Hi,
Is it possible for the symptoms of mav to be mainly depression and anxiety?
I have some other symtpoms of mav with this attack, like sore kneck, fuzzy thinking, hearing changes, a bit of floatiness, but not as much as l normally have. The anxiety attacks and terrible moods are what is killing me. How do l know if it is symptom of mav or if l am depressed? Or doesn,t it matter where it comes from, should l just treat this anixety some how? What makes it hard for me to take any meds, is that l don,t get this all the time, it comes in waves a few times per year, for a few weeks at a time, and l don,t like taking perm meds for it. My Psychiatrist seems to think l have panic attacks. But panic attacks don,t last as long as this. He doesn,t know anything about Mav so how can l trust his opion. He wants to put me on meds now. First he said l had depression, and the dizziness l had at the time was a typical symtom of mental illness, then he said l had panic attacks. I never thought floatiness or dizziness was depression.
There just seems to be a bit of a blur between what is mav or what is considered depression or other mental illness.
You know l do feel like l am going crazy at times. Scared of being alone.
Sue,
Migraine, depression and anxiety share similar pathways in the brain. So they can and very often do go hand in hand. The meds are quite similar as well. Since an antidepressant is good for all 3, it would probably be a good place to start. My friend had some strange things going on…panic attacks, throat pain, chest pain, stomach aches, dizziness etc…she went on Paxil for one year. Her symptoms disappeared after 3 months, and she had no problem getting off paxil and now she’s fine. The body can manifest symptoms in many ways when there is an underlying issue. If it’s low serotonin, from stress or illness, age or genetics…it can show up in crazy symptoms.
I’m sorry you are feeling lousy. I’ve been there…
Kelley
Hey Sue,
Rockysmom already gave some great advice,I just want to add that you are not alone with this.You have all the people on the board for support.I hope you feel better soon.
First of all, there is a strong link between migraine, depression and anxiety. It is believed that a similar mechanism causes both, likely a serotonin problem. Almost every MAV patient that I have met experiences anxiety and depression. For me personally, I have always had a huge problem with anxiety, and even depression. I had a major anxiety meltdown a few hours before my MAV started, so there is absolutely a link in my case. I just started nortriptyline, which I hope will help both my anxiety and dizziness. It seems to be working for the anxiety already because I wasnt pissed off today and hating life, being that its Valentines day. :lol:
In addition to what Kelley said - if you are seeing a pscyhiatrist and your symptoms fit depression (which in many repsects they do) then they will likely give you a psychiatric diagnosis, i.e. depression. If you present with the same symptoms to a neurologist they may give you a neurological diagnosis, i.e. migraine. As Kelley said, the pathways in the brain are the same, the symptoms can be the same and the treatments can be the same - anti depressants. I’m not sure of your history but if you have other symptoms which aren’t depression related (for example scintillating scotoma, motion sickness or known migraineurs in your family) then you could more definitively say your symptoms were caused by migraine.
At this point it’s probably worthwhile trying the ADs and seeing if they work for you.
I suffered migraines as a child, l used to get white tingly lights in the sides of my vision, followed by very bad head pain, and l was out of action for a few days. That was in my early twenties. Have been fine since. I am now 40 and my first migraine attack was at 38, just after l had some facial fillers in my face. (stupid me).
The neurologist sais the dizziness is migraine, but l should seek psychiatric help for my anxiety. He said l suffered from post traumatic stress, as l suffered alot finacially on 2008’ lost everything l had.
So l went to see a psychiatrist he doesn,t know anything about Mav, he sais l have panic attacks. He said depression and anxiety and panic cause dizziness and it normally comes in waves.
Would you guys say my anxiety and deep depression at times, is caused by my migraine.
I seeem to usually get a huge anxiety attack just before my dizziness starts. I also get all kinds of other symptoms, funny hearing, humming in head, restless legs, jerky movements whilst sleeping, confusion,forgettful, extremely tired, loss of appetite, anti social, tingling in left toes, sore kneck, sensitive hearing and vision, bright lights in my eyes when closed all this with only a slight headache before. Who was to think this could be all migraine related? But the worst apart from the dizziness which l don,t have now ( thank goodness)', is the depression and anxiety. Sometimes l just wonder if l can get through this. But l have to for my children.
Today l am so much better!!! Had heaps of fish oil and eaten heaps of salmon this week, so maybe that helped. Also drank heaps of san pelegreno mineral water, which has heaps of naturl magnesium.
Thanks for reading sue
Just hope it stays that way.
Sounds like you have both (anxiety and migraine) and they are feeding off each other. For many of us (self included) stress is a big trigger for migraine. And then of course when you’re locked in a chronic migraine phase you feel pretty anxious! Get your anxiety under control and I’m sure you’ll see a reduction in your migraine symptoms as well (although as has been said in this thread - they are inter-twined anyway).
So do think l should try meds? What about just having valium when needed? Even though l have some and never take it, as l think l am worried it will make things worse as the valium wears off.
CBT=Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Sometimes known nowadays as Cognitive-Behavioral-Emotional Therapy, but WTH. A fair bit of research has found equivalent outcomes for CBT and for psychiatric meds. The research has not covered every single population and condition, and certainly not every practitioner. Still, it’s more manualizable/standardizable than various other psych therapies, which makes it more testable.
Sue,
Being scared of meds seems to be a thread for most of us. I think the use of low dose valium would probably be helfpul. I take a low dose of Klonopin for over a year now and I never have needed to up it and it just takes the edge off. I take Cymbalta and promethazine as well.
An easy med to try for your would be Buspar. It is helpful for anxiety, doesn’t have any sexual side effects or weight gain. It eitgher works, or doesn’t. Easy on easy off. I would try that one if I were you. You can take it in conjuction with the low dose valium. Some docs are on board with valium, or other benzos, while others don’t like to prescribe them at all.
If you can, try to channel your fears of medicine into fear of losing these days of your life…that is what I did, and then I embraced taking a medicine as I was desperate to get my life back. So much so that I was willing to put up with side effects and then once things kicked in, the side effects were tolerable and my head feels way better now.
Kelley
Had heaps of fish oil and eaten heaps of salmon this week, so maybe that helped. Also drank heaps of san pelegreno mineral water, which has heaps of naturl magnesium.