Brain Fog, Racing brain, Pressure tension in head

[Panic33]

My main health worry is there is something wrong with my brain.
I can feel find for a few hours in a day (clear head) then I'm suddenly hit by my mind racing away, with this I then cant think clearly at all (brain-fog?) and get pressyre in my head. When this happends I then start to think there is defo something wrong with my brain and this then is a horrid cycle for most of the day.
I was put on ADs nearly four weeks ago - not really helping much( i do get the hour or 2 break but do think the brain fog is worse since on them)
Can all the above be put down to anxiety?
The bit I can't get my head around is why it kicks in when I'm not thinking bad things.
{i've had full bloods tested and eye exam - all fine}

[KK77]

Hi Panic
Sorry you're not feeling much better. I've been on sertraline over a month now and it's slowly helping. It takes time and some people find that they need higher dose, so it may help to go up to 100mg.
Brain fog is a nasty, debilitating symptom of depression/anxiety/panic etc. My doctor said it gets better once the underlying condition improves...
I also went through the HA stage and think it's related strongly with OCD. Sertraline also treats OCD so l think given time you'll start to feel better. Maybe you should talk to your doc again about upping dose? My doc asked me if I wanted to increase to 100mg last week but I said No bec I feel I'm improving at 50mg.....

[debs180]

Hi Panic33,
What you have described is exactly how i was when everything started happening to me about a year ago now. I was literally in a world of my own, the brain fog was awful. It took me a fair few months to believe that it was depression and anxiety before it started to clear. I still get this now and again, but it doesnt last as long, a few days. Im sure as it did for me it will get better for you. But i can totally relate to how you are feeling at the moment. I also had all the head pressure at the start to which i hated and was very afraid of, especially when i started to get floaters all the time, this then was followed by a constant unbalanced feeling, i had a eye test done at my local hospital where i had some drops put it to make my pupils enlarge so they could look right back behind my eyes, all was fine and told the floaters were normal and occiated with anxiety.
So yes anxiety can definatley cause all the symptoms and oh so many more!!!
Just wanted to let you know your not alone with any of this.
Take care, hope you start to feel better soon,
Debs xx

[Panic33]

Thank you for replying - I just needed some reasurrance it was anxiety. Driving me daft the consant battle I have with myself sometimes thinking its just the anxiety sometimes fearing the worst.

[Panic33]

This has calmed down abit the last two days. I now just get tingling across my forehead from time to time and this dull ach in my mind like theres something wrong. I'm now half half in time where I think im Ok and I think theres something wrong - Im hoping this is cause the ADs are atrting to work and things will get better.

[MoonlightFire]

Hi Panic33,
I also had all the head pressure at the start to which i hated and was very afraid of, especially when i started to get floaters all the time, this then was followed by a constant unbalanced feeling, i had a eye test done at my local hospital where i had some drops put it to make my pupils enlarge so they could look right back behind my eyes, all was fine and told the floaters were normal and occiated with anxiety.

I just read that and thought I'd written it myself! The EXACT same thing happened to me a month or so ago. I've been suffering from some nasty bouts of depression and anxiety on and off for the past 6 months or so and with it I have experienced feeling very unbalanced, dizzy, brain fog, tingling and pins n needles, headahces and vision problems. About a month ago I was sent to the eye hospital because of floaters and bright spots in my field of vision. They gave me the same examination that you talked about - they put the pupil dilation drops in and had a really thorough look round my retinas. The verdict was that my retinas look very healthy and I have excellent vision!!! I couldn't bvelieve it! I still have floaters but they have definitely improved a little recently and the unbalanced feeling has gone...phew! I was on 50mgs sertraline and was increased to 100mgs because of the depression and the unbalanced/dizzy feelings.

[Panic33]

Hi MLF, did the increase of sertaline help? I'm on 50mg at the mo have been over 4weeks.

[Panic33]

I've just been up'd to 100mg as well moonlightfire - did the increase help you?

[MoonlightFire]

Hi Panic. Yes, the 100mgs helped a lot of the symptoms. The dizziness is MUCH better and so is the anxiety, also I'm sleeping better. I still have lots of floaters though and a bit of brain fog. It took about 4-5 weeks for the extra dose to start taking effect.

[Panic33]

Thanks for the reply Moonlight, I start 100mg last friday, but the last three days I've felt alot better - still getting spells of anxiety but for short periods and nothing like what I was doing. Side effects seem to have died down, but get headaches from time to time and tiredness n dry mouth - but I can live with them.