Reader’s Question

Every so often I get a feeling of anxiety. I guess that’s what you would call it. I feel like things are going a million miles an hour. The best way to describe it is it’s like there are a hundred people in my head talking, yelling, screaming really fast and all at once. I can’t make out a single voice or even a single word. It happens randomly but mainly when I am in a quiet environment and mainly at home. I intentionally slow down my movements to try and slow things down but that makes it worse. It even seems like my eyes moving from one object to another, the speed at which they do so, is extremely fast. It doesn’t incapacitate me or limit me but it is just very scary. Any idea what this could be called so I can do more research?

Our Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

Some of your symptoms fit an anxiety model — and others don’t. Here’s what doesn’t fit:

1. Occurs randomly,
2. Happens when your environment is quiet,
3. Ideation is so fast you can’t make it out,
4. You don’t mention other mental health symptoms,
5. The activity is too fast to be anxiety, and
6. No incapacitation.

From your description, it sounds like a “neurotransmitter surge” of some kind. It’s like your brain kicking into passing gear for no reason. We can experience neurotransmitter surges for a variety of reasons such as:

1. medications we are taking,
2. medication interactions,
3. medical problems that change brain neurotransmitters,
4. a type of flashback relate to previous experiences, and/or
5. even seizure activity.

I would recommend that you first consult your family physician about this experience. I would also review articles on depression, stress and anxiety on this website. Take a few of the tests. See if you can get a better idea of how your symptoms work. Keep a daily log and record each event — date, time, did you feel it coming on, how long did it last, your condition after the experience, etc. We need to identify the pattern — is it increasing, decreasing, stable? Does anything happen before the “surge” such as eating a meal (could be blood sugar issues), feeling sick to your stomach (seizure?), being exposed to an allergy trigger, etc.? I sense that your situation is more medical than psychiatric, but only professional consultation will tell us for sure. By the way, you are right to be scared. The presence of surges such as this tell us something is going on.