How do I know if I have anxiety disorder?

Doctors keep telling me I have an anxiety disorder. I was just wondering how do I know these symptoms dont come from something else being wrong with me? Is it normal to have anxiety at hours at a time or all day. And by anxiety I mean fast heart beat when I get too agitated. Dizziness and headaches. 3 doctor's have told me it's anxiety. I just would like someones opinion on this.

I don't really know

but I think if 3 different doctors told you that, they're probably right...maybe?

Ask yourself this: Can 3 doctors really be wrong??

 Get some help to control this anxiety. If you do this and the "anxiety" decrease, then you've confirmed the doctors' diagnoses and you are ok again...

Good luck!

The first doctor told me this just by listening to my symptoms no test or additional questions asked. When I switched doctors I found out my first doctor had me on thyroid medication that I didnt need, I was told this could have caused some of the anxiety but I should feel fine a while after I stopped taking it. I didnt feel better I am wondering if being on this medication that I didnt need for almost a year messed me up somehow. So the "anxiety" thing kind of dragged along with me to my next doctor. His response to my symptoms was now also "you have anxiety disorder" My mind feels calm and at ease and I have no family or financial problems, it feels like the only thing worrying me is the way I feel physically! I dont feel right! When I tell the doctors what i just mentioned their response is "well anxiety can present itself in many ways!" 

You might consider seeing a health care provider who specializes in anxiety ... perhaps a psychiatrist?  There are a number of prescription medications out there to help treat anxiety that a psychiatrist could discuss with you.... and see if you really need them, or not.

You might also try Googling Symptoms and General Anxiety Disorder.

=^..^= MOLLY

 

I have pretty bad anxiety, and if you have it, you just know.

Are you worried all the time, or a lot of the time, about pretty much everything, and maybe a few specific things more than others? Anxiety is a feeling, not just the physical symptoms.

Physically, you sound a lot like myself. Do you get ulcers and so forth as well? Or a chronic unsettled feeling in your stomach?

I would say go to a counselor and see what she says.

Go see a therapist, preferably one with experience with anxiety or panic disorders. But speaking as someone who grew up with anxiety and panic attacks, your symptoms sound about right. A lot of my symptoms were physical; racing heart, tightness in your chest, unsettled stomach whenever I was even the least bit apprehensive about something.

I have an anxiety disorder and as someone already mentioned, if you have it you kind of just know (plus 3 doctors are unlikely to be wrong).

I've learnt to manage mine quite well so only have bad panic attacks due to my anxiety about once a year (but it got up to once a day) but when it was really bad I was nervous about everything and sometimes it was hard for me to leave the house for fear that something would trigger a panic attack. I would carry a brown paper bag with me everywhere (to breath into if I started hyperventilating) and if I forgot to take it somewhere that itself was enough to trigger a panic attack. I also felt sick the the stomach alot and sometimes I went weeks at a time where I couldn't eat anything without bringing it back up due to nerves.

You will know if you have it, it can seriously interupt your life, but it IS beatable, so if you want to talk about it feel free to message me. I'm so glad that I have mine under control because it was impacting on my life so seriously that I was scared I would lose all my friends and become house-bound.

Too many people rely on popping pills to solve all their problems. You actually wrote to me and I responded about anxiety and medication but I forgot to add - that you could go to a psychiatrist for cognitive behavioral therapy. This is more helpful than just going to a therapist and talking about your problems. With cognitive behavioral therapy the psychiatrist will work with you to help reset the way you process thoughts and deal with anxiety. This is more effective than relying on medication - which can just lead to more problems in your life. ( I know, I've been on meds for 6 years. And am finally off them for good.)

I think it's ENTIRELY POSSIBLE that three doctors can be wrong.

You say one of them prescribed you the wrong medication, and another diagnosed you with what amounts to a personality disorder - if it's Generalised Anxiety Disorder he thought you had - without administering a psychometric test...

Doctors are subject to the same principles of bias (and laziness!!!) as anyone else. (They've been pushed by drug companies - who often sponsor their 'continuing professional development' education - to think about mental illness in a certain way. Every day they see patients who want diagnoses and often ask for pills... ah man it's a terrible feedback loop.) It's hard to find a doctor with common sense, and sensitivity.

What you're talking about, I think, is called 'tachycardia' and while yes it can be caused by anxiety, other things can cause it (including side effects from meds, undiagnosed congenital defects, the nicotine patch, LOTS of things)... because you're young (I think?) docs aren't going to assume that's what's going on but anything can happen. (My brother had bradycardia, so i read a bit around this sort of thing...)

Find another doctor who is willing to take this seriously. Ask everyone who know for a referral.

In the meantime, just in case anxiety is playing a role, CBT is a good therapeutic option - you don't need to see a psychiatrist though, good social workers can even help with that, also there are a few decent self-help books - as is mindfulness meditation, or meditation of any kind. yoga, tai chi, etc will help too as far as calming things down, if it is anxiety and not something more insidious, though it might be helpful in that case as well.

But I definately think you ought to investigate further!!!

Thank you everyone for your advice. I have an appointment set up to see a therapist on Monday! I will also keep monitoring my symptoms and having my regular check ups to make sure I am ok. Thank you again everyone!!

