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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Can it all be related?
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
Can it all be related?
by shelly, Jun 09, 2000 12:00AM
I been plagued by multiple health problems, most of which are more annoyances than anything. Irritable bowels, gastic reflux, asthma, aches, pains, severe fatigue, etc. I'm under a physicians care, but I'm wondering if there could be some kind of underlying connection. He says no, but most physicians would. I'm taking prozac 40 mg a day. Most of this started before I took the Prozac and still continues to this day. A friend with some history in Mental health field suggested an anxiety disorder, but I'm not anxious. I'm pretty laid back about most everything actually. But after many months of this, I wonder. Do you have any thoughts?
Doctor's Answer
by HFHS MD - RG, Jun 10, 2000 12:00AM
The symptoms you describe can be influenced with your psychological well-being. You may or may not be aware of this. And this is what makes it more complex because the inner psychological conflicts are not addressed, which may be the source of your symptoms.
Though you are taking Prozac, you may also benefit from psychotherapy, especially cogntive-behavioral therapy, to help you treat the symptoms of your illness.
Though you are taking Prozac, you may also benefit from psychotherapy, especially cogntive-behavioral therapy, to help you treat the symptoms of your illness.
If I were you, I would get a second opinion. It may indeed be that your physical symptoms are psychologically based. However, sometimes a patient can become "labeled" as having psychological problems, and then when a true illness does develop, her symptoms are written off as all in her head.
I struggled with unexplained sypmtoms (many of which you describe) for 10 years before it was finally discovered that I have multiple hormonal imbalances (confirmed by blood work), temporal lobe epilepsy (confirmed by EEG), and severe allergies (confirmed by allergy testing)and asthma. I have severe fatigue, joint and muscle pain and weakness, swollen and painful glands in my neck and armpits, etc, etc,...... my physician has given this whole constellation of symptoms the title of Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome.
In Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), seemingly "unrelated" symptoms develop. In all due respect to the doctor's reply on this forum, I have to say that many doctors do not understand the distinct symptom pattern of CFIDS and write off unexplained, multiple symptoms as a manifestation of depression. Research on CFIDS has come a long way over the years and REAL measurable physical findings have been, and are continuing to be, discovered. The CFIDS Association of America's web site is at www.cfids.org.
If you feel, as you say, "pretty laid back" and emotionally grounded, and your physical symptoms are not improved with anti-depressants, I think that you should trust you instincts that there may be a physiological explanation for your symptoms. Good luck to you.