Disorder Symptoms

[minniepooh]

For the past 3 years, I have been having episodes which I cannot understand.  They do not come very often and last only a few days. They always seem to start because of something insignificant. The last one happened when my fiance would not help me fix a floor lamp that needed straightening up.  It was something that did not need his attention right away.  I became very mad and upset because he seemed to blow me off and I began to yell at him.  I followed him around our apartment ranting about how I needed him to help me.  I was crying and got so frustrated that I broke something of his I shouldn't have.  I then went after him.  I was screaming and seemed to ramble on and on.  I was also quite physical with him.  I could feel my heart racing in my chest and couldn't stop shaking.  I became worn out physically and sat crying.  I finally calmed down.  I vomited and had a headache.  The headache went away for a while and came back in the middle of the night.  The next day, I was very quiet and worn down.  I felt very bad because of what I had done and  just seemed to go through the motions of the day in a trans.  This happens every so often and is sometimes worse than others.  I have been on an antidepressant before and while on it, the episodes were not as severe and rarely happened.  What kind of disorder do you think this is?

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

I would not think in terms of a mental-health disorder from what you described.  These episodes are triggered by something that is significant to you in a way that you do not yet understand.  Seen a psychotherapist would be much more beneficial than thinking about antidepressant medications.

In the example above you should think about what it meant to you for him disregard you.  That has some significance and is probably related to your past and to certain images that you carry in your head that are confused with your current reality.  Although this is common and shows up most often in love relationships it is not the basis for a psychiatric disorder.  Nevertheless it is important for a successful life so you should look into it.

You may get some help with this online by looking at the love repair kit I have created on my site mastering STRESS.com.

[Skizo]

Although is very hard to generalize from a sketchy description of one episode, a few things can be abstracted from it:

1)the episode is triggered by a very small incident that
  frustrate you
2)The incident happens within the relationship with somebody
  that is meaningful to you.
3)Your response consist of a serious overflowing of feelings
  and scalating behaviour that, although natural, are out of
  place in your situation because of the intensity.
4)The best way of labeling the episode is to call it “loss of
  control of impulses”. This could happen due to either
  perceived threat to the self or to injury to narcissistic
  feelings.


Our behavior and sense of self is derived from the meaning we attach to social situation and to other people. Something is “shaky’ inside you, in the core of your self, that makes you lose control. There is no doubt that psychotherapy can be of help exploring this issue and in learning better response to frustration.

On the other hand, you are describing a group of feelings and behaviour that are known now to be controlled by Serotonine in the brain. Medication for depression called SSRI (Prozac, Zoloft etc) should help.

[KEV78]

Hi EVERYONE...I'm new to the forum.  Ive got tons on my mind and many questions to ask.  Seems as if my probs started one day when i used cocaine.  Just that morning I suddenly freaked out and was afradi my heart was going to explode cause of how it was beating etc.  Had used the stuff for two months on weekedns with no probs.  EMT's told me everything seemed fine and that it was prolly a panic attack.  But deep inside i thought for sure i may have screwed up my heart or something.  Few weeks later i tried it again and a few times after that and each time i freaked out swore I was gonna die.  Anyhow i stayed clean and didnt mess with the stuff anymore. However then i starteed to get thesee weird episodes like I had trouble breathing like a smothering feeling and concentrated alot on my breathing cause thought if i didnt i would stop also a slight abnormal feeling or i guess sense of sight was weird or seomthing not sure how to explain it.  Suddenly one day i had a panic attack i guess again and that was the end of that afterwards i think i fell into depression.  Then started to get these weird heart skips..alot everyday for about a month and a half all day long really scarey.  Bad thing is i was afradi i messed up my heart and now it was doing all that weird stuff.  got my heart checked out and doc said everything came back normal maybe just stress.  Ive got alot of symptoms including sleep disturbances like i wake up suddenly in a panic i guess doesnt last too long and i go right back to bed easily but very scarey.  I still worry about my health alot..just wondering if something is being overlooked etc.  get tons of muscle twitches all over my body..in the mornings when i wake up i feel shaky inside and out..i also kinda feel off balance like i feel like i sway alot when standing straight up or light my head or body rocks back and forth when i am at rest kinda goes along with my heavy pulse rate.  I am taking paxil 37.5mg CR.  I am alot better than I was but still have tons of doubts.  Can somebody help me with my questions or have any responses..please email me at ***@****  THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!!

P.S.  also a little more depth about my history..previous to this all the only thing I can think of that has some importance is i ised to take alot of Ephedra dieting pills also drank lots of coffe and smoke cigarettes...and did have a bit of a stressfull realtionship too...dont know i was thinking maybe all that had to do with it too...who knows?