Long term sufferers

[Just A Person]

For those of you who have been suffering from anxiety for years, I have a question for you. How often does a big episode strike?

Let's call a big episode one that lasts a month or more.

And we'll also define it as severe relative to your every day problems with anxiety.

In other words, for a month or more you are consumed with whatever worry you have.

Thanks

[snowghost57]

I'm thankful I haven't had an episode of anxiety that lasts a month. I have had several stressful events in the last several months that accumulated, but I've worked through them.

[GlassPinata]

For those of you who have been suffering from anxiety for years, I have a question for you. How often does a big episode strike?

Let's call a big episode one that lasts a month or more.

And we'll also define it as severe relative to your every day problems with anxiety.

In other words, for a month or more you are consumed with whatever worry you have.

Thanks

Couple of times a year, on average.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Initial breakdown, recovery and then a relapse. All over the course of about 4-5 years.

I'm a typical GAD sufferer though, my anxiety doesn't come & go as much as it's just either bad or in the background.

The initial breakdown kept me off work for a year. I would say the first 4-5 months were the really bad ones and the anxiety was daily.

The relapse was much worse, for different reasons. The first 15 months were utter hell. The anxiety dipped maybe a week a month to still being tough but the rest of the month for the first year was mostly me just hanging on gritting my teeth with not much improvement.

I'm still working on it now several years later but my blips are nowhere near those days. I get a cyclic blip about every 10 days lasting 3-4 days usually. This is more about my med though and this has reduced from that 3 weeks utter hell vs 1 week struggling but not as bad.

[braindead]

i was born BIPOLAR so was my dad DAD. i am 69 going on 24 . because when in depression i stay in the time it starts, i can last a year maybe more . so i loose years of my life when i get a remission i am back in the time i left . Hard to believe but its true . i have been in depression now for a year and have had six med changes . none worked . I have added pregabalin at 150MG no side effects up tp yet but its only 6 days in 2 weeks will go 300mg. You can win the battles but never the WAR :nonono::nonono::nonono:

[Bigboyuk]

i was born BIPOLAR so was my dad DAD. i am 69 going on 24 . because when in depression i stay in the time it starts, i can last a year maybe more . so i loose years of my life when i get a remission i am back in the time i left . Hard to believe but its true . i have been in depression now for a year and have had six med changes . none worked . I have added pregabalin at 150MG no side effects up tp yet but its only 6 days in 2 weeks will go 300mg. You can win the battles but never the WAR :nonono::nonono::nonono: Hi braindead I am sorry to hear this is it a genetic disorder then? I can relate to depression mate as I suffer from it to via completely different condition but still adds up to a terrible existence been like this for years,some days are better than others though. I used to be on meds but had enough of meds and looking at other ways of managing the condition :) And Yeah you do lose a lot of your life that you can never get back. Hope you find other ways to help your through this :) Cheers

[braindead]

Hi braindead I am sorry to hear this is it a genetic disorder then? I can relate to depression mate as I suffer from it to via completely different condition but still adds up to a terrible existence been like this for years,some days are better than others though. I used to be on meds but had enough of meds and looking at other ways of managing the condition :) And Yeah you do lose a lot of your life that you can never get back. Hope you find other ways to help your through this :) Cheers
and good look to you my friend:shades:

[Bigboyuk]

and good look to you my friend:shades: Thanks appreciated and same to you my friend :)

[Just A Person]

I started this post the other day just curious as to what others go through. Mine is a combination of OCD (always), GAD (always) and I think PTSD (rarely) from the really bad panic attacks that happen every now and then. Sometimes I go through times of depression but those are much less severe.

I have always worried about spiritual issues and health problems. A couple of years ago my wife was diagnosed with colon cancer. Less than a year later she died. Since then, I have suffered a lot more depression than in the past.

I am 45 years old and have been dealing with anxiety, in several forms, for most of my life. I can remember episodes when I was just 8 years old though at the time I had no idea what was going on.

Right now I am going through a rough patch of health anxiety.

[ChildOfTheKing]

Have been having an episode for 3 months now. I'm very new to this and it's very depressing. It stemmed from an initial "scare."

[up a ladder]

My issues started in around 1992 but for some reason I thought it was 1996. My first issues lasted around 3 months and I put it down to recreational drugs.
It really kicked off in 1996 and it was more or less solid for the next 5 years. I had some really bad times and some reasonable times. In 2001 my daughter was born and I seemed to be pretty good for a few years. Looking back on it I think I had around 5 or 6 relapses since 2001. These I believe were event driven (meetings and Buisness travel). The relapses were around 1-3 weeks at a time.
My latest relapse is terrible. It started on the 12th of January (my friends dads funeral) and since then I have been in a really bad place.

I now keep a diary because one of the worst effects of the depression is that I cant convince myself I ever felt good. My anxious brain just tells me I have always been this way and always will. Diary for me is essential.

Had an interesting conversation with my mum and she says she can see from her and my dads photos of me when I had my relapses.