Melinda- I think you're exactly right! There are so many other symptoms with this illness. I actually think it should be called "anxiety syndrome" because it seems to be more of a syndrome filled with changing symptoms. I think few people only have one of the anxiety disorders- I think all of them (OCD, PD, GAD, agora, social phobia, depression) all sort of blend into one syndrome. If I had known that my paranoia, my crazy thoughts, my feelings of detachment and unreality, my hypochondriasis, and my OCD were all so common to so-called panic disorder, I would have found the proper treatment sooner because I would have seen it as one illness instead of trying to figure out what was PD and what was just me being stupid.
That's what's so great about this site is that so many people have all the same symptoms. And they are not all just panic attacks themselves. If it was only a case of treating the spells or attacks I think this would be an easy illness to recover from. But it's the guilt, the control issues, obsessions and unreal thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations that keep the panic coming making it so difficult to treat. That is my opinion anyway.
Sarah