I have been diagnosed with GAD, general anxiety disorder, it was a relief for me to finally be diagnosed and what a difference once I started taking the medication.  The symptoms for me were the "flight" or "fight" feelings, after trying to deal with these feelings by myself or through "talking wih friends" I wasn't getting any relief and these feelings started to interfere with my daily activities, that is when I really pursued these feelings and found a doctor who would listen to me. 

I'm glad you are going to see someone, that is excellent! It's always best to go see someone who specializes in psychiatric disorders if there is the possibility that you have one. That way if they don't think you do, you can go to a medical doctor armed with the information that you have been evaluated already and it may be a medical issue.

I am a PhD student in clinical psychology and I felt like I needed to address some of the inaccurate information in this thread. First of all, a psychiatrist is MUCH more likely to prescribe medication to treat a psychiatric disorder. In many states, psychologists, counselors, or therapists do not have prescription privileges. The appropriate person to see for a therapy instead of medication would be a psychologist or therapist, not a psychiatrist. The terms are not interchangeable.

Secondly, saying someone may have an anxiety disorder is in no way related to a personality disorder. The difference being that those with anxiety disorders are mainly having issues due to how they react to situational triggers that can be relearned and controlled. People with personality disorders usually don't even realize they have a disorder 1) because it's a part of who they are and 2) because they generally think their problems are the result of other people. They generally do not respond well to any kind of treatment.

 That being said, people with anxiety disorders tend not to realize that there are psychological triggers that are causing their anxiety and/or panic disorders. That could be at play here. But also don't rule out that the doctors you've seen could be wrong and just piggybacking on what the other ones have said or are being influenced by drug companies like an above poster said. Just gather all of the info that you can--your main goal is to reduce these symptoms, so the more information you have from the specialists the better.

kilkusj - about GAD, i said it *amounts to* a personality disorder (ie avoidant) in terms of the efficacy of the best known treatments for sufferers, and remission rates in successful treatment. it's also highly correlated with avoidant traits. the line between axis 1 + 2 disorders, in the case of GAD, is very blurred. which is not the case for panic disorder and many other anxiety related clinical disorders. 

with reference to CBT and other talk therapies - these are NOT restricted to psychiatrists, and i was talking about CBT specifically. 

 

I have an anxiety disorder if you ever want to talk to someone.

I have panic disorder with agoraphobia. There are different types of anxiety disorders. I had my first panic attack 9 years ago and it was so bad I blacked out, since then I have basically had various troubles leading a normal life.

If you do have an anxiety disorder, it helps to have a professional guide you into realizing it's a real thing. Thus you don't have to just hate yourself thinking 'what is wrong with me?' That has been my experience. 

I have panic disorder and I hate it.  And believe me if you have panic disorder you will most definitely know you have it.  You seriously feel like your going to die.  Alot of my symptoms were similar to a heart attack but it wasn't.  It just feels that way.  I was in the ER and had a panic attack and did an EKG on me during it and other than a racing heartbeat my heart was fine.  With panic attacks your heart races, you start sweating, confusion, dizziness, heart feels like it's pounding in your chest, disoriented and you just feel mentally and physically that you are going to die.  I'm on three meds for this and they control it pretty well.  I still have some anxiety, they call it anticipatory anxiety because you are always scared of having another panic attack.

i also have an anxiety panic disorder,  the first panic attacks i can remember i am most likely 10 years old.  I was put on med this week actually,  i dont feel better yet, but i am really helping this is going to improve things.  i have such a fear f having a another panic attack or one in public, oh god forbid, that i am really limiting myself and find i am not living my life how i want.
talk to your family "mental illness" seems to run in mine, 

Original Post by bobo1:

i also have an anxiety panic disorder,  the first panic attacks i can remember i am most likely 10 years old.  I was put on med this week actually,  i dont feel better yet, but i am really helping this is going to improve things.  i have such a fear f having a another panic attack or one in public, oh god forbid, that i am really limiting myself and find i am not living my life how i want.
talk to your family "mental illness" seems to run in mine, 

 

When the medicine starts to work you will think differently. I'm on 3, Buspar, clonazepam (klonopin) and Lexapro. You will get to the point where you will know you will be okay if you have one. I know it's scary, very scary but it gets better. And yeah my mother has anxiety and depression, my dad post traumatic syndrome and depression, one of sisters has anxiety and depression and one of my grandparents had (dead now) anxiety problems. It's most definetly inherited.

I have an anxiety disorder and it got to the point where I was agoraphobic before I knew what was going on... it took a lot of stubbon effort on my part to learn to override the panic and get on with my life, and seven years later you'd never even know it was there. Unless I'm really REALLY pushed about something, it's not a problem any more.

My anxiety was the worst before I KNEW it was 'just anxiety'... fear feeds off fear 'Am I dying' 'there's got to be something seriously wrong' 'it's my heart, it's my lungs etc.' 'I'm going to die and nobody can help me'... etc etc. Once I accepted the fact that I was suffering from anxiety, I was able to start to tackle it. I was not willing to use medications, so I used a cognitive approach. One of the most important things for me was learning all about anxiety so that I could tell myself 'it's just anxiety, it's not going to hurt you, there's nothing really wrong'...  

But before you let somebody tell you it's all in your head, make them do a THOROUGH physical and check everything that it might possibly be... then either you'll know that there's nothing physical contributing to your anxiety (reassurance that you're healthy), or else they can help you to deal with it. They shouldn't have stuck a label on you without taking the time to investigate properly.  On the other hand, if the physical comes up negative, you have to accept it and use that as a tool to help you too... Good luck!