Anxiety and Depression: Which one do I have?

[Stardust2020]

Read the article.

I wonder if you can be bipolar without the “highs” they describe?

I go through periods of depression, mostly around my time of the month. Two weeks I’m ok with life, two weeks I’m down. I don’t ever experience racing thoughts or periods of high productivity. I’m never high on life and extremely happy. I’m either just ok or blue.

What do you think?

I think labels can be useful sometimes. As far as I know, you don’t meet the ‘DSM’ criteria for bipolar. I wonder why you ask about it since you don’t experience symptoms like racing thoughts, etc. You describe periods of depression, along with periods of feeling okay. To me that doesn’t describe bipolar.
Best of luck to you. I hope today is an okay day.

 

[Stardust2020]

I think labels can be useful sometimes. As far as I know, you don’t meet the ‘DSM’ criteria for bipolar. I wonder why you ask about it since you don’t experience symptoms like racing thoughts, etc. You describe periods of depression, along with periods of feeling okay. To me that doesn’t describe bipolar.
Best of luck to you. I hope today is an okay day.

PS. As far as I know, ‘high’ periods are part of bipolar disorder.

 

[Unloveable2Day]

Hi Stardust, I asked because the article that is linked in the original post here has a paragraph about bipolar disorder in it after anxiety and depression is discussed. I was curious if it is something I may deal with because of the vast contrast I have in my mood. Some days I feel good, where other days I don’t want to get out of bed and face life. Thanks for your opinion on the matter.

 

[Stardust2020]

Hi Stardust, I asked because the article that is linked in the original post here has a paragraph about bipolar disorder in it after anxiety and depression is discussed. I was curious if it is something I may deal with because of the vast contrast I have in my mood. Some days I feel good, where other days I don’t want to get out of bed and face life. Thanks for your opinion on the matter.

Hi Unloveable2day,
I feel like my reply didn’t get what you’re going through. I’m sorry that sometimes you don’t want to get out of bed and face life. Whether this is depression or something else, I hope you can get some help and relief.
I have depression and find dealing with life difficult and overwhelming at times. It’s very hard.
I wish you the best.

 

[Tcheby]

It seems like bipolar is a relative thing. Is it the mood swings that define it? Or is it the level of the moods that define it? You may go from depressed to not depressed and back, or you may go from depressed to manic and back. But not depressed for one person may seem like manic for another. Or, just like depression, manic can happen at a low level or high level. It also seems like a manic phase is not as easy to detect while it's happening but very easy to know after coming out of it, whereas depression just seems like it's always very noticeable. A lot of times for me, I will only recognize that I was in a manic phase after a few days or sometimes even weeks after it happens. But while it's happening, I just think I'm not depressed. Another thing to be wary of - guilty feelings also play a big part in this. You get depressed and you feel guilty because you know others have to deal with your depression. And then the guilt feelings make you depressed, which makes you feel guilty, and on and on. They feed on each other. Also, I think you can feel anxiety when you are depressed (or not) and it doesn't seems like it follows the same pattern as depression and/or mania, so the anxiety may be a different problem on its own. In any case, I hope you're doing OK - holidays are not so great when you have these kinds of problems. I think that's because the daily routine you're used to during non-holiday periods and often cling to because it makes your day predictable - that daily routine gets all screwed up and leaves you in a place that's not predictable. Kind of like the fear of the unknown. It hits me pretty hard like that. I find that just stopping what I'm doing, taking a few deep breaths, and telling myself that everything will be OK helps quite a bit. So hang in there and find a safe spot in your life, and always know that there are lots of people out there that will listen and try help you (like on these forums). We're all kinda in this same thing together.

 

[Kmitra]

I suffered from anxiety disorder for years and it eventually resulted in depression...

 

[RockinRoddy]

Don't take zoloft. It is a struggle to get off it

 

[Jak]

I only recently came out of a 4 year stint of severe depression with anxiety I feel I was in the darkest place my soul has ever ever been to,finally went to docs for help and am now substantially improved,my message to others has to be don’t be foolish like I was , trying to sort this dreadful affliction on my own ,go see a gp as soon as those dark feelings raise themselves it’s important before things escalate and you become truly lost

 

[Moogers]

I think labels can be useful sometimes. As far as I know, you don’t meet the ‘DSM’ criteria for bipolar. I wonder why you ask about it since you don’t experience symptoms like racing thoughts, etc. You describe periods of depression, along with periods of feeling okay. To me that doesn’t describe bipolar.
Best of luck to you. I hope today is an okay day.

I think it’s hormonal. See your pcp for a hormone therapy or a mild antidepressant...

 

[maxwell048]

hey,
As a young woman I would say I had extreme anxiety (both bad and good) Wait...ah well.Boy was my head in the sand! As the years dragged on, the anxiety turned all bad and ugly to include depression. For the most part, now I would say I'm mostly depressed.
Expressive Therapy For Depression

 

[Kmitra]

Antidepressants (e.g. SSRIs), which were designed to treat depression, are also effective for many anxiety disorders. They affect our brain chemistry by slowing re-absorption of the neurotransmitter serotonin, a chemical that we think helps to regulate mood and anxiety.

 

[Uptight1]

Thank you for this share. I never thought my chronic pain was brought on by my depression. That is something that has never been brought up. Not by any of the many doctors I have seen. Which is very alarming to say the least.

 

[stevie_sloth]

30 years of relentless anxiety from 4 years of age, cPTSD from the same age, and BPD since age 16 finally led to severe depression. Now I'm 42 and yeah...both. It's really just surviving, not living.

 

[derickbronson]

Choose our one of the best massage therapists in Calgary for mood enhancements as it helps you feel more in control of your body and mind. Soak in calm by decreasing anxiety and naturally relaxing the body’s fight-or-flight reaction.

 

[Doodles5880]

ok, I read the article... it's very interesting. but I'm not sure if i got the point of it.
My psychiatrist always told me that depression and anxiety they usually happen together, one comes after the other. It seems that anxiety may come first and then depression as a consequence from the frustration, that happens when the anxiety disorder became something quite serious.

One thing I don't know if I agree or understood about that...
I get anxious not only because I'm uncertain of the future but mostly because I already know what will happen - I will fail (it says there this is what happens only with depression). This is the fear of failure, repetition, an eternal cycle. Anxiety disorders are mostly triggered by traumatic past experiencies it gets registered in our mind, whether we're fully aware or not.
And we repeat and reproduce them, being sure that is what will happen.

I still think that the line that divides depression and anxiety is a bit blurry. They are kind of...different things, but they act together.

Anyway, i'm not a doctor and probably I'm saying the most absurd thing around here. But this is the conclusion I take from what I experience by myself and other people I know with the same 2 issues.

You aren’t the only one feeling this way! It IS a blurry line. I don’t respond well to SSRI’s and have had the genetic testing done. Clonazepam helped me at first with anxiety, then stopped working. Tried to go cold tilurjey and had a seizure. Had to go back on and am doing a slow taper. I had goof results with a now retired doctor who had me on Librium and it was easy to quit. Can’t find a doctor to do that protocol now. I hope you find something that helps and don’t feel bad about ANY medication that helps! Some of our problems can’t be solved with just “meditation”, etc.