Does anyone have anxiety as their main symptom?

OK. So, I was diagnosed with bipolar, then BPD by a locum and now my usual psychiatrist says he's sticking to bipolar, but borderline traits have been mentioned and my CPN keeps mentioning them. However, he also said that I just seem to be someone with an anxiety disorder, as I don't self harm, my relationships are stable and I don't have the chronic feelings of emptiness. It's mood, anxiety and 'unusual thoughts' that are the issues.

I can see why I have been diagnosed with BPD or traits of BPD, but I was just wondering whether it's possible to have it with anxiety as your main issue? I feel as though I need to figure this out. My CPN says it's not important and just to look at functionality, but I feel as though I have to work out exactly what is wrong and can't rest until I do.

Also, does anyone else here get hung up on routine and order? I am so anal about it these days. I have certain ways of doing things and they have to be done at the right time and in a certain order. I must admit that I feel rather angry if anything gets in the way of that. Also, if one thing gets interrupted, it's like the whole routine is ruined and I can't proceed with the rest of it and sometimes the rest of my day. I make a concerted effort not to enforce this upon other people and I know it's a bit odd. It's probably an anxiety thing and a fear of chaos!

Anxiety is my main symptom. It started as Panic Disorder, then General Anxiety, Now "light" Agoraphobia. You sound like you are a heavy contender for OCD. But remember BPD is a spectrum not an exact definition...there's levels of "functionality". OCD and anxiety go hand in hand. A far as "figuring out Exactly what's wrong" I don't think the brain works that way. Things are complicated...and comorbid. We share a lot of "tendencies". It's best to first treat the symptoms, then treat the cause. Life is not a race. Take care

Anchorless wrote:Anxiety is my main symptom. It started as Panic Disorder, then General Anxiety, Now "light" Agoraphobia. You sound like you are a heavy contender for OCD. But remember BPD is a spectrum not an exact definition...there's levels of "functionality". OCD and anxiety go hand in hand. A far as "figuring out Exactly what's wrong" I don't think the brain works that way. Things are complicated...and comorbid. We share a lot of "tendencies". It's best to first treat the symptoms, then treat the cause. Life is not a race. Take care

Thanks Anchorless. I sometimes get panic attacks and didn't leave the house for months due to various fears of being a dangerous sociopath and that I might lose control and hurt someone etc. It's much better now and I can challenge those thoughts. I still don't go out that much though.

I'm freaking out at the moment as I'm back to work and can't keep the house in the way I'd like. Mind you, I was spending most of the day cleaning the house and getting stuff in exactly the right spot.

I'm trying not to get too hung up on whether or not I definitely have BPD, but it seems very important that I find out. To be honest it's become an obsession.

Depression has always been my main - and initial - symptom, but the depression started to decline for a while and Anxiety was my 'main' symptom for a good two years. I was unable to leave the house, couldn't be out in public without feeling as though I was being stared and laughed at.

It's different for everyone. if you ignore the "BPD traits" such as splitting, abandonment fear, etc. you'll find that most people's 'main' symptoms are non-psychotic ones like Depression and Anxiety.

^ That being said, I completely understand your point given that those symptoms are what makes BPD what it is, not so much the depression and anxiety, but that's what I've come to find through not only firsthand experience, but from knowing others with the disorder.

Anchorless made some good points too, especially with the OCD and how you should treat the symptom itself before the cause. OCD and Anxiety often go hand in hand, it's just how mental illness works; you'll often find that most of us have comorbidity. BPD + comorbidity is also very common. I'm yet to meet someone with a diagnosis of BPD and BPD alone.

Thanks corgis. It seems important to pin down exactly what is wrong. My psychiatrist said it's probably an affective disorder and that he thinks I have borderline traits. Then again, he also said that the reason they look at personality is because it influences how the person will react. He said that schizotypal personalities will react differently to bipolar than borderline personalities etc.

However, if I do have BPD, shouldn't I get myself a DBT workbook or something? Would doing that just sort out the anxiety/OCD?

CloudShark wrote:However, if I do have BPD, shouldn't I get myself a DBT workbook or something? Would doing that just sort out the anxiety/OCD?

I was in a BPD network from tumblr a while back, had to leave it due to conflict between myself and another person, but I know many people from the network used workbooks, etc. it might help to learn some DBT skills, actually. I think if you're comfortable with doing it, why not?

^ other than DBT specific skills, there's probably a few anxiety and OCD related. you'd have to research it or something, maybe? wishing you the best either way, hope you find answers.

Thanks corgis. I'm trying to get over ruminations and my compulsions to seek reassurance and to confess stuff. It's making it worse in the longrun.

Anxiety is a big symptom for me - it does tend to exacerbate the already bad abandonment issues, black and white thinking, and impulsiveness. I guess a good way to put it is that anxiety is a predominant emotion for me, and being BPD, it's just another one I can't seem to handle well right now. That being said, a lot of the anxiety issues became prominent after I was attacked, so I have to wonder if maybe I would be more appropriately diagnosed as having comorbid PTSD on top of the BPD.

I do get very anal on certain things - I struggle with changes in routine and they tend to make me angry/anxious. For that reason, I often abandon routine entirely because I get too frustrated when I try to maintain perfection and can't.

Sorry to hear that you were attacked. I was attacked about 20 years ago and it shook me up for ages.

I've done the whole blowing the routine and order out of the window because stuff was getting in the way of perfection thing on many occasions. Also, when my OCD symptoms are really severe I just can't go into untidy rooms as the lack of order is the visual equivalent of someone running their nails down a blackboard. To tidy it properly seems to daunting and would take forever.

These days I associate mess with depressive episodes, you know, the kinds where you can't get up, shower or even talk to anyone for weeks on end. Somehow I feel as though keeping everything in order is a sign of good mental health. How ridiculous! If anything this obsession with order is a sign of anxiety and so poor mental health. It's like I have a belief that mentally ill people have messy houses and I won't be mentally ill if everything is in it's proper place and it's always clean. It's a pretty embarrassing example of magical thinking. If only I did have the power to keep mental illness at bay using the force of my vacuum cleaner!

CloudShark wrote:These days I associate mess with depressive episodes, you know, the kinds where you can't get up, shower or even talk to anyone for weeks on end. Somehow I feel as though keeping everything in order is a sign of good mental health. How ridiculous! If anything this obsession with order is a sign of anxiety and so poor mental health. It's like I have a belief that mentally ill people have messy houses and I won't be mentally ill if everything is in it's proper place and it's always clean. It's a pretty embarrassing example of magical thinking. If only I did have the power to keep mental illness at bay using the force of my vacuum cleaner!

I totally get where you're coming from with that. I have the same mindset. That being said though, it seems like one of those things that can go either way. Complete need for cleanliness, with no wiggle room would be a sign of a mental health issue. But too much mess and lack of ability to keep things "decent" (whatever that means for each person) can be a sign of a decline as well.

It sure would be nice though if external circumstances could control mental health though. I find that for some things, having them in order kind of makes me feel like my mind is more ordered too. In a sense that, it lets me remember to keep calm and keep my mind sorted in the way the object is sorted. Like if I have sharpened pencils, everything about them - the neatness, the pointiness, the smell of fresh shavings - all makes me stay focussed on school work if I am doing it.