I'm a long-time Mudcatter and I've logged out for purposes of this post. Like GUEST,I'd rather not say, and for similar reasons, I prefer to remain anonymous while making the following comments.

GUEST, I'd rather not say, I went through the same thing about ten years ago and I wouldn't wish those feelings on my worst enemy. Miserable! Downright debilitating!

Two things helped me very much when I was going through that. First, I got a copy of Managing Your Mind by Gillian Butler and Tony Hope and read it. I found much of this book very helpful. There are also a couple of books by Dr. Herbert Benson on what he calls "the Relaxation Response" that are worth reading. I found them quite helpful as well.

But second, and most important, get to a good counselor. Sometimes this sort of thing is included in company health benefits, but even if it isn't, believe me, it's money well spent.

My counselor sent me to a psychiatrist first for evaluation, and we soon found out that not only did anti-depressants not work for me, they actually made it worse. So this was not, strictly speaking, a physical condition, like serotonin imbalance. There were reasons in my life that had led me into anxiety and depression. I won't go into that, but after a few sessions with the counselor, I began to get a handle on why I was feeling the way I was. Once I addressed this, the anxiety disappeared and the depression started to fade away.

People who have not gone through this have no idea of how ghastly these feelings can be. I wouldn't go through that again for anything in the world. But if they should ever recur, I still have my counselor's telephone number and I would not waste a second calling her and getting an appointment.

Good luck! And hang in there, buddy!