Hi guys and girls i have been dealing with ocd and panic disorder for yrs in November i had a near mental breakdown i have gotten tons better which im comfortable with. Except ever since my mental breakdown i will get memory recalls about certain things that I lived though during the mental breakdown as an example a certain person that I had spoken to during that horrible time once a memory has been recalled ill become very anxious as it reminds me of how scared i felt back then I also feel a very strong feeling of that event happening in the present i realise its not really happening but I still have that strong feeling of past becoming present this can last hours into the next day. Does anyone experience this about traumatic things thats happened to them? Is this a flashback? Ive tried to explain this to my psychiatrist but he puts it down to my ocd but im not even obsessing about anything when it happens? Really need some advice
Can you explain these flashbacks more?
Hi jp thanks for getting back to me, its hard to explian the flashbacks ill try my best. Something will trigger the feelings such as today I saw a guy that I had seen during the mental breakdown i had in January i spoke with this guy today for only five minutes after the conversation ended and i left to go home i had a intrusive memory of seeing him in January i become Anxious and suddenly I felt back in that moment in January i felt exactly the same scared, anxious, trapped ect the feeling of being back in that past event is really strong however when this is happening i do fully realise iam not actually reliving that past memory my reality remands intact its a half being in the past but not fully i hope i didnt make it more confusing its really hard to explian thanks jp
That's quite unique I think, is it more of a memory or more of a flash back?
Im not to sure i read a flashback is when you actually think your reliving the memory but i no iam not reliving it it just feels like iam
Its really freaky and it makes me panic
I think it might just be a memory.
Do you have a therapist or a counsellor or someone who is trained to help?
I have OCD and I'm not sure if it's OCD or not. It may be. What do you take for your OCD?
When you say mental breakdown what actually happened?
how are you doing?
Hi jp how are you , I'm still feeling bad I'm obsessed that I've got a brain disease of some sort my hearing is strange as well wish I could get back to well again
Hi skull boy I had a nervous breakdown in2008 and in January this year I was gping to be placed in a mental hospital I wasn't coping with my ocd
I know how you feel mate, trapped by your own thoughts that take you down a maze you think you will never get out. It causes me panic and dread, both of those things being my obsession. Im trying to see what its doing and when I don't observe but become entangled in it it scares me to death. Im due to switch ssri's which is scaring me also because this is how this all started again when I had bad side effects to a dose reduction.
Also I have come to realize that my constant looking on the internet for answers is part of my compulsion. Do you drink? I gave up 5 years ago but found my symptoms dissapeared when I drank only to be hellish the day after.
Hi Allison I saw you have OCD. I do too. What were they able to do for you in the hospital? I am on Paxil and have been for 15 years and it stopped working last July and I have really bad anxiety and depression. I've been on the Paxil for so long and it's the worst antidepressant to come off of because it's short acting. I'm not sure if I'll be able to come off of it. They want to put me on what they call a mood stabilizer, which is actually an antipsychotic that's a low dose. Those drugs have a lot of bad side effects and some of them can be permanent.
OCD, Anxiety and depression. Me too. How do you cope with that tonia? Also Im going to be switching Fluoxetine to something else as I to after years are finding it not working. I'm dreading it as thats what started this all off again, trying to reduce my dose.
I'm okay, health anxiety as usual.
Have you been able to keep your mind off of it?
I was coping ok until my Paxil stopped working. I use a lot of hand sanitizer because mine is mainly germs. I hate Winter because it's cold and plus everyone gets sick. I also don't like to travel far from home. Anything over an hour and a half is when it gets hard. Sometimes I can't tolerate that, especially now. I'm afraid I'm going to get sick while I'm gone and throw up or have diarrhea or something and how would I cope with that driving down the road? I use to couldn't drive by myself in fear that I had hit someone and not know it. I dealt with that really bad for 5 years. I finally got better and could drive alone, but parking lots freak me out still somewhat. I have to park way out and have my car so I can drive straight out and not have to back out. If I back out I'm practically standing up in my car making sure I don't see, hear or feel anything. I cut my radio off so I can hear good. Then if it really keeps rolling in my head I have to circle around the parking lot real slow and go back and check to see if I did hit someone. Sometimes when I back out I tell myself, "I don't hear, see or feel anything so it's ok. " I'm just hoping since my Paxil has stopped working and I'm already high anxiety I can very slowly switch to another SSRI. I just don't know. I've been praying for God to help me because I just don't want to have to get on an antipsychotic low dose because I can't quit this Paxil. Paxil is so short acting it hard to come off especially since I've been on it 15 years and on a high dose of 50 mg.
Well let me tell you, lol. I tried to come off Fluoxetine and Its supposed to be easier as it has a long half life. Well after a week I was climbing the walls. It was horrendous, crying, massive anxiety, flu like symptoms didn't like being on my own etc etc. Im hoping it wont be as bad if we are just switching. Its horrible we have to go through this and yours at least is about something in the physical world which kind of makes sense. Mine Is all in my head/body. I feel Impending doom, dread which then I cannot stop worrying about, which makes me feel worse, which makes me worry more, and then it just spirals into a massive paradox of worry obsessions and catastrophic thinking!!! I don't know, I get to the point I feel trapped and see only one way out which that in its self makes me obsess that I thought like that. I haven't drank in 5 years but Im seriously thinking of getting some in for when I change meds.
Any updates Allison?
Hi skullboy sorry just seen your reply I use to drink daily to calm my thoughts down it worked well for years but I gave up three years ago this May to be honest I feel way worse since I've gave up alcohol but I'm staying of it cause I'm hoping one day I'll be rewarded