard good thing about subotenex sp? An E-mail buddy is on it. Hope some others have some better adivise. Phillipa
Posted by jflange on July 18, 2008, at 1:58:26
In reply to Is it truly Generalized Anxiety Disorder ? (GAD), posted by Mike_Cohen_2 on July 14, 2008, at 15:28:15
Hi Gary,
I was just like you - with all the symptoms of GAD but nothing in particular to worry about. Just the constant anxiety I was having and the exhaustion it caused.
Well, after 4 years of meds trial and error, finding a good pdoc and lots of reading this board, I realized that GAD is not always characterized about worrying about one thing or concrete things. There's not a lot of rhyme or reason as to why generalized anxiety crops up at certain times in our lives. It's the physical symptom of anxiety which creates specific fears - mostly because you fear your own physical response to situations that once caused you anxiety, no matter how random those situations are.
Talking therapy can be great stuff, but not unless the more important issue of the physical symptoms of anxiety are under control. The best things my pdoc said to me were a. he doesn't know why some people experience GAD and others don't. b. he (along with most psychiatrists) does not have a full grasp of the chemistry that makes certain medications work for some people. The most he can offer is experience with other patients with similar symptoms who have had success with certain meds.
I don't know how to answer all of your questions, since I did find a med combo that has worked for me and I don't expect to get off of it anytime soon, perhaps never. All I can say is to try to keep an open mind to all possibilities and continue to experiment until you find relief.
Be well,
jflange
Posted by blueboy on July 18, 2008, at 10:18:06
In reply to Is it truly Generalized Anxiety Disorder ? (GAD), posted by Mike_Cohen_2 on July 14, 2008, at 15:28:15
Bottom line: Yes, it is truly generalized anxiety disorder. No, it is not "GAD" as defined in the DSM IV.
This is one of the biggest failings of the DSM IV and part of the utter denseness of the mental health establishment, IMHO.
I think the worst general anxiety does not involve any direct cognitive fear. So if you take a checklist test, based on the DSM model, you might have a terrible, crippling case of general anxiety and score as "mild", because you are going to answer "no" to the seminal questions:
"Are you troubled by:
1) Excessive worry, occurring more days than not, for a least six months?
2) Unreasonable worry about a number of events or activities, such as work or school and/or health?"See, e.g., http://www.adaa.org/public/selftest_gad.htm
"The trait of excessive worry was identified [by the DMS IV] as the core symptom of GAD."
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/431268_2So, what most of us would consider the most generalized of anxiety disorders is very different from the technical definition of "GAD" in the DSM IV. In fact, this crippling disease is not defined anywhere in the DSM IV.
I have a word of hope. No good experienced psychiatrist or psychologist is going to be fooled. They know the DSM definition of GAD is a crock and will prescribe benzo's for our disorder (and, hopefully, try a long-term course of imipramine or some other tricyclic with good norephinedrine reuptake inhibition). For diagnostic purposes they will find the closest definition they can to put down on paper.
By the way, the primary reason that "GAD" and "panic disorder" were differentiated, in the change from DSM III to DSM IV, is that panic disorder responds well to imipramine while GAD does not and requires a benzo. Even this has been discredited by subsequent research, however.
We were better off with the DSM III, where the primary symptom of "GAD" was "general anxiety". The primary symptom of GAD in DSM IV was changed to "excessive worry".)
Anyway, be assured that you are not alone in this. A lot of people have symptoms that are impossible to describe and difficult to treat with the current state of psychiatry and psychopharmacology. My diagnosis has changed and my GAD is now considered secondary to Bipolar II. Big deal. The approved drugs to treat Bipolar disorders don't dent the anxiety I feel. So my pdoc prescribes clonazepam for me.
I think that, at least in my case, the anxiety is tied to total stress. It could be partly pschological. It could be that my brain has a chemical or structural malfunction. It could be that my brain is normal except for a weakness in handling some chemical, no more difficult to understand than a degnerative muscular disease, or perhaps more akin to something like insulin resistance and diabetes. Who knows?
Posted by Copper on July 18, 2008, at 21:54:31
In reply to Re: Is it truly Generalized Anxiety Disorder ? (G, posted by blueboy on July 18, 2008, at 10:18:06
GAD, all I know is its anxiety all day looooong. Could there be anything more torchous, you might as well but bambo shoots under your nails. The only thing that worked for me was clonazpam. I'm on 3mg but I now need more, and I have a pdoc who is very by the book, so he thinks I'm on too high dose.
Breathe Deep Love Copper
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