Am I suffering from a mental problem?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 42 year old married male. I have two daughters and a son. I have a good job and works as a manager in the engineering sector. During the past two years, I noticed myself with down health. One night, I suffered dizziness in my head and felt cold in my limbs. I almost lose consciousness and after reviewing the doctor turned out that I have a rise in pressure and cholesterol. After follow-up, the consultant decided to spend a medicine to pressure and settled pressure after a period of time. As a result of this incident, I am with fear and anxiety. Now, I cannot focus and lasting grief. I have forgotten the names and sometimes I confuse myself. I am reluctant as I feel the rapid fatigue and lack of energy. I have nervous and acidity that does not rest with sleep. I always think that I have an undetected disease and visited most of the clinics in various disciplines. All my laboratory tests are normal except vitamin D, which is slightly low. Currently, I am on Enalapril, Natrilix and Atorvastatin.

Am I suffering from any disease? How can I find out whether it is organic or psychological? Most of the time I am upset, thinking about my situation and not enjoying my life. I am thinking as if I got Alzheimer's disease. Please help me.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have carefully reviewed your health issues and want to add that, this actually is a painful situation for a person like you.

The fainting episode destabilized your whole rhythm of normal, healthy life and it is difficult for you to concentrate. It is none of your fault. It is all naturally going on in the brain and is an imbalance of certain chemicals.
For this reason you typically need to consult a psychiatrist who will run a battery of tests on you and will take a thorough history of the case to reach out to a diagnosis.
He will need to conduct an in-person interview to rule out different causes of the issue. Anxiety, grief and depression are some of the differential diagnoses. It may be anything ranging in this scenario, but is all manageable. You need not worry and keep an eye to follow up with your psychiatrist.
Very importantly, we cannot say spontaneously that it is Alzheimer's (progressive loss of memory due to aging). Please do not worry about that.
Vitamin D levels are very important here. You need to spend little time out in the sunlight with sunglasses, sunscreen lotion and hat on head. It helps make natural vitamin D in the body.
Keep taking medications for high cholesterol and blood pressure as this is mandatory to keep a normal level of lipids and blood pressure should remain in limits.
Take a healthy diet and remain physically active. Take plenty of clean drinking water and remain on vegetables, fruits and salads. For proteins, you may take salmon. Avoid processed meats, fast food, beverages, alcohol and cigarettes.

For further doubts consult an internal medicine physician online.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Yes, it seems to be a disease due to changes in chemical inside the brain and is manageable with the use of Escitalopram.

Escitalopram is a SSRI class of medicine (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) that raises the sustained levels of a neurotransmitter named serotonin.

Serotonin is a vital part of brain for normal functioning. If it goes low, causes issues with a lot of brain's normal functions. We need to keep a balance of these chemical in the brain.

I advise you to start taking this medicine as prescribed by your psychiatrist. Most importantly, once you start the medication, keep a follow up with your doctor for proper dosage adjustment according to your body and brain health improvement.

If you feel a side effect, or a benefit from this medicine, share it with your treating psychiatrist. I want to emphasize that never change the dose by yourself based on your health condition once you start this medicine.

Never skip a dose and remain consistent. Not everyone gets all the side effects of this drug and many have no problem while taking it. If anyone gets a side effect too, it is temporary and goes off once you are off this medicine.

For further information consult an internal medicine physician online.