Hallucinations, head aches, and bouts of depression?!
Question: Hallucinations, head aches, and bouts of depression?
- Have a long history of "crazy" in the family (especially depression problems)
- Also have a history of stomach problems, always having stomach aches, indigestion several times a day, can't pass bowel movements more than once a week (Possibly unrelated to this?)
- I don't take any drugs, or drink. Never have. Don't have an interest to. I take one medication, it's a higher dose prescription form of Zantac taken every day to prevent my indigestion attacks.
- I like to eat healthy, get all my food groups in every meal, eat 3 meals a day with a snack between lunch and dinner.
- I aim to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night (and succeed about 80% of nights) and never get more than 10 hours. I'm an early to bed and early to rise type of person.
Now onto my current problem.
Ever since I was little I've had sudden bouts of severe depression. One minute I'm fine, the next I feel so hollow and empty, have no care for life. I've had the problem for as long as I can remember. I used to call it "homesickness" but I know now that it's actually depression. The attacks last only 1 - 2 minutes though sometimes can go as long as 10 minutes.
Possibly unrelated, but I get head aches every so often (usually once every two weeks to every two months). Sensitive to light (especially computer/iPhone screens, the LCD/LED stuff). Concentrated behind my eyes, lots and lots of pressure, feels like my head is gonna pop like a balloon. Plus I will every so often get blindsided by a very sharp pain behind my right eye. I'll be floored by it for about ten seconds and then it will slowly fade away and disappear as if nothing ever happened.
Now recently I've started to get hallucinations at night. I've been used to sleeping in the dark with silence in the winter, and the sounds of the night outside my window in the warm seasons. However now, when I sleep in the dark, I wake up and see things that are usually quite terrifying. I see black figures that just stare at me, big black bugs covering my walls, dolls hanging from my ceiling fan and then floating up into the ceiling. I know I'm awake during these episodes and I often become frozen with terror. It's like I can't comprehend that these things are not real until they're gone and I realize it couldn't have been real. To fix it I've been sleeping with the TV on (usually a very non-scary channel like HGTV).
So my question is: Does anyone know what this could be and how to make the hallucinations stop without having the TV on? I think it overloads my senses during the night and I wake up tired. Plus I'm going to visit my boyfriend in New Zealand this summer and leaving the TV on won't be an option.
Additional Information:
- No traumatic experiences or head injuries I can remember as a child. Had a fairly standard, good childhood.
- Had insomnia throughout elementary school. But it faded out in Junior High and haven't had problems since. Just waking up through the night with hallucinations.
- I have asthma if that's any help as well.
- My family thinks I might be a little hypochondriac because I don't like to talk about my problems. I usually suffer through stuff. I'm often told everything I experience is normal.
Answers:
Sounds like you have an anxiety disorder to me. It's not schizophrenia, almost for sure. Visual hallucinations are usually from stress. people with schizophrenia almost always have auditory hallucinations, and they think they are real, so they would not be posting a question here on yahoo answers.
Anxiety will cause stomach problems. It is normal to not "go to the bathroom" every day, especially if you are temporarily anxious, or leave home, etc. americans are obsessed with going to the bathroom every day.
My husband does not have a mood disorder (I have bipolar and a trauma background) and he thinks it is normal to have despair come on for a short time, then go away, and does not think that is a sign of a mental disorder. your headache is probably "sudden stabbing headache" which is just a very short lived headache that the cause is unknown, but doesn't signal anything serious. i get them about every other month, and the pain even runs down my arms and oh, does it HURT.
try getting anxiety treatment. One option that my home mental health worker likes is the Lucinda Bassett program, which you can get that used on ebay, but I understand that you need to be sure the seller includes the workbooks. another option is free computerized counseling at Moodgym, a program by australia nat'l university, but that program is not targeted towards anxiety. there is the anxiety and phobia workbook, by edmund bourne, and other self help books at the library.
i don't recommend meds - benzos are addictve and cause memory problems and antidepressants turn out they are nowhere near as effective as people think they are - they appear to work no better than placebo (google kirsch antidepressants for an intro to this topic, also ioannidis antidepressants for more. they both have sterling reputations)
Ps your short bouts are SADNESS, not depression. Depression is a long term mood, not a short lived feeling. There is a difference between moods and emotions, what you are having problems with are short lived emotions. It is incorrect to call it depression but in the language, depression means sadness, and it also means a long term mood disorder.
I agree possible schizophrenia. Or Bipolar disorder (which is what I have) Or perhaps even schizoaffective disorder which is a combination of bipolar and schizophrenia.
I think a lot of people who are introspective are a little hypochondriac. I recommend going to a doctor. Best of luck.
You could be Schizophrenic.