Have you ever suffered from any of these problems?

I generally drink a cup of coffee when I am at work. When I'm home or at the weekends, I don't feel like drinking any.

 

Sirlanc, thank you for this poll. Results are similar to what researchers are finding. The study file is too large to upload, but the abstract is below. According to the study, people with Meniere’s Disease are almost 39 times more likely to have an anxiety disorder compared to those without vestibular disorder. For people with MAV, they are about 27 more times likely to have an anxiety disorder. The rates of depression are also higher when compared to those without a vestibular disorder, but not as elevated as anxiety.



J Neurol. 2008 Mar;255(3):420-8. Epub 2008 Mar 14.
Psychiatric comorbidity in different organic vertigo syndromes.
Eckhardt-Henn A, Best C, Bense S, Breuer P, Diener G, Tschan R, Dieterich M.
Source
Dept. of Psychosomatic Medicine, Klinikum Stuttgart - Bürgerhospital, Tunzhoferstrasse 14-16, 70191, Stuttgart, Germany. [email protected]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
A high degree of psychiatric disorders has repeatedly been described among patients with organic vertigo syndromes and attributed to vestibular dysfunction. Yet almost no investigations exist which differentiate between various organic vertigo syndromes with regard to psychiatric comorbidity. The following prospective, interdisciplinary study was carried out to explore whether patients with different organic vertigo syndromes exhibit different psychological comorbidities.
METHODS:
68 patients with organic vertigo syndromes (benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo (BPPV) n = 20, vestibular neuritis (VN) n = 18, Menière's disease (MD) n = 7, vestibular migraine (VM) n = 23) were compared with 30 healthy volunteers. All patients and control persons underwent structured neurological and neuro-otological testing. A structured diagnostic interview (-I) (SCID-I) and a battery of psychometric tests were used to evaluate comorbid psychiatric disorders.
RESULTS:
Patients with VM and MD showed significantly higher prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity (MD = 57%, VM = 65%) especially with anxiety and depressive disorders, than patients with VN (22%) and BPPV (15 %) compared to normal subjects (20 %). These elevated rates of comorbidities resulted in significantly elevated odds-ratios (OR) for the development of comorbid psychiatric disorders in general (for VM OR = 7.5, for MD OR = 5.3) and especially for anxiety disorders (for VM OR = 26.6, for MD OR = 38.7).
CONCLUSION:
As a consequence, a structured psychological and psychometric testing and an interdisciplinary therapy should be proceeded in cases with complex and prolonged vertigo courses, especially in patients with VM and MD. Possible reasons of these unexpected results in VM and MD are discussed.

 

I've suffered from depression and still have episodes of depression ... but no one has ever diagnosed me with clinical depression.

 

I also think I have experienced panic attacks before. IN some form at least. It happens usually when dealing with something related to math. I am not someone who thinks quick on her feet when being confronted by someone who wants a direct answer.

So, I have had times that I've been at a cash register, made a cash handling mistake and gotten so confused about it that my mind just locks up. I can't move forward, backward. I am stuck at this particular place in my head. Everything freezes and locks up.

At the same time, I got stuff racing through my head that I can't catch.

This also happens sometimes when being confronted and it feels like an interrogation.

 

After reading all the posts on this thread, would it be fair to say that our emotions obfuscate our thinking and cloud our judgement? if we could find a way to tame the emotional race-horse within, then our decisions, even with MM and MAV, would be much clearer and our experience of life perhaps more effortless?

Do we allow our fear of what might happen (even when we are not under siege) to get in the way of living our best life? Can we get to a place of strength where we transcend fear, in all its guises, and live the life we were meant to live?

 

No. That would be a fictional place where rivers flowed with non-migraine inducing chocolate and the clouds were made of candy floss. The fear response is hard-wired into our brains like it or not but it doesn't mean you can't still live the life you were meant to live. There's stacks of people who were scared out of their minds yet still went on to do great things. It's not either-or.

 

I agree with Paul. Which is very depressing because often I dream of chocolate rivulets.

Also, another two points to consider - if we didn't fear MM, MAV or any other illness/disease/threat, whether it be fearing its prediction or fearing while under its siege, would we actually attempt to cure or prevent it? What then motivates us to avoid or extinguish it completely?

If we limited emotion, would we be emotionally "happy" to overcome our symptoms? In what form would our reward then take?

Another interesting question would be, how do members separate a rational fear from an irrational fear? As its one thing to fear MM & act accordingly & rationally, & it's another to shut down completely under its weight.

Perhaps this answers your "how strong are you" thread. Maybe strength is the ability to carry on despite your fears.

 

I don't know. I think everyone's definition of strong is based on his/her personal experiences and how far he/she has come in his/her personal life.

I don't like using everyone as the subject because then I have to make sure I don't violate number agreement

 

Sounds like how strong a person is, is purely subjective. We only judge each other by our own standards anyway.