Depression and a Panic Disorder

[cgents813]

Hello, everyone. I'm new to this online support group. I guess I will share a bit about my condition. I suffer with depression and a panic disorder. My therapist says that panic disorder stems from some trauma I had experienced in my childhood/adolescence. So, I am also suffering from some post-traumatic stress. I have suffered with anxiety for as long as I can remember; so about twelve years or so. The depression came after as a component to my anxiety. I am someone who isolates and pushes away. Abrupt, loud noises are huge triggers to onset panic within me. I am someone who shakes and experiences shortness of breath with panic attacks. I also become very itchy and fidgety. Places with a lot of people and a lot of noise that I cannot control/be prepared for are very difficult for me to function normally in. So, needless to say, I am not much of a "partier". It has gotten really difficult for me to go out with friends and my boyfriend. So, any advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[lmmedina]

Hello cgents813,

Thank you for sharing your situation. I am also new to this online support group and can empathize with you on your history of anxiety. I am also sensitive to abrupt, loud noises, and crowds are generally very difficult for me to cope with as well, especially when I am suffering from an anxiety-attack.

I wish you the absolute best with your recovery. A good book that I came across recently is "The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, 6th Edition" by Edmund J. Bourne, PhD. You might find this book to be of some help to you, although communicating your thoughts and feelings in a group setting is enormously helpful as well.

[Ddorne]

Sorry to hear of your anxiety. I too suffer from OCD anxiety. I guess it's the same but I feel the need to do rituals to calm myself down, which helps for a minute, but if it's really high I just take a Med. How is therapy going ? So you are being treated for ptsd?

What helps you? I tend to just want to be alone when I'm so anxious. I don't mind crowds but

I don't feel very social when I am anxious. Are you taking any meds? I take Prozac and klonapin

And Nortripyline as an added Med . I've only been on it a few months so I don't know how well it's working. Good luck to you in your therapy. Let me know how you get relief.

[Dogs123]

These are painful things to go through. You are not alone. Talk to your psychiatrist. Blessings

[BonnieSue]

I have depression, GAD and a little OCD. But I'm treated so I barely know any misery from them. I used to have PTSD and jerk and jump at every little noise but the good news is that with time, I gradually recovered and now am almost always okay. I still like quiet and not large amounts of noise but that's not so unusual. So you can recover quite a bit but it takes time.