COULD ANYONE HELP ME.???????

[philmarcus]

COULD ANYONE HELP ME OUT, GIVE ME ANY ADVICE OR ANSWER PLEASE?????
  
    for the past few weeks ive been having racing thoughts before i go to sleep. and their just radom toughts and pictures or myself in places.( for example. ill be in a castle, then riding a bike, or ill be talkin to someone, or ill see things or people. like from my point of view.) and they fly so fasr,and theres just so radom. and this will happen rightt when i lay in bed and close my eyes, and this toughts will just go on and on. and i cant stop them. and ill start having anxiety attacks because im so freaked out.
    this first happen to me about 4 weeks ago. and i end up at the ER, and they told me that it looks like i have anxiety disorder.
After the day  ive been feeling dreamlike sensations and like nothin is real, and this would go on during the whole day. then i also started having racing thoughts during the day. atleast i think its racing thoughts, im usually always worried wats wrong with me, if im goin to be ok. or if im feelin ok or not.
I also been haviing lots if mood swings, and this racing thoughts would hit me most when i feel depressed.
       so anyways this racing thoughts that ive been having when i go to sleep, been hapenin to me a couple times a week. but ive been able to relax and just go right to sleep.
   but last night i started gettin this racing thoughts , and at first it wasnt that bad, but they got worse and worse. and they were so intense that i couldnt relax, and in every 10 minutes i would get an anxiety attack... my heart would start racing and i would feel hot and cold at the same time. and so i would open my eyes, and the racing thought would stop and i would do some breathing exercise and drink some water and i would calm down. and this would happen every 10 minutes. and i could not fall asleep.  this was about 2 in the morning and i was absolutely tired at this point.
       so i decided to take a clonidine 0.1mg .  the doc said it would help me sleep. but that was the first time i tried.
it got me to sleep but it was the worse sleep ever.  
my mom came to see if i was ok and when i woke up and looked at her. i didnt know it was a dream or if that was really happenin. it was such a horrible feeling.
    well i didnt get enough sleep, and im afraid to take a nap, cause it might happen again.  
i feel very zone out righ now and my mind if just goin wild.  
and last night i did smoke a lot of cigarets , could that have anything to do with it??

can anyone help me with this??  idont want to experience this anymore.
idont know wat to do? and im really freaked out.   and life is not the same as it use to be. =(

[dadinTN]

sounds like you had some panic attacks.  At least be comforted to know that most of us here have had very similar experiences.

I recommend going to see your Dr. who can prescribe something to calm you down...also recommending finding a good pschologist/therapist who can help you find the possible reasons for your anxiety.

[astou]

i am so sorry that you are through this, i definitely recommend that you find a therapist  so you get find what is triggerung your anxiety. but do not feel alone a lot of us on this forum including me went through similar problems. just keep telling yourself this prase( i am not my thoughts). i have been in therapy for about 3 months now and i feel much better. again go see a therapist, you will be surprised to see the result.

wishing the speedy recovery

[JaneBurgess]

Those are panic attacks. I have had them on and off for 6 years. The dream like sensations and things seem not real are derealization. A lot of us with panic attacks have the. It is like you are in a fog. You need to see a pysch who can help you with panic attacks. They do not usually go away without treatment. Some people need medication and others do well with just therapy.

[jsj1jaj]

Ever come across racing thoughts that deal with homosexuality?  I have a 17 year old on Lamictal.  Said his head feels like it has two brains, his and this one that is constantly telling him he is gay.

[nursegirl6572]

That is what you would call "intrusive thoughts".  People with anxiety (especially panic disorder) suffer from this frequently.  The thoughts can be ANYTHING that would be "scary" to that person.  Young people often have the "homosexual" intrusive thoughts, it is pretty common.

Another example I could give you is my own.....year ago when in the midst of constant panic attacks....as if that weren't enough...all of a sudden, a thought popped into my mind, really out of nowhere..."What if I hurt my child?"...who was a baby at the time.

Talk about sheer horror!!!!!!  I honestly thought I was a homicidal maniac.  The more I tried NOT to think about it...the more I would.  I was sick to say the least, and headed to my shrink immediately.  Imagine the relief when she explained that these were "intrusive thoughts"...basically your brain creating a frightening scenario, and in turn increase in anxiety/panic (nice, huh?).  As soon as I understood that they were meaningless, and harmless, they started going away.  I laughed at them actually.

Another fairly common intrusive thought people have is the "I'm going to drive off a cliff" thought.  This is basically where a person fears that while driving, they will just "lose it" and swerve off the road, or into oncoming traffic...;purposely.  Again...just another intrusive thought that pops up to increase anxiety.  

The reason behind them is....when a person is in a chronic state of anxiety or panic....with no trigger (nothing to actually cause the anxiety)...the brain is searching for a "reason"...a TRUE trigger.  When it cannot find a reason...it dreams one up....causes a trigger.

Not to say that perhaps your son isn't truly dealing with a sexual identity issue...but from the little you described, it sounds MUCH more like an instrusive thought situation.  Try explaining this to him...reassuring him that these thoughts are not harmful, and not meaningful in any way...it is just the anxiety process.  And, it goes without saying...that it wouldn't hurt to mention (just to cover all possibilities) that if for some reason he truly IS dealing with a sexual identity issue, that you support him no matter what.  Again, it sounds like an intrusive thought process, but you want to be sure that he feels supported no matter what.

If he isn't already, get him into psychotherapy....it helps so much, especially when it comes to learning how to understand all of the uncomfortable symptoms and phenomena that people with anxiety disorders suffer from.