Hi, I would really appreciate it if anyone can relate to these symptoms. Apologies for the long post!
Since 2009 I’ve been living with chronic stress – my ex had violence and gambling issues and has only just recently sought help.
Prior to this I completed a degree with a professional qualification, travelled, learned to fly, and had my writing and photography published. I then began another degree in 2009 just before the first of my ex’s many catastrophes.
Every semester I found I could cope less and less with my studies. I’m a mature age student and thought perhaps I was slowing down. I lost my confidence, my vocabulary declined, I couldn’t access words. Every semester I dropped another subject and so it ended up this semester that I could only do one and even that was such a struggle. Any assessment was overwhelming, even a 200 word comment. I had to get extensions. I began studying for the final exam and was having trouble getting the info in but thought I could manage, then a couple of days before(about a week ago) I just cracked, I couldn’t access anything in my memory, couldn’t think straight, it was as if I had a brain full of dough. I went to the doctor who gave me a couple of questionnaires and apparently I have extreme depression, extreme anxiety, extreme stress. She said it well, that my brain was just ‘full’.
I’ve done a really heavy full-time degree before, I’ve sat many exams, including those for my pilot’s licence. I work well under pressure. This isn’t about being nervous about the exam or anxiety getting the better of me. I just can’t cope mentally, my brain doesn’t work and I’m worried the stress has damaged it. My health has also declined but I’m more worried about my brain function. Can anyone tell me if slow thinking/difficulty processing things, loss of vocabulary, difficulty finding words, difficulty thinking to the end of a sentence and just overall not being able to cope with study is a symptom of depression or anxiety? I’m now on 20mg fluoxetine daily (5th day) which I agreed to take out of desperation and would really like to know if anyone else had any of this and managed to return to their normal afterwards? Thanks for taking the time to read this