I would suggest you get tested for the MTHFR gene mutation. I had anxiety for 40+ years and finally a PA thought to test me. Turns out I have it and can't process folic acid so my folate levels were rock bottom. Folate is CRITICAL to neurological function and that's what was causing my anxiety.

I started on the right sort of folate and haven't had an anxiety attack in nearly a year.

Reed - tell him what's the right sort of folate, don't hold out! :D Then he can start immediately without spending any more money on specialists.

Baelon; there are a couple of ideas I have for you,

1; diet. Cut down sugar to only sugars found in fruit and vege, ie don't go crazy but don't drink coke either. Take a large multivitamin a day as well as b complex vitamins and iron.

2: systems processing. You're going to have to use a new processing system for your thoughts and feelings. There is a VERY GOOD (very very good) thread here which you can use to help you. You have to change your reaction to fight-or-flight into 'maybe fight or flight.' ie get down from Defcon 3. Your systems are becoming more and more used to providing you with massive cortisol and adrenaline hits every time you think.

You can block this and avoid it, or you can go through it and out the other side. It's a kind of phase of life. A very useful one: it makes you re-evaluate yourself, your choices. Going into panic over everything makes you really re-evaluate everything, that state of terror makes it all so real. So you can use this phase of your life to totally analyse and clarify and clean up all the dross of your past history, and get yourself charging into the future all fresh and clean.

Or you can fight it. In which case I don't think there are enough drugs because we all keep getting used to the drugs and they don't work any more.

You need to get rid of your therapist and get a counsellor, who is someone you go and tell your life problems to, who listens and gives sage advice and talks you down from the cliff, and not some psychoanalyst who wants to tell you what's wrong with you and how many OMMMs to do before breakfast.

You're going to have to minimise a bit, eg not too many papers per semester, reduce partying and events. You are going to have to convalesce. Have you heard of convalescing? It's what people used to do before anti biotics and such. It's a time of quiet in your life, a number of months, where you don't do much, don't get out much, do a lot of resting, sleeping, reading, watching movies and lowering stress. You have to make your bed your friend, a safe place. Make sure it is quite warm: a lot of men sleep too cold, and then don't understand why they can't sleep. They have no idea that another blanket would change their entire night's sleep.

And you're going to have to process the stress you experience at work and school, Cry, go to the gym, punch a punching bag. Do what works. I find crying works, and that's not just because I'm female; it actually releases toxins and helps you adjust and accept.

Also: do you have a girlfriend? Have you had a breakup recently? Anything changed in your emotional life that you don't think has affected you? Humans are like cream donuts. If the cream can't come out the centre it'll squirt out the sides. We are finite biochemical organisms, and our psyiologies don't care what your ego is, or what you think. They will inflict their rules and their limits and demands on you no matter what you think. :D

Now that's just me, an old lady of 45, lived a bit, suffered a bit. This is what I've learned and it took five bitter years of hell to learn it, so take it as my gift to you. :D

Reed, I guess I can ask my doctor to get tested. I've found that doctors aren't really receptive to be asked to do certain things. I just tell them my problem and they choose what they believe to be the best thing to do. Is it just a blood test or something?

Hi Bridgie, thanks for the advice. Some of the things you mentioned I already do, like keeping a healthy diet and keeping the number of things that I do in life down, but some others I don't understand so I guess I'll ask about that.
Where's the thread about system processing? I searched for it but couldn't find it. I did stop seeing my therapist several months ago. What is a counselor? I know you explained the difference between one and a therapist but I never heard of someone or a company offering their services as a counselor. Is that their official job title? Where would they work so I could find one?
No I don't have a girlfriend and no I haven't gone through a recent breakup. I'm not sure what you mean when you asked about changes in my emotional life.

Hi baelon, I hope my language isn't confusing: I come from New Zealand and maybe we don't have the same things here as you have in your country? Over here we have counsellors, who are more friendly than psychologists. There's a whole university degree you can get in counselling. It's a thing, as they say nowadays. A legit thing. You'd get one from a counselling service. My counsellor was from Catholic Social Services and he was fantastic.

Systems processing is my attempt at describing how your body, physiology and psychology together, operate whether we like it or not.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Anxiety/forum/20366805-week-onesymptoms

that's week 1.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Anxiety/forum/20392501-week-twowarning-system

That's week 2. how to recalibrate your panic warning system.

Her blogs are wonderful, sign up for them and do the course. I'm really liking it. :)

Yeah, here in the US there is a difference between a psychologist and a counselor. But there is not a difference between a therapist and a counselor. So the person I did see for several months was a counselor, I just never called them that haha. He couldn't prescribe me medication nor did he tell me I have such and such disorder. He did what you said, just talked with me about my problems.
I think it didn't work because he seemed very unconcerned and indifferent to my problems, and I have a very hard time communicating how bad my conditions are in person. I'm much better at explaining them by writing.
I did see the links you put. I have tried what she has suggested before in the past and it hasn't worked. How long should I keep trying to do her suggestions?

there is every possibility that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with you, and your problems exist in the real world, in your life. Ie that your anxiety is being caused legitemately by your life.

If you don't think your anxiety is being caused by your life, you have to investigate that. Nobody else can do this for you. It's your job. If you are more anxious than your life deserves, then how come? What is setting you off? What is the switch, and how do you turn it off?

Your body: your job. But you say you are having a hard time functioning, so you really need to find the solution as soon as you can.

I recommend a 2 week holiday somewhere like the beach, or a river, or a ski spot. Somewhere completely away from your life, and away from the usual triggers. Sometimes we only can identify the triggers when they are taken away for a while, because when we go back to live containing them we realise from the immediate reaction we have, that we hate them and we can't take it any more. And at that point, we change something which solves the situation.

It's tough being young, but keep on cracking at it. :) You'll get there in the end if you just don't give up. You seem sensible, and I'm pretty sure you'll eventually uncover the problem.

Maybe, actually, a year bumming around europe with a backpack and a itinerant work visa? hey, you could do that in New Zealand. Lots of orchards down south will take you on for harvests. You can go from onions to thinning apples to picking cherries to picking apples to picking kiwifruit... go to Aussie and do the mangoes. Get away from your life, get away from your problems, relax a bit, have a good time, and come back a bit more empowered. :)