Yes, I know this is not medical forum, nor I seek for diagnosis. That would be my regular MD’s job tomorrow, when I’m supposed to see her. But I might need an advice what exactly to tell her, since here you people tend to be my age (40-s) or even older, educated and have some real life experience.
Basic symptoms: complete loss of sleeping pattern, functional only couple hours a day, can’t enjoy basic things I used to month ago (biking, browsing, video games, TV etc), short time memory loss and mind pattern changes, tiredness, lifelessness, confusion, mood changes, nausea and lost of appetite.
Sounds like some kind of depression (but there was no real depressing event in last months) or other psychosomatic disease to me (never had some serious issues on that side either). But OTOH could be something else.
What else should be useful for medical personnel to know in that or similar case based on my observing? What will they do to me?
Problems with your “go” key, where you didn’t use to have them?
One of my brothers has a lot of mental inertia; as a child it was as difficult to get him inside the tub as to get him out of it. Now he does his own getting but still, changing activities is something he always has problems with. So, for him that wouldn’t be a symptom. But if you don’t only not enjoy cooking (to pick one necessary activity many people enjoy) but actually have to convince yourself to go and do it where previously you would think “I need to cook” and go do it, that’s an additional symptom.
It could be depression, I get nausea with the anxiety party of my depression. But ask for a workup to rule out the obvious physical things. What are your thought patterns like? When I’m in a depressive cycle (and I’m there now, though this time has been a ton of anxiety) a lot of my thought patterns have to do with how much things or I suck - or are going to suck (thus the anxiety). And its HARD to kick out of the thought patterns.
My experience with depression is that what you probably want at this point is two things - a low grade sleep aid (just not sleeping well can cause a lot of your issues) - I take Trazadone which is really an old school antidepressant, but its used as sleep medication, and an antidepressant. I’d look to start these now because the antidepressant takes some time to kick in and you may need to experiment if it is depression. Then continue to press on the physical stuff (particularly if you are female - women tend to get diagnosed with depression and left there - when the depression is a symptom or result of something else - menopause, pain…lupus :).
Depression can be physiological and not situational. There doesn’t have to be something “wrong” in your life. It can be a physical problem. My doctor prescribed an antidepressant to get my brain chemistry back to normal. For me, it was a temporary need. For others it is lifelong. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It is no different than treating any other physical problem with medication. If you need it, you need it.
While depression can have an onset this sudden, I strongly suspect other causes when it happens like this. Especially if you aren’t particularly down on yourself, and there’s no apparent triggering incident.
So, yeah. Get to the doctor, and get a lot of tests run. A whole lot of disorders have depression-like symptoms. Primary depression is really one of those exclusionary diagnoses. You try to rule out physical causes first.
I have one friend who had a B12 deficiency. Another who was (otherwise) anemic. My dad has narcolepsy and sleep apnea. Another can’t metabolize folic acid. One person had mono.
3 old-timers in the retirement home:
1st: I wake up every morning and I try to pee. One hour, when my prostate gives up …
2nd: I wake up every morning and I try to shit. One hour, when my colon gives up …
3rd: No problem, in the morning I shit and piss without problem, then I wake up …
OK got real. I got it all on the list and send it to my MD vie email. Appointment at 11h local tomorrow time.
But … It is just general private MD I see yearly … Cool, but I hate doctors and she is trigger (pill) happy. In this country that it is for the the Money. Pills included (cheapest generic) for about 50$ per month. (not Canada)
I’ll got aspirin or so …
For real. I tried some 0,25 mg Helex (Xanax generic) which I got it for social anxiety years ago (was from that same pill trigger happy MD lady), but that worked. Tried to self medicate with it. Does not work now. One pill takes me up (maybe), two depresses me again.
I had a doctor tell my mom “I am a doctor who practices Western medicine. Drugs are what I have to offer you.” If you are resistant to taking meds, or are not using them as prescribed, I’m not sure what it is you want the doctor to do for you?
Back from MD. Still alive. Barely. Thanks to your recommendations, I listed half a page of symptoms and sent it to her email last evening.
Today she just looked at me under her glasses and sighted “Really? More than a month?”
As expected she sent me to “specialist” and in meantime prescribed me her usual dose of antidepressant horse pills (Cipralex - escitalopram, mildest, she claims).
I see and believe some here have some similar experience, so, just tell me what to expect while recovering, since I had never been seriously depressed before.
You didn’t way what kind of specialist, but I’m surprised your doc didn’t order a thyroid function test. Thyroid disease can cause a host of symptoms that seem unrelated but actually aren’t–and depression is one of the big ones. (You can google it for a complete list.)
IANAD, but I do have thyroid disease, and I urge you to ask to get tested if you haven’t already been.
Not a zombie thread, but more like upkeep (U can see me in other threads in past weeks). Lexapro works. But… But …
4 months in lexapro. Spikes. Spikes. Wrrr. Going down from lexapro. Not my type of medicine. It is hard drug more likely … Never have been on hard drugs before … And going worse …