HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :'(

[ellisile]

The last few months have been nothing but grey clouds...I've been lacking sleep, I feel depressed, I've been having constant tensions in my head, and my brain feels as if its dead.I've felt as if my face had gone completley numb at one point, and experienced involuntary shaking of my hand. I'm 18, but I feel like i'm living like a 6 year old who has to be taken care of because I really cannot perform my daily activities. I'm currently in college and I have my finals in a week...I really need help now, if anyone can help me please do so, i'm developing very dangerous thoughts as it relates to me living...I need to fix this, I've stopped talking to people, I broke up with my girlfriend, have no friends and no longer talks to my family..please help, because emotionally and mentally I'm dying :(

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Thank you for your question. There can be several reasons of such symptoms although without being able to examine you I can not offer you the specific advice on diagnosis and treatment that you need, but I would try to provide you some relevant information about your health concern.

Most likely possibility in your case could be a panic or anxiety disorder that you have faced during last event and currently experiencing. Cause of such panic disorder mostly remain unknown but in this disorder you may feel symptoms like shortness of breath, feeling of choking, pain in the chest, nausea, stomach ache, feeling dizzy, tingling or numbness, chills or hot flashes, bounding heartbeat or fast heart rate, sweating, shaking etc. even without any underlying disorder. This disorder needs to be thoroughly assessed by a psychiatrist first since this can occur repeatedly and without warning.  Treatments may include psychological and drug treatments, and depend upon extent of severity of symptoms. Most commonly psychological treatment tried is counseling, relaxation techniques and sometimes cognitive behavior therapy. ************** depends upon treating the underlying depressive illness through anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medicines.  In addition, try to rest in a dark & quiet room, meditate, have a balanced diet, regularly exercise and avoid taking unnecessary non prescription drugs to avoid recurrence of symptoms. Hope this helps!!

[ggreg]

Dear Ellisile,
Well, you're at least depressed for some reason, and the likelihood is because you got exams coming up and you broke up with your girlfriend and probably some other feelings that you can't quite put your finger on.  To get thru the exams for now, I can make a couple suggestions.  But first, go over to the health clinic on campus and start talking to a psych counselor TODAY, just getting it out of your head really helps.  Also, keep in mind that another counselor, a career counselor, just MIGHT be able to help you in choosing your major or field of work or just talk you through what you're studying now...school is stressful.  Oh, and since you said you got dangerous thoughts, write down the Crisis Intervention number and put it beside the phone, call them first before you do something stooopid.

To straighten out your attitude, in the morning, or, if you don't like breakfast, at lunch, you should eat a meal with protein in it.  For breakfast, this is eggs and whole grain cereal and orange juice, for lunch it's a Subway sandwich with various meats on it and lettuce and tomato.  If you do not drink coffee or even if you do, you should drink at least a half-cup of coffee for breakfast and/or lunch.  The protein and coffee will improve your mood for several hours.  Another mood-improver is to do physical activity regularly, to where you break a sweat.  Just walking with some speed around campus going NOWHERE special for a half-hour nearly every day will do the trick, or you can go swim laps where there's a pool, or tennis, or a little basketball, whatever you like.  Good physical workouts cause the feel-good endorphins to be released and make you feel good for hours, and also it helps you sleep more soundly.  

To improve mood, it is important to have something to look forward to, which can be almost anything.  You have to make time to do something you like to do.  Since you are depressed, you might start out small, like renting a video of a movie you'd like to see, or get some paints and canvas board to make an abstract picture, or buy some magazines that interest you, or go into the library and go to the non-fiction section and check out a couple books about something you're fond of like dogs or science stuff or travel.  That way, you can look forward to fooling around with that when you get home.  As you will inevitably come out of your depression, you can join clubs to meet people like learning to swing dance is great, photography outings, hiking groups, the list is vast.  And if you ain't got nowhere to go after finals, go to the beach and stay in a nice hotel and lay on the beach and soak up the sun.  You NEED a break.

As for exams, study as you usually do, and you'll either ace them, or flunk one or two, or do average.  There's no gray area on that one, and thus nothing to fear.  You either got it or you don't.  You can always take classes again next quarter or semester.  Besides, you are in a crisis right now, and so you can only do what you can do.  There is no rush when it comes to school, except cost of course, but a couple failed classes is NOT the end of the world.

One other thought, you might make a little list of what's bothering you.  Then after each "problem," jot down the positive side of things.  Like you broke up with your girlfriend as a problem, and the good thing is now you can look for someone even more special and have a lot of fun dating, or NOT dating even.  You should keep this positive spin going ANYtime some dreadful thought comes to mind, like, "My life is ruined."  What?  Do you still have your legs?  Are you in a soldier outfit and trekking the sands of Afghanistan?  Plus, you possess the one thing that NO ONE or ANYTHING can take from you, and that's your youth.  

Son, I'm an older person, used to do a million things, but got disabled from something that came right out of the blue, and what I'd GIVE to be walking in your shoes right now.  You got every opportunity in front of you, to plan your life the way you would like it to be, you can choose any career that is attractive to you and learn how to do it in college and even pick from several, with either an eye towards making a pile of money so you can live in a great town in a great house, or an eye towards helping people and being a hero, or changing the world or at least SEEING the whole world.  You can do ANYTHING you set your mind to.  I can't do that anymore.  I'm all wrecked up.

The twenties is when you set up your life to be great....or not.  But take my advice, from someone who has been there, choose to set up your life to be great.  Stop whining, finish your tests, eat like you're supposed to, exercise to stay healthy, and keep your options open for what lies ahead.  Believe it or not, time passes very quickly when you get to be my age, and if you don't set goals and achieve as many as you can now, you just might wind up wondering, "Why did I waste that chance?" or "How come I picked that dumb major?"  Now is your time to get it right.  So, grab hold of that gold ring and go for it.  Do it for me.  Do it for us who cannot go back in time and change everything.  Do it for yourself.  

I really hope this little talk has helped you, and sorry I've gone on and on, but that's part of MY mental situation.  I used to be a writer, but can't organize thoughts no more, so I just let 'er rip and hope for the best.  Actually, that should be YOUR motto, like anyone who is not feeling too sharp, and that's, "Just let 'er rip and hope for the best."
GG